Some blind people believe they can see. Some half-paralyzed people are convinced they have full use of all their limbs. "Anosognosia"--a neurological inability to recognize your neurological inability--cuts across conditions, from Alzheimer's disease to frontotemporal dementia to schizophrenia and beyond. It's far from rare, and when it takes hold, it makes treatment more elusive and caregiver burden a whole lot heavier--it's hard to help someone address a problem they're certain they don't have.
At the same time, anosognosia has much to teach us: about how we develop our beliefs about ourselves and the world; about how (and whether) we check our presumptions and notice our own errors; about how we achieve, or fall short of achieving, self-awareness. As neurologist and author V.S. Ramachandran has put it, anosognosia is “…like observing human nature through a magnifying glass.”
And yet, despite its prevalence, its impact, and its inherent interest, anosognosia is essentially unknown in popular culture. I believe it’s time to change that.
With my nonfiction popular science book--The Anatomy of Denial, or, the Many Ways of Not Knowing Oneself--I aim to inspire a public conversation about anosognosia: the challenges it creates for patients, clinicians, and caregivers; what we know about effective interventions; and what anosognosia might reveal about the mind’s talent for misunderstanding itself.