The British Journal of Psychiatry 144: 649-650 (1984)
© 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
A syndrome of misinterpreting role changes as changes of person
WA MacCallum
A syndrome is described in three elderly women who all suffered from
cerebral arteriosclerosis, and who in their dependent condition were looked
after by their daughters. These women accepted their daughters as their
daughters when carrying out directly caring tasks related to them, but
spoke of them and addressed them as different women, with the same
forenames as their daughters, when their daughters were engaged in other
duties. This syndrome is compared with the syndromes of Capgras and similar
conditions. It is likely to be detected with increasing frequency as
psychiatrists become involved in the community aspects of the speciality.