Word Salad - in Mental Health Diagnoses

In Mental Health Diagnoses

Word salad may describe a symptom of mental 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 he or she did not make sense. It appears in people with dementia and schizophrenia, as well as after anoxic brain injury.

It may be present as:

  • Receptive aphasia
  • Schizophasia, a mental condition characterized by incoherent babbling (compulsive or intentional, but nonsensical)
  • Logorrhea, a mental condition characterized by excessive talking (incoherent and compulsive)
  • Clanging, a speech pattern that follows rhyming and other sound associations rather than meaning.

Read more about this topic:  Word Salad

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