Prosopagnosia, also known as facial blindness or facial agnosia, is a neurological disorder in which the ability to recognize familiar faces disappears. Here’s how this rare disease manifests itself and what impact it can have on patients’ daily lives.
Prosopagnosia: common symptoms, treatment
Specialists believe that prosopagnosia in general can cause one or more of the following symptoms:
- Difficulty recognizing the faces of relatives and acquaintances;
- Inability to recognize your face in the mirror or in photographs;
- Difficulty or inability to perceive and recognize one’s own traits;
- Difficulty recognizing other elements associated with facial features, such as age, gender, or race
- Difficulty or inability to perceive and recognize facial expressions.
Consequences of prosopagnosia
Patients with this type of pathology they are able to remember familiar people, such as relatives or friends, and their faces. However, when they see them, they are unable to recognize them.
In this case I take into consideration several aspects to compensate for this lack of recognition: the clothes, the hairstyle, the particularities (scars, freckles, etc.), the way of walking or the tone of the voice.
However, they will not always identify the aspects listed above, so the disorder can have a significant functional impact. And for this reason patients avoida often attend social gatherings or sit in crowded spaces.
Following the investigations, the experts identified cases of avoidance of social interaction in patients, problems in interpersonal relationships and in the professional area, but also depression.
Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment for this pathologybut specialists continue to investigate what causes this condition.
How Prosopagnosia Affects Patients’ Lives
Some patients cope with this disease brilliantly, but it has a significant impact in terms of daily activities. In some cases, interpersonal and social relationships are affected. In extreme cases, the condition can also lead to social anxiety, characterized by fear and avoidance of social situations that can cause embarrassment.
There are two types of prosopagnosia as follows:
- developmental prosopagnosia, in which the patient has no brain damage;
- Acquired prosopagnosia, which the patient presents brain damageoften following a stroke or head injury.
1. Prosopagnosia of development
Developmental prosopagnosia can have a genetic component and be familiar. Patients with this condition have reported at least one first degree relative, such as a parent, brother, or sister, who also has difficulty recognizing faces.
2. Acquired Prosopagnosia
This condition is rare. When a patient acquires prosopagnosia following a brain injury, the loss of the ability to recognize familiar people will quickly be seen.
conclusions
Prosopagnosia can have significant negative repercussions on patients. They may have serious difficulties in recognizing loved ones or acquaintances, and although they use other ways of identification (tone of voice, physical attributes), none of them can be as effective as faces.
In general, the central goal of any therapeutic interventions it should be to help patients identify and develop compensatory strategies.
Sources: The sun, sanitary line
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