flat affect

[rlysa]

My husband had a hemorragic stroke 22aug2007, he spent 3 weeks in the hospital and 3 weeks in rehab, now he's home. Although he's gaining movement back in his left leg, his affect seems a little flat, and detached. Is this something that improves over time?

rlysa

[rlysa]

Thanks so much for responding. He has gotten better than he was the first few days out, it's been almost 8 weeks now. I'll just keep hoping he improves.

lisa

[duck64]

This is something that can improve, but many people are never back to where they were before, and affect is certainly an area that is hard to address in therapy. Ongoing speech therapy can help this.  Most of the time, the most drastic improvements are seen early on, and the progress tends to plateau over the course of 6 months to 1 year.  Then, more slow progress can continue for up to 2 years.