The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	Two patients with dementia who showed the delusion that deceased spouses were still alive -implication for the pathogenesis underlying "nurturing syndrome"
Language	J
AuthorList	Minoru Matsuda
Affiliation	Seizankai Group Izuminomori Clinic
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 39 (2), 175-183, 2023
Received	Jan 16, 2023
Accepted	Mar 1, 2023
Abstract	Two patients were reported who developed the delusion that their deceased spouses were still alive. Both patients were noticed to be morbid by their behavior of asking the police to search for their recently deceased spouses. They were diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease, mainly because of episodic memory impairment, but in patient 1, the right hemispheric cerebral infarction was assumed to be one factor contributing the delusion formation. Both patients were characterized by the conflicting symptoms during the same period. At the one hand, they acknowledged the death of their spouses in the conversation with the physician. At the other, especially when they were leaved alone, they showed the actioning out according to the delusion that the deceased were "still alive". In addition, the patient 2 misidentified the photograph of the deceased wife as the real living person. Clarification of the confusion in the definition of the "nurturing syndrome" is attempted and its pathogenesis is discussed.
Keywords	nurturing syndrome, right hemisphere damage, reality monitoring deficits, emotion, loneliness