Real Life Zelig

Zelig is one of my all-time favorite movies. In the movie: Leonard Zelig as a defensive mechanism developed the condition of spontaneously transforming to become like the people he is with.

It's great because it spoofs the kind of insecurity and pressure we all feel to be accepted -- in droll Woody Allen style.



Well now it turns it there's a Real-Life Zelig.

"Now psychologists in Italy have reported the real-life case of AD, a 65-year-old whose identity appears dependent on the environment he is in. He started behaving this way after cardiac arrest caused damage to the fronto-temporal region of his brain.

When with doctors, AD assumes the role of a doctor; when with psychologists he says he is a psychologist; at the solicitors he claims to be a solicitor. AD doesn't just make these claims, he actually plays the roles and provides plausible stories for how he came to be in these roles."