Actor Brad Pitt recently revealed that he had prosopagnosia, a rare neurological condition also known as “facial blindness,” in an interview. In a piece of writing, Dani Blum describes the disorder’s signs and symptoms, underlying causes, and available treatments.
symptoms of prosopagnosia.
Face blindness, not color blindness or general visual impairment, is the main sign of prosopagnosia, according to behavioral neurologist Borna Bonakdarpour of Northwestern Medicine.
The condition has no connection to intellectual challenges, visual problems, or memory loss, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Blum contends that it is distinct from occasionally forgetting or having trouble finding the appropriate term.
The severity of prosopagnosia can vary from person to person. Some people might have trouble recognizing the face of a close friend or relative, whereas others might have trouble recognizing their own reflection. Furthermore, some people might not be able to distinguish between objects and faces.
Notably, some research indicates that prosopagnosia sufferers may experience ongoing anxiety or depression due to the isolation and fear that are frequently associated with the condition.
Blum notes that some people avoid talking to family members and other close friends out of concern that they won’t be able to recognize or acknowledge them in a meaningful way. She adds that when one has prosopagnosia, navigating basic social interactions can be difficult.
In a recent interview, Pitt claimed that despite never having received a formal prosopagnosia diagnosis, he has struggled to recognize people’s faces for years.
Pitt admitted in a 2013 interview that he frequently felt the need to put himself in a distance because it was so difficult for him to recognize people’s faces. I stay at home because of that, he said.
What is the cause of the issue?
Most people who are diagnosed with prosopagnosia fall into one of two categories: those who have it as a genetic condition or those who have acquired it.
Scientists hypothesize that the illness may run in families, but estimates suggest that up to one in every 50 people may struggle with it throughout their lives. Blum notes that the evidence “suggests that congenital, or lifelong, prosopagnosia is less frequent.”.
Andrey Stojic, the Cleveland Clinic’s director of general neurology, claims that children with the condition “don’t seem to have any evident structural abnormalities” in their brains. Notably, doctors are unsure of the exact cause of congenital prosopagnosia because the condition’s victims don’t appear to have any obvious brain abnormalities.
Though it’s possible for people who develop prosopagnosia later in life to have brain abnormalities brought on by a traumatic event or head injury. According to Bonakdarpour, individuals may experience prosopagnosia as a result of a stroke or while battling Alzheimer’s disease.
What medical procedures can treat prosopagnosia?
Prosopagnosia cannot currently be treated, according to Bonakdarpour. However, a solution is possible. Those who have the condition frequently make an effort to distinguish between people by focusing on physical characteristics like voice, stride, or hair color.
Neurologists frequently make the diagnosis using a battery of tests that assess a person’s recall and facial recognition skills. “It can be a drawn-out process,” Blum continues, “since doctors frequently take care to ensure that a patient’s facial blindness is not a sign of a more serious degenerative neurological illness.
The fact that many patients with the condition, like Pitt, won’t get a formal diagnosis, is interesting to note. Stojic claims that many of the difficulties and issues he is experiencing are typical human occurrences.
He continued, “It might be pretty crippling for some, and hard to understand for others.
