Alogia

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

In psychology, alogia (Greek α-, “without”, and λόγος, “speech”^[1]), or poverty of speech, is a general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech. As a symptom, it is commonly seen in patients suffering from schizophrenia. It can complicate psychotherapy severely because of the considerable difficulty in holding a fluent conversation.

People can revert to alogia as a way of reverse psychology, 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 is a boy, the other is a girl. 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.

References

↑ “MedTerms medical dictionary, Alogia definition”. Retrieved 2006-09-30.

Template:WikiDoc Sources

[1] “MedTerms medical dictionary, Alogia definition”. Retrieved 2006-09-30.

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