What Is Aphasia? Bruce Willis’ Diagnosis Raises Questions About Condition

Bruce Willis‘ family announced the actor’s retirement in a statement on Wednesday, revealing that Willis has aphasia.

“To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” read the statement posted on Instagram.

The statement left many wondering, “What exactly is aphasia?”

Aphasia is a condition that often comes on suddenly following a stroke, but it can also start slow and progressively get worse. Around 180,000 are diagnosed with the brain disorder each year.

It affects the ability to speak, write and understand language, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include speaking sentences that don’t make sense, not understanding the meaning of words and speaking unrecognizable words in short and incomplete sentences.

There are three types of aphasia – expressive, comprehensive and global. Expressive aphasia occurs when the affected person understands more than they can speak. Those with comprehensive aphasia can put together long sentences, but they often use unrecognizable words and don’t realize that other people can’t understand them. Global aphasia is a category for those who have difficulty forming words and sentences. The severity of each one can depend on where the damage is stemming from and how severe it was. It is unclear which type Willis was diagnosed with.

Speech and language therapy are known to be viable treatment options for aphasia. Patients can regain skills by undergoing these treatments. There are also clinical trials conducting research, but there are no definitive answers yet.