Joseph Capgras

This article is about the psychiatrist. For the mental condition, see Capgras delusion.

Jean Marie Joseph Capgras was born on August 23rd, 1873, and lived until January 27th, 1950. Capgras was a French psychiatrist best known for describing the delusional disorder that bears his name. He received his medical degree in Toulouse, and later worked in several mental institutions in France until his work was interrupted by the Great War. From 1929 to 1936, he was associated with the Hôpital Sainte-Anne where he remained until his retirement.^[1][2]

Joseph Capgras
Born	(1873-08-23)23 August 1873 Verdun-sur-Garonne, France
Died	27 January 1950(1950-01-27) (aged 76) Paris, France
Known for	Discovery of and research on the Capgras delusion
Scientific career
Fields	Medicine Psychiatry

Capgras and his mentor, Paul Sérieux (1864–1947), described their clinical findings in some significant publications. In 1902, they published Les Psychoses à Base d'Interprétations Délirantes (Psychosis Based on Delusional Interpretations).^[3] In 1909, they published Les Folies Raisonnantes (The Reasoning of Follies).^[4] Through this research, Capgras and Sérieux described a type of non-schizophrenic, paranoid psychosis referred to as Delerium of Interpretation.^[5]

In 1923, Capgras delusion was described in a study published by Capgras and his intern, Jean Reboul-Lachaux, titled L'illusion des "Sosies" Dans un Délire Dystématisé Chronique^[6] (The Illusion of Doubles in a Chronic Systematized Delusion). Capgras delusion is defined as a delusion that a close relative or friend has been replaced by an impostor. Capgras's original patient, Mme M., was the first case in which this delusion was observed and described. Capgras found that patient Mme M. had complex mental illness with various symptoms in addition to the delusion of substitution, but his focus was on her eponymous delusion (Sinkman, 2008). In 1931, Capgras was appointed the president of the Société Médico-Psychologique (The Medical-Psychological Society) for his case studies and journal articles. While in this role, he was able to reunite two branches that had separated 25 years earlier.^[7]