Anosognosia
Anosognosia: A neurological condition where a person is unable to perceive, or is unaware of his or her own illness.
When practicing probate law, I was on the court bailout list. Judges used the list to put probate lawyers on cases that needed them but didn’t have them. Due to being on the bailout list, I represented many clients with mental illnesses, usually people who’d had guardianship petitions filed against them. I was a once-you’re-a-client-you’re-always-a-client kind of lawyer, and guardianship cases never truly end until the protected person dies, so I represented some of those clients for decades.
I ran into anosognosia in its most virulent form while representing young men on the schizophrenia spectrum. I had one client named Chuck, a delightful and maddening client, who had lived in group homes for so long that he had become as expert as the doctors in diagnosing and evaluating people’s mental illnesses, mostly others in his group home. But he was completely unable to see that he exhibited the same symptoms and behaviors he saw in them.
Chuck was adamant. They were mentally ill. He was wrongfully detained.
Anosognosia.
I am alcoholic. At the end of my drinking, I exhibited all the symptoms for Alcohol Abuse Disorder listed in the DSM 5, which meant my condition was severe. My friends knew I was alcoholic. My…
