The “face blindness” syndrome makes American actors easily forget people they have met.

Sharing with GQ, Brad Pitt feared he had created the wrong image of himself: someone who is distant, unapproachable, and only cares about himself. But he believes he is struggling with prosopagnosia – the loss of the ability to perceive faces (face blindness). He has been exhibiting symptoms for many years.

The problem appears when the American actor attends parties or gatherings. “No one believes me. I want to meet everyone,” Pitt confided.

Bradd Pitt believes he has “face blindness” syndrome. Photo: House Beautiful

“A lot of people hate me because they think I don’t respect them,” Pitt told Esquire in 2013. It took him a year to decide to face that syndrome.

He asked everyone: “Where did we meet?” But things only got worse. The person in question felt insulted.

Every once in a while, someone will tell Pitt how they met. The 59-year-old actor replied: “Thank you for helping me.”

That angered some people because they thought Pitt was arrogant. In fact, Pitt cannot grasp the contours of a face.

Diagnosis of “face blindness” usually requires a series of facial recognition tests performed by a neurologist.

What is “face blindness” syndrome?

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, face blindness is characterized by an abnormality, damage or weakening of a fold in the brain that contributes to the perception and memory of faces.

That syndrome affects a person’s ability to recognize faces.

The severity of this syndrome varies from being unable to remember the faces of friends and family members to being unable to distinguish any faces at all.

Bệnh 'mù mặt' của Brad Pitt

Reason

There are two types of “face blindness” with their own causes:

Developmental Prosopagnosia: Some people are born with the condition without any brain damage. This type often exists in family members and is believed to be the result of gene mutation or deletion.

Prosopagnosia onset after brain injury: It can be the result of stroke, traumatic brain injury or some neurodegenerative diseases.

Brad Pitt khổ sở vì mắc chứng khó nhận diện khuôn mặt người khác

There is currently no cure for the syndrome, but there are things you can do to recognize people:

– Tell people about your condition before meeting them

– Ask people close to you to help identify others

– Ask people to introduce themselves when you greet them

– Distinguish people by their voice or body language

– Record a person’s distinctive features such as hairstyle, jewelry or accessories.