Speech Impairment

Speech impairment is a symptom of drug addiction that affects your ability to speak properly. With this condition, you will find it difficult to speak and communicate with others. When you talk, your speech may be slurred or incoherent, and no one will be able to understand you. If left untreated, speech impairment can affect every aspect of your life, including school or work, relationships, and future opportunities. This condition can eventually result in depression and anxiety.

When you, or someone you know, abuses drugs and other substances, these substances alter the way your brain functions. If these harmful substances then get to the communication centre of your brain, they can negatively affect its function, thereby resulting in speech and language impairment. At the very least, substance abuse can seriously damage your brain, leading to cognitive failure.

When this happens, the part of the brain that controls memory and vocabulary is affected. When you try to talk, messages sent to the parts responsible for producing speech get confused, these muscles can also become weakened from consistent drug use, and cognitive functions involved in speaking are affected. Speech impairment is just one of the symptoms of drug abuse caused by cognitive failure. Depending on the type of drugs you are consuming, the length and consistency of your drug use, and other communicative functions, such as those associated with listening, reading, writing, and even solving simple or complex formulas can also be affected.

The Signs of Speech Impairment as a Symptom of Drug Addiction

It is important that you know, and understand, what to look out for if you are worried that you, or a loved one, is suffering from speech impairment as a result of drug abuse.

If you notice any of the following developments when you speak, which weren’t happening before you started using drugs, you should immediately seek expert help:

• Stuttering
• Repeating words or part of a sentence when you talk
• Speaking in short fragmented phrases (expressive aphasia)
• Struggling to use words and having problems understanding others (global aphasia)
• Speaking slowly and with difficulty (apraxia)
• Mumbling when speaking (dysarthria)
• Slurred speech

Please note, however, that in some cases, speech impairment may be a symptom of a different illness altogether. But, if you, or the individual, is in the habit of regularly ingesting harmful substances, then chances are the situation is a result of drug abuse.

A professional will know the correct treatment needed, which will include helping you overcome your addiction, and putting you through speech therapy for your speech impairment.

Remember that speech impairment is only one way that drugs can damage your life, so, it is important that you get help as soon as possible.