Shenaz Treasury, Brad Pitt suffer from Prosopagnosia
Ishq Vishk actress Shenaz Treasury has revealed that she is suffering from a condition called Prosopagnosia. Recently, Hollywood star Brad Pitt also said that he remained undiagnosed with Prosopagnosia. Many are now wondering what this disorder is all about and how it affects a person's ability to function in their day-to-day lives.
What is Prosopagnosia?
Prosopagnosia is an inability to recognise people’s faces. It is otherwise known as face blindness. Normally, an individual can recognise and remember 5000 plus faces throughout their lifetime. However, people who suffer from Prosopagnosia have difficulty recognising people's faces out of context. To compensate for their deficit, patients use their other senses and cues such as voice, shapes, and anomalous contours of the face for recognition. However, they are not enough to recognise familiar faces.
Read: This itchy skin disease found less in women than men
How Prosopagnosia affects patients' lives?
This condition has a psychological and social impact. Peculiarly, patients complain of having trouble following television shows and movies because they cannot visually keep track of characters. Prosopagnosia can be acquired or hereditary. Acquired cases can result from ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, traumatic brain injury, certain kinds of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric illnesses like Alzheimer disease, depression, and schizophrenia.
Shehnaz and Pitt 'ashamed' of their disorder
Both Pitt and Shehnaz who have Prosopagnosia have said that they are ashamed of their conditions. Shehnaz wrote in her Instagram stories, "It takes me a minute to register who the person is- sometimes even a close friend I haven't seen in a while." She added that she is ashamed of her condition of not being able to recognise people due to face blindness.
Read: Monkeypox declared a pandemic by WHN: Ways to prevent yourself from viral infection and treatment
Pitt recently said the same thing revealing his Prosopagnosia diagnosis. He said, "I want to remember the people I meet. I’m ashamed that I can’t." He struggled to remember new people, to recognize their faces and feared it’s led to a certain impression of him: that he’s remote and aloof, inaccessible, self-absorbed.
