IDENTIFYING MISIDENTIFICATIONS - A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

This study assessed how well the current classification system of the delusional misidentification syndromes (DMSs) represents the full rang e of misidentification phenomena encountered in self-descriptions of p sychotic patients, To this end, a sample of 58 self-descriptions of ex -patients who had suffered from an episode of psychosis were reviewed. Misidentifications fitting the definition of one of the DMSs were ide ntified in only 3 cases, whereas those fitting a general and broad def inition were identified in 16 cases. It is argued that the restrictive nature of the currently dominant DMSs classification may have led to the neglect of a wide range of misidentification phenomena which do no t fit the descriptions of any one of the classic DMSs, Proper identifi cation, description and classification of these non-DMS misidentificat ion phenomena is needed.