Feinberg Anosognosia And Suicide Summary

A seemingly normal man sits on the exam table in a doctor’s office. He was just referred from the emergency room of the hospital moments earlier and his wife is outside the door, making a call. Neurologist and author of Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self walks in and introduces himself as Dr. Feinberg. The man calls himself John and offers his right hand for Feinberg to shake. Then, to Feinberg’s astonishment, he sees his patient had “what looked like severe chemical burns on his hands; the skin was actually seared away, exposing the muscle and bone” (Feinberg 2). When asked about the condition of his hands, John replies that he was doing some work around the house and had a few “little burns.” Because of damage to a certain part …show more content…
“Anosognosia is not simply denial of a problem, but the genuine inability to recognize that the problem exists” (Thompson 1). It’s not simply a human emotion, it is a consequence of a major brain injury. It begins when there is injury to the frontal lobe of our brain. “When the frontal lobe isn’t operating at 100%, a person may lose—or partially lose—the ability to update his or her self-image” (Doty 1). This begins when the right side of the damaged frontal lobe can no longer detect day to day differences and incorporate them into current life, so our self image to become frozen in time. The left side of our brain will then do everything it can to convince you nothing has changed and “maintain continuity of belief, using denial, rationalization, confabulation and other tricks to keep one’s mental model of the world intact” (Stevenson 1). It makes complete sense that a patient with this sort of brain damage would deny having a disease because they are only able to see themselves as how they were before the disease. Anosognosia victims need to understand reality, but their brain won’t allow it. They are at war with their own …show more content…
“Anosognosia effects 81% of those with Alzheimer’s disease” (Stevenson 1) and it may worsen as Alzheimer’s progresses. The first symptom of Alzheimer's is often difficulty remembering new information. Although, as it progresses the symptoms become more severe and could lead to confusion, disorientation, and suspicions of family, friends and caregivers. “I have found that women with Alzheimer’s disease, especially those who have outlived their husbands, tend to misidentify a daughter” (Feinberg 34). For example, Emma, an eighty year old patient of Feinberg’s, claims to have two daughters named Betty. She claims one of them to be the “real Betty” and the other to be the “assistant Betty.” Emma says the real Betty has “darker hair”and has a “shorter temper” compared to the assistant Betty. She believes the assistant Betty has taken the real Betty’s place and that the real Betty abandoned her because she wasn’t a good enough mom. Alzheimer’s has progressed to the point where she is not only excessively confused and but also becoming depressed over the delusional loss of her daughter. Emma can’t remember or comprehend she has a mental disease, so she therefore has anosognosia. Despite what doctors and other trusted individuals tell her, she still doesn’t believe she has only one daughter. In this case of Alzheimer’s and many others, if the patient was only able to understand the