specialty focus
Bruce Willis quit the red carpet after being diagnosed with aphasia . Source : Rich Fury / Getty Images .
Lost for words
The impact of aphasia on older people .
Naomi Cocks interviewed by Elise Hartevelt
Hollywood actor Bruce Willis ’ recent announcement to retire from film work due to aphasia has sparked a worldwide discussion about the life-altering effects of living with a neurodegenerative disease .
Over 43 per cent of older people in Australia suffer from aphasia , and Dr Naomi Cocks from the Curtin University School of Allied Health says “ the impact that it has on people ’ s lives is huge ”.
“ Most people with aphasia know what they want to say , but they just can ’ t get the words to say it .
“ And that can be incredibly frustrating , both for the person who has aphasia but also for their family members .”
However , where language is failing , Dr Cocks points out that there are many other ways to communicate .
“ I ’ ve met some amazing people with aphasia who are incredibly inspirational .
“ They can often draw on some really amazing resources to communicate in different ways .”
Cocks joined Aged Care Insite in a conversation about aphasia , how it impacts people ’ s lives and how we can explore other ways to get our words across .
22 agedcareinsite . com . au
ACI : How can someone such as Bruce Willis suddenly develop aphasia ? NC : There ’ s lots of different types of aphasia . Most commonly , people get aphasia from having a stroke . So , the part of the brain where we control language or we produce language and we understand language is damaged during a stroke .
People can also get it from other types of neurological conditions , such as a brain tumour or a head injury . However , there ’ s also another which is a type of dementia called primary progressive aphasia , where the language area of the brain is affected first and the person loses their ability to either understand language or produce language .
Looking at some of the media reports , they ’ ve talked about how Willis has been experiencing some changes for some time , and people have talked about him using an earpiece when he ’ s been doing movies .
So , I suspect he might have the dementia type , the primary progressive aphasia . The cause of that is just like lots of dementias : we don ’ t really know why some people get it and some people don ’ t .
What are some of the symptoms of aphasia and how does it impact people ’ s lives ? There are lots of subtypes of aphasia so it can affect any aspect of language . It could affect their ability to understand what someone ’ s saying to them , or it could affect the production of language . So , someone might have difficulty finding the right word . They want to say a word , but they just can ’ t get the word that they want to say , or it might be that they produce a different word that is similar .
It might be in the production of sentences . They struggle with getting the right order or getting the particular words that they need to make that sentence . There ’ s lots of different ways it can present . The most common is finding it difficult to find the right word that they want to say .
The impact it has on people ’ s lives is huge . Communication is such a huge part of our lives . It ’ s an important part of our social connections , of family life , and it ’ s an important part of our work .
For people who are still working , it can have a significant impact because they can no longer work or when they do , they have to have a lot of supports in place to help them with their communication .
Most people with aphasia know what they want to say , but they just can ’ t get the words to say it , and that can be incredibly frustrating , both for the person who has aphasia , but also for their family members .
We find that people with aphasia sometimes avoid social situations . They won ’ t go out as much . They won ’ t be as engaged in the community because