Anosognosia with Behavioral Health Disorders

If you notice people forget to take medicine or get a haircut, then, these people are not stubborn, but they are suffering from a condition called Anosognosia. Mostly you notice these things with people who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. This condition affects their thoughts and moods (which don’t reflect reality for the brain to process). As a result, they are not able to maintain their self-image properly. This condition has no cure, treatment for anosognosia only makes them realize their symptoms so they take treatment for an underlying condition that leads to this condition. Visit the best Mental Health Clinic in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness or log on to www.doralhw.org.

Learn about the causes of anosognosia in this article.

What causes Anosognosia?

This condition is caused by damage that happens to an area of the brain that involves self-reflection. It is a function that creates a perception of yourself throughout life situations. For example, if you’re going to take a haircut, then you first imagine how you want to look and how much hair should be cut down to look that way.

This is a complex ongoing process that takes the help of the frontal lobe to take in the latest information, organize it, and use it to edit your self-image. The one you will remember. And if any damage happens to the frontal lobe due to injury or conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, it loses its ability to analyze the current information to make your self-image. And that condition is called anosognosia.

However, keep in mind, not all anosognosia patients lose all their abilities. Some also experience partial loss too. While they claim they are healthy, the diagnosis shows they aren’t.

Symptoms

The most common symptom you notice is that people start losing their understanding, awareness, or acceptance that they have a medical condition even when there’s a lot of evidence or action proof that shows their illness. In some cases, people try to cover up their symptoms, but they are not able to recognize all the symptoms.

This condition can make the person not do one or more of the following:

Recognizing their illness or medical problem.
Recognizing the signs or symptoms of the condition that they experience.
Understand their signs and symptoms according to that condition.
Understand their condition and agree to take treatment.

In some cases, people avoid the truth of their condition because they do it consciously even without realizing it. Some might experience imaginary things or places because their mind fills the gaps with false memories.

Other symptoms include:

One-sided sensory or movement problems:

This condition affects one side of the body and causes these key symptoms such as:

Hemiplegia: It means paralysis of one side of the body (people who can’t use one side of the body still believe they can).
Hemisensory loss: Loss of your senses including vision, hearing, touch, or sensory feeling of one side of the body.

Anton’s syndrome (visual anosognosia):

This is a rare type of anosognosia that affects eyesight in one or two ways such as:

Denial of blindness: When a blind person does not accept that they are blind. This affects both eyes with some exceptions such as gun-barrel vision, in which a person can see only the central field of vision.

Denial of vision: When a person believes that they are blind but symptoms and testing show that they can see. This is rarer than denial of blindness.

Need help with any kind of behavioral health disorders, then call us at 1-347-384-5690 to schedule a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctor or psychiatrist to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Doral Health and Wellness has the best Doctors and Psychiatrists that specialize in Behavioral Health make accurate diagnoses, and craft tailored treatment programs. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.