Thought Disorder - What is it?

In hindsight, it is clear that thought disorder is present in both my speech and writings. Afterall, schizophrenia is known as a thought disorder. But what is thought disorder?


There are many parts which make up thought disorder in schizophrenia: disconnectedness, loosening of associations, concreteness, impairment of logic, thought blocking, and ambivalence.

When a number of ideas not considered to be linked by a brain without schizophrenia are strung together, this is known as disconnectedness. When there is a vague connection between the thoughts, this is termed 'loose association': "I was born in a hospital. Once, I saw a calf being born. A baby whale is called a calf. There was a whale that swam up the Thames." Clang associations (I call them clanguage) occur when the association is not based on loose logical connections but the words are tied by similar sounds: "My feet are aching. It is quite a feat to break a world record. We used to have an old record player. I have written a play. Today's the day."


Speech with topics completely unrelated leads to derailment. 'Word salad' is used to describe the fairly uncommon symptom of confused and frequently repetitive language, consisting of strung-together words with no apparent meaning or relationship. The words appear to have been tossed together like the ingredients of a salad.

Being unable to think abstractly, to shift from a specific concept to a general one, such as in explaining the meaning of proverbs, is called concreteness. A person with schizophrenia may suffer this and interpret meanings literally.

Impairment of logic interferes with day to day activities, such as planning a meal or following directions. It is as if logical reasoning had come undone.

In thought blocking, thinking gets stuck in midstream and the mind suddenly goes blank. Sometimes this is experienced as a withdrawal of thought by some external agency. Ambivalence comes when a person with schizophrenia holds two opposite contradictory thoughts at the same time.

People with schizophrenia may also make up entirely new words. These are called 'neologisms'.

Individuals with schizophrenia suffer different degrees of these disorders of thought.