Anomia is a neurological deficit that causes difficulty in remembering names of people or things. It is a form of aphasia, a problem with speech and language processing caused by brain trauma. Patients can recover through speech therapy sessions. Patience is required when working with someone with anomia.
Anomia is a neurological deficit characterized by the inability to remember the names of people or things; essentially, people can’t remember names. Often people are unable to recognize these names when presented, depending on the nature of their anomie. This neurological problem is often caused by brain trauma such as that sustained during a stroke or traumatic brain injury, and people can recover from it, depending on the nature of the damage to the brain.
This is part of a larger group of neurological problems referred to under the umbrella term “aphasia”. Aphasia represents a problem with speech and language processing, caused by problems in the areas of the brain that process language. People with aphasia can experience intense frustration because they are used to being able to communicate with words and find themselves unable to do so.
In the case of anomie, people know what something is, but they don’t know what it’s called. Presented with a knife, for example, the patient might say “this is for cutting” and could demonstrate the knife’s potential uses, but the patient would be unable to find the word “knife.” People with anomia can sometimes remember the name when prompted or recognize it when they hear it, while in other cases they cannot.
Color anomia is a unique form of anomia where someone can distinguish between colors, but cannot name them. In averbia, another form, people cannot remember verbs. Also known as nominal aphasia, anomia is characterized by the use of circumlocutions to describe something; the patient describes an object by function or appearance, for example, but cannot call it by name.
In some cases, people recover from anomia naturally. In other cases, you may need to attend speech therapy sessions to relearn words. During these sessions, a remapping of brain patterns will occur, allowing the patient to learn and memorize new words.
When working with someone who has anomia, patience is required. It is important to remember that while it can be frustrating to hear someone try to describe something rather than just name it, it is extraordinarily irritating for the patient to just not be able to name things. The patient knows very well what objects are and how they are used, and understands the connections between objects. Remaining patient and providing assistance when asked is an important part of supporting someone recovering from a brain injury.
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