Question if Fregoli Syndrome and Prosopagnosia is related

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Are Fregoli Syndrom (Mostly called Fregoli delusion) and Prosopagnosia related? When I had profound symptoms of Prosopgnosia, I had a belief that all people are the same, until my social skills got improved.

Last edited by FranzOren on 18 Jun 2022, 9:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

Perhaps they could be related in some way.

It’s not called Fregoli Syndrome; there’s something called “Fregoli Delusion”—which is the belief that many people are actually one person who puts on different “disguises.”

It's called Fregoli delusion, but some psychologist call it Fregoli Syndrome.

How the heck could they be "related"?

Theyre opposite things that arent even the same category of conditions.

Prosopagnosia means that you dont distinquish faces (comparable to dyslexia, or innumeracy). And this causes social problems for you.

Fregoli Syndrome is a psychotic delusion akin to paranoia in which you DO recognize individual faces like a normal person can, but are convinced that the individual faces are all disguises being put on by one person.

I had related fixed, false belief throughout my childhood and teenage years.

Sounds like you were paranoid, or something along those lines.

If you have prosopagnosia (aka "face blindness") then you are like a certain person who posted on WP some years ago who would watch reruns of the original Star Trek, and couldnt tell Checkov from Sulu because "they are both dark haired guys with similar hair cuts". When most folks would immediately see that the two Enterprise crewmen "are not even of the same race", much less look alike.

Another WP person explained how they once got lost in a building, and would have to ask directions of successive people. And it turned out that the successive ladies she kept asking were "the same person". She would go in circles, and then bother the same person again and again not realizing that it was the same person because she was face-blind.


Most folks are wired to zero in on faces (it as if your brain switches to finer grain film, or to smaller pixels, on a human face than it uses on the rest of the landscape). Folks with prosopagnosia seem to lack that special brain circuitry, and thus dont lock in to the fine differences between human faces.

If you have Fregoli than you have no trouble telling Nicholas cage from John Travolta, but you're convinced that John Travolta IS Nicholas Cage with a lifelike replica of John Travolta's face deliberately put on the front of his head. And that that you're living in the movie "Face-off" for real. Not the same thing.

Now that makes sense.

I think that Prosopagnosia should be called Facial Misidentification Syndrome, because you misidentify faces often.

Last edited by FranzOren on 23 Jun 2022, 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

You’re not necessarily “misidentifying.”

In extreme cases, you are not “identifying” al all.

What does that mean then?

Misidentification implies mistaking one person for another.

If you can’t distinguish faces at all, you’re not even identifying the face.

If you have a milder form of the disorder, then you might misidentify a person.

Now that makes sense. Thank you!

I think what happened at that time is that I mistook my family as the same person in disguise, my brain recognized strangers as a family member in disguise, their faces looked the same. I thought it was facial blindness coupled with some kind of paranoia.

You reminded me of a friend of mine.
He's very intelligent.
He has OCD.
He sees little black and white men (dressed like that) at traffic lights.

Anyway, the explanation you've already been given seems very pertinent. It's not your diagnosis, maybe telling a doctor wouldn't be a bad idea...

Prosopgnosia...
Sometimes I don't recognize faces right away.
But it's like a delay of a few seconds.
People get offended because maybe I don't greet them right away, or not at all.
I usually look at their license plate so I remember and associate people.
Or if they have a dog: I look at their dog first, then I get a better idea of who they are.

Sometimes the solution is simpler than expected.
Anxiety.
It could be an anxiety disorder, which, if very intense, can sometimes cause detachment from reality as a form of defense.
Some experience dissociation and derealization.

The question is: if you recognize people's faces in context.
For example: can you associate a person who lives in a certain house with a face?

If you see them out of context, for example, can't you?

I have a terrible sense of direction.
Even as a 16-year-old... I had to go to my dentist.
Near her door was the hunting club. Guess where I went in three times instead of her?

Generally, we're either too attentive to something or the opposite: we don't notice it at all.

The deficiency could have trivial causes, as trivial as not looking is.

The a better way I can explain is that when I was a child and an adolescent, people looked the same to me, that is why I thought they are the same person in disguise. I thought it was facial blindness coupled with paranoia.

As I got older, my social skills improved and no longer had that problem.

I should talk about it more with my psychiatrist.

It's very much part of prospognosia...
It just needs to be clarified.
Here you can (if you feel like it) say a lot about this problem of yours.
I understand: it's not a good thing at all.

Consider that I have a memory that a doctor estimated at over 100 million letters, numbers, and words sequentially.

On colors, 10 million on tests.
Women have even a hundred million.

A scientific study has proven it.

Now: I rule out that my memory for images is very high.

The point is that the etiology could be varied.

A trauma, or an anxiety disorder...
More.

You need to think it over, think it over, then go to a doctor who specializes in memory disorders.

It's not to be underestimated at all.

You've improved.

§
Those affected may have difficulty distinguishing between familiar and unfamiliar faces, or even recognizing their own face.
Symptoms and Manifestations
Inability to Recognize: Difficulty or inability to recognize people's faces, including family and friends.
Search for Alternative Cues: The person may learn to identify others through other aspects such as voice, clothing, posture, smell, or other unique details.
Social Anxiety: Social situations can become stressful due to the fear of not recognizing someone.
Difficulty with Images: In more severe cases, the person may even have trouble recognizing their own face in photographs or in the mirror.
Causes and Types
Acquired Prosopagnosia: It can result from brain damage, such as that caused by a stroke or traumatic injury.
Developmental (Congenital) Prosopagnosia: It is present from birth and is due to a defect in the development of the facial recognition process.
Implications
Prosopagnosia is considered an underappreciated disorder that can significantly impact the social life of those who suffer from it.
There is no specific cure, but compensatory strategies are available to help patients manage the condition.

In your last post, you wrote some useful things.
Also to help you understand.

For example, I don't even know what my neighbors look like.

Not that I care.
But with important people in my social life, it becomes important.

*It doesn't sound like paranoia to me.

From your description.

It could be related to mental blindness.