Délires de reduplication mnésique : connaissance de soi et perplexité identitaire

Objective

An inconsistency in the sense of self does not necessarily follow from a deficit of autobiographical memory.

Patients and methods

We report two cases of memory reduplication with delusion, one concerning an event reduplication memory, the other one a spatial reduplication memory.

Results

The first patient, J.M., presents with a confusion of identity, which forces him to search for some evidence in his imaginary memory. The second patient, R.B., remembered having juxtaposed two separate geographical sites, became aware of his false conviction, and finally attempted to find explanations for this perceptual illusion.

Conclusion

Impairment of self-knowledge can be caused not only by a memory deficit, but also by a difficulty of subject to incorporate an imaginary history in his memory (narrative identity), particularly when reality is not coherent with the imaginary history.