Psychology Chapter on Mind Composition

Study Notes

Mind Composition

The mind consists of cognition (mental process or intellect), affect, and behavior.
These spheres are interconnected.

Cognition

Includes thought, perception, memory, consciousness, attention and concentration, orientation, judgment, insight, general knowledge, and intelligence.
Thinking is a mental activity described through speech.

Thought Disturbances

General Disturbances:
- Concrete thinking: Literal understanding without grasping implicit meanings.
- Autistic thinking: Egocentric thinking focused on personal fantasies, ignoring reality.
Disturbances of the Form of Thought:
- Pressure of speech: Forceful, rapid, loud speech, difficult to interrupt.
- Poverty of speech: Restricted amount of speech, monosyllabic replies.
- Blocking: Sudden cessation of thought mid-sentence, with no recall of what was being said.
- Tangentiality: Diverting from the central topic without returning to it.
- Circumstantiality: Providing unnecessary details before delivering the main point.
- Flight of ideas: Rapid jumping between ideas, linked by stimuli from the last idea or external triggers.
- Loosening associations: Shifting between unrelated ideas, leading to incoherent speech.
- Incoherence: Mixing meaningless phrases with no logical connection.
- Word Salad: Incoherent mixture of words and phrases with no meaning or connection.
- Clang Association: Meaningless rhyming of words, connected by sound rather than meaning.
- Neologism: Invention of new words or phrases, often combining syllables from other words.
- Retardation: Slow speech with a prolonged delay before responding.
- Echolalia: Pathological repetition of words or phrases spoken by another person.
- Palilalia: Pathological repetition of the last word spoken.
- Preservation: Repetition of the same response to different stimuli, often using the same answer repeatedly.
- Irrelevant answer: A response that is not connected to the question asked, appearing to ignore the question.

Content of Thought

Delusions: False, fixed beliefs not accepted by others of the same social standard, education, and culture, resistant to logic and reasoning.
- Delusion of Grandeur: Believing oneself to be very powerful and important.
- Delusion of Persecution: Believing oneself to be harassed or persecuted by others.
- Delusion of Reference: Interpreting the behavior of others as related to oneself.
- Delusion of Infidelity: False belief that one's lover is unfaithful (pathological jealousy).
- Litigious Delusion: Pathological tendency to take legal action due to imagined mistreatment.
- Erotomaniac Delusion: Believing that a high-status or famous person is in love with oneself.
Thought Control:
- Thought Withdrawal: False belief that thoughts are being removed from one's mind.
- Thought Insertion: False belief that thoughts are being implanted into one's mind.
- Thought Broadcasting: False belief that one's thoughts can be heard by others.
Other Delusions:
- Nihilistic delusion: False belief that self, body, others, or the world is non-existent or ending.
- Delusion of self-blame: False belief that one is full of sins and unfit to live.
- Delusion of poverty: False belief that one is deprived or will be deprived of all material possessions.
Somatic delusions: False belief about physical health, not based on real pathology, but on unrealistic interpretations of physical signs or sensations.
Delusions of bodily changes: False belief about body functions changing in an unusual way.
Obsessions: Persistent thoughts or impulses that are unwanted, intrusive, and cause distress.
Suicidal ideation: Thoughts about harming or ending one's life.
Thought preoccupation: Overwhelming and intrusive thoughts about a specific topic, often related to anxiety or distress.