Aphasia

You have undoubtedly heard by now that Bruce Willis has aphasia. Aphasia isn’t a disease – just FYI. The media often gets medical stuff wrong. Aphasia is a symptom; it is a loss of essential language skills – the ability to express one’s thoughts or to understand the thoughts that others express. The former symptom is called Expressive Aphasia, and the latter is called Receptive Aphasia. There are also other adjectives that get attached to “aphasia” that have diagnostic value.

Aphasias typically arise from injury to the left frontal and/or left temporal lobes of the brain where the centers for producing and analyzing speech are located. The former is Broca’s speech area, and the latter is Wernicke’s speech area.

So, having aphasia basically points to some disturbance in those areas of the brain. Aphasia can arise from stroke injuries, brain tumors, and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Fronto-temporal Dementia (FTD). There is also a diagnosis called Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) that may be a variant of FTD. From what has been reported about Mr. Willis, it is unclear whether he has FTD or some other neuro-degenerative condition. I can only say that he is younger than I, more accomplished than I, and likely affected by FTD.

Sigh. I have so enjoyed his movies. It is time for he and his family to sit out the remainder of his career so that they have time to enjoy one another’s presence in this world. 🙁