Alogia
Pronunciation: a-LOH-jee-uh
A poverty of speech or speech content regarded as a negative symptom of psychosis, characterized by brief, empty, or blocked verbal responses.
Full Definition
Alogia manifests as a reduction in the spontaneous production of speech or a marked decrease in the informational content of speech despite apparently normal verbal output. It is listed as a core negative symptom in DSM-5-TR criteria for schizophrenia and is assessed during mental status examinations. In editorial contexts, alogia is often confused with aphasia (a neurologically based language impairment) or simply described as 'the patient was quiet,' which loses diagnostic specificity. Editors reviewing psychiatric reports should confirm that alogia is characterized precisely and not used interchangeably with mutism or aphasia. It may also be documented on structured rating scales such as the PANSS.
Usage
Usage note: Do not conflate with aphasia, which has a neurological etiology. Confirm that clinical authors are not using 'alogia' and 'mutism' as synonyms—they are distinct phenomena.
In Context
- "The mental status examination noted alogia, with the client responding to open-ended questions in single words." — Inpatient psychiatric mental status examination
- "The attending psychiatrist cited alogia and flat affect as the two most prominent negative symptoms in the admission note." — Admission note