What’s the Difference between Dysphasia and Aphasia?
Dysphasia is a condition that impedes your ability to produce and understand spoken language. It can also affect how you read, write, and gesture. It has similar symptoms as other conditions, so it is often mistaken for other disorders. For example, it is sometimes mistaken for dysarthria, a speech impairment. It may also be confused with dysphasia, a swallowing disorder.
Aphasia is however, a language disorder that occurs when the region of the brain responsible for converting thoughts into spoken language are damaged and can’t function properly. People with this disorder usually find it difficult to communicate verbally. Dysphasia is commonly caused by brain damage. Studies show that strokes are the most common cause of brain damage. Other causes may include tumors, head injuries, and infections.
Dysphasia and aphasia have the same symptoms and causes. Several studies show that aphasia is more severe, and is characterized by a complete loss of comprehension and speech abilities. On the other hand, dysphasia is only characterized by moderate language impairments [1].
However, many scientists and researchers use aphasia and dysphasia interchangeably to refer to complete and partial impairments of language abilities. Aphasia is commonly used in North America, while dysphasia is more common in other regions of the world.