What is aphasia?
Aphasia is a complex disorder where someone has difficulties with their speech or language. This usually develops due to damage to the left side of the brain which is the language-dominant side of the brain. Despite not being the only cause of aphasia, stroke, is still by far the biggest determinant in its development. The impact this disorder can have on a person’s life not only has the potential to affect the tasks we carry out on a daily basis but also our mental health.
Symptoms
There are 4 main ways a person uses and understands language, these include:
- Speaking – saying the wrong word, swapping words around
- Listening – not understanding what others are saying
- Reading – reading emails, bills
- Writing or typing – making notes, typing up emails or work
A person with aphasia would have problems with these methods listed above.
Types of aphasia
There are two broad groups for aphasia that are called expressive and receptive. Within these there are several sub-categories.
Expressive aphasia
Someone that has expressive aphasia may have a better understanding of what others around them are saying than their ability to speak. This means that they will know what they want to say but will struggle trying to construct these sentences. The result of this is that their speech is often slow with some pauses as it takes them a great amount of effort to speak. This is also why they may speak in short sentences or phrases. Another trait of this type of aphasia is that they can sometimes miss out words in their sentences.
Receptive aphasia
A person who has receptive aphasia will have problems in trying to understand what others around them are saying or what they are reading. This can cause many daily tasks such as following a tv show, talking with someone or going through bills to become very difficult. In addition to this they may also display symptoms that include not understanding the meaning behind pictures, words or gestures. While talking to someone with aphasia they may speak in long sentences that do not make any sense. Also, unlike expressive aphasia a person with receptive aphasia may not be aware of the problems that they display to others.
Causes
As stated above, the cause of aphasia is due to damage to the brain, in particular, the part of the brain that is responsible for understanding and using language. The damage can be caused in several ways, including:
- Having a stroke
- A tumour in the brain
- A severe head injury
- A condition that causes the nervous system and brain to be progressively damaged over time such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease
- Brain infection
Diagnosis
This would be given following tests carried out by either a doctor or speech and language therapist. These tests would involve several verbal exercises such as following instructions, naming objects around the room and having a conversation. The point of this is to be able to understand this person’s ability to produce and understand language. In addition to this, they can use imaging machines such as MRI or CT scans to be able to locate the part of the brain that has been damaged and assess the extent of it.
Treatment
The main form of treatment for aphasia is speech and language therapy. This helps a person to practise and relearn their language skills whilst also providing a chance to learn other ways to communicate with people and helping the person compensate for their language difficulties.
As is the case with the treatment of all mental health conditions, speech and language therapy is something that is tailor made to fit the specific needs of each person. Therefore, the therapy can either be offered as part of a group session or on a 1-1 basis. The intensity of the therapy sessions can also change as some may find it to be too intensive for them.
Factors affecting success
The rate of success of this treatment is also dependant on what has caused its development. If it has been caused by something like a stroke then there is a chance that patients will make a recovery to a certain degree. However, these chances become slimmer in the face of aphasia being caused by a progressive neurological condition. This means that the treatment will not be able to reverse the damage to the brain that is ongoing. In this case, therapists can take another route where they would focus on teaching them different ways to communicate. These methods could include using pictures, gestures or phone apps. This would be particularly helpful for someone who has difficulty speaking but can type or write. All of these alternative methods would help by getting them prepared for when their ability to speak becomes more difficult.
Involvement of family
The involvement of family members in this treatment process is vital as it allows them to be able to learn how to communicate with their loved one. They can also be taught how to aide and help their communication skills by removing any distractions such as the radio or tv, encouraging all types of communication, avoid correcting their mistakes and giving them plenty of time to talk.
Living with this diagnosis
So much of our lives revolve around communication and our ability to interact with others. This means that living with aphasia can create problems that can potentially damage several aspects of their lives. It can impact your ability to express your needs, ability to work as well as your relationship with loved ones.
This barrier in being able to effectively communicate with those you love can also result in the development of a number of mental health conditions. This can include changes in mood where you become increasingly isolated from those around you due to the fact that some people feel embarrassed and frustrated that they know what they want to say but struggle to get the words out. The potential consequence of this is the development of an anxiety disorder or depression.