Capgras Delusion - History

History

The Capgras delusion is named after Joseph Capgras (1873–1950), a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in 1923 in his paper co-authored by Reboul-Lachaux, on the case of a French woman who complained that corresponding "doubles" had taken the places of her husband and other people she knew.

Their term l'illusion des « sosies »...—which can be literally translated as "the illusion of 'doubles'..."—finds some modern professional use in French (e.g. "L’illusion des sosies de Capgras est...", which however its authors render in English as "Capgras’ syndrome is ..."). But the distinction between illusion and delusion is important in modern technical English, and the Capgras syndrome is clearly a delusional condition.

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