Dysnomia is a difficulty or inability to retrieve the correct word from memory when it is needed. Dysnomia can affect speech skills, writing abilities, or both.
Normal individuals will occasionally suffer problems recalling words. This only becomes a medical condition when the recall problems interfere with daily life. Doctors use neuropsychological tests to diagnose the condition.
Dysnomia can develop because of brain trauma or can be a learning disability. Dysnomia from strokes or head injuries will frequently reduce or disappear with time.
The learning disability, however, cannot be cured. Patients can improve their life skills by using coping strategies.
The difference between dysnomia and anomia is the level of function. This is indicated by the nature of the names, dys-nomia vs. a-nomia. Anomia, "renders a person completely unable to name familiar objects, almost as if he or she were suddenly required to converse in a foreign language". Dysnomia, on the other hand, is a lesser level of dysfunction, a severe form of the "tip-of-the-tongue" feeling where the brain cannot recall the desired word or name.
Despite the difference, some sources interchange the terms. A review of available literature shows:
The two diagnoses have similar, but separate references in diagnostic codes
Anomia is cited more frequently/studied more frequently, possibly because anomic patients are more likely to be hospitalized or institutionalized
Dysnomia appears more common in reference to a learning disability
In cases where the two terms are used in the same materials, dysnomia is sometimes mentioned as the primary , other references place anomia first, and other references list both and treat them as synonyms .
Despite the separate diagnostic codes, a search of online materials failed to reveal clear clinical criteria for when dysnomia shifts to anomia.
