[Experience of a double or heautoscopy. Psychopathological review and case report]

According to Jaspers, the experience of the double is on of the darkest, heterogeneous and worst studied psychopathological concepts. This research intends to contribute to its clarification and delimitation.

We present a clinical case that presented the experience of the double associated to despersonalization, nontypical somatizations, eating disorders and a serious suicidal behaviour. The concept of experience of the double is revised following the clinical description and the psychopathological contributions of different authors.

Nowadays, the most accepted term to refer to the experience of the double is "autoscopyc"--to watch oneself--although it would be more correct, etymologicaly, to talk about "beautoscopic" since what it really happens is a deceptive perception of oneself.

We agree with recent authors in restricting the concept of "beautoscopyc" to those cases in which the own image is visualized. Furthermore, it is necessary to make an effort to clarify if it deals with a specific disorder or a non-specific phenomenon associated to different medical or psychiatric disorders.