Abasia

In 1957, Australian researchers discovered a disease whose causes had long remained unclear. The disease was expressed in paralysis of the facial nerve, caused by damage to its motor neurons and manifested by motor and sensory atrophy of the facial muscles.

The patient was found to have protrusion of the eyeballs (exophthalmos), increased lacrimation, dry mouth, frequent closure of the eyelids, and ptosis (drooping of the upper eyelid).

The term “abasia” is applied not only to walking defects, but also to general changes in movements: limitation of movement, characteristic of bedridden patients (not getting out of bed, etc.).

In the past, the use of the term “apochrenia” replaced another phenomenon - lethargy and the infectious disease diphtheria. It may also be caused by spinal cord injury, characterized by loss of natural gait, starting

What is abasia?

AbAsia (from the Greek ἀβάσις - “step-by-step absence of speech”) is an involuntary cessation or interruption of speech while awake. A person has the feeling that due to stress, fear, anxiety or fatigue, words and sounds suddenly stop being pronounced. The tongue continues to move up and down, but does not make any sounds. The duration of abAsia can vary from 1 second to several minutes. The frequency of occurrence of the disorder also varies - in some people aAsia occurs regularly, in others it occurs extremely rarely. At the same time, during abAsias people talk mentally, without voice accompaniment. This distinguishes abAsia from dysarthria, in which the function (pronunciation of sounds) primarily suffers, but speech can be understandable; this difference made it possible to develop diagnostic criteria for abAsia. A person suffering from abAsia can describe their conditions in words and feelings:

– most often abAsia accompanies severe anxiety, when a person thinks that he will remain silent forever for a long time, losing the ability to speak. With physical tension, the tongue refuses to move in the desired direction, although it retains the ability to indicate directions (down or up). In this case, the person does not lose his voice and can speak mentally or in a whisper to himself. During abAsia, a person appears depressed and upset and expresses fear or embarrassment, trying to hide the pause that occurs in the conversation;

– with abAsia, as a result of an attack of tongue-tiedness, a person may stop or interrupt his speech. With anxiety or selective mutism syndrome, abAsia can lead to a complete loss of the ability to speak, to make long pauses between words or phrases, to pronounce individual phrases and even words.

How does AbAsia proceed?

AbAsia can often occur from childhood and generally from an early age. In the first manifestations, the signs of aAsia resemble logoneurosis, although many patients themselves report that they do not experience difficulty writing. In children, somatic accompaniment of aAsia is often pronounced: paleness of the face followed by redness, perspiration on the forehead, severe trembling, nausea, and a desire to cough. Often, during attacks of aAsia, bluish spots appear on the skin, and red acne can also form on the face. Sometimes abAsia is accompanied by excessive salivation, distortion of articulation, or chaotic movements of the tongue. All manifestations are based on temporary maladjustment of breathing without the ability to capture the flow of air during speech or understand at what point you need to stop and then take a breath. In addition, the speech movements of the tongue are disrupted, as if “deprived of will.”