Aphasia is a language disorder where people have problems speaking and writing. In some cases, people with aphasia also find it difficult to understand the spoken and written word.
Aphasia is caused by damage to the parts of the brain that are responsible for understanding and using language. Common causes of brain damage that can trigger aphasia include:
- stroke, which is thought to be the most common cause, as around 1 in 3 people experience some degree of aphasia after having a stroke
- severe head injury
- brain tumour
- progressive neurological conditions (conditions that over time cause progressive brain and nervous system damage, such as Alzheimer’s disease)
Types of aphasia
The three most common types of aphasia are:
- Broca's aphasia
- Wernicke's aphasia
- global aphasia
These are described below.
Broca's aphasia
Broca's aphasia, also known as non-fluent aphasia, is where a person has great difficulty speaking and can only manage to string a small number of words together in short, halting sentences. However, it is usually possible to understand the meaning of their speech. For example, a person with Broca's Aphasia might say, "Want...coffee... no...milk".
Wernicke's aphasia
Wernicke's aphasia, also known as fluent aphasia, is where a person is able to speak normally and use long, complex sentences, but the actual words that they use do not make sense, or they include nonsense words in their speech.
One example of speech recorded by a researcher was, “Mother is away here working her work out of here to get her better, but when she's looking, the two boys looking in other part”.
Many people with Wernicke's aphasia are often unaware that their spoken language makes no sense to others and they can become angry or frustrated by the lack of understanding that is shown by others.
Global aphasia
Global aphasia is the most severe form of aphasia. Someone with the condition has difficulty with all forms of communication, including speaking, reading, writing, correctly naming objects or people and understanding other people’s speech.
See Aphasia - symptoms for more information.
How common is aphasia?
Aphasia is one of the most common disorders to affect the brain. Speakability, a leading charity for people affected by aphasia, estimates that there are currently 250,000 people in the UK who have aphasia, with 20,000 new cases occurring each year.
Most people affected by asphasia are 65 or over. This is because stroke and common progressive neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, tend to affect people who are 65 or over.
Aphasia that is triggered by a brain tumour or a severe head injury can affect people of all ages, including children.
Speech and language therapy (SLT)
Speech and language therapy (SLT) is the main type of treatment for people with aphasia. SLT is a general term used to describe a range of different treatments that can help people who have problems with speech and language.
See Aphasia - treatment for more information about SLT.
Outlook
The outlook for people with aphasia depends on the cause of the condition, the extent of the initial brain injury and the severity of symptoms. Depending on these factors, the outlook can range from good to very poor.
However, most people with aphasia will make at least some degree of recovery and many will recover fully. Even if aphasia persists, it does not necessarily mean that a person is unable to live an independent and meaningful life.
The outlook for people with aphasia related to progressive neurological conditions is poor because there is currently no effective method of repairing or preventing the ongoing injury to the brain that is associated with these types of conditions.
