Emotions: Aphasia and Damage

1: The person with aphasia -- without speech -- can think!  

It is important for the aphasia survivor and loved ones alike to know that the person who has aphasia can think clearly, and often with great clarity!  The words may come out sparsely or in a jumbled way. Still the person thinks clearly.  The words are not the same as the thought.

In some aphasias the understanding of language is impaired; the words coming in can be jumbled or spotty In a similar way. These do not mean that cognition itself is impaired. Rather the brain passageways, specifically, to word reception and expression are troublesome -- not the thinking itself. And this is immensely frustrating for everyone.   Many of the emotional difficulties of both survivors and their loved ones (not to mention the public at large!) stem from lack of understanding on this crucial distinction. 

The words may be few, garbled, nonexistent or the unstanding of words is unclear, STILL there is a thinking person inside there!

2: Some emotions are reactive to illness: aphasia, stroke and brain trauma

When words are lost, there will be a variety of emotions that come as natural responses to the very sudden awful reality: shock, surprise, fear, anxiety. Emotions can be highly changeable: irritable, excitable, empty. Much of this is not personal, but rather expressions of a neurological exyxtem distress and change. Information is essential for everyone, whatever the level of language of the survivor, to allay worst fear scenarios that everyone can easily imagine.

These emotions are reactive to the conditions and will usually resolve in time, over weeks or even months. Their function is to signal significance, and it takes time for suvivor and family to settle in. These are coping emotions; they show the way.

3: Some emotions can come from damage during the stroke or brain trauma

Each stroke or brain trauma is unique in what affects, physically, mentally and emotionally. Some emotions are departures from the way the person was before, more emotional or even less emotional. It is important for the recovering person and family to be able to see the differences between unsual personal emotions and strikingly different ones after. the survisor may not notice the change them selves. It is usually the family that does. Awareness is key.

These emotions are brain physiology changes not personality changes.The good news is that these changes are not locked in or unchangeable. Through using methods of brain plasticity, usual emotions can be reclaimed.

Get more of the information you need about emotions and brain plasticity! Do this sooner rather later. Say "YES!" to life more clearly!

4: Emotions through Recovery

Recovery poses many personal challenges -- patience, perseverance, kindness to self, flexibility, resourcefulness -- whether anyone wants the challenges or not. The survivor naturally wants the disabilities to go away and return to "before". Understanding the great plasticity of brain makes  the hopes and prospects look much better for reclaiming functions. In the meantime in the daily living after stroke, there are ups and downs in emotions as fatigue and good and bad days come and go. Irritability, impatience, loneliness, crying, hopelessness, anger come up as natural parts of the whole process of coping with these huge changes in one's life and learning how to see and make progress in recovery.

Recovery is a work in progress; it is a time line. Time is an essential partner in the change process.

5:  Interpersonal Emotions

Close relationships that were having difficulty before the stroke may well rise to the challenge and become sturdier and more supportive.  The brush with death can reorganize personal priorities dramatically and bring out the unseen best. Be willing to see some of those changes, in yourself, in your loved one. However that is not always the case; sometimes prior emotional difficulties are heightened just because of the greatly added stress. They don't have to get worse. Aphasia can be hard enough as it is.  Be willing to get assistance early with emotions -- ensure support for yourself as well as your loved ones -- get the information that can ease your lives. Say "Yes" to a good life together!

Live Life Well -- Beyond Stroke and Brain Trauma

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Arrange- a "Meet and Greet" -- - 20 minutes for survivor or family and I will tell you the TOP things you need to know.

6:  A  major part of managing the emotions that go along with aphasia is developing therapy plans for the aphasia itself. 

1) Speech therapy in some form is essential. Your speech therapist is a great resource, a fund of knowledge about living with aphasia, not just a technician. Develop your own additional "natural daily life therapy." Enhance your own challenges.

2) Stay involved with prior interests and friends even though you may feel reticent. You need good friends to come on board to learn about aphasia so that they can know how better to be with you. Talk to your speech therapist or me about having help to teach your friends.

3) Stay physically active as possible, what gives pleasure. Exercise of some sort actually helps brain recovery.

4)  Do non-verbal activities like music, art, sports, handiwork. The things you love! 

5) Keep routines, make variety at the same time in your life.

6) Take good care of your emotions -- survivor and family --  make ways to communicate them to family, speech therapist, physician.  When it is difficult to understand why emotions are so different now than they were before the stroke and how to cope with them, CONTACT ME! Do it SOONER rather than later! ---

The more information you have about this aspect of recovery -- and the more coping skills you have for dealing with surprising emotions, the smoother a partnership with recovery can be.  

Use the CONTACT ME  Page 

I will assist survivor or family with the strong and someimes deep emotions that come with the territory of being a person with aphasia, stroke and trauma survivor. And I will assist you in developing a plan for a graceful and rich life around the aphasia. –It IS possible!