One man believed about 20 squatters were living in his home and gave them blankets. The squatters were people in his photographs. A woman talked to mirrors, paintings, and photographs, convinced her children were trapped inside them. Another woman placed pictures of her grandson around the house and, according to her doctors, "even prepared breakfast for 'guests' despite being alone."
Doctors in Brussels described these patients, along with a fourth, in a case series in BMJ Neurology Open published March 5, 2026. They propose a name for the behavior: animated picture syndrome, in which a person with dementia comes to believe that people shown in photographs or other still images are alive.
