Word salad

Psychiatry

Word salad may describe a symptom of neurological or psychiatric conditions in which a person attempts to communicate an idea, but words and phrases that may appear to be random and unrelated come out in an incoherent sequence instead. Often, the person is unaware that they did not make sense. It appears in people with dementia and schizophrenia, as well as after anoxic brain injury. In schizophrenia, it is called schizophasia. Clang associations are especially characteristic of mania, as seen in bipolar disorder, as a somewhat more severe variation of flight of ideas. In extreme mania, the patient's speech may become incoherent, with associations markedly loosened, thus presenting as a veritable word salad.

It may be present as:

• Clanging, a speech pattern that follows rhyming and other sound associations rather than meaning
• Graphorrhea, a written version of word salad that is more rarely seen than logorrhea in people with schizophrenia
• Logorrhea, a mental condition characterized by excessive talking (incoherent and compulsive)
• Receptive aphasia, fluent in speech but without making sense, often a result of a stroke or other brain injury

References

References

1. (2012). "Definition of "word salad". [[Oxford University Press]].
2. "Medical Definition of SCHIZOPHASIA".
3. Shives, Louise Rebraca. (2008). "Basic concepts of psychiatric-mental health nursing". Wolters Kluwer / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
4. Geschwind, Norman. (1974). "Selected papers on language and the brain". Reidel.
5. "Merck Manual". Merck Publishing.