Tuesday 17 June 2008

Speaking in Tongues, Mumbling Out Loud, and Incoherent Speech

Some fun and stereotyping, by some comedians and the public, is made out of the fact that some psychiatric diagnosed people, sometimes speak or shout to themselves or others incoherently, mumble out loud, or speak in tongues. These matters are very little understood by psychiatrists, other mental health professionals, and the public, from experience, and from sensitive and subtle interaction, introspection, and observation. I sometimes speak or mumble out loud to myself or others, things that seem incoherent, or speak in very abstract, metaphorical, language or tongues, but there are very important and clear reasons behind why I and others do this.

A while ago, I was round a friend's flat, and he asked me a few questions about emotions and thoughts. I did have the immediate answers to his questions, but I didn't want to articulate them in a usual or normal way, partly because I wanted him to also think for himself, and to engage and connect with me in that process. I gave him some suggestions and subtle pointers, but at the time, and on this occasion, he didn't respond to, connect, or pick up on them.

Often when psychiatric diagnosed people speak seemingly incoherently, they are wanting others to respond or connect to the suggestions and subtle pointers they are making, and part of both understanding and interacting with their communication, acquires an awareness or basic skill in connecting to and improvising upon this. Much of the thinking and communication of psychiatric diagnosed people, when they seem to think or speak incoherently, is similar to the way that a person takes notes in studying, as thematic reminders, and are therefore condensed elements of details and huge chunks of information.

So as a way of thinking through the questions out loud, and expressing the answers to my friend, I went through a series of ideas and metaphors in my speech, which sort of answered his questions, but in a very creative, roundabout, or seemingly abstract way. The next day, he commented that I was talking nonsense that evening (although he apologised afterwards for saying so), but I was very aware of what I was saying and what it meant, at the time and afterwards, although I admit that the creative, imaginative, or emotional passion, took over a more logical, or purely rational, way of communicating or reasoning.

It's often assumed by psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and the public, that if speech seems very incoherent, then it must therefore be unstructured, disjointed, rambling, and fragmented, and without logical connection and meaning, but sometimes the seemingly incoherent speech, can be due to an over-fluidity, and over-structuring of thoughts and emotions; without articulating and focusing on one thought, statement, or feeling at a time. It's also the case, that just because a person's thoughts or speech lack logical connection and meaning, this doesn't mean that their emotions are disorganised and disconnected, as there may well be a lot of emotional congruity and connectivity, as sentient and feeling beings.

It's also assumed, that because a person is speaking seemingly incoherently, that this must be due to a so-called thought disorder, when there may actually be a lot of content and structure of thought behind the speech, although the person has a communication problem, or chooses to communicate it in a different way. Seemingly incoherent speech, is therefore more of a problem or deviation of communication, rather than it being an actual thought disorder, and which can be rectified by communication and social skills.

Speaking in tongues, mumbling out loud, and speaking seemingly incoherently, are often secondary mental health problems, or rather, ways of coping with primary mental health problems. Sometimes this can involve talking or having a dialogue with oneself, or with hearing voices, but it can also be a way of avoiding the rational thought-control of the voices or of other people, because if the psychiatric diagnosed person speaks in meaningless statements, this can disrupt the voices rational dominance and control, and fragment or distract the voices from the conscious mind. Speaking in this way, can also be a strategy in trying to avoid or escape from being observed, objectified, controlled, exploited, and manipulated by one-sided inquisition.

1 comment:

  1. Its just "weird" why people do things like that just to make a living out of it. Well, in most cases I also think out of the box. Maybe its just that rather than think of it as a handicap, disability or a mental illness they make use of it as "talent". Well, its just a thought though..
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    Quaddaemon
    Drug Alcohol Rehab Administrator
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