Expressive language disorder in children: treatment

Sudden loss of speech due to stress: causes, what to do – Website about

It is still believed that memory is something incomprehensible and unknown, which is not subject to human understanding. From time to time, individual memories emerge in the mind, but where they were stored before remains a mystery.

Little is known about memory; up to the age of 25 it actively develops, and by the age of 50 a person loses the ability to learn new things. Many factors undermine memory, among the most dangerous are severe or constant stress.

Currently, memory loss after stress is the most common phenomenon.

Causes of stress-induced memory loss

Amnesia is caused by various factors; they can be conditionally classified into one of two groups: organic and psychological. After stress, memory loss is precisely psychological in nature. It is caused by the influence of the following stressors:

• Regular tension, daily stress;
• Chronic fatigue;
• Lethargy or state of overexcitement;
• Lack of attention;
• Obsessive thoughts.

A person, under the influence of these factors, performs many actions automatically, as a result of which they are not reflected in memory. So a person may not remember some details, whether he turned off the iron or locked the door.

Stress-induced memory loss can be caused by taking antidepressants, sleeping pills or psychotropic drugs. This phenomenon is also observed in people with brain diseases who have suffered encephalitis or stroke. This often affects people with post-traumatic stress disorder .

The condition develops after suffocation, hypoxia and ischemia. People suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction are also susceptible to amnesia. These are causes that can be classified as organic.

The risk group includes young people whose lives are filled with stress. Their sleep is disturbed and their immunity is reduced. These include students, as well as people working irregular hours.

What causes the process of memory loss? According to research by Russian scientists, stress causes inflammatory processes in the hippocampus, the place where human memories are consolidated and stored.

This area of ​​the brain is most susceptible to destruction as a result of depression and constant stress. At the same time, experts note that stress triggers destructive processes, and they do not stop immediately after the irritating factor is eliminated.

Experiments on mice showed that elevated levels of corticosteroids in this area of ​​the brain persisted for a month after returning to normal conditions. It is stress hormones that negatively affect hippocampal cells, destroying them.

Symptoms and signs of amnesia

Symptoms of memory loss can be independent, but in most cases they are combined with signs of other diseases. These include:

• Difficulty remembering;
• Confusion in thoughts;
• Impaired coordination of movements;
• Confusion of consciousness;
• Lost in time;
• Inability to recognize people.

Symptoms may last for minutes, hours, or years. Long-term exposure to negative factors can lead to complete memory loss.

Complete and partial memory loss

A number of structures in the body are responsible for memory. They are regulated by smell, instincts, emotions. When a part of the brain, the hippocampus, is damaged, a person loses memory. The most dangerous condition is when memory loss is caused by psychogenic escape.

It is a dissociative disorder in which all memories of the past are erased. The person does not remember anything: who he is, what he did, who his relatives and friends are. This loss of self is called complete loss of memory. Recovery takes a long time; in some cases, memory may not return at all.

Most often, short-term memory is impaired as a result of depression. Partial amnesia is caused by the fact that the growth of brain cells is disrupted under the influence of stressors. The severity of the damage depends on the duration of the depressive state.

It happens that memories related to one event or period are lost. This is partial or episodic memory loss. With procedural memory loss, a person loses the ability to perform usual actions.

Based on their prevalence, there are two types of memory loss. With a complete loss, the individual loses all memories, and with a partial loss, individual fragments are missing. The duration of the violation can be anything from several days to decades.

Drug treatment

Drug treatment includes:

1. Taking medications to restore memory. Drugs such as Gliatilin, Exelon, Reminil, Semax, Cerebrolysin may be prescribed. Mexidol and Glycine performed well.
2. Often, tranquilizers and quick sedative tablets - Oxazepam, Eunoctine, Meprobamate, Diazepam. They help relieve anxiety, restlessness, and convulsions, but their side effects must be taken into account.

Tranquilizers have many disadvantages; they cannot be taken for a long period ; it is necessary to take into account the compatibility of these drugs with other drugs and alcohol. Many tranquilizers have a negative effect on internal organs and cause allergic reactions.

The most important thing after stress is to restore the organs damaged by it, but synthetic drugs cannot cope with this task, they only relieve symptoms.

Safer herbal preparations with a low content of synthetic substances can also be used. The herbal preparation Novopassit, which has a mild sedative effect, has proven itself well.

It relieves insomnia, fights fear and anxiety, relieves fatigue, headaches, and even partially restores affected organs. But at the same time, Novopassit also has contraindications; adverse reactions from the gastrointestinal tract are observed.

Drug treatment is not complete without physiotherapy, which helps restore blood circulation and develop individual muscle groups. The result will be faster if you introduce physical activity programs.

Treatment at home

Medicine is good, but a patient with such a problem should take an active part in the treatment himself. You should not rely entirely on medications. It is important to practice at home.

The memory recovery program includes the following aspects:

1. Memory training. Along with physical activity, memorizing songs and poems is effective. It’s better to start with familiar lines, remember what you learned in childhood. Then you can switch to new material.
2. Nutrition correction. The diet should contain raisins and walnuts, carrots, seafood, etc.
3. Leisure. Walking in the fresh air helps and calms, which can be successfully combined with memory classes or training.
4. Folk remedies. Decoctions of rowan bark and young pine buds, which are collected in the spring, are effective for restoring memory.

It is important that during this difficult period for a person there are close people nearby who would support, understand and help restore memory. It is very difficult to cope without the help of relatives.

The main step to restoring and maintaining good memory is a healthy lifestyle. No matter how trite it sounds, bad habits cause oxygen starvation, which negatively affects the functioning of all organs and systems, including the brain.

Read - Exercises to relieve stress and tension

Proper nutrition, accessible physical activity, maintaining a positive attitude are the key to a long and happy life!

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The consequence of severe stress or fear: neurotic stuttering and ways to get rid of it

Neurotic stuttering is a disorder of the nervous system that affects the fluency and rhythm of the patient’s speech. The pathology is also known as “logoneurosis”.

Stuttering in adults and children can occur against the background of prolonged stress, during or after an emotional shock. Every year, tens of thousands of people with suspicion of logoneurosis turn to speech therapists and neurologists.

Let us consider in more detail what form of stuttering is caused by psychogenic causes and psychotraumas, what precedes the onset of acquired logoneurosis of the neurotic form, and what determines the mechanism of the disease.

What it is?

Neurotic stuttering (or logoneurosis) is one of the forms of speech dysfunction , which is expressed in distortion of the rhythm of conversation, the appearance of speech repetitions and neurotic hesitations.

This disease, like similar stuttering, is formed as a result of tonic and tonic-clonic convulsions in the respiratory-vocal and articulatory muscles.

Logoneurosis is closely related to traumatic events, due to which it belongs to the group of neuroses . However, the disease can also be caused suddenly.

Children are at risk. Mainly during the active formation of speech functions. Short-term speech hesitations are observed in 4 children out of 100.

Causes of the disease

The main reason for the appearance of neurotic hesitations is the influence of a traumatic situation or prolonged distress.

In the case of a one-time destructive psycho-emotional event, the disease may go away after some time; more serious consequences (up to transient mutism) are expressed due to prolonged stay in an environment unfavorable for the psyche.

Is it possible to start stuttering from fear? Examples of psychogenic causes of stuttering in children and adults:

• stress, extreme fear, or extreme anger;
• excessive load when teaching spoken language;
• violation of family roles and family functionality in children;
• imitating the conversation of a stuttering relative or friend;
• loss of a loved one;
• love problems.

Pathogenesis and development mechanisms

Presumably, when exposed to acute stressful situations, neurotic hesitations develop through the appearance of a stable pathology of conditioned reflex functions. And the final consolidation of the disease is the formation of motor automatism.

It can be assumed that at the age of 2 to 4 years, stuttering is influenced by the pathological consolidation of natural speech hesitations , characteristic of this age period of the formation of speech functions (the so-called functional stuttering).

Statistics show that stuttering often begins to appear in the early stages among children aged 3-5 years. Complications of symptoms and accompanying neurotic reactions can be observed mainly among adolescents, in the period 15-17 years.

The complication process is associated with rapid age-related changes in the human body. Logophobia (fear of speech) is formed precisely during puberty , subdepressive mood changes also appear, and various kinds of asthenic and somato-vegetative disorders arise.

Main signs of speech disorder

You can notice that a person has started having problems with speech function or has had them since early childhood by the following signs:

• diction becomes slurred and blurred;
• vocabulary is limited;
• disturbances in the rhythm and tempo of speech, stuttering;
• a change in the timbre of the voice, the patient develops a nasal tone caused by pathology of the nasal septum;
• inhibition when constructing and subsequently reproducing sentences;
• substitution of sounds or distorted pronunciation;
• the patient does not understand what is being said to him;
• hoarseness in the absence of viral or infectious diseases;
• rapid pace and swallowing of individual sounds when pronouncing words;
• increased salivation;
• lack of ability to convey your thoughts to others;
• mutism is absolute silence, regardless of the presence of external stimuli.

Such patients require careful examination and timely treatment. If it is not possible to come to the hospital, you can call a psychiatrist at home. The doctor will conduct an examination, make a preliminary diagnosis, and issue a referral for further examination.

A speech disorder prevents the patient from fully communicating with others. This significantly complicates the social, professional, and personal aspects of his life.

Diagnostics

If, after severe stress, a person’s voice has disappeared, it is necessary to determine the type of speech disorder.

1. Anarthria is loss of speech due to impaired coordination of the muscles of the respiratory and vocal apparatus.
2. Aphasia is a disorder of the speech apparatus.

This is quite difficult to do, even if the patient is conscious. When the patient responds with monosyllabic yes or no answers, these may be random responses. Even with afsia, the patient can use the “key word” strategy, using it to understand the meaning of the entire phrase. Associated disorders (oral apraxia) can cause serious difficulties in making a diagnosis. With such disorders, a person cannot open his mouth and show his tongue.

Psychogenic mutism often appears after stress. The pathology is characterized by the absence of response speech while maintaining the ability to speak and understand the speech of the interlocutor.

Children may exhibit neurotic selective mutism, which occurs when communicating with one specific person.

Mutism

Treatment of speech disorder in Moscow

The treatment strategy is selected depending on the clinical picture of the disease. At Dr. Isaev’s Clinic there are specialists who conduct classes with patients in order to improve their condition. For example, a speech therapist treats stuttering with the help of special exercises, some of which are performed at home to consolidate the effect.

Treatment of speech disorder in Moscow for dysarthria is supplemented by physiotherapy, acupuncture, and medications.

Establishing diagnosis

Diagnosis of speech disorders in adults is carried out using MRI of the brain and blood vessels, examination by a speech therapist and speech pathologist, neurologist, ENT doctor. An integrated approach allows for accurate differentiation and development of a treatment plan.

In a child, pronunciation defects are often formed in the perinatal period, in an adult - after a stroke, uncontrolled use of medications or irreversible degenerative processes in the brain. Therefore, when complaining of a sudden speech disorder, a person is always sent for a thorough examination.

In case of incorrect bite formation in children and impaired tooth growth, an orthodontist consultation is required. Speech correction begins with eliminating the cause of the deviation.

Prognosis and prevention

Speech disorders can be corrected if this work is started at an early age or early stage. The people around us and the efforts of the person himself play an important role in improving the condition. If the disorder is identified in a timely manner and treatment is started, speech can be normalized. Such children continue to study in regular schools and get along well with the kids.

In complex forms of the disease, achieving improved speech is not easy. You can only correct your speech function. In such situations, the range of measures is broader, and the patient needs to visit a specialized institution. It is necessary to maintain the continuity of speech therapy organizations: go to special kindergartens, correctional schools. It is also important to be treated in psychoneurological hospitals if it was prescribed by a doctor.

Prevention involves implementing effective measures from birth. The child must be protected from neutroinfection, skull and brain injuries. It should not be affected by toxic factors.

It must be taken into account that success comes with a systematic approach and comprehensive organization of events. Along with traditional treatment, unconventional methods should not be forgotten. It is important to carry out physical activity activities. Using a variety of methods can provide excellent results if used correctly.

Mutism

The etiology of mutism is complex - silence develops both in people with intact brain and speech apparatus, and in many brain lesions.

Sometimes mutism is caused by atrophy of Broca's area or other brain lesions that are not immediately detected. Akinetic mutism develops with the loss of all voluntary movements, including speech. Such mutism has been described in coma, AIDS, and neuroleptic syndrome. This is a condition in which a person looks intently into the eyes of his interlocutor, but cannot move or utter at least one sound. A similar condition is observed in the acute period of severe traumatic brain injury, when not only speech is impaired, but also consciousness, along with other voluntary functions.

Often the cause of mutism is mental illness, especially hysteria, deep depression, catatonia (special movement disorders when a person looks like a wax doll) with endogenous major psychoses. Hysterical mutism occurs more often in women and is accompanied by demonstrative behavior aimed at achieving one’s goals.

General characteristics of the disease

The highest function is speech; it is inextricably linked with the ability to feel, remember and think. A person can pronounce sounds correctly only with normal brain function. Also involved in this process are the articulatory apparatus (lips, teeth, larynx, tongue) and the respiratory system.

This function is formed through two mechanisms. Based on this, two speech varieties are distinguished - impressive and expressive. Each of them has its own characteristics and clinical picture of disorders. Impressive speech determines a person’s ability to perceive words heard and comprehend phrases read. The brain instantly analyzes all the sound components of the spoken word, thanks to which it is understood.

Speech disorders of this type are associated with disorders of the visual and auditory analyzers, as well as pathologies of the brain. Such patients may listen to a single phrase but not understand its meaning. Words addressed to them are ignored, and when such phrases are played, sounds are replaced. As a result, others no longer understand the patient. He himself finds himself disoriented in the society around him.

Expressive speech makes it possible to speak, write words independently, and form sentences. This form of speech disorder is manifested by the patient’s poor vocabulary. The pronunciation of sounds occurs with certain impairments; he cannot correctly construct sentences or make logical connections from words and phrases. This pathology is associated with psychological problems of the individual, disorders of the articulatory apparatus and the brain.

Sudden loss of speech after stress: how to recognize and how to treat

In severe stressful situations, a person may lose his voice, i.e. go numb. Physically, he remains completely healthy, but cannot utter a word. This condition is called psychogenic mutism. Most often, mutism occurs in children, but adults with unstable mental health are also susceptible to it. Fortunately, this speech loss is temporary and treatable.

Severe stress may cause temporary loss of speech.

Causes of mutism

The causes of psychogenic muteness are:

• death of loved ones;
• physical or mental violence;
• severe fear;
• sudden change in living conditions.

In susceptible and easily excitable people, speech disorders will be more severe and the recovery period will be longer. The cause of fear is individual for each person. Unlike mutism, which develops on the basis of physical disorders, with psychogenic mutism the patient retains the ability to gesture.

Sometimes he refuses to talk only to strangers, but continues to communicate with loved ones. Sometimes the patient does not talk to anyone except his attending physician. If a person has stopped speaking, you cannot put pressure on him, force him to communicate with those whom he himself avoids.

It takes him time to fully recover.

Symptoms

Speech disorders appear immediately after stress. The patient may be in shock and not understand what is happening to him. When he tries to speak, he discovers that his voice has disappeared. Sometimes the patient refuses communication itself and withdraws into himself.

It is possible to lose not only the verbal ability to communicate, but also the person is unable to express his thoughts in writing. Due to nervous shock, the patient may experience clouding of consciousness, tremors of the limbs and other disorders.

If the voice does not recover within several hours after the incident, this is not yet a pathology. The next 2-3 days will be decisive. If a person does not speak during this time, his muteness is already defined as mutism. Silence lasting 2 weeks or more can be considered chronic mutism.

Silence for 2-3 days after a traumatic event is considered normal

Treatment

After severe stress, it will take a long time to recover. Speech loss will have to be treated comprehensively, using medications and psychotherapy. Only a doctor can select medications that will reduce the load on the nervous system and help a person cope with the situation.

The effect of tablets alone is not enough. Due to prolonged silence, the speech apparatus, like the engine of a car that has been parked for a long time in the garage, needs to be “warmed up.” To restore your voice, it is useful to do special gymnastics. You can choose a set of exercises together with a speech therapist.

Art therapy helps to recover from speech loss. You need to draw your fears, emotions, impressions in order to give them an outlet. Hidden experiences often cause complications with mutism.

After stressful situations, it is important to ensure a stable environment in the family. A person needs additional attention from loved ones. You need to constantly communicate with him, despite the fact that he cannot answer. If his communication style before his illness did not involve close contacts, then you cannot insist on them. Peace and tranquility contributes to the rapid return of the voice.

Hysterical neurosis

Sometimes the cause of loss of the ability to speak is not the stress factors themselves, but the hysterical neurosis that develops against their background. Its appearance is provoked by regular mental stress. A patient with neurosis remains conscious during an attack of muteness.

It is important that he can be in a calm environment until his mental state returns to normal. Do not pour water on the patient or slap him in the face. Such methods do not reassure: they can provoke a new attack and complications.

After the voice has been restored, in order to avoid a recurrence of the attack, it is advisable to avoid situations that lead to nervous tension.

A patient with hysterical neurosis can be helped to reduce the manifestations of speech disorders. If an attack can be recognized in advance, it can almost always be stopped.

Main symptoms:

• cardiopalmus;
• pale skin;
• feeling of coldness in the hands and feet;
• labored breathing;
• dizziness.

It is important to understand that people with hysteria do not control their illness, and it is the task of those around them to help them.

If the patient feels a spasm, the speech apparatus does not obey him, you need to do breathing exercises: alternate deep breaths and slow exhalations with short and fast ones.

It is useful to do a light massage: stroke your arms, starting from the shoulders, and the back of the neck. If the patient is able to drink, you need to give him some warm water. Losing your voice, even temporarily, will be a serious test for any person.

If the ability not only to speak, but also to communicate through writing and gestures has disappeared, the patient finds himself in isolation. He needs to be supported so that he can feel safe.

It is useful to walk with him, watch movies together, read aloud to him, surround him with attention and care.

Source: https://urazuma.ru/stress/poterya-rechi.html