Think about the last time you used your phone to find your way somewhere. What would happen if, halfway through the journey, the route instructions vanished or your phone battery died? You might find yourself starting to panic. But once you notice something familiar or are able to ask someone for directions, this will usually subside, and you can adapt.

For some people, though, this feeling of getting lost doesn’t go away. It can even occur when navigating their own home.

Some estimates suggest up to one in 30 people may be affected by developmental topographical disorientation (DTD). This condition has been described as a lifelong inability to orient oneself – even in extremely familiar surroundings.

People with DTD report getting lost frequently (at least a few times a week) since childhood. DTD is not caused by a brain injury, a neurological disease or a psychiatric condition. As far as researchers can tell, this is just simply how their internal navigation system has always worked.

Early research on DTD focused on the extreme cases in people whose disorientation was disruptive enough that they sought professional help. But we now know there’s substantial variation between cases of DTD. Milder forms may pass by unnoticed across a person’s entire lifetime – quietly........

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