FREGOLI SYNDROME: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment and Real Cases

In this Psychology-Online article you will find a rare syndrome which can affect 0.12% of the general population, it is Fregoli syndrome. This alteration is one of the four basic pathological subtypes that make up Delusional False Identification Syndrome (SFID). His name originates from the famous actor Leopoldo Fregoli, as a result of the facility he had to change his appearance during his performances.

After a detailed search, we found that it is not a syndrome that is widely studied by experts, since there are not many registered clinical cases that facilitate its understanding and study. Below you will find the symptoms, causes, treatment and real cases of Fregoli syndrome.

Index

1. Symptoms of Fregoli syndrome
2. Causes of Fregoli syndrome
3. Fregoli syndrome treatment
4. Fregoli syndrome: real cases

The person suffering from this syndrome believes that several unknown subjects are actually only one that changes its appearance constantly. That is why, on many occasions, they tend to "recognize" strangers as people belonging to their own family, even if they do not have any trait in common.

The characteristic symptoms of this particular syndrome are:

• They show a altered interpretation of reality (hallucinations).
• They believe that their relatives dress up with the sole objective of chasing them. This is known by specialists as delusions of persecution.
• They have a deficits in certain cognitive functions and executives.
• The patient presents anosognosia, that is, you are not aware of his illness.

This pathology can lead to violent behaviors, negative responses, anxiety, fear or insecurity since the person feels constantly watched and persecuted.

To explain the causes of this syndrome, reference must be made to Delusional False Identification Syndrome In itself, then, as it is a variant of this, it is necessary to explain the way in which it can originate from it. This syndrome has been associated with a number of psychiatric conditions, organic and neurological diseases.

According to Mesa (2008) after studying a practical case, this syndrome is considered a psychopathological phenomenon which can originate from various etiologies, among them the aneurological and psychiatric disorders as the schizophrenia, paraphrenia (psychosis characterized by hallucinations and delusions of an absurd nature), involutional melancholy (depressive state) and dissociative confusional states.

With regard to organic causes, an association has been seen between the Fregoli illusion and diseases such as Alzheimer's, the epilepsy, head trauma, cerebrovascular disease, Lewy body dementia and the Parkinson's.

Signer (1994) was able to find how, as a result of brain injuries in the fronto-parietal and right frontal orbital areas, it could lead to Fregoli Syndrome.

Broadly speaking, it remains to indicate that the emotional system of the patient is injured and that is why he is hyperactive, making it work faster. As a result of this hyperactivity, a familiarity is provoked for the person in those situations in which it should not exist. The patient tends to confuse completely strangers with acquaintances despite admitting that they do not have any physical similarity.

Again, to give an adequate answer to this section, we must go to the "origin" of the Fregoli syndrome and for this, also to the origin of the SFID.

Since, as has been well indicated above, there is not a great multitude of case studies for this syndrome, it has not been possible to establish a specific treatment to achieve remission of the syndrome. However, if it has been possible to verify in some of them that, the SFID, remits once the associated disease is resolved or at least controlled.

Normally, in all registered cases of this disease, a Pharmacotherapy to reduce the symptoms of it. Therefore, it is recommended to go to a specialist early, who can indicate the most appropriate treatment to the patient.

Here are some real case studies. They will describe the diseases to which the syndrome is associated, the symptoms that patients develop and the treatments used.

Real case 1: woman with PTSD

Woman (56 years old) diagnosed with a syndrome of posttraumatic stress for which she develops a depressive picture. During her treatment, she presents a delusional false identification, in which replace complete strangers with a close relative, including the psychiatrist himself among the unknown. It does not present any neurological alteration. As treatment, an antipsychotic is prescribed, which manages to make the symptoms of SFID disappear. (Mesa, 2008).

Real case 2: woman with schizophrenia

Woman (35 years old) with a psychiatric history since the age of 16, specifically diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. It was learned that 6 weeks before the development of the syndrome she stopped taking the medication prescribed by the doctors. The patient He claimed that complete strangers were his relativesshe, she in particular she used to identify them as Erik Estrada, a famous actor with whom she was in love. An irregular and rhythmic excess activity was observed in the postcentral regions of the brain. She was given fluphenazine (antipsychotic) treatment which improved her mental state. (Wright, 1993).

Real case 3: man with brain injury

Male (61 years old) suffers from Fregoli syndrome as a result of a traumatic brain injury. After diagnosing him, the doctors saw that he had affected the right frontal temporal-parietal regions. The treatment of this case is not known, since the author's objective was to determine if memory could explain the error at the time of identify strangers as family members. (Feinberg (1999).

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Fregoli syndrome: symptoms, causes, treatment and real cases, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• Feinberg, T. E., Eaton, L. A., Roane, D. M., & Giacino, J. T. (1999). Multiple Fregoli delusions after traumatic brain injury. Cortex, 35(3), 373-387.
• Mesa Rodríguez, T. AND. (2008). Frégoli syndrome: About a case.
• Signer SF. Localization and lateralization in the delusion of substitution. Capgras syndrome and its variants. Psychopathology. 1994; 27: 168 – 176.
• Silva, J. A., & Leong, G. B. (1991). A case of "subjective" Frégoli syndrome. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 16(2), 103.
• Toledo, Á. M. False ideations in dementia: content and characteristics of delusional phenomena.
• Vázquez, M. S. (2002). Identification delusions. Capgras syndrome: on the subject of a case. Galician journal of psychiatry and neurosciences, 1(5), 70-79.
• Wright, S., Young, A. W., & Hellawell, D. J. (1993). Frégoli delusion and erotomania. Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 56(3), 322.