Anosognosia

Anosognosia
Pronunciation
SpecialtyPsychiatry, Neurology

Anosognosia is a condition in which a person with a disability is cognitively unaware of having it due to an underlying physical condition. Anosognosia results from physiological damage to brain structures, typically to the parietal lobe or a diffuse lesion on the fronto-temporal-parietal area in the right hemisphere,[1][2][3] and is thus a neuropsychiatric disorder. A deficit of self-awareness, the term was first coined by the neurologist Joseph Babinski in 1914, in order to describe the unawareness of hemiplegia.[4][5]

Phenomenologically, anosognosia has similarities to denial, which is a psychological defense mechanism; attempts have been made at a unified explanation.[6]

The name derives from Ancient Greek: ἀ-, a- ('without'), νόσος, nosos ('disease'), and γνῶσις, gnōsis ('knowledge').[5] It is considered a disorder that makes the treatment of the patient more difficult, since it may affect negatively the therapeutic relationship.[7] Anosognosia is sometimes accompanied by asomatognosia, a form of neglect in which patients deny ownership of body parts such as their limbs.

  1. ^ Moro V, Pernigo S, Zapparoli P, Cordioli Z, Aglioti SM (November 2011). "Phenomenology and neural correlates of implicit and emergent motor awareness in patients with anosognosia for hemiplegia". Behavioural Brain Research. 225 (1): 259–269. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2011.07.010. PMID 21777624. S2CID 8389272.
  2. ^ Vallar G, Ronchi R (2006). "Anosognosia for motor and sensory deficits after unilateral brain damage: a review". Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. 24 (4–6): 247–257. PMID 17119302.
  3. ^ Vuilleumier P (February 2004). "Anosognosia: the neurology of beliefs and uncertainties". Cortex; A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior. 40 (1): 9–17. doi:10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70918-3. PMID 15070000. S2CID 4482597.
  4. ^ Prigatano, George P.; Schacter, Daniel L (1991). Awareness of deficit after brain injury: clinical and theoretical issues. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 53–55. ISBN 978-0-19-505941-0.
  5. ^ a b Bayne, Tim; Fernández, Jordi (2010-10-18). Delusion and Self-Deception: Affective and Motivational Influences on Belief Formation. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-136-87486-4.
  6. ^ Ramachandran, V. S.; Blakeslee, Sandra (1999). Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. New York: Quill. pp. 113–157. ISBN 978-0-688-17217-6.
  7. ^ Castillero O (21 October 2016). "Anosognosia". Psicología y Mente (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.