fregoli

A Fregoli syndrome, just like Capgras Syndrome, Double Subjective Syndrome, and Inter metamorphosis Syndrome, belongs to the group of delusion misidentification syndromes. It is a rare neuropsychiatric pathology that could affect the brain with repercussions on behavior. It is the belief that a familiar person is disguised as a strange person by taking a different physical appearance but remains the same person psychologically. This entity has heterogonous etiologies, occurring mainly in the setting of organic diseases, affective disorders, or schizophrenia. In this article, we proposed to expose a case of a schizophrenic patient who developed Fregoli syndrome.

The relevance of this work is due to the insufficient number of modern studies on the treatment of patients with paranoid schizophrenia with non-suicidal autoaggressive actions or in short: “NSAA”, who have had a coronavirus infection. The aim of the study was to study the role of buspirone in the complex therapy of patients with paranoid schizophrenia with NSAA who had a coronavirus infection. Materials and research methods: 99 patients with paranoid schizophrenia meeting ICD-10 criteria were examined by a continuous, non-randomized clinical method. Fisher’s test was used for statistical evaluation. Results: It was established that the consequence of the coronavirus infection was an increase in the proportion of residual organic changes in the form of manifestations of the dysphoric syndrome, specific changes in the cognitive sphere, and the autonomic nervous system. The manifestations of dysphoria included an increase in the frequency of openly manifested aggression, anxiety, impulsivity, and the implementation of NSAA by the type of affective discharge. The structure of acquired cognitive impairments consisted of changes in thinking by the type of thoroughness, and rigidity of perseveration. Changes in the autonomic nervous system are presented in the form of diencephalic crises. Also, psychotic states not characteristic of the previously examined patients were noted, such as twilight stupefaction, delusional symptoms of Cappgras, Fregoli, and tactile hallucinosis. It has been established that the use of buspirone as part of complex therapy with neuroleptics, compared with monotherapy with neuroleptics, increases the effectiveness of therapy in relation to these clinical manifestations in the studied individuals. Conclusion: The use of buspirone in combination with neuroleptic drugs increases the effectiveness of therapy in relation to the leading psychopathological manifestations in patients with paranoid schizophrenia with NSAA who have undergone coronavirus infection.