Actor Brad Pitt revealed in a recent interview that he suffers from prosopagnosia, a rare neurological disorder also known as “facial blindness.”
Dani Blum describes the disorder’s signs, causes, and remedies in an article for the New York Times.
Borna Bonakdarpour, a behavioral neurologist at Northwestern Medicine, claims that face blindness—not color blindness or general vision impairment—is the main symptom of prosopagnosia.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke states that there is no connection between the illness and memory loss, vision problems, or learning impairments.
Blum continues, “It is not the same as forgetting or occasionally having trouble finding the correct word.
The severity of prosopagnosia will differ from person to person.
For instance, some people might have problems identifying a familiar face, such as that of a close friend or relative, while others might have trouble identifying their own reflection.
Additionally, some people might not be able to distinguish between faces and objects.
Notably, some data indicates that individuals with prosopagnosia may have chronic anxiety or depression due to the loneliness and fear that are frequently associated with the illness.
Blum notes that some people avoid contact with family members and other loved ones out of concern that they won’t be able to properly recognize or acknowledge them.
“Navigating basic social relationships with prosopagnosia can become difficult,” she says.
Pitt admitted that he has trouble recognizing people’s faces for years in a recent interview with GQ, despite never having gotten a formal prosopagnosia diagnosis.
In fact, Pitt claimed in a 2013 interview with Esquire that his difficulty recognizing people’s appearances was so great that it frequently made him want to isolate himself.
He explained, “That’s why I stay at home.
What is the condition’s cause?
People who are diagnosed with prosopagnosia often fall into one of two categories: either they are born with it or they acquire it.
However, estimations reveal that as many as one in every 50 people may struggle with some lifetime form of the disorder, and experts hypothesize that it may run in families.
According to Blum, research “suggests that congenital, or lifelong, prosopagnosia is less prevalent.”
According to Andrey Stojic, director of general neurology at the Cleveland Clinic, children born with the illness “don’t seem to have any visible structural abnormality” in the brain.
Notably, doctors don’t fully understand what causes congenital prosopagnosia because there aren’t any obvious brain lesions in persons who have it.
In contrast, people who develop prosopagnosia later in life may have brain abnormalities brought on by a trauma or head injury.
According to Bonakdarpour, individuals can also develop prosopagnosia while dealing with Alzheimer’s illness or following a stroke.
What therapies are available for prosopagnosia?
Prosopagnosia is now untreatable, according to Bonakdarpour. The problem can be treated, though.
People who have the syndrome frequently attempt to distinguish between people by focusing on physical characteristics like hair color, gait, or voice.
My wife disowned her parents after our son’s birth – 15 years later, she told me the shocking truth

There are times in life when we are at our best, but in the next moment things take an unlike turn no can ever predict.
The story a man named Henry shared resembles a movie plot. The shocking turn of events changed his family forever in ways he could never expect.
As he explained in his post, following the birth of their son, his wife Candice decided to cut ties with her parents. Although he could never understand the reasons behind this drastic decision, he decided to respect her wishes.
However, over time, he felt torn between his wife and his in-laws who loved their grandson Lucas very much. They always showered him with gifts and attention, and this made it even more difficult for him to understand why his wife got estranged from her parents who seemed to be the perfect grandparents.

Intrigued, he decided to learn the truth no matter the cost.
One day, he confronted his wife and asked her why she didn’t want to see her parents. It was unacceptable that she cut all ties with them all of a sudden. Candice refused to speak about it, but Henry was determined and he even threatened to leave her if she didn’t tell him the truth.
At that moment, Candice broke down in tears and it felt like her entire world collapsed. What she had to stay left Henry in a state of shock. He couldn’t even move as he tried to process his wife’s words.
Candice revealed to him that her parents, who were rich and influential people, wanted a grandson whom they would leave their inheritance to, so when Candice gave birth to a baby girl, they forced one of the nurses at the hospital to switch the girl with a baby boy.

Realizing that Lucas wasn’t their biological son shattered Henry’s heart into a million pieces. At the same time, he wondered where his biological child was and what happened to her.
He couldn’t believe that Candice lived with that secret for so long.
Candice told him that the nurse who helped do the crime regretted her decision and wanted to reveal the truth, but her parents got her fired. All she could do was leave a handwritten note revealing the dark secret.
The next step was finding their daughter, Darcy. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but they eventually tracked the child down and reunited with her. Sadly, the process of taking her back had been a complex one and required plenty of time and long legal battles.

Henry and Candice shared the truth with Lucas and Darcy and both of them accepted it pretty well. The two siblings get along and support each other, and Lucas shows resilience and gratitude for being part of a unique story.
As of Candice’s parents, the family decided not to be close with them as they once were.
Candice had carried the burden of the secret for too long, but she only did that for Lucas.
This truly is an extraordinary story, don’t you think so?
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