How does anosognosia affect my body?

How does anosognosia affect my body?

Your brain keeps track of what’s going on with your body using a “self-image.” If you have an injury, your body updates your self-image to reflect that, and it will keep updating as your body heals. People with anosognosia have damage in the areas of their brain that update their self-image.

Because that person’s mind can’t update their self-image, they can’t process or recognize that they have a health problem. That’s what makes this condition different from the kind of denial described by the Kübler-Ross model (commonly known as the five stages of grief). A person in denial rejects or avoids accepting reality because it’s unpleasant or distressing. A person with anosognosia can't recognize the problem at all.

Because they can’t recognize they have a medical problem, people with this condition often don’t see the need to care for that problem. In more severe cases, they actively avoid or resist treatment.