Joseph Capgras
Jean Marie Joseph Capgras (23 August 1873 – 27 January 1950) was a French psychiatrist who is best known for the Capgras delusion, a disorder named after him.
Joseph Capgras | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 August 1873 Verdun-sur-Garonne, France |
| Died | 27 January 1950 (aged 76) Paris, France |
| Known for | Discovery of and research on the Capgras delusion |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine Psychiatry |
He received his medical degree in Toulouse, later working in several mental institutions in France. During the latter part of his career, he was associated with Hôpital Sainte-Anne.
With his mentor, Paul Sérieux (1864–1947), he contributed on psychiatric publications such as Les Folies raisonnantes (1909) ("Reasoning madnesses. Misinterpretative delusional states") and Les Psychoses à base d'interprétations délirantes. With Sérieux, he described a type of non-schizophrenic, paranoid psychosis referred to as Délire d’interprétation de Sérieux et Capgras.
Capgras delusion was described in 1923 in a study published by Capgras and his intern Jean Reboul-Lachaux, titled L'illusion des "sosies" (the illusion of doubles) dans un délire systématisé chronique. This disorder is defined as a delusion that a close relative or friend has been replaced by an impostor.