Palilalia: symptoms, causes and treatment

This language disorder is characterized by the repetition of short phrases, words or syllables.

The word Palilalia probably doesn't mean anything to you, but you probably recognize or have heard of its symptoms: spontaneous and involuntary repetition of syllables, words or phrases.

Palilalia is a language disorder similar to stuttering.. This disorder is considered a tic, due to the unconscious and unwilling repetitions that are carried out.

Palilalia: what is it?

Etymologically, the word "Palilalia" comes from Greek and is broken down into two parts: páli, meaning "again" and laló meaning "speech".. Palilalia, which is also called paliphrasia, can be associated with pathologies such as Tourette's syndrome, autism or certain dementias that we will see below.

In this article you will learn about what exactly palilalia is, the most relevant characteristics of palilalia, the most common causes that can lead to palilalia, related disorders and finally treatments and ideas for this condition.

Symptoms

Palilalia is considered to be a language disorder that is usually present in developing children..

Under this condition, children emit syllables, words, or phrases in a repetitive manner, but may also emit unintelligible sounds, incomplete words, or random words that do not fit the context of the situation being spoken.

Palilalia is a disorder that can easily be confused with echolalia. Echolalia is another language disorder in which there is also a repetition of syllables, words or phrases, but in this case the repetition is based on those words that have just been pronounced, as an echo, in some cases even emulating the pronunciation.

In addition, in echolalia the affected person may repeat words that have been heard in television programs, radio, movies, etc., i.e., not necessarily in conversations. These imitated words can be repeated an unlimited number of times, depending on the degree of impairment in question, and that these repetitions may be under situations that require a verbal response (called non-functional echolalia), for example, when a child is asked "how old are you?", to which the child responds: "you have, you have, you have"...

However, in both cases, these repetitions are emitted involuntarily, semi-automatically and compulsively.

Causes

One of the reasons why palilalia is triggered may be that, in essence, imitative behavior is a common and adaptive response in children.They use it to learn and internalize certain facts or information in general. However, this behavior often disappears over time as the children in question develop other, more functional behaviors.

It has been documented that a genetic vulnerability to disorders such as palilalia has been documented.. This vulnerability means that there is a predisposition to develop the disorder, but it is not a single cause, as other triggers are required to develop palilalia.

These factors would be environmental factors such as stress, anxiety (the repetition of words suffered by the child usually generates great anxiety in the child, generating a vicious circle that does not solve the problem), boredom, frustration, developmental disorders, perinatal disorders, etc. On the other hand, it has been postulated that there are physiological factors that may be associated with palilalia, such as an excess of dopamine.

In addition, there is a common factor in the majority of those affected by palalia, and that is that they tend to have a premonitory sensation before repeating that syllable, word or phrase, and this same sensationand this same sensation works as an unpleasant stimulus, so that when the word is repeated, the person experiences a relief, constituting a reinforcement of the behavior.

Related disorders

There are several disorders that are altering the functioning of language, so they are related to palilalia. The following are the disorders that are most commonly associated with palilalia.

Tourette Syndrome

Tourette's syndrome consists of the chronic repetition of motor tics, accompanied by vocal tics.. One of the most known symptoms of the syndrome of tourette is the emission of obscene or morally censurable words of impulsive form. Another very similar symptom is palilalia.

Autism spectrum disorders

The autism spectrum encompasses a number of developmental disorders. These disorders have in common impairment of communication, behavior, and social interactions.. In the autism spectrum may also be present the disorder of palilalia, because there is an alteration of developmental areas such as language.

3. Dementia

Finally, dementia pathologies can be closely associated with palilalia. Dementias, which are pathologies where there is neurodegeneration, lead to the loss of cognitive faculties..

When neurodegeneration affects brain regions involved in language and self-regulation, language symptoms such as palilalia or echolalia may appear.

Treatment

First of all, it should be noted that the diagnosis of palalia as a language and psychological disorder takes place when it is considered that palilalia deteriorates the quality of life of the person, generating discomfort or suffering.generating discomfort or suffering in the patient.

The treatment provided then, usually varies according to the degree of affectation of palilalia to the patient's daily life, taking into account factors such as the periodicity of symptoms, or the duration of these. Thus, a high frequency and duration of the involuntary repetitions characteristic of palilalia may affect, for example, the patient's quality of sleep.

Obviously there is nothing that can make the repetitions disappear for good, but there are procedures that can alleviate these symptoms, such as behavioral therapiesThere are, of course, nothing that will make the repetitions disappear forever, but there are procedures that can alleviate these symptoms, such as behavioral therapies, carried out by psychologists specializing in speech and/or childhood. These therapies can be accompanied by the help of speech therapists.

In more severe cases, neuroleptic drugs can be used if advised by a specialist, in order to prevent the symptoms from affecting the quality of life of the patients, as mentioned above, impacting for example on the quality of sleep.

In any case, parents or guardians of children should always be alert in order to avoid stressful situations for the child. In addition, learning relaxation techniques to keep them calm in critical moments of constant repetition is a good recommendation for parents.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association (2016). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Editorial médica Panamericana.
• Calavia-Traín, J. (2014). State of the art: speech disorders in the early years. UNIR.
• Chernousova, L. (2008). The conception about severe disorders in communication. LUZ, Educating from science, 7(1).