What to Know About Aphasia (Besides That It Affects Your Speech)

The actor will be retiring due to health issues, including most recently a diagnosis of aphasia, according to his family. Aphasia can affect a person's ability to communicate.

What is aphasia?

Aphasia is an inability to speak or comprehend speech, but they are all related. The word is from Greek and means without speech.

Aphasia is a problem that occurs in the areas of the brain that are responsible for language. A person with aphasia can still have normal cognitive functioning, but they can't say what they mean or understand what they hear.

There is a region of the brain called the Wernicke's area that plays a large role in language processing. A person with Wernicke's aphasia can still speak, but they have trouble understanding others and themselves. One symptom is to speak in long sentences that don't make sense.

There is damage to the area of the brain that is involved in producing language. People with this form of aphasia can say a few words, but have trouble connecting them into sentences.

There are other types of aphasia that affect the ability to repeat what you hear, as well as anomic aphasia, where you can't remember the names of things. Global aphasia can affect several aspects of using language. There are disorders that includeability to read and write. A person may have more than one at the same time.

How do people get aphasia?

Anything that causes brain damage can cause aphasia. One of the most common causes of aphasia is stroke, which can be caused by cardiovascular disease or other conditions that affect the circulatory system. A stroke that affects the left side of the brain can leave a person with aphasia or weakness on the right side of their body, because the language processing areas are on the left side of the brain.

Infections, tumors, and head injuries are some of the conditions that can cause aphasia.

Can you recover from aphasia?

A person who has aphasia can sometimes regain some of their brain function. Speech-language therapy can help the person relearn some of what they lost, but also help them take advantage of their abilities that they didn't lose. A person who has trouble speaking may use gestures or written language.

The National Institute of deafness and communication disorders has more information on aphasia and the Aphasia Institute has resources for patients and families.