Bruce Willis’ FTD battle: Expert shares warning signs, what to know about the condition

foxnews.com:

Bruce Willis’ frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis is bringing more attention to the rare condition. For World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week, Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, and the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration CEO Susan Dickinson joined NBC's "TODAY" to speak openly about the actor’s health status and details of the disease.

Dickinson, who is based in Pennsylvania, broke down what happens to patients facing FTD, mentioning how the path to a diagnosis can be "one of the most confusing parts." "Because it is less common, most doctors aren’t familiar with it," she said. "It can take almost four years for people to get diagnosed on average." Oftentimes, Dickinson revealed, patients are misdiagnosed with other conditions such as bipolar disorder, depression, Alzheimer’s disease or even Parkinson’s or ALS.

Heming Willis explained how FTD is different from these other cognitive diseases, as the condition can also affect movement and speech.

Dickinson added that it can also impact behaviors, personality and executive functioning, which includes the ability to plan ahead, meet goals, display self-control, follow multistep directions and focus despite distractions, citing Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child.