Two cases of somatoparaphrenia accompanying Fregoli delusion after cerebrovascular accident

Abstract

  In the present study, we report two cases of somatoparaphrenia accompanying Fregoli delusion after ce rebral hemorrhage or right hemispheric cerebral infarction. Few case reports have documented the mani festation of person misidentification symptoms such as Capgras syndrome and Fregoli delusion after cere brovascular accident. Feinberg et al. (1997) indicated that somatoparaphrenia has a similar psychopathological structure to that of Capgras syndrome; however, we did not identify any case reports where somatopara phrenia manifested with Capgras syndrome. Alternatively, a few reports described somatoparaphrenia that manifested with delusional symptoms like Fregoli syndrome. In somatoparaphrenia, the attitude of the pa tient towards the paralyzed limb demonstrates more similarity to Fregoli delusion than Capgras syndrome because the patient shows feelings of acquaintance with the affected limb. Additionally, somatoparaphrenia and Fregoli delusion are thought to result from similar lesions of the right hemisphere, especially in the frontal lobe. The frequency of somatoparaphrenia accompanying Fregoli delusion may be underestimated in previous reports where it was overlooked.