Bruce Willis, whose one-liners have always been memorable in his action movies, is diagnosed with aphasia. His family made the announcement on Instagram, on Wednesday adding that the Die Hard actor will be stepping away from his acting career due to his condition.
Bruce Willis attends the 17th Annual A Great Night In Harlem at The Apollo Theater on April 04, 2019 in New York City.
What is Aphasia?
Aphasia is a cognitive disorder that can affect people differently but mainly impacts the ability in reading, listening, speaking, typing, and writing. According to iNews, people with this condition often make mistakes with the words they use due to the damage to the left side of the brain, which is responsible for processing language.
The NHS added that aphasia could cause someone to use the wrong sounds in a word or choose the wrong words. The condition can occur independently or alongside other disorders, like mobility problems, visual impairments, limb weakness, and memory problems.
Although the condition may affect how a person communicates, it does not affect their intelligence leading those suffering from aphasia upset and frustrated when other people fail to understand them. More so, it makes them feel isolated which may cause anxiety and depression.
Per Johns Hopkins Medicine, there are many types of aphasia, but the most common are Broca aphasia and Wernicke aphasia. The two differ based on the area in which the language-dominant side of the brain is affected.
For Broca aphasia, the damage is to the front portion of the brain's language area. Meanwhile, Wernicke aphasia affects the side portion of the language-dominant part of the brain. A third type called global aphasia results from damage to a large portion of the language-dominated side of the brain.
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Causes and Symptoms of Aphasia
Aphasia is caused by damage to the part of the brain that processes language. The damage could be due to stroke, head injury, brain tumor, infection, or dementia.
Its symptoms may vary per type. For Broca aphasia, a person can usually understand the speech of others and often speaks in short but meaningful sentences while eliminating the words "and" and "the," hence why it is also called expressive aphasia.
On the other hand, those with Wernicke aphasia may speak in long confusing sentences with unnecessary or new words. It is sometimes called receptive aphasia as the patient usually has difficulty understanding other people's speech. On the other hand, those with global aphasia have difficulties in speaking and understanding other's languages.
For Willis' case, an anonymous source told Page Six that he was already showing signs of cognitive decline when he was filming in 2020. The cognitive problems were very noticeable that his family allegedly had to step in and take care of him.
The insider alleged that the actor used "earpieces, hearing things, for them to feed him the lines," suggesting that he had difficulty remembering or delivering them. The source also claimed they had to use body doubles to maximize his screen time because "it was increasingly difficult to have him on screen."
The insider added that in at least one project Willis' time was "whittled down." He ended up filming the project for just three days.
Apparently, the condition affected the actor's acting career, which might have prompted him to announce his retirement.
Treatment for Aphasia
Treatment for aphasia could depend on how mild or severe the case is. According to Mayo Clinic, some patients may recover without speech treatment while most undergo language and speech therapy to rehabilitate their language and communications. Recovery from these therapies is relatively slow, although most make significant progress over time.
Doctors may also prescribe certain drugs for the condition, such as those that improve blood flow to the brain, enhance the recovery ability or help replace depleted neurotransmitters. Other treatments may also include brain stimulation, although no long-term research has been done about it yet.
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Check out more news and information on Aphasia in Science Times.
