Bruce Willis has just announced the end of his career because of aphasia which was diagnosed to him. What do we know about this condition?
This Wednesday, March 30, the family of Bruce Willis announced that the actor could not continue his profession due to cognitive disorders linked to aphasia. Why does this condition prevent the actor from pursuing his acting career?
Aphasia is actually a consequence of the central nervous system, rather than a disease that one develops. It represents the impairment of specific areas of language in the brain. This condition has a direct impact on the actions of language, oral and body.
People with aphasia may have difficulty reading, writing, speaking and understanding certain elements of language. For example, when one is affected by aphasia one will tend to confuse certain words, say hot instead of cold. Oral sentence formation becomes complex and results in jerky, telegraph-like language.
Aphasia also has an impact on the body. The gestures of the person with aphasia can be disturbed or inadequate depending on the situation. It is difficult to associate gestures with words.
Several causes cause aphasia
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Aphasia often occurs as a result of accidents or other illnesses. Among the most common causes are stroke, head trauma or brain infection, which is called encephalitis in medical jargon.
Aphasia can also be the result of a growing brain tumor or degeneration of the brain due to diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
The family of Bruce Willis explained that the actor was affected by this pathology but without revealing the origin which could trigger lesions and at the same time aphasia.
Can you recover from aphasia?
There are different degrees of aphasia in different patients. We find, in particular, the so-called Wernicke’s aphasia which affects the reception of written and oral language. That known as Broca makes it difficult to speak, the choice of words and therefore oral expression. There is general aphasia, which will then be one of the most serious forms.
The treatment of aphasia is also random. There are no drugs or surgery to restore language functions, only rehabilitation, for example with a speech therapist can help.
But the improvement depends on many factors such as the extent of the lesions, the situation and the age of the patient and his motivation. Some patients recover lost faculties, others are unfortunately no longer in a condition to do so.
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