Breezy Explainer: What is aphasia? The disorder affecting Bruce Willis

Famous Hollywood actor Bruce Willis recently got diagnosed with aphasia. Bruce’s family put out a statement about Bruce giving up on acting after the diagnosis of the disease. Willis began his acting career in the 1980s and rose to fame after playing police officer John McClane in the 1988 action film Die Hard. 

What is Aphasia?

Damage to a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension causes aphasia, a language impairment. Aphasia makes it difficult for a person to communicate effectively with others. As a result of a stroke, many people get the disorder. Men and women are equally afflicted, and most people with aphasia are in their middle to late years. It is frequently associated with speech abnormalities such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, both of which are caused by brain injury.

3 common types of aphasia

• Broca
• Wernicke
• Global

Causes of aphasia

Damage to the language-dominant side of the brain, generally the left, causes the disorder. Here are certain probable causes of the disease: 

• Stroke
• Head injury
• Brain tumor
• Infection
• Dementia

What are the symptoms of aphasia? How can it be diagnosed?

The symptoms are dependent on the type of aphasia a person has. For example, people with Broca aphasia, also known as expressive aphasia, may delete the words “and” and “the” from their vocabulary and speak in short but intelligible phrases. They can typically understand some of what others are saying. People with Broca’s aphasia frequently suffer right-sided weakness or paralysis of the arm and leg since the lesion occurs in the front section of the brain, which is also crucial for motor motions. Wernicke aphasia, also known as receptive aphasia, causes people to speak in long, complex phrases, add needless words, or make up new words. Others’ speech is usually difficult for them to grasp. People with global aphasia have trouble speaking and also understanding language.

Moreover, since this is a language impairment disease, the easiest way to get the diagnosis done is via speech and language tests. However, sometimes these tests are not enough. There are also several other ways to diagnose this. They are:

• CT Scan
• MRI
• PET Scan 

Treatment

The treatment will vary depending on your injuries, allergies, and also medical conditions. The condition can be improved by speech-language therapy, nonverbal communication therapies, and group therapy with family. 

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