What Is Alogia?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAlogia SymptomsCausesExamples of AlogiaAlogia TreatmentCoping With Alogia

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Table of Contents

Alogia Symptoms

Causes

Examples of Alogia

Alogia Treatment

Coping With Alogia

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Alogia comes from the Greek words meaning “without speech” and refers to a poverty of speech that results from impairment in thinking that affects language abilities. More specifically, it involves using fewer words, answering only what is directly asked, and speaking in a way that may be vague, repetitive, or overly concrete.

Alogia can be a symptom of various conditions, but it is most commonly associated withschizophreniaand is considered a “negative symptom,” meaning that it takes away the ability to do something.

If you are living with alogia, or know somebody who is, you will know that it can impair your ability to hold conversations and may lead to social isolation. For this reason, it is an important symptom to understand, in terms of how to manage and cope as best you can.

While most symptoms related to alogia are considered"negative" symptoms of schizophrenia(that appear early in the course of the illness before a psychotic break, such as up to 1 to 3 years prior), alogia actually involves both positive and negative symptoms.

Thepositive symptomsemerge when there is poverty in the content of speech (meaning that it becomes disorganized or incoherent).

Thenegative symptomsrelate to things like thought blocking, response latency, and poverty of speech. About 15 to 30 percent of those with schizophrenia have negative symptoms. These are described in more detail below.

A person experiencing alogia may exhibit any or all of the following negative symptoms:

To summarize, alogia is one of five types of negative symptoms that are present in schizophrenia (blunted affect,anhedonia, asociality, andavolitionare the other four).

What Are Language Disorders?

Alogia can also be a secondary effect, resulting from primary symptoms such as psychosis or anxiety. For example, you might choose not to speak, because there are voices in your head threatening you if you do. Similarly, you might not speak due to feeling paranoid around other people or nervous/anxious.

In schizophrenia, it is considered a negative symptom related to the illness.

In contrast, in the case of illnesses involving dysfunction of the central nervous system, such as what is found with dementia or other illnesses that involve mental deficiency, alogia has a different cause.

Alogia may even appear in those without a mental illness, as a result of a disruption in thought processes due to extreme stress or fatigue. In this sense, alogia may appear on a continuum from mild to severe depending on the source of the symptoms.

With schizophrenia, alogia involves a disruption in the thought process that leads to a lack of speech and issues with verbal fluency. For this reason, it is thought that alogia that appears as part of schizophrenia may result from disorganizedsemantic memory.

Research

In a study of 38 people with schizophrenia and 38 controls,those with schizophrenia demonstrated disorganized semantic structure in their language, meaning that they made strange associations between words. This suggests once again that alogia related to schizophrenia is due to semantic memory disorganization.

In summary, alogia seems to be related to how your brain obtains words and meanings from your long-term memory stores. When different parts of the brain have difficulty communicating with each other, this can create the symptoms that manifest as alogia.

Clearly more research is needed to fully understand the cause and effect; however, if you live with alogia, know that this is most likely a primary symptom of schizophrenia and not simply an after-effect. In other words, it’s not that you just need to “try harder” (or that a friend or relative needs to try harder, if you know someone with this illness).

Alogia: Poverty of SpeechQ:Do you have a job?A:YesQ:What is your job?A:JanitorQ:Where do you work?A:At the schoolNon-Alogia ExampleQ:Do you have a job?A:Yes, I work as a janitor. I do the night shift.Q:Where do you work?A:I work at Woodside College, it’s a school on the other side of town.

Alogia: Poverty of SpeechQ:Do you have a job?A:YesQ:What is your job?A:JanitorQ:Where do you work?A:At the school

Q:Do you have a job?

A:Yes

Q:What is your job?

A:Janitor

Q:Where do you work?

A:At the school

Non-Alogia ExampleQ:Do you have a job?A:Yes, I work as a janitor. I do the night shift.Q:Where do you work?A:I work at Woodside College, it’s a school on the other side of town.

A:Yes, I work as a janitor. I do the night shift.

A:I work at Woodside College, it’s a school on the other side of town.

Alogia Example #2 (incoherent speech, vague, little information actually provided)

Q:Why do you work as a janitor?

A:To explain that… it’s the tendency to do it…. some times more than other times…. the thing that happens… you know, the way the world works… that’s what I think about.

Non-Alogia Example

Q:It’s good money and I like working nights. Not too many people around and it’s quiet.

Treatment for alogia follows along with treatment for the underlying condition. In the case of schizophrenia, this typically means a combination of medication and therapy. Below are the main ways that medication and therapy may be used in the treatment of alogia.

Medication

Medications such as second-generationantipsychoticsorantidepressantsmay be used to treat alogia. However, medications can sometimes have adverse effects. If you will be taking medication, it is important to work closely with your doctor and to take the medication exactly as it is prescribed.

Therapy

What forms of therapy are helpful for alogia? It all depends on the underlying cause. For example, in the case of an organic mental disorder such as dementia, speech therapy might be used. In the case of schizophrenia,social skills trainingor family education might be offered.

Living with alogia can have impacts on your quality of life. You may withdraw socially from family and friends due to an inability to carry on a conversation or organize your thoughts.

Your ability to find work, hold a job, or interact with coworkers or customers could also be affected. This could have long-lasting effects on your quality of life.

Know first of all that social situations will tend to worsen alogia. When there is a lot of external stimulation, it will be harder for you to process your thoughts and produce verbally.

Below is a list of things that you could do to help manage alogia or to help a family member or friend who is living with alogia:

If alogia seems to result from anxiety or from primary symptoms, talk to your doctor or mental health professional about treating those other issues that are contributing to alogia.

You can ask a friend or family member to monitor your symptoms and to make you aware if they seem to be getting worse so that you can follow up with your doctor or mental health professional. It may be hard to recognize this yourself.

Look for community supports or those through a workplace (if you are working) to help you manage tasks of daily living. If you tend to isolate yourself due to alogia, it could also be helpful to join a support group or other situation where you are regularly meeting with others so as to avoid becoming completely isolated.

Be kind and compassionate toward yourself when experiencing alogia. Your symptoms are a result of your illness and not a personal failing. While they will be difficult to manage, the secondary effects of isolation and feeling bad about yourself are within your scope of control.

A Word From Verywell

If you or someone you know is showing signs of alogia, it is important to visit your doctor or mental health professional. Alogia can be one of the early negative symptoms of schizophrenia that emerges prior to symptoms of psychosis. Early identification, diagnosis, and treatment is critical in this case; the sooner symptoms can be identified and dealt with, the better the long-term prognosis will be.

If you are unsure where to turn regarding your symptoms, your primary care doctor is usually the best option. Your doctor will be able to refer you to a mental health professional for further assessment and treatment.

Above all, remember that there is no shame in reaching out for help; rather, it is the best step you can take. Asking for and receiving help for schizophrenia and related symptoms of alogia is the best thing that you can do and you should feel good about making this effort toward improvement.

2 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Marder SR, Galderisi S.The current conceptualization of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.World Psychiatry. 2017;16(1):14-24. doi:10.1002/wps.20385Kuperberg GR.Language in schizophrenia Part 1: an Introduction.Lang Linguist Compass. 2010;4(8):576-589. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00216.xAdditional ReadingChuang JY, Murray GK, Metastasio A, et al.Brain structural signatures of negative symptoms in depression and schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. 2014;5:116. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00116Paraschakis A.Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine. Case Rep Psychiatry. 2014;2014:384783. doi:10.1155/2014/384783Sumiyoshi C, Sumiyoshi T, Nohara S, et al.Disorganization of semantic memory underlies alogia in schizophrenia: an analysis of verbal fluency performance in Japanese subjects. Schizophr Res. 2005;74(1):91-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.05.011

2 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Marder SR, Galderisi S.The current conceptualization of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.World Psychiatry. 2017;16(1):14-24. doi:10.1002/wps.20385Kuperberg GR.Language in schizophrenia Part 1: an Introduction.Lang Linguist Compass. 2010;4(8):576-589. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00216.xAdditional ReadingChuang JY, Murray GK, Metastasio A, et al.Brain structural signatures of negative symptoms in depression and schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. 2014;5:116. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00116Paraschakis A.Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine. Case Rep Psychiatry. 2014;2014:384783. doi:10.1155/2014/384783Sumiyoshi C, Sumiyoshi T, Nohara S, et al.Disorganization of semantic memory underlies alogia in schizophrenia: an analysis of verbal fluency performance in Japanese subjects. Schizophr Res. 2005;74(1):91-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.05.011

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Marder SR, Galderisi S.The current conceptualization of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.World Psychiatry. 2017;16(1):14-24. doi:10.1002/wps.20385Kuperberg GR.Language in schizophrenia Part 1: an Introduction.Lang Linguist Compass. 2010;4(8):576-589. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00216.x

Marder SR, Galderisi S.The current conceptualization of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.World Psychiatry. 2017;16(1):14-24. doi:10.1002/wps.20385

Kuperberg GR.Language in schizophrenia Part 1: an Introduction.Lang Linguist Compass. 2010;4(8):576-589. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00216.x

Chuang JY, Murray GK, Metastasio A, et al.Brain structural signatures of negative symptoms in depression and schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. 2014;5:116. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00116Paraschakis A.Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine. Case Rep Psychiatry. 2014;2014:384783. doi:10.1155/2014/384783Sumiyoshi C, Sumiyoshi T, Nohara S, et al.Disorganization of semantic memory underlies alogia in schizophrenia: an analysis of verbal fluency performance in Japanese subjects. Schizophr Res. 2005;74(1):91-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.05.011

Chuang JY, Murray GK, Metastasio A, et al.Brain structural signatures of negative symptoms in depression and schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. 2014;5:116. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00116

Paraschakis A.Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine. Case Rep Psychiatry. 2014;2014:384783. doi:10.1155/2014/384783

Sumiyoshi C, Sumiyoshi T, Nohara S, et al.Disorganization of semantic memory underlies alogia in schizophrenia: an analysis of verbal fluency performance in Japanese subjects. Schizophr Res. 2005;74(1):91-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.05.011

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