Hemineglect Or How Half Of Our Body Ceases To “exist “
Have you heard of hemineglect? It is a type of disorder that occurs frequently in people who have suffered brain damage. If we try to go to the root of the word, we could intuit its meaning. However, there are many different types of hemineglect.
The morpheme “hemi-” tells us about the middle of something. In this case we will refer to our visual field. The “-negligence” speaks of carelessness or lack of attention towards something. An oversight that leads us to make mistakes that would pose a risk to oneself and to their environment.
If we approach this concept to the world of brain damage, we will understand that hemineglect would imply a lack of attention to half of our body. More specifically, it would imply absolute inattention to all stimuli (auditory, tactile, visual …) that occur in that half of our body.
Hemineglect and its power to make what is to our left disappear
Somehow it is as if they do not see what is happening in that half of their bodies. It is curious to see this, since this is the feeling that we get when we are talking or observing a patient who has hemineglect.
In truth, they perfectly perceive the stimulus that is presented to them in that visual field. The problem lies in attention. They do not attend to that part of your body. It is as if it ceased to exist. But when they are urged to focus their attention that way, they end up perceiving it perfectly. Whatever the stimulus, they are aware of it.
As we already know, in our brain you can see two different hemispheres. When there is brain damage in one of the hemispheres, the part of our body that is located in opposition to the hemisphere that has been damaged is especially affected. That is to say, the contralesional part of our body is affected.
When the right hemisphere is damaged, our left side suffers
Therefore, if the damage has occurred in the right hemisphere, the most affected part will probably be the left. On the contrary, if the damage has occurred in our left hemisphere, the right part of our body will be affected. This bodily involvement can range from hemiparesis (partial paralysis) to hemiplegia (total paralysis) among others.
Normally hemineglect occurs in lesions that have appeared in the right hemisphere. It is usually the most common. Therefore the left side is the one that is affected. A side to which those affected stop paying attention because it is as if it had ceased to exist. They are not oriented to their left side nor are they capable of responding to what is presented to them in this area.
The care of patients with hemineglect is focused only on the side that is controlled by their healthy cerebral hemisphere. Mostly the right side. It is very common to perceive that they do not listen to us when we are speaking to them from their left side. On the other hand, this changes radically when we tell them the same thing, but this time from their right side.
Compensation strategies are the most effective in treating hemine neglect
“Oh, I hadn’t seen you! Excuse me!” it is usually the most common reaction when this happens. Therefore, one of the jobs that is carried out from neuropsychology is to work with that attention that is totally “damaged”. How? Helping them to redirect it towards the contralateral hemispace of the lesion.
We must also increase their awareness of this deficit. Since in many occasions hemiglegiencia is accompanied by anosognosia. That phenomenon by which the patient is not aware of his difficulties.
That is why we have to help them to become aware of their difficulty. Since in this way they can compensate and become their own guides when they do not find what they are looking for. Probably what they do not find is on their left side, the side that “ceased to exist.”
