Leopoldo Fregoli

The Fregoli syndrome is a rare syndrome where a person believes that different people they are coming across are actually a single person constantly changing their disguise.

It was named after the famous French actor who was known for his quick change stage impersonations, Leopoldo Fregoli.

A middle-aged female patient was recovering from catatonia when she thought that her physician was actually her first husband's first wife's daughter in disguise, and she had been keeping her in medical detention with police involvement.

Fall never arrives all at once.

In Capgras, someone familiar seems unfamiliar, while in Fregoli, someone unfamiliar seems familiar.

The syndrome is named for Leopoldo Fregoli, an Italian actor famous for his rapid costume changes and impersonations on stage.

The term was introduced in 1927 by French psychiatrists Corbin and Feil, who described a patient convinced she was being persecuted by actors assuming the appearance of others around her.

The localization literature in Fregoli syndrome isn't tidy, but like other delusional misidentification syndromes, Fregoli has often been associated with right hemisphere dysfunction, especially right frontal and right temporal regions, as well as broader frontal limbic networks involved in assigning personal significance and checking implausible beliefs.