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The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis

The Doppelgänger phenomenon refers to the experience of a direct encounter with one’s self, characteriswed by: (i) the perception of a figure with one’s own identical physical features; or (ii) the apprehension that the perceived figure shares the same personality and identity. The Doppelgänger does...

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Autores principales: Barbieri, Cristiano, Rocca, Gabriele, Bosco, Caterina, Tattoli, Lucia, Grattagliano, Ignazio, Di Vella, Giancarlo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9930753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36817250
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2022.2055827
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author Barbieri, Cristiano
Rocca, Gabriele
Bosco, Caterina
Tattoli, Lucia
Grattagliano, Ignazio
Di Vella, Giancarlo
author_facet Barbieri, Cristiano
Rocca, Gabriele
Bosco, Caterina
Tattoli, Lucia
Grattagliano, Ignazio
Di Vella, Giancarlo
author_sort Barbieri, Cristiano
collection PubMed
description The Doppelgänger phenomenon refers to the experience of a direct encounter with one’s self, characteriswed by: (i) the perception of a figure with one’s own identical physical features; or (ii) the apprehension that the perceived figure shares the same personality and identity. The Doppelgänger does not only look like the same person, it is his/her double. The perceptual element is usually a hallucination, although occasionally a false perception of an actual figure may be involved. This phenomenon has been described in individuals suffering from overwhelming fear, severe anxiety or intoxication, epilepsy, as well as in the sleep-wakefulness transition. It has also been reported in major psychoses. The fear of imminent death often precedes the Doppelgänger experience. This report presents the case of a 30-year-old man, Mr. Y, who was stabbed to death by Mr. X, his “double”. The aggressor and his victim, although not related, were truly doubles; remarkably, they shared the same name and surname, age, professional activity and place of work. Moreover, they attended the same sports center but barely knew each other. The forensic psychiatric evaluations in Mr. X, subsequent to the crime committed, were suggestive of a psychotic condition. This case is unique in the scientific literature. In the most serious psychotic forms, the issue of the “double” calls into question not only the dissociative processes involved in the etiopathogenesis of the disorder, but also bio-psycho-social elements, as well as personal data in this case, which made the victim and the aggressor “identical”. In the context of psychopathological functioning, the delusional mood (Wahnstimmung) that precedes the development of delirium is a sort of gateway to an impending psychotic illness, involving delusional awareness or mood (atmosphere). In psychosis, splitting is the main issue and this influence is seen as an evil, foreign, apocalyptic and unknown side no longer recognised as belonging to the self even in a physical sense. In such a situation, it is felt that the only way to survive is by suppressing one’s double as a defense against disorganisation of the self.
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spelling pubmed-99307532023-02-16 The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis Barbieri, Cristiano Rocca, Gabriele Bosco, Caterina Tattoli, Lucia Grattagliano, Ignazio Di Vella, Giancarlo Forensic Sci Res Case Reports The Doppelgänger phenomenon refers to the experience of a direct encounter with one’s self, characteriswed by: (i) the perception of a figure with one’s own identical physical features; or (ii) the apprehension that the perceived figure shares the same personality and identity. The Doppelgänger does not only look like the same person, it is his/her double. The perceptual element is usually a hallucination, although occasionally a false perception of an actual figure may be involved. This phenomenon has been described in individuals suffering from overwhelming fear, severe anxiety or intoxication, epilepsy, as well as in the sleep-wakefulness transition. It has also been reported in major psychoses. The fear of imminent death often precedes the Doppelgänger experience. This report presents the case of a 30-year-old man, Mr. Y, who was stabbed to death by Mr. X, his “double”. The aggressor and his victim, although not related, were truly doubles; remarkably, they shared the same name and surname, age, professional activity and place of work. Moreover, they attended the same sports center but barely knew each other. The forensic psychiatric evaluations in Mr. X, subsequent to the crime committed, were suggestive of a psychotic condition. This case is unique in the scientific literature. In the most serious psychotic forms, the issue of the “double” calls into question not only the dissociative processes involved in the etiopathogenesis of the disorder, but also bio-psycho-social elements, as well as personal data in this case, which made the victim and the aggressor “identical”. In the context of psychopathological functioning, the delusional mood (Wahnstimmung) that precedes the development of delirium is a sort of gateway to an impending psychotic illness, involving delusional awareness or mood (atmosphere). In psychosis, splitting is the main issue and this influence is seen as an evil, foreign, apocalyptic and unknown side no longer recognised as belonging to the self even in a physical sense. In such a situation, it is felt that the only way to survive is by suppressing one’s double as a defense against disorganisation of the self. Taylor & Francis 2022-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC9930753/ /pubmed/36817250 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2022.2055827 Text en © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Academy of Forensic Science. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Case Reports
Barbieri, Cristiano
Rocca, Gabriele
Bosco, Caterina
Tattoli, Lucia
Grattagliano, Ignazio
Di Vella, Giancarlo
The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
title The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
title_full The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
title_fullStr The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
title_full_unstemmed The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
title_short The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
title_sort doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis
topic Case Reports
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9930753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36817250
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2022.2055827
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