Verbiage: characteristics and examples of this speech symptom.

A summary about this symptom linked to some psychological and psychiatric disorders.

Talking is a necessity. Communicating our beliefs, opinions, experiences, fears and perceptions is something fundamental in the human species, a positive symptom of our intellectual and social evolution.

However, sometimes, there are people who do not seem to have a STOP button when they talk. They talk and talk and don't let others talk, so that rather than communicating, what they are looking for is to have an audience to listen to them and nothing more.

In essence, this is verbiage, a symptom of various mental disorders, brain injuries and, also, of people and, also, of people with a somewhat self-centered personality. Let's take a closer look at its characteristics, some examples, its causes and how it is treated.

What is verborrhea?

Verborrhea, also called logorrhea or lalorrhea is a quantitative alteration of the flow of language. This symptom is characterized by the fact that the person says more words than necessary, his communicative speech is accelerated and has difficulty being interrupted. The speech becomes too long, in addition to the fact that communication becomes a monologue, since the verbose or verbose person does not allow his interlocutor to interrupt him or take part in the "conversation".

Another outstanding aspect of verbosity is that the thread of the conversation is spontaneous and sudden, constantly changing and full of terms that do not come to the point. The person talks non-stop, even if he/she has to change the subject matter out of the blue in order to continue saying something. It is a very fluent monologue although lacking, in many occasions, of any sense.

We must understand that it is not a bad thing that we like to talk and it is possible that, on more than one occasion, we have gone off on a bit of a rant. But there is a world between talking a little too much and talking non-stop, without letting our interlocutor tell us what he thinks or share with us what has happened to him or what he thinks.

Verbosity is something that borders on pathologicalIt can even be considered, in some cases, as such. It is a symptom of inability to establish adequate communication with others.

Characteristics of verbosity

The main characteristic of verbosity is the constant need to talk.. People who manifest it may have a normal prosody, although the pace ranges from slightly accelerated to almost no time to moisturize the mouth.

Their way of speaking is impulsive, often disorderly and with a very unstructured argumentative thread. They move from one topic to another without connection.

One of the aspects most related to verbiage is the use of neologisms, new words without a clear derivation, used as synonyms or the use of neologisms, new words without a clear derivation, used as synonyms, or substituting words for other words that are unrelated in meaning but simply sound better (e.g., "hypotenuse" for "hypocrisy" or "hypocrisy").s that have no relation in meaning but simply sound better (e.g., "hipotenusa" for "hipocresía" or "hiposería", an invented word, for "hipocresía"). Added to this, in the most extreme cases, verbose people invent new morphosyntactic constructions, without being aware of the grammatical errors they make.

Example of verbiage

In order to understand graphically what verbiage is let's look at a few examples of verbiage.

Case 1. Two friends meet in a bar

Two friends meet in a bar, and one of them, who suffers from verbiage, starts telling the other that he has found a job:

"I've found a job, do you know where it is? It is near the Plaza de la Constitución, in front of a kiosk and behind a hospital, right next to a big tree. I got to work right next to the window. I like windows. Whenever I go by bus I always try to take the window, but I don't like to go to the window in the airplane. It scares me a little. I've always been afraid of heights. When I was little I couldn't even take a swing or go on a slide...".

Case 2. The girl with the tiles

As we said before, her way of talking is compulsive and often disorderly, moving from one topic to another spontaneously. Here is an example of sudden jumps of topic.

A girl is in a restaurant explaining to her friend that she saw a tile the other day:

"The other day I saw a blue bird, I think they are called azulejos. Did you know that the tiles in the bathroom in my house are not blue, but pistachio green...or was it surgical green?". Wow, I don't like operating rooms. They are so cold... and there is so much Blood sometimes. Oh, the other day I had a wound and a lot of blood came out, but it's healed now. Well, I'm not sure. I think my neighbor had an accident a couple of weeks ago and it's still healing... By the way, my favorite dessert is strawberry ice cream, do you think I should order it?".

Causes and disorders in which it can appear

Although not always, verbiage may appear related to a lesion at the brain level, especially in the frontal lobe, along with lesions in the thalamus and the ascending reticular activating system.

These lesions are usually related to aphasia.Wernicke's aphasia is of special mention, since verbiage may occur in it. Among the symptoms of this aphasia we have the use of meaningless words or neologisms (in its clinical sense), incomprehensible and incoherent speech and writing, as if they were a word salad, although there is a fluency of speech and writing, both maintained and in excess. There is lack of awareness of linguistic errors, i.e. anosognosia.

As for mental disorders, verbiage can appear in a wide variety of them, having a great relationship with tachypsychia. Tachypsychia is a symptom characterized by accelerated thinking, almost as if there were a flight of ideas in the patient. Verbiage would be the oral manifestation of this tachypsychia or accelerated thinking.

Because of all this, it is not it is not surprising that accelerated speech is present in disorders in which there is tachypsychia, such as manic episodes.such as manic episodes of bipolar disorder, hyperactivity and schizophrenia. It can also be present in states of anxiety and agitation, as well as in organic psychosis and alcohol and amphetamine intoxication.

However, sometimes what causes a person to be verbose is not a brain lesion or a mental disorder, but an egocentric personality. The person focuses the conversation on their need to talk about themselves without allowing the other person to speak. Despite this, it should be noted that verbosity is neither a diagnostic label nor a personality style, although it can be related to a personality style.although it can be related to both.

Treatment

Verbosity is a communication style that may indicate that either the person has a mental disorder or that his or her personality type tends toward unbounded self-centeredness.

Although having an egocentric personality is not a disorder, it can be something that requires some psychological intervention.The treatment of verbosity depends on the type of disorder with which it is associated, and on the type of disorder with which it is associated. The treatment of verbiage depends on the type of disorder with which it is associated.

If it is due to an underlying mental disorder, psychotherapy and psychopharmacology should be used. Not only to make the rhythm and coherence of the verbose person's speech normal, but also to treat the mental disorder and ensure that his or her well-being is enhanced.

The pharmacological route for verbiage may be antipsychotics, not only for this symptom itself but also for the psychotic disorder behind it, such as schizophrenia. Lithium is used as a supplement to treat patients who have presented a manic episode.

In case it is due to a lesion at the cerebral level, it will be necessary to perform the pertinent neuroimaging tests in order to detect the location of the lesion and to propose a therapeutic intervention. in order to detect the location of the lesion and to propose a therapeutic intervention. In these cases, psychotherapy can also be used, especially focused on aphasia, psychopharmacology and, if possible and necessary, surgical intervention.

Finally, if the person is verbose because of an egocentric personality, the psychological treatment will be oriented to make him/her more efficient in establishing a two-way communication. In other words, he or she should learn that a conversation involves at least two people and that he or she is not the center of the conversation. Learning to listen, letting others speak and understanding that everyone has the right and the need to speak are fundamental aspects to work on.

In any case, it must be said that verbose people with egocentric personalities are somewhat difficult cases to work with in consultation.. The best thing that the close environment can do is not to lend itself to be part of their narcissistic game.

Bibliographical references:

• Hallowell, B. (2008). Introduction to language intervention strategies in adult aphasia. Language Intervention Strategies in Aphasia and related neurogenic communication disorders. 5: 3-19.
• Obler, L. (1999). Language and the Brain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46641-5.
• Arseni, C.; Dănăilă, L. (1977). Logorrhea Syndrome with Hyperkinesia. European Neurology. 15 (4): 183-7. doi:10.1159/000114831. PMID 872837.