Face Blindness Anyone?

[Deleted member 35429]

I read once that Brad Pitt says he suffers from "Face-blindness" and he has to see people many times before he can recognize them. I definitely have this problem and I've always joked I have faceblindness like Brad Pitt(because it's such an absurd Hollywood fake illness).

So now I'm realizing that I've had this maybe not coincidently since my trauma. I wonder if this is more derealization? Is that possible?

I have to meet people many times before I remember their face, it's bad enough that I never say, "nice to meet you" because I can assume I've met them numerous times and just can't recall their face.

Anyone else experienced this? If so, is it possible this is from dissociation/derealization?

 

[joeylittle]

because it's such an absurd Hollywood fake illness

Prosopagnosia - Wikipedia

It's a real condition. Two forms: acquired and congenital. With congenital prosopagnosia, there is rarely recovery. Acquired is most commonly the result of trauma to the brain.

I don't know if Brad Pitt actually has it or not, but the condition itself is fairly nuanced. The wiki link is quite good.

 

[Crow]

Me! Mine stems from attachment issues. I've worked at the same place for 14 years and still have to listen to voice to make sure I know who I'm talking to. Took 10 years for me to recognize T. And whenever I go to see estranged family, it's like meeting people for the first time. So hearing to identify people is my saving grace.

 

[Deleted member 35429]

Prosopagnosia - Wikipedia

It's a real cond...

I guess I should clarify that I don't mean the illness itself is fake. It's just funny how Hollywood types seem to also conveniently have pretty dramatic disorders.

 

[Friday]

I'm pretty much the opposite. When I see someone's face, really see them, it's not only there for good but I've got a kind of editing software in my brain that let's me do age progression forwards and backwards, as well as a number of other conditions (injuries, health, climate, emotion, etc.). Same token, I've got this insane repository of wrinkles in my brain. Anyone who's face is old enough to crease? I can read you their lives, on it. Easy smiles look different than forced smiles, various kinds of anger lines, etc. And then there's the minutiae. Americans hold their eyebrows about 1/5th of an inch higher than Europeans, for example. (That's one reason why computer aided skeletal facial reconstruction always looks "wrong" in anthropology & criminology studies. Its because the small muscles of the face hold features in different ways, not only according to mood, but also the region of their childhood. So when you see a mockup done? There are about 400 points of difference between the "blank" and the actual individual.)

It's an artists eye, is all. It all happens in my brain in about 1/5th - 2/3s of a second. Which might seem fast, but in the city I would see thousands of people in an hour. That's a huge amount of time if I was processing all of them. Impossible. Crazy making. Nope. Not gonna do it (unless my hypervig is up, and then all bets are off).

So what I do is I throw up a filter. AKA purposefully avoid looking, really looking, at people. It's a form of disassociation, albeit a purposeful one. When I do that, though, I can't UNdo it. I'll have no memory whatsoever of generalities, much less details. It's very much like walking around with my eyes shut. I can see, but all I see is "person" not "individual". It's a lot like a camera effect of blurred backgrounds where everyone who is not the focus of the shot is indistinguishable from everyone else. Even if they are the only person there, and are only a foot away from me. Once I throw that filter on? I block out all the details that make them visually unique. <<< Also happens to help block connections I don't want. My first half a dozen appointments with the VetCenter guy? Couldn't have told you his relative age, or race, much less picked him out of a lineup. Block. Block. Block. I don't want to seeeee you. Go away. >.< Once I realized I was doing that I made myself stop.

 

[Teamwork]

I'm very much like this but have not been assessed as to when it began. In general I can walk away from a person and not be able to describe them. I have no idea what the person actually looks like. I have two children. One is living away from home and when she visits I have to reassure myself it is my daughter I am speaking to as I have no way to recognize her visually. My daughter that lives with me knows I have trouble so will tease me a bit about not knowing if she has cut or dyed her hair. Recently she misplaced her glasses and I thought I found them for her as they were in the bathroom. She laughed and said, well I've been wearing them all night because I did find them and just now took them off. When I was married my husband would keep a moustache then shave it off and wait to see how long it would take me to realize it was gone. It never got noticed so he would eventually say the do you notice anything different about me? Of course I didn't. This is tremendously difficult for me to live with so the jokes and let's see if she notices get old and makes me feel not understood.

 

[Beks]

I found an online test a while ago on face blindness and result for me was 'lower than average' - it didnt give long to remember the faces though. I get people mixed up quite easily, I have called people by the wrong name for months before, often I only remember one letter from names of things and people and have to describe eg 'it starts with an A' , and often dont know if Ive already met someone before.

 

[gealach]

I don't have face blindness, but something like emotion blindness???? I'm not quite sure what it is exactly, but to me everyone looks angry, blank, or laughing, but just those 3 emotions and nothing in between. It makes reading people and situations really difficult & awkward.