Flight of ideas: associated symptoms, causes and treatment

In psychopathology we find a great variety of thought and speech disorders, which mainly affect patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In this article we will know one of them, the flight of ideas, a disorder that affects the speed of thought and speech.

We can differentiate two planes: thought (ideas) and speech (language). In this disorder, ideas slip past each other without meaning, first in the person's mind and later in her speech as he verbalizes them.

• Related article: "What is psychosis? Causes, symptoms and treatment"

Flight of ideas: characteristics

The flight of ideas is a disorder of thought, which affects the speed of it and characterized by an increase in the flow of ideas that appear in the mind, which makes the person who manifests it speak faster than usual, constantly jumping from one idea to another. This leap from one idea to another usually occurs before the first thought or idea has finished.

Besides, is considered the maximum degree of tachypsychia. Tachypsychia is the pathological acceleration of mental activity. Unlike this, the flight of ideas is more intense and aggressive.

In the flight of ideas the patient lacks a fixed direction when speaking; that is, thought shoots up and jumps from one idea to another without direction or goal. Sudden and illogical thematic changes occur.

Thus, as we have seen, the flight of ideas is made up of two main elements:

• massive increase in the speed of thought.
• Systemic difficulty in reaching a conclusion.

Related symptoms

The particularities common to all flight of ideas are those that we will see below.

1. Disorder and aimlessness of intellectual processes

It happens that, even when the different ideas that the person has have some kind of relationship, the set of cognition devoid of meaning and meaning.

2. Crazy associations that have no relationship between them

Associations that are unrelated to each other predominate. Besides, the thoughts generated can be very different from each other, although they appear continuously in the mind or speech of the person.

3. Easily distracted and off topic

The subject with flight of ideas is easily distracted and strays from the topics that he thinks, influenced by environmental stimuli (external).

So, many of his ideas appear immediately as a result of viewing an image from abroad what the subject observes.

4. highly visible

The flight of ideas is easily observed through the patient's verbal expression. This massive brainstorming that we have discussed above is expressed immediately and unleashes the elaboration of incongruous discourses.

Causes

The flight of ideas usually appears due to an alteration in the state of mind. Specifically, a pathologically euphoric state such as mania (in type I bipolar disorder) or hypomania (in type II bipolar disorder) is the main cause of flight of ideas.

So, this alteration is typical in bipolar disorders commented, but they can also appear in isolation (although it is not so common). It occurs especially in type I bipolar disorder, where at least one episode of mania appears or has appeared.

In a manic episode, the mood is disturbed and there is an increase in activity. goal oriented, as well as increased energy, for 1 week (or less if required hospitalization).

Flight of ideas can also appear in patients with schizophrenia. Andreasen in 1979 included it in his classification of thought disorders in schizophrenia, when he elaborated the Thought Disorders Scale. However, when making the differential diagnosis, we must adequately differentiate the flight of ideas from the psychotic disorders themselves.

Sometimes the flight of ideas appears together with delusional ideas, but then it is a different alteration, since the content of the thought in the flight of ideas is preserved (no delirium appears); only its presentation is altered (more accelerated than usual).

Consequences

Flight of ideas is considered a serious disorder that has a very negative impact on the subject; thought is so accelerated that it completely loses its functionality.

Thus, the person experiences a massive brainstorm inside his mind, but these ideas appear overlapped by the generation of the subsequent idea; the person finally can't come to any specific idea. From here comes his name, from the "ideas that escape" from each other. The person produces a large number of thoughts and ideas, but none of them is productive.

On the other hand, thoughts disappear at the same speed with which they appeared. The subject is jumping from one topic to another without any logical order or consistency. The result, finally, is that speech becomes totally incongruous and the subject is unable to focus thought on any particular idea or aspect, even if it is simple.

In this way, tasks that require a minimum degree of concentration (for example, talking to someone, or even cooking) become really difficult, since the acceleration of their thinking prevents said person from being able to concentrate.

Treatment

The treatment for this class of alterations depends on the general clinical picture in which it is framed, that is, the disorder that generates this and other alterations.

Bibliographic references:

• Belloch, A.; Sandin, b. And Ramos, F. (2010). Manual of Psychopathology. Volume II. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.
• Vallejo, J. (2011). Introduction to psychopathology and psychiatry. (7th Ed.) Barcelona: Masson.
• American Psychiatric Association (2013). DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th Edition). Washington, DC: Author.