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Afasia

Definition of Afasia

The term aphasia (afasia in Spanish) refers to a disorder that affects the way a person communicates. It can affect speech, but it can also affect the way a person writes.

SYNONYMS FOR Afasia

  1. Mutism
  2. Muttering
  3. Disorder
  4. Silence

ORIGIN OF Afasia

From the ancient Greek ἀφασία or “inability to speak” this is a term used to denote an individual has an injury and cannot speak, something that usually appears suddenly after a stroke or a severe blow to the head.

However, it is possible that the symptoms appear gradually because of a tumor in the brain with a gradual development, or as a consequence of a disease that causes progressive and permanent damage, i.e. degenerative.

The severity of this will depend on a variety of factors, including the cause and extent of the brain damage.

The main treatment for coping with aphasia incorporates treatment to help the affected person reacquire and practice language skills and learn to use other ways of communicating.

The most common behaviors in people with aphasia can range from saying nonsense sentences, replacing one word or sound with another, speaking in incomplete sentences, saying words that do not exist, to having difficulty getting the words of what they want to express.

They also do not understand what they read or understand other people’s conversations or write sentences that do not make any sense.

Generally, people with aphasia tend to have a variety of strengths and weaknesses in their speech patterns. Sometimes these patterns serve to categorize the different kinds of aphasia.

CURIOSITIES OF Afasia

In early 2022, actor Bruce Willis formally announced his retirement from acting due to aphasia. He is not the only case in Hollywood, as Sharon Stone also suffers from the same condition.