The symptom of Fregoli
Description
Fregoli's symptom is a delusional belief that an imaginary stalker constantly changes his appearance beyond recognition, appears in a variety of guises: a man, a woman, an old man, a child, an animal and even an inanimate object in order to remain unrecognized.
The Fregoli symptom is considered a type of false recognition symptom (included in the Capgras syndrome, along with delirium of the positive double, delirium of the negative double and delirium of intermetamorphosis).
The name comes from the name of the Italian actor L. Fregoli, famous for his ability to change his appearance as the action progressed. The syndrome was first described in 1927 in an article by P. Courbon and J. G. Fail (fr. G. Fail) fr. "Syndrome d'illusion de Frégoli et schizophrénie". A 27-year-old schizophrenic woman believed that she was being stalked by two actors from the theater, where she often visited, pretending to be people she knew or met.
