A person with aphasia partially or completely loses their ability to speak. Because of his aphasia, American actor Bruce Willis had to stop his career. His relatives regularly provide his news.
L’aphasia is a language and communication disorder which occurs after trauma affecting the brain, Stroke For example. It is estimated that there are approximately 300,000 people with aphasia in France. Because of this illness, the American actor Bruce Willis suffered from it and had to end his career early in April 2022, at the age of 67 years old. According to his wife Emma Heming, interviewed on the American television show “Today” on September 25, 2023, the actor might not be not aware of your health at least it is “hard to know” she explained. Before emphasizing the difficult role of caregiver: “It’s hard for the person diagnosed, it is also hard for his family. And it’s no different for Bruce, myself or our daughters [Mabel et Evelyn]. When they say it’s a family disease, it really is.”
What is aphasia?
Aphasia is a language and communication disorder which occurs after damage to the brain. Depending on the brain area affected, we speak ofBroca’s aphasia or aphasiae Wernicke. Concretely, a person suffering from aphasia encounters difficulties in speaking, understanding, reading, writing and counting but their thinking is not altered.
What is the life expectancy?
In its classic form, aphasia does not necessarily lead to a reduction in life expectancy. Certain forms such as primary progressive aphasia reduce life expectancy. “The disease has an average duration of 8-10 years. Affected people can, over time, develop behavioral problems, movement disorders such as rigidity or weakness, swallowing problems and memory problems,” we can read in a leaflet from the Association For Frontotemporal Degeneration.
The 7 possible symptoms of aphasia
Aphasia does not affect not just languagebut also in many cases understanding, reading and writing. A person with aphasia may:
- Having difficulty finding words (missing the word).
- Distorting words or replacing words with others that are not always related (the language may be incomprehensible)
- Repeating words that keep coming back in your speech
- Poorly construct sentences.
- Having difficulty forming letters and numbers,
- Having difficulty writing or copying words, even familiar ones (name, first name)
- Having difficulty calculating (counting money for example).
Aphasia also causes problems with even simple comprehension (for example, if she is asked what she wants to do today, she may remain speechless due to lack of understanding of the question). The person with aphasia also processes information much more slowly. Talking can be tiring for her.
What are the consequences of aphasia?
Besides the language and communication problems caused by aphasia, this brain dysfunction can be associated with other disorders such as;
- motor disorders (partial or complete paralysis of half of the body)
- swallowing problems
- poor perception of heat and cold, pain
- memory and spatial location problems
- difficulty concentrating
- mood disorders
What is Broca’s aphasia?
Broca’s aphasia (also called “expressive, anterior, or expressive motor aphasia”) which mainly affects speech with symptoms ranging from not finding certain words appropriate to a total inability to speak. It is characterized by a reduction in expression. The individual speaks little, slowly, searches for words. Understanding is generally well maintained.
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
Wernicke’s aphasia (also known as “sensory, reception, or posterior”) which primarily affects the understanding of language, written or oral. The affected person speaks easily or even abundantly, but sometimes they have paraphasias or jargon. When writing, she generally encounters the same difficulties as when speaking.
What is primary progressive aphasia?
Primary progressive aphasia which sets in insidiously, and whose first symptom is usually the lack of the word. People generally have a very good awareness of their language disorder, which generates a lot of frustration and is a source of anxiety. When the aphasia is of the non-fluent type, verbal output is increasingly reduced, going to the point of silence. In the case of fluent type aphasia, the opposite occurs with logorrhea, jargon, significant problems with oral and written comprehension and problems with reading aloud and repetition.
What are the causes of aphasia?
The primary cause of aphasia is‘stroke (stroke). Otherwise it could be a head traumaof a tumorof a aneurysman infection or a neurodegenerative disease of the type Alzheimer’s.
What behavior should you adopt when dealing with a person with aphasia?
- Encourage him to speak or express himself by other means: drawings, mimes, etc.
- Do not speak for him but help him by giving him, for example, the beginning of a word
- Do not correct him every time he makes a mistake as this can be discouraging
- Avoid television, radio when you talk to him
- Face him when you talk to him and look at him
- Talk to him slowly and not necessarily louder
- Make short sentences
What are the tests to diagnose aphasia?
The diagnosis of aphasia is generally made by the neurologist, but it can also be mentioned by the general practitioner (rather in the case of progressive aphasia) or the emergency physician (in particular in the case of sudden aphasia). An additional assessment by a neuropsychologist is recommended to confirm the diagnosis and identify the type of aphasia. Depending on the cause, certain imaging tests such as to scan and/or a MRI of the brain can be requested.
What are the treatments to treat aphasia?
Treatment is based on addressing the cause when it is possible to treat it. Care by a neurologist is therefore necessary in all cases to make the diagnosis and act quickly in the event of a stroke. For example. In the early stages, language may recover quickly due to improvement in general health. This spontaneous recovery must be supported by a speech therapy intensive and targeted, because it is during this initial phase that language functions are most malleable. The goals are to improve language functions, optimize communication and enable active participation in social life.
- Aphasia, what is it?, Bordeaux University Hospital, Clinical Neurosciences Center.