Schizophrenia... Disorganised Thoughts

Given below is the actual account given by one of my patients. Please read till end to understand what gross problems he had in his thinking processes.

He was asked wether he knew Mahatma Gandhi, to which he told yes and described Him as follows....

The above speech sample demonstrates a type disorganisation of thought that is technically called by psychiatrists as 'loosening of associations'.

It is a pattern of spontaneous speech in which the ideas slip off the track onto another one which is clearly but obliquely related, or onto one which is completely unrelated. This pattern of speech is often characterized as sounding "disjointed.’ There is a slow, steady slippage, with no single derailment being particularly severe, so that the speaker gets farther and farther off the track with each derailment, without showing any awareness that his reply no longer has any connection with the question which was asked. This abnormality is often characterized by lack of cohesion between clauses and sentences and by unclear pronoun referents.
Termed simply... there is lack of cohesion leading to disintegration of core of self, and relationship to reality.

It is one of the impotant symptoms of illness called Schizophrenia, which has many other aspects like hallucinations and delusions, along with socio-occupational dysfunction.

The above person was diagnosed as suffering from Schizophrenia and showed good improvent with medications and occupational therapy. He is now back with his family and has started working at his brothers shop.

(Patients Identity witheld on ethical grounds)