One of the forms of visual agnosia is simultaneous. In medical guides you can find another name for pathology - Balint syndrome. It is characterized by a violation of the ability to perceive several objects simultaneously.
Agnosia and its varieties
Based on the type of incoming information, various types of agnosia are distinguished. All of them are united by one factor - the inability of the patient to perceive a certain type of information.
There are three main types of agnosia:
- visual;
- auditory;
- violation of tactile and spatial sensations.
Each form of the disease, in turn, is divided into subspecies. For example, auditory pathology is simple, auditory and tonal. Visual agnosia is divided into objective, color, simultaneous. We will dwell on the last variety of the disease in more detail.
What is simultaneous agnosia?
This is the loss of a person's ability to recognize the configurations of objects and objects that make up unity. The field of view is reduced to the perception of only one object.
For the first time this pathology was described by M. Balint in 1909. A psychiatrist from Hungary traced the relationship between damage to the occipital-parietal region of the brain and a narrowing of the patient’s visual perception. The patient distinguished between objects and their images, but at the same time he could not see several objects.
The mechanism of development and manifestation
Simultaneous agnosia occurs due to right-sided or bilateral damage to the occipital-parietal region of the brain. The moment of perception of information visually with this ailment consists in the ability to process only one operational unit of information, which is currently the object of attention.
For example, if you ask him to put a point in the center of the circle, he will not be able to cope with the task. In this case, the perception of 3 objects at the same time is required. We are talking about the boundaries of a circle, its center and the tip of a pencil or pen. In this case, the patient can only see one of the necessary three objects.
Quite often, simultaneous agnosia is accompanied by a violation of reading skills. The patient cannot read the whole word, although he is able to perceive each letter individually. At the same time, difficulties with writing them are not diagnosed.
A serious manifestation of the pathology is considered to be Balint syndrome. With this ailment, it is difficult for the patient to hold his gaze in only one direction or to fix it on the object. Another manifestation of the disease is fragmented perception, which is characterized by seeing only a part or detail of an object. For example, if the patient is shown a table lamp and asked what he sees, the answer in the form of an ashtray will surprise many. The thing is that a person is able to consider only the lower part of an electrical device.
Diagnostic Methods
To identify simultaneous agnosia, the prospective patient needs to perform a simple test. During the proofreading test, he is offered letters of various sizes, which must be crossed out. In case of illness, the patient will miss large letters. To correctly recognize them, you need to cover a large area of space with your eyes and fix your gaze on it.
When omission of capital letters is noted, it means that vision is not impaired, and the disorder is central, not peripheral. A corrective test allows the doctor to confirm the diagnosis of "simultaneous visual agnosia."
Therapy Features
The treatment of the disease is prescribed by a specialist after a full examination. Trying to overcome the disease on your own is not recommended, since such an approach can lead to irreversible consequences. To eliminate agnosia, one should overcome the main pathology, which became the cause of its occurrence. Therefore, each case must be considered individually.
In most cases, treatment lasts no more than three months. Some patients require up to six months to cope with simultaneous agnosia. A positive result is largely determined by the age group of the patient and the severity of the lesion.
The ambassador of the course of therapy is recommended to take a course of adjustment of the patient's condition. Therefore, doctors advise:
- engage in occupational therapy;
- attend speech therapy classes;
- Do not neglect psychotherapeutic sessions;
- engage with specialized educators.
In case of agnosia, you need to constantly monitor blood pressure, in case of acute need to take medications to improve blood flow and brain nutrition. If a patient was diagnosed with a brain tumor during the examination, surgery is mandatory to eliminate it.
Prevention Methods
Specific measures to prevent visual agnosia do not exist. However, doctors recommend that you follow these tips:
- observe the regime of work and rest;
- completely abandon alcohol, smoking;
- adhere to a healthy lifestyle;
- monitor blood pressure indicators;
- timely diagnose and treat all diseases.
Agnosia is a rare disease, but its manifestations cannot be ignored. Lack of treatment can lead to irreversible consequences.