Murderous psychosis
The in 1923 first described Capgras-syndrome is a psychiatric disorder that makes concerned persons believe their partners were dead and have been replaced with an impostor. Increased communication via social networks gives new definition to the term identity in the 21st century and shows parallels to the symptoms of the Capgras-syndrome. Are there new, media-related disease-patterns emerging?
An unusual motive for murder has been worrying forensic psychiatrists during the last years. In more than 130 cases worldwide, men and women have been murdered by their partners, because these believed them to be dead and having been replaced by a Doppelgänger, a so called Double. This once very rare psychiatric disorder is described as the Capgras-syndrome, it goes back to psychiatrist Joseph Capgras and belongs to the group of delusional misidentification syndromes. But what explains the dramatic increase of "Capgras-murders"?
For one thing, virtuality, is what the rarely agreeing media scientists and philosophers conclude. Social networks like Facebook only seem to display of ones individuality. Through making everyone having to stage their individuality, Facebook and StudiVZ (popular german site, similar to Facebook) are really rendering the identity of the subject, the coherence of oneself vulnerable. Questioning the others identity, his "realness", shows conspicious parallels to the Capgras syndrome and concerned persons lack of ability to identify others: The partner is physically recognized, but not emotionally. This induces a state of stress, this feeling of dissonance can only be relieved through the construct of an impostor.
Will we be facing a multitude of media-related disease patterns? Will there be an epidemic of Capgras-murders? Does the Capgras-syndrome even exist? Or is it only supposed to explain something which has been filling the minds of mankind with terror for thousands of years: The irrational fear of Doppelgängers and the secret of duplicity?
Mareen Fischer
Kommentare von Besucher !
