A stroke can cause many bewildering changes in a person's
emotions and behavior. Suddenly, he or she can seem like a
completely different person than before the stroke. In a way, this
is true. Stroke survivors' brains have been injured. The
behaviors and emotions they display are a reflection of that
injury.
The loss of a person's former identity can result in
depression, anger and frustration. Loss and the grieving process
are closely linked. The stroke patient and family members may find
themselves going through the stages of grief (denial, anger,
bargaining and acceptance). Family members may also experience
grief as they have lost the previous relationship with the
patient.
Understanding and dealing with these changes and losses are just
as important as the physical issues that are dealt with in the
rehabilitation process.
Communication Disorders
Stroke survivors may have difficulty with their communication
skills following a stroke. They can be broadly classified in two
general categories:
- Aphasia
- Motor Speech Disorders
Aphasia
Simply defined, aphasia is the loss of ability to communicate
normally resulting from damage typically to the left side of the
brain, which houses the communication center. It may affect a
person's verbal expression (getting words out) and/or
auditory comprehension (understanding what is being said to them).
It may also affect their ability to read, write, and deal with
numbers.
Additional information regarding aphasia can be obtained from a
speech language pathologist or from the following websites:
Motor Speech Disorders
Some stroke survivors may have slurred or garbled speech as a
result of muscle weakness or incoordination (called dysarthria) or
motor programming of speech muscles (called apraxia).
A Speech-Language Pathologist will be asked to assess the
patient's communication skills and discuss with the family
ways to help improve communication with the stroke survivor. The
speech language pathologist will also recommend any further
follow-up after discharge from the hospital.