Aphasia is a condition that seriously affects your ability to communicate. It can affect the individual’s verbal and written skills and often it occurs after an accident of head injury. The cells of the brain are affected severely causing disruption of communication. The portion of the brain that controls the language and communication skills is seriously affected in Aphasia. However this disease does not affect the individual’s intelligence. This communication disorder can be treated by improved communication methods and by practicing various modes of language skills.
Causes :
Often the condition of aphasia occurs after a stroke or brain injury. This disorder develops after there is sudden block of blood flow or due to sudden rupture in the major blood vessel of the brain. It causes serious damage to the cells of the brain or cell death that involves in communication and language. A head injury or stroke or a tumor or an infection in the brain cells can be the cause of aphasia.
For some people there will be progressive degeneration of brain cells that controls the language. In later stages the affected person will eventually develop dementia. In some cases there can be temporary aphasia due to uncontrolled seizures or due to transient ischemic attack which disrupts the normal blood flow in the brain. The affected person will regain the verbal skills once the condition is reversed. It is reported that more than 40-50% of the people who develop a stroke will get aphasia.
Types :
There are many types of aphasia and it causes disruption of communication in various degrees.
- Expressive aphasia is one in which the affected person will know exactly what he/she wanted to express but will have difficulty in telling it. It occurs when the cells of language network gets seriously affected in the frontal portion of the brain. In this type often the listener can understand what the person is trying to communicate. This type is also called as Broca aphasia or Non fluent aphasia.
- Fluent aphasia is one where the middle portion of the frontal lobes of the brain is damaged. A person affected with fluent aphasia can speak fluently or read sentences but he cannot understand the meaning of the words. They cannot understand what they are talking and end up talking nonsense. They often use irrelevant words or unrecognizable words and the person who listens cannot understand what they are trying to communicate.
- Anomic aphasia is one in which the person will have problems in finding relevant words while talking. This would cause difficulty in talking and writing.
- Global aphasia is the serious type and most prevalent type which a person develops after a stroke or head injury. Here the person’s ability to speak or read is seriously affected. There will be extensive damage to the language network portion of the brain which leads to severe disability of speech and understanding.
- Primary progressive aphasia is very rare type in which the person’s ability to talk or write will get reduced gradually. Here the affected person will often use gestures to communicate and can improve their verbal skills by speech therapy.
In severe cases aphasia can affect the quality of life of the person causing disturbed relationships or loss of job.