Pressure of speech
| Pressure of speech | |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Psychiatry, clinical psychology |
Pressure of speech (or pressured speech) is a speech fast and frenetic (i.e. mainly without pauses), including some irregularities in loudness and rhythm or some degrees of circumstantiality; it is hard to interpret and expresses a (generally non-apparent) feeling/affect of emergency. It is mainly a neuropsychological symptom of specific mental disorders, like bipolar disorders, thought disorders, stress-related disorders, etc. – see below.
Description
Pressured speech is unrelenting, rapid, often loud talking without pauses. Those with pressured speech do not respond to verbal and nonverbal cues indicating that others wish to speak, turning from one listener to another or speaking even when no listeners remain. They are unable to listen to others, either talking nonstop until they run out of energy, or just standing there and looking at the other speaker before moving away.
Causes
Mental disorders' symptoms
Pressure of speech mainly happens in the bipolar disorders, during the hypomanic and manic episodes. It also happens because of acute or chronic over-stress in post-traumatic stress disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.Thought disorders' symptoms like flight of ideas can induce pressured speech, with some degrees of circumstantiality or tangential speech. It is also a direct or indirect symptom of anxiety disorders,attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,autism spectrum disorders, and schizophrenia.
Stimulants
Psychostimulants such as cocaine or amphetamines may cause speech resembling pressured speech in individuals with pre-existing psychopathology and produce hypomanic or manic symptoms in general, owing both to the substance's own qualities and the underlying nature of an individual's psyche. In many psychotic disorders, use of certain drugs amplifies certain expressions of symptoms, and stimulant-induced pressured speech is among them.
Effects
Pressured speech may lead to stuttering, e.g. whenever the persons want expressing themselves faster than their ability to utter their thoughts.
Related conditions
- Cluttering is a speech disorder that is related to pressure of speech in that the speech of a clutterer sounds improperly verbalized. However, cluttering is a distinct language disorder. Even though cluttering sounds almost identical to pressure of speech, it differs in that pressure of speech is rooted in anxiety, where cluttering is not.
- Pressure of speech is an instance of tachylalia, or rapid speech. Pressure of speech is also variously related to agitolalia, agitophasia, tachyphasia, and verbomania.
- Circumstantial speech is a communication disorder in which the focus of a conversation drifts. In circumstantiality, unnecessary details and irrelevant remarks cause a delay in getting to the point.