[The Capgras syndrome: a clinical study of 9 cases]

The Capgras' syndrome is the delusional belief that a person or object has been replaced by an identical duplicate, usually with evil intent. A clinical, psychometric and electroencephalographic study of 9 patients afflicted with this syndrome and its variants was performed. The clinical course and the therapeutic response were assessed during the follow up that run between 2 and 11 years. The aim of this paper is to discuss the etiologically relevant psychodynamic, organic and mythological issues and to postulate an explanatory model that integrates limbic mechanisms, affect recognition processes, psychodynamic factors and anthropological aspects.