Aphasia is one of the most significant and common conditions caused by stroke or brain injury. Over 2 million people in the United States are currently affected by aphasia, but few outside the clinical world know what it is. In fact, given its prevalence, most people have encountered someone with aphasia but just don’t know it by name.
It’s important to increase public education about this language disorder and to recognize the many people who are living with or caring for, people with aphasia.
To that end, we’ve written this overview of aphasia: what it is, what causes it, who it affects, types of aphasia recovery, and ways it can be treated.
Aphasia is the loss or impairment of the ability to use or comprehend words, usually resulting from brain injury (including stroke). It is strictly related to language, including speaking, listening, writing, and/or reading. It does not affect intelligence. Just because someone has aphasia does not mean that they are any less intelligent than they were before.
Aphasia affects an individual’s daily life in many ways – just think of what you’re doing right now – you’re reading this blog post or listening to someone read it to you. If your language is affected, you might not be able to read this blog, a newspaper, or even signs on the street. You might not understand your friend on the phone when they call you. You might be in a meeting and just cannot come up with any of the words you need.
Aphasia presents on a spectrum – it can be somewhat mild (for example, constantly feeling like “the word is on the tip of my tongue”), or it can be very severe (for example, feeling like being in a place where you don’t speak the language).
Aphasia affects different systems – e.g., it does not always affect comprehension and it does not always affect reading or writing – it can be very isolated in terms of what language systems it impacts. Everyone is different; depending on what part of the brain was injured.
Over 2 million people in the United States are currently affected by aphasia according to the National Aphasia Association. Nearly 180,000 Americans acquire the disorder each year. Aphasia affects people of all ages, races, nationalities and genders. More than 800,000 people/year have a stroke in the United States, and an estimated 1.7 million experience brain injury, both of which are common causes of Aphasia. The condition is more prevalent than Parkinson’s, ALS, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy.
Anything that damages the language centers of the brain can cause Aphasia, including:
Different components of language may be damaged more or less in each individual with aphasia, resulting in different manifestations of speech and language difficulties. Below are brief summaries of common aphasia types:
This comprehensive chart shows the varieties of aphasia and how each type impacts fluency & comprehension.
Many treatment options are available, often through speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, clinics, or at home. These treatments seek to help those with aphasia to reclaim their lives, and to return to work when possible.
Treatment can be some or all of these activities:
The most important thing to know is that, because of neuroplasticity, there is no end to recovery. The myth that individuals only have one year to recover after a stroke and after that there is no more improvement, has been proven by science to be false. Patients can continue to improve, with the right therapy, for the rest of their lives.
Additional resources for learning more about aphasia can be found at:
Download as PDF: Aphasia – An Overview of this Common but Misunderstood Language Disorder.
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