Alogia
Encyclopedia
In psychology
, alogia (Greek α-, “without”, and λόγος, “speech”), or poverty of speech, is a general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech
. As a symptom
, it is commonly seen in patient
s suffering from schizophrenia
, and is considered as a negative symptom. It can complicate psychotherapy
severely because of the considerable difficulty in holding a fluent conversation. Alogia is often considered a form of aphasia
, which is a general impairment in linguistic ability. It often occurs with mental retardation
and dementia
as a result of damage to the left hemisphere of the brain.
People can revert to alogia as a way of reverse psychology
, or avoiding questions.
Apart from the lack of content in a reply, the manner in which the person delivers the reply is affected as well. Patients affected by alogia will often slur their responses, and not pronounce the consonants as clearly as usual. The few words spoken usually trail off into a whisper, or are just ended by the second syllable. Studies have shown a correlation
between alogic ratings in individuals and the amount and duration of pauses in their speech when responding to a series of questions posed by the researcher.
The disability to speak stems from a deeper mental disability that causes alogic patients to have difficulty grasping the right words mentally, as well as formulating their thoughts. A study investigating alogics and their results on the category fluency task showed that schizophrenics suffering from alogia display a more disorganized semantic memory
than controls. While both groups produced the same number of words, the words produced by schizophrenics were much more disorderly and the results of cluster analysis revealed bizarre coherence in the alogia group.
that processes meaning in language. Schizophrenic patients in a word generation experiment generated fewer words than the unaffected subjects and had limited lexicons, evidence of the weakening of the semantic store. Another study found that when given the task of naming items in a category, schizophrenic patients displayed a great struggle but improved significantly when experimenters employed a second stimulus to guide behavior unconsciously. This conclusion was similar to results produced from patients with Huntington's and Parkinson's disease
, ailments which also involve frontostriatal dysfunction.
produced the greatest reduction in alogia symptoms with a 50% decrease in severity. Of the negative sympotms of schizophrenia, alogia had the second best responsiveness to the drugs, surpassed only by attention deficiency. D-amphetamine is another drug that has been tested on schizophrenics and found success in alleviating negative symptoms. This treatment, however, has not been developed greatly as it seems to have adverse effects on other aspects of schizophrenia such as increasing the severity of positive symptoms.
The negative symptoms of schizophrenia have previously been considered to be related to a psychiatric form of the frontal lobe syndrome. Studies show that the symptoms of schizophrenia do indeed correlate with frontal lobe syndrome.
Previous studies and analyses conclude that there are three factors that include both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. These three factors are: alogia, attentional impairment, and inappropriate affect. Studies suggest that an inappropriate affect is strongly associated with bizarre behavior and positive formal thought disorder, attentional impairment correlates significantly with psychotic, disorganization, and negative symptom factors. However, alogia is seen to contain both positive and negative symptoms, with the poverty of content of speech as the disorganization factor, and poverty of speech, latency, and blocking as the negative symptom factor. These results suggest that three dimensions are needed to categorize schizophrenia's negative and positive symptoms.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, alogia (Greek α-, “without”, and λόγος, “speech”), or poverty of speech, is a general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is usually defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependent upon one another. It...
. As a symptom
Symptom
A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality...
, it is commonly seen in patient
Patient
A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....
s suffering from schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, and is considered as a negative symptom. It can complicate psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
severely because of the considerable difficulty in holding a fluent conversation. Alogia is often considered a form of aphasia
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
, which is a general impairment in linguistic ability. It often occurs with mental retardation
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
and dementia
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
as a result of damage to the left hemisphere of the brain.
People can revert to alogia as a way of reverse psychology
Reverse psychology
Reverse psychology is a technique involving the advocacy of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what actually is desired: the opposite of what is suggested...
, or avoiding questions.
| Example of alogia | |
|---|---|
| Alogia | Normal speech |
Q: Do you have any children? A: Yes. Q: How many? A: Two. Q: How old are they? A: Six and sixteen. Q: Are they boys or girls? A: One of each. Q: Who is the sixteen year old? A: The boy. Q: What is his name? A: Edmond. Q: And the girl's? A: Alice. |
Q: Do you have any children? A: Yes, a boy and a girl. Q: How old are they? A: Edmond is sixteen and Alice is six. |
Characteristics
Alogia is characterized by a lack of speech, often caused by a disruption in the thought process. Usually, an injury to the left hemisphere of the brain will cause alogia to appear in an individual. In conversation, alogic patients will reply very sparsely and their answers to questions will lack spontaneous content; sometimes, they will even fail to answer at all. Their responses will be brief and terse, generally only appearing as a response to a question or prompt.Apart from the lack of content in a reply, the manner in which the person delivers the reply is affected as well. Patients affected by alogia will often slur their responses, and not pronounce the consonants as clearly as usual. The few words spoken usually trail off into a whisper, or are just ended by the second syllable. Studies have shown a correlation
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
between alogic ratings in individuals and the amount and duration of pauses in their speech when responding to a series of questions posed by the researcher.
The disability to speak stems from a deeper mental disability that causes alogic patients to have difficulty grasping the right words mentally, as well as formulating their thoughts. A study investigating alogics and their results on the category fluency task showed that schizophrenics suffering from alogia display a more disorganized semantic memory
Semantic memory
Semantic memory refers to the memory of meanings, understandings, and other concept-based knowledge unrelated to specific experiences. The conscious recollection of factual information and general knowledge about the world is generally thought to be independent of context and personal relevance...
than controls. While both groups produced the same number of words, the words produced by schizophrenics were much more disorderly and the results of cluster analysis revealed bizarre coherence in the alogia group.
Causes
Alogia is brought on by frontostriatal dysfunction which causes degrading of the semantic store, the center located in the temporal lobeTemporal lobe
The temporal lobe is a region of the cerebral cortex that is located beneath the Sylvian fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain....
that processes meaning in language. Schizophrenic patients in a word generation experiment generated fewer words than the unaffected subjects and had limited lexicons, evidence of the weakening of the semantic store. Another study found that when given the task of naming items in a category, schizophrenic patients displayed a great struggle but improved significantly when experimenters employed a second stimulus to guide behavior unconsciously. This conclusion was similar to results produced from patients with Huntington's and Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
, ailments which also involve frontostriatal dysfunction.
Treatment
Medical studies conclude that certain adjunctive drugs effectively palliate the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, mainly alogia. In one study, MaprotilineMaprotiline
Maprotiline is a tetracyclic antidepressant . It is a strong norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor with only weak effects on serotonin and dopamine reuptake....
produced the greatest reduction in alogia symptoms with a 50% decrease in severity. Of the negative sympotms of schizophrenia, alogia had the second best responsiveness to the drugs, surpassed only by attention deficiency. D-amphetamine is another drug that has been tested on schizophrenics and found success in alleviating negative symptoms. This treatment, however, has not been developed greatly as it seems to have adverse effects on other aspects of schizophrenia such as increasing the severity of positive symptoms.
Relation to Schizophrenia
Although alogia is found as a symptom in a variety of health disorders, it is most commonly found as a negative symptom of schizophrenia.The negative symptoms of schizophrenia have previously been considered to be related to a psychiatric form of the frontal lobe syndrome. Studies show that the symptoms of schizophrenia do indeed correlate with frontal lobe syndrome.
Previous studies and analyses conclude that there are three factors that include both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. These three factors are: alogia, attentional impairment, and inappropriate affect. Studies suggest that an inappropriate affect is strongly associated with bizarre behavior and positive formal thought disorder, attentional impairment correlates significantly with psychotic, disorganization, and negative symptom factors. However, alogia is seen to contain both positive and negative symptoms, with the poverty of content of speech as the disorganization factor, and poverty of speech, latency, and blocking as the negative symptom factor. These results suggest that three dimensions are needed to categorize schizophrenia's negative and positive symptoms.