Thought disorder

• A thought disorder involves a disturbance in how thoughts are organized and expressed - leads to disorganized speech

  • Hallmark feature of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
  • Affective disorders - bipolar and depression
  • Some neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's
• Alogia

  Poverty of speech

  Restricted quantity of speech

  Brief unelaborated responses
• Pressure of speech

  Increased rate and quantity of speech

  Speech may be loud and difficult to interrupt
• Distractible speech

  Topic maintenance difficulties

  Distraction by nearby stimulus
• Tangentiality

  Replies to questions are off point and totally irrelevant
• Neologisms

  Create new words that are only understood by the individual
• Word salad

  Incoherence

  Random assortment of words
• Echolalia

  Repeat or echo the words or phrases of those around them
• Thought blocking

  When the person abruptly interrupts themselves
• Stilted speech

  odd language use that may be excessively formal, pompous, outdated or quaint
• Circumstantiality

  Often include irrelevant details

  Maintain their original train of thought but provide a lot of unnecessary details before circling back to their main point
• Clanging

  Makes word choices based on the sound of the word

  May rely on using rhymes, alliterations, or puns and create sentences that don't make sense

  Common symptom of mania
• Derailment

  Loosening of associations

  Spontaneous speech

  Ideas often fall further and further from the topic of conversation
• Illogicality

  Marked errors in logic
• Preservation

  Excessive repetition of words, ideas or subjects