Verbiage: characteristics and examples of this speech symptom

Talking is a must. 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 speak. They talk and talk and do not let others speak, doing more than communicating what they seek is to have an audience that listens to them and nothing else.

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

• Related article: "The 14 types of language disorders"

What is verbiage?

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

Another prominent aspect of verbiage is that the thread of the conversation is spontaneous and sudden, constantly changing and full of terms that do not come to mind. The person talks non-stop, even if he has to change the subject without coming to mind in order to continue saying something. It is a very fluid monologue, although it lacks, on many occasions, any meaning whatsoever.

You have to 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 a bit around the bush. But there is a world between talking a little more than necessary and talking non-stop, without letting our interlocutor tell us what they think or share what has happened or thinks.

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

Characteristics of verbiage

The main characteristic of verbiage is the constant need to speak. People who manifest it may have a normal prosody, although the rate ranges from slightly accelerated to almost no time to hydrate the mouth.

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

One of the aspects most related to verbiage is the use of neologisms, new words without a clear derivation, used as synonyms, or substitute words for anotherI know they are unrelated in meaning but just sound better to you (p. eg, "hypotenuse" for "hypocrisy" or "hypocrisy", invented word, for "hypocrisy"). Added to this, in the most extreme cases, verbosity people invent new morphosyntactic constructions, without being aware of the grammatical mistakes they make.

Verbiage example

To understand graphically what verbiage is let's see a few examples of it.

Case 1. Two friends meet in a bar

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

“I have found a job. Do you know where she is? She is near the Plaza de la Constitución, in front of a kiosk and behind a hospital, right next to a large tree. She has had to work well by the window. I like the windows. Whenever I go by bus I try to hold the window, but I don't like going to the window on the plane. It's that I'm a little scared. I have always been afraid of heights. When I was little, I couldn't even take a swing or get on the slide... "

Case 2. The girl with the tiles

As we have said before, their way of speaking is compulsive and often disorderly, going from one topic to another spontaneously. Here is an example of sudden topic jumps.

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 bluebirds. Did you know that the tiles in the bathroom in my house are not blue, but pistachio green? Or was it operating room green? Wow, I don't like operating rooms. They are so cold… and there is so much blood, sometimes. Oh, the other day I made a wound and a lot of blood came out, but it has already healed me. Well, I'm not sure. I think my neighbor had an accident a couple of weeks ago and is 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 may appear

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

These lesions are often associated with aphasias, Wernicke's aphasia being of special mention, since verbiage can occur in it. Among the symptoms of this aphasia we have the use of words without meaning or neologisms (in its clinical sense), speech and writing incomprehensible and incoherent, as if they were a salad of words, although there is a fluency of speech and writing, both maintained and in excess. There is a lack of awareness of linguistic errors, that is, anosognosia.

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

For all this not surprisingly, accelerated speech occurs in disorders where there is tachypsychiasuch as the manic episodes of bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, and schizophrenia. It can also be present in states of anxiety and agitation, in addition to organic psychoses and alcohol and amphetamine intoxication.

However, sometimes what causes a person to be verborrheic is not a brain injury or a mental disorder, but having a self-centered personality. The person focuses the conversation on their need to talk about themselves and without allowing the other interlocutor to speak. Despite this, It should be noted that verbiage is not a diagnostic label nor is it a personality style, although it can be related to both.

• You may be interested: "Wernicke's area: anatomy, functions and disorders"

Treatment

Verbiage is a communication style that can indicate that either the person has a mental disorder or that her personality type tends towards unlimited egocentricity.

Although having an egocentric personality is not a disorder, it can be something that requires some psychological intervention, to make the person gain a little control over their life and well-being, in addition to ceasing to be a nuisance for those who have to put up with it. The treatment of verbiage depends on the type of disorder with which it is associated.

In the event that it is due to an underlying mental disorder, it should be intervened through psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. Not only to make the rhythm and coherence of the speech of the verborrheic person normal, but also to treat the mental disorder and ensure that their well-being is increased.

The pharmacological route for verborrhea can 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 had a manic episode.

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

Finally, in case the person is verbose because of his egocentric personality, the psychological treatment will be aimed at making it more efficient when establishing communication of double via. That is, they learn that a conversation involves at least two people and that he or she is not the center of the conversation. Learning to listen, let others speak and understand that everyone has the right and the need to speak are fundamental aspects to work on.

Anyway it can be said that Verborrheic due to egocentric personality are cases a bit difficult to work with in consultation. The best that the close environment can do is not to lend yourself to be part of their narcissistic game.

Bibliographic 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.