In a recent interview, actor Brad Pitt stated that he suffered prosopagnosia, a rare neurological disorder generally referred to as “facial blindness.” In a New York Times piece,

Dani Blum discusses the disorder’s symptoms, underlying causes, and treatment possibilities.

Prosopagnosia symptoms Per Northwestern Medicine behavioral neurologist Borna Bonakdarpour, prosopagnosia is characterized by face blindness,

not color blindness or vision impairment. The illness is not linked to learning impairments, vision problems, or memory loss, according to the NIDDSS. Blum says it’s different from forgetting or having trouble finding the correct term.

Different people have different degrees of prosopagnosia.

Some people may struggle to recognize a close friend or relative, while others may struggle to recognize their own reflection. Some people cannot distinguish faces from objects.

Some research suggests that prosopagnosia sufferers may have chronic anxiety or depression due to isolation and fear.

Blum notes that some avoid family and close friends for fear of not connecting or appreciating them. She adds that prosopagnosia makes basic social interactions difficult.

Pitt told GQ that he has had trouble recognizing faces for years despite never being diagnosed with prosopagnosia.

In a 2013 Esquire interview, Pitt said he often had to separate himself because he had trouble recognizing faces. So I stay home, he said.

The problem’s cause?

Most people with prosopagnosia are congenital or acquired.

However, up to one in 50 people may develop the disorder, and scientists believe it may run in families. Blum says research “suggests that congenital, or lifelong, prosopagnosia is less prevalent.”

Andrey Stojic, Cleveland Clinic director of general neurology, says children born with the condition “don’t seem to have any visible structural abnormality” in the brain. Since congenital prosopagnosia patients have no brain lesions, doctors don’t know what causes it.

Later-life prosopagnosia may be caused by brain abnormalities from trauma or head injury. Bonakdarpour says strokes and Alzheimer’s can cause prosopagnosia.

What prosopagnosia treatments exist?

As of right moment, prosopagnosia cannot be treated, claims Bonakdarpour. But the issue can be resolved. People with the syndrome typically make an effort to tell people apart by focusing on physical traits like voice, stride, or hair color.

Neurologists typically reach the diagnosis with the aid of a battery of exams that gauge a person’s memory and face recognition abilities. Blum continues, “it can be a drawn-out process because doctors frequently take care to confirm that a patient’s face blindness is not a sign of a more severe degenerative neurological illness.

It’s interesting to note that many sufferers of the condition, like Pitt, won’t receive a formal diagnosis. According to Stojic, many of the challenges he is describing and the problems he is facing are common occurrences for people.

It might be relatively debilitating for some, he continued.Others find it challenging to understand.