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Studies in Speech Disorder in Schizophrenia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2018
Extract
Most clinical psychiatrists would agree that many but not all schizophrenic subjects show abnormalities in the field of language. Many use neologisms, i.e. new words for old referents, and some chronic patients talk in a more or less private language which at times degenerates into a word salad. The following features have been noted in the schizophrenic's verbal productions—alliteration, condensation, over-inclusiveness and the personal distortion of the symbol-referent tie. Stuart Chase said: “The point of every discussion is to find the referent. When it is found emotional factors dissolve in mutual understanding.” Psychiatrists often assume that they have identified the referent which ties in with the symbol the patient is using, but sometimes the patient uses new symbols, as “Bill” did the other week when he astonished the other group members by announcing that he was “troubled by warpations and distressed by ignorances”.
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- Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1969
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