Anosognosia

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Anosognosia is a condition in which a person with a disability is cognitively unaware of having it due to an underlying physical condition. It is one of the several types of agnosia. Anosognosia results from physiological damage to brain structures, typically to the parietal lobe or a diffuse lesion on the fronto-temporal-parietal area in the right hemisphere, and is thus a neuropsychiatric disorder. A deficit of self-awareness, the term was coined by the neurologist Joseph Babinski in 1914, in order to describe the unawareness of hemiplegia. Phenomenologically, anosognosia has similarities to denial, which is a psychological defense mechanism; attempts have been made at a unified explanation. The name derives from Ancient Greek: ἀ-, a- ('without'), νόσος, nosos ('disease'), and γνῶσις, gnōsis ('knowledge'). It is considered a disorder that makes the treatment of the patient more difficult, since it may affect negatively the therapeutic relationship. Anosognosia is sometimes accompanied...

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