Rare Psychological Disorders: The Fregoli Delusion
The Fregoli Delusion is a rare disorder in which sufferers believe that various people around them are a single person in disguise.
The disorder tends to include paranoia in which sufferers believe that the person who keeps changing form is persecuting them in some way.
The sufferer can also have inaccurate memories of events, places, and objects.
Like the Capgras and Cotard Delusions, one potential cause of The Fregoli Delusion can be a brain injury that affects the temporal lobe.
Other potential causes include a drug used to treat Parkinson’s Disease known as levodopa, lesions in the temporal lobe, and abnormal brain voltage potential that impacts working memory among other brain functions.
The condition is named after Leopoldo Fregoli, an Italian actor famous for being able to quickly change his appearance, and it was first identified by P. Courbon and G. Fail in 1927.
The condition is often treated with antipsychotics with anticonvulsants and antidepressants sometimes added to the treatment regimen.
The condition calls to mind ancient and modern tales of shape-shifters.
