Thought disorder
Clinic
- TD is any disturbance in cognition that adversely affects language and thought content, and thereby communication. A variety of thought disorders were said to be characteristic of people with schizophrenia. A content-thought disorder is typically characterized by the experience of multiple delusional fragments. The term thought disorder is often used to refer to a formal thought disorder.
A formal thought disorder (FTD) is a disruption of the form or structure of thought. Formal thought disorder, also known as disorganized thinking, results in disorganized speech and is recognized as a major feature of schizophrenia and other psychoses. FTD is also associated with conditions including mood disorders, dementia, mania, and neurological diseases. Disorganized speech leads to an inference of disorganized thoughts.
Types of thought disorders include derailment, pressured speech, poverty of speech, tangentiality, verbigeration, and thought blocking.
Formal thought disorder is a disorder of the form of thought rather than of content of thought that covers hallucinations and delusions. FTD, unlike hallucinations and delusions, is an observable, objective sign of psychosis. FTD is a common and core symptom of a psychotic disorder and may be seen as a marker of its severity, and also as a predictor of prognosis. It reflects a cluster of cognitive, linguistic, and affective disturbances that have generated research interest in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, neurolinguistics, and psychiatry.
Eugen Bleuler, who named schizophrenia, held that thought disorder was its defining characteristic. However, disturbances of thinking and speech such as clanging or echolalia may be present in Tourette syndrome, or other symptoms as found in delirium. A clinical difference exists between these two groups. Those with psychoses are less likely to show an awareness or concern about the disordered thinking, while those with other disorders do show awareness and concerns about not being able to think clearly.