Aphasia: The disorder that makes you lose your words - Susan Wortman-Jutt

Dig into the language disorder known as aphasia that affects a person’s ability to communicate effectively with others.

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Language is an essential part of our lives that we often take for granted. But, if the delicate web of language networks in your brain became disrupted by stroke, illness, or trauma, you could find yourself truly at a loss for words. Susan Wortman-Jutt details a disorder called aphasia, which can impair all aspects of communication.

Lesson by Susan Wortman-Jutt, animation by TED-Ed.

[juanpablomina]

That woman is seriously sad. Someone give her a hug!

[skydriver]

You honestly cannot understand just how debilitating this is until you have dealt with it yourself. It's truly demoralizing.

[rosestube]

this is actually very frustrating, we are always told to improve our communication skill, like we try but it's just hard. the other day i did a presentation, no one understand what i was talking about and they eventually give up on me

[playfulpanthress]

I’m here because of Bruce Willis. This seems like a really rough situation. Communication is what an actor does. To not be able to be understood would be horrible regardless, but especially if it stops you from doing what you love to do.

[artificialpanda]

I have aphasia from the trauma I got when I was kid, where my mother would bang my head against the wall all the time. My aphasia used to be so bad, especially when I was anxious or panicked. I had to go to therapy because I realized my aphasia would occur whenever I'm anxious, and I had to learn how to control my anxiety in order to control my speech. And now I'm much better, whenever I'm anxious or panicked, and I had to talk or make a speech, I would calm myself first, or else the words would come out like I had just learned Russian in a matter or seconds

[danieljochem]

My doctor said I might have Aphasia, I am 19. I went for a CAT scan and nothing is wrong with my brain apparently. When the screwdriver came up, it took me between 7 and 10 seconds to think of what it was called. In the middle of speech I forget the simplest of words and do the thing where I substitute the word for something else. Sometimes it can take me a long time, like 20 minutes to an hour to think of the word I know I know but can't think of.

[rhr-pw]

I noticed some of these symptoms in a person during a specially strong depressive-anxiety crisis. The person was unable to remember short memory instructions, had difficulty elaborating even a simple idea, forgot basic orthography, switched letters inside a word, and switched a word for a completely unrelated one. Not related to this video, but the person was also sleepy and had difficulties staying awake. Once the depression was treated with the proper medication, all of the aforementioned symptoms of the person almost disappeared.

[TBIhope]

I had aphasia for a while after falling off a cliff. You have no idea how much you miss when you can’t talk. When I finally started talking again, my memory started fully functioning again. Life is so much better when you have a voice.

[marcorodvas]

that awkward moment when you know the word in English but not in your main language

[sonofdionysis]

I climbed up from aphasia & apraxia dungeons. And it took me nine years to accomplish freeing my tongue muscle groups, my grammar sentence structure and complex suffixes & prefixes from being lost in the maze of my neuron pathways. Don't despair!

[asgoodasyou]

In the middle of conversations with my family my mind will go blank when I'm talking and I have to tell them "wait, give me a few mins to collect my thoughts". A few mins later it'll come back to me but sometimes it doesn't and I have to sit there silent because either I don't remember what I was talking about or I have absolutely no idea of what to say next

[vs]

My grandma had a stroke 2 years ago.. She, since then, cannot recognise numbers and letters..so she practicaly forgot how to write or read. She also cannot speak fluently and still mixes and forgets words, for example sometimes she calls me by my grandparent's name.. She totaly understands everything though. Now that I know what exactly is going on in her head I feell better. Really nice video <3

[crying]

I'm currently in remission from depression and aphasia is a lot like what I suffered. It's very difficult to explain exactly what it feels like, but please don't treat people as though they're less for having it - it's foremostly excruciatingly frustrating to not be able to put basic things into words, especially when you don't know what's wrong with you. It feels like you're stuck in a universe on your own.

[HikariNora]

This is terrifying how extremely relatable this is.

[Raven]

Thank you for the upload. Bringing awareness to this debilitating condition is very important. Years ago I went through chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. My memory was affected and in the years since the issue has gotten worse. I have tried to explain it to medical professionals with no success. I do lose my words and I have isolated myself. This video gave me some hope. 🙂 Have a blessed day.💜🙏💜

[sf_]

I always had a hard time remembering words even the simple ones or words typically used on a day-to-day basis. It gets so frustrating stopping 5 -10 seconds (or more) mid-conversation just because I can't remember the word or can't even describe what it is, which can also be frustrating to the listener. There are times when I just use a different word that's unrelated or far from what I originally meant just to avoid pauses and be able to express myself. But most of the time, it makes what I say less impactful than what I initially thought of.

I thought that having a lot of those "tip of the tongue moments" are just because I'm a forgetful person (which I am) but after seeing this, I think I might actually have mild non-fluent aphasia. It is honestly kind of relieving and comforting to finally find an explanation to all those things I struggled with. I can't even imagine how upsetting it is for those who have it worse than me.

[austininflorida]

I got this once during a particularly bad migraine. it was the oddest feeling I have ever experienced. I could see the word spelled in my head, imagine what it sounded like, but my mouth refused to say it, substituting other words.

Thankfully, I have not had it since despite still suffering the occasional migraine.

[trebacca]

Once when I had a severe migraine, I had really intense aphasia. I thought I was making perfect sense, but apparently I was gibbering. It was all real words, but completely randomized. Instead of "Can I have a glass of water?" I said "Blue I happy of night steel?" Like someone had redirected every meaning to a different word.

[roysuttie]

I just met up with a guy who's had Broca's aphasia. He was only able to talk since about a few months and you could see that it made him so incredibly happy to get words out of his mouth. I just had all the patience in the world for him, because I wanted him to enjoy the feeling of being understood. He just lit up. I could also tell very easily he was incredibly intelligent.

[jordancarroll]

I'm studying to become a Speech Therapist in September because of videos such as this. Linguistics and language in the mind is so interesting man.