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The Effect of Mental Illness on Language Regression to the Mother Tongue in Bilingual Teenagers

Received April 23, 2007; revised August 29 and September 19, 2007; accepted September 20, 2007. Dr. Elgabalawi is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Jefferson, AEMC; Dr. Khouzam is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. Address correspondence to Dr. Fayez Elgabalawi, Thomas Jefferson University, AEMC, Psychiatry, Belmont Center, 4200 Monument Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19131; elgabalf{at}einstein.edu (e-mail).

ABSTRACT

Affective disorders in children and adolescents could impair the acquisition of a second language in bilingual individuals. The acute exacerbation of a preexisting mental illness may also lead to a loss of the ability to speak the second language for a period of time and the regression to the first (native) language as the only mode of communication. The effect could be lasting since the second language seems to have a critical period of optimal acquisition and proficiency. The underlying neural mechanisms indicated that the second language was more vulnerable to the effects of mental illness than the native language.

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