In an interview with The Daily Beast about Wendy Williams’s recent FTD diagnosis, AFTD CEO Susan L-J Dickinson spoke about the stigma surrounding FTD and the importance of getting an early diagnosis.

FTD’s behavioral symptoms, which are caused by the degeneration of the brain’s frontal lobe, can result in the person with the disease becoming alienated from their loved ones, particularly when a diagnosis has not yet been made, Dickinson said in the Feb. 22 interview.

“If I no longer have empathy toward other members of my family, or if I start making mistakes at work and lose my job, or if I spend the kids’ college fund and buy a Jaguar – and these are all things that absolutely happen when you lose your frontal capabilities – that’s going to damage relationships,” she said.

“Sadly, given those symptoms I described, all the stigma that society attaches to any kind of psychiatric diagnosis can also be at play with people with FTD,” she continued.

Williams’s care team announced the former talk show host’s diagnosis in a Feb. 22 statement. One of the reasons they were motivated to make her diagnosis public was to “to correct inaccurate and hurtful rumors about her health,” as Daily Beast reporter Madeline Roth noted in her article. Williams has faced public scrutiny for her erratic behavior in recent years, and her syndicated talk show was canceled in 2022 amid growing concerns about her mental well-being.

Getting an FTD diagnosis can be challenging – Dickinson notes that it takes up to four years on average to be accurately diagnosed with FTD due, among other reasons, to its symptomatic overlap with other neurological or psychiatric conditions. But a diagnosis can also be a source of relief, as families are able to ascribe their loved one’s changing behavior to a concrete cause.

“As difficult as this diagnosis is to deal with, being able to have a label and a reason and validation is huge,” Dickinson told The Daily Beast. “And it does give you a pathway to finding a compassionate and supportive community, to finding accurate information, and being able to take some control.”

Dickinson also noted reasons for optimism. While there are currently no disease-modifying treatments approved for FTD, Dickinson said, “we have eight drugs in clinical trials right now. So we have more promising therapeutic candidates than we’ve ever had before.

“[It’s an] incredibly hopeful time,” she added.