Capgras syndrome
- noun
- /ˈkæpɡrɑːs ˈsɪnˌdroʊm/
- Specialized
- What caused Capgras syndrome to switch from psychiatry to neurology?
D at Bellicosavand says one thing that does bug me is this thing called Capgras syndrome.
- D at Bellicosavand says one thing that does bug me is this thing called Capgras syndrome.
Examples
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It's Capgras syndrome.
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One of them is that there were incidental reports on cases of acute Capgras syndrome, for instance, after a car accident or other causes of brain trauma.
Academic text (2009) -
In the 1980s, however, Capgras syndrome came to be seen as caused by a neurological deficit, severing the connection between visual and emotional recognition of familiar faces.
Academic text (2009) -
Capgras syndrome is a delusion in which subjects come to believe that other persons (usually family) and sometimes familiar places and objects have been replaced by replicas or doubles (Capgras 1923).
Academic text (1999) -
A person with Capgras syndrome may insist that their spouse is an impostor pretending to be the real partner.
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Individuals diagnosed with Capgras syndrome often feel that their loved ones have been replaced by strangers.
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In Capgras syndrome, patients frequently experience distress, believing that close family members are not who they seem.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Capgras + syndrome
This is an eponymic medical term: 'Capgras' is a proper name with no inherent lexical meaning for learners, and 'syndrome' only signals a set of symptoms or disorder. Knowing the constituent words does not let a B1 learner infer the specific delusional belief (that a close person has been replaced by an impostor), so the meaning must be learned as a lexicalized term.
Etymology
Capgras syndrome is named after the French doctor Joseph Capgras, who described patients who were sure a close person had been replaced by an identical impostor. That strong image of a loved one being 'replaced by an impostor' explains why the name refers to this belief.