Delusion of Misidentifying of Parents as Infants as a Subtype of Intermetamorphosis Syndrome: A Case Report.

Abstract

Delusional misidentification syndromes (DMSs) are a group of disorders, characterized by consistent misidentification of individuals, locations, objects, or events. Four primary subtypes are recognized within this classification: Capgras syndrome, Frégoli syndrome, intermetamorphosis syndrome, and the syndrome of subjective doubles. We report a case of a woman with schizophrenia who experienced a strange delusion that her parents were her babies. This delusion did not arise from visual hallucinations of infants or from prosopagnosia. Furthermore, she denied experiencing auditory hallucinations related to the infants, suggesting that this delusion was not secondary to auditory hallucinations. The delusion that she had her infant was the delusion of maternity, and it was a form of delusional procreational syndrome that consists of sequential delusions in every possible stage of procreation. We concluded the delusion of misidentification that her parents were her own babies exhibited in this case was a subtype of intermetamorphosis syndrome coexisted with delusional procreation syndrome and her coping mechanisms shaped by underlying fears and inner wishes.