Affected individuals believe certain non-living objects possess consciousness and can think independently and feel emotion.
The psychosis must coexist with a detectable brain pathology for delusional companion syndrome to be diagnosed.
[1] The syndrome is most often identified in patients who suffer from damage to the brain due to physical trauma, neuronal degeneration or developmental abnormalities.
Shanks and Venneri (2002) found unique and abnormal blood flow centred in the right parietal lobe of three patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Severe processing deficits were found in brain areas responsible for visuospatial and visuoperceptive information, whereas memory and language abilities were preserved relatively well.