Psychiatric Assessment and Fundamentals Q 36

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A 23-year-old client who has been admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia says to the nurse “Yes, it’s march, March is a little woman”. That’s literal you know”. These statements illustrate:

  

     A. Neologisms

     B. Echolalia

     C. Flight of ideas

     D. Loosening of association

    

    

Correct Answer: D. Loosening of association

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Loose associations are thoughts that are presented without the logical connections usually necessary for the listener to interpret the message. A thought disturbance demonstrated by speech that is disconnected and fragmented, with the individual jumping from one idea to another unrelated or indirectly related idea. It is essentially equivalent to derailment.

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Option A: A new word that is coined especially by a person affected with schizophrenia and is meaningless except to the coiner, and is typically a combination of two existing words or a shortening or distortion of an existing word.

Option B: Echolalia is a mechanical repetition of words and phrases uttered by another individual. It is often a symptom of a neurological or developmental disorder, particularly catatonic schizophrenia or autism.

Option C: A nearly continuous flow of accelerated speech with abrupt changes from topic to topic that are usually based on understandable associations, distracting stimuli, or plays on words. When severe, speech may be disorganized and incoherent. It is part of the DSM-5 criteria for Manic episodes.

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