Aphasia
Now for a heart-warming story:
After a stroke, a lot of people lost the ability to speak (aphasia in fancy medical talk). The intriguing thing is that these people are still able to say over-learned phrases, such as "it's okay," "I don't know," or even profanity. These patients' family are often shocked and embarrassed to find their loved ones unable to produce a single sentense, but still perfectly capable of cussing out of frustration.
The theory is that these over-used phrases are more emotional gestures than linguistic constructs, and they are produced from a different brain center than a logical sentense. A person can lose the ability to formulate a complete, coherent sentence, but he may still be able to express his frustration and anger using emotional phrases.
I met a patient a week ago, who had a MCA ischemic stroke that lead to aphasia. The touching thing is that one of the few phrases he was able to say is "I love you." And he looks at his wife of 42 years as he said it.
After a stroke, a lot of people lost the ability to speak (aphasia in fancy medical talk). The intriguing thing is that these people are still able to say over-learned phrases, such as "it's okay," "I don't know," or even profanity. These patients' family are often shocked and embarrassed to find their loved ones unable to produce a single sentense, but still perfectly capable of cussing out of frustration.
The theory is that these over-used phrases are more emotional gestures than linguistic constructs, and they are produced from a different brain center than a logical sentense. A person can lose the ability to formulate a complete, coherent sentence, but he may still be able to express his frustration and anger using emotional phrases.
I met a patient a week ago, who had a MCA ischemic stroke that lead to aphasia. The touching thing is that one of the few phrases he was able to say is "I love you." And he looks at his wife of 42 years as he said it.
posted by Novembergrace at 7:05 PM
2 Comments:
My wife has a graduate degree from Harvard and has studied at Oxford. Back in the day she dated a Rhodes Scholar that treated her like she was absolute dirt. I still can see the emotional scars that he left her. I'm here to tell you that you seem like a very wonderful, bright woman...don't ever let anyone treat you with anything less than respect and dignity. Anyone who treats you with less than that...you should cut them out of your life and not look back
Wheresmymind,
You are absolutely right! 100 % agree with you about "should cut them out of your life and not look back"!
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