SYMBOLIZATION AND THE USE OF SYMBOLS
CONTAMINATION: fusion of two or more ideas in a manner that parts of one concept are incorporated into another.
CONDENSATION: combination of two or more loosely related ideas into one.
DISPLACEMENT: using an associated idea instead of the correct one.
IDIOSYNCRATIC SPEECH: use of an asocial dialect which is full of personal idioms.
LITERAL PARAPHASIA: disorder in the production of a sound or sequence of sounds in a given word.
NEOLOGISMS: the building of new words.
ONEMATOPOESIS: a language built from neologisms.
PARALOGISM: semantically unusual use of words.
SYMBOLISM: using the concrete meaning of symbols instead of their symbolic meaning. SUBSTITUTION: replacement of a familiar concept with an unusual but similar one.
VERBAL PARAPHASIA: incorrect use of words.
STREAM OF THOUGHT: DISORDERS OF TEMPO
ACCELERATED THINKING: an abnormally rapid flow of ideas that usually results in voluble speech, i.e., logorrhea.
FLIGHT OF IDEAS: a loosening of internal direction or goal in the processing of thoughts.
INHIBITED THINKING: a slowed down processing of ideas. The inhibition in tempo cannot be removed, however hard the patient tries. It is subjectively experienced as if induced by an external force.
PRESSURED THINKING: driven or kaleidoscopic thinking, in which the patient feels under great stress from disruptive and constantly recurring thoughts which seem to tangle over one another
PROLIXITY: a milder form of flight of ideas.
RETARDED THINKING: slow, laborious flow of thoughts with continuous delays in expressing thoughts and almost no progress. The viscosity and torpidity in speech and verbal reactions are observable.
STREAM OF THOUGHT: DISORDERS OF PROCESSING
AGRAMMATIC SPEECH: a simplification and coarsening of word sequences in a manner that all unnecessary words are omitted.
ALOGIA: patient is unable to relate one idea to another and uses acts of thoughts he/she had used previously, so that no new thoughts emerge.
ASYNDETIC THINKING: lack of genuine causal links in which clusters of more or less related sequences of thoughts, instead of well-knit sequences of thoughts are used, creating a feeling of vagueness. Patients are unable to restrict their thinking, to eliminate all unnecessary material, and to focus their thoughts on a specific topic.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL THINKING: an inability to differentiate the essential from the unessential. The patient gets lost in insignificant details without losing track of the question.
DERAILMENT: speech proceeds along a given path and then suddenly slips into a new direction.
DESULTORY THINKING: thoughts make jumps and proceed in an irregular way.
DRIVELLING: sequences of thoughts are fairly well formed and organized, but mixed up
OMISSION: part of a thought from the main stream of thoughts, drops out, so that the stream of thoughts is interrupted.
OVERINCLUSIVE THINKING: patient cannot maintain the boundaries of a topic and restrict his/her thoughts to the limits of a topic.
RESTRICTED THINKING: poverty of ideas with shrinking of thought content and fixation on one or a few theme. Patient has difficulty switching from on topic to another and returns to a given topic again and again. A constant repetition of a specific content (theme) is present in the most severe form of restricted thinking.
RUMINATION: Endless preoccupation or incessant concern with sometime unpleasant thoughts which are not experienced as alien and are usually related to a real situation in the patient’s life.
TANGENTIAL THINKING: talking past or around the point; thoughts diverge from the topic… The patient seems to understand most questions, but does not answer directly, bringing up another topic or something context-wise entirely different.
STREAM OF THOUGHT: DISORDERS OF CONTINUITY
ECHOLALIA: the repeating (echoing) of phrases spoken by the patient’s entourage, but some time the patient’s own thoughts.
INTERPENETRATION OF THEMES: goal directed stream of thoughts is interfered with by a stream of preoccupation that is based mainly on fantasy.
PALILALIA: repetition of words or short phrases with increasing speed but diminishing audibility.
PERSEVERATION: persistent repetition of words, phrases or sentences to the point they become meaningless.
THOUGHT BLOCKING: sudden blocks or interruptions in the flow of thoughts without obvious reason. The patient stops in the middle of a sentence, becomes silent, and then resumes conversation on another topic.
VERBIGERATION: senseless reiteration of words; a severe form of perseveration.