A 47-yrs man is brought to you by his wife as she has noted a personality change in the past 3 months. While the patient is being interviewed, he answers every question with the same three words. Which symptom best fits this patient's behavior?

Ans. D. Perseverationa. Perseveration and circumstantiality are forms of thought disorder. In perseveration, the patient displays an inability to change the topic or gives the same response to different questions.b. Circumstantiality is a disturbance in which the patient digresses into unnecessary details before communicating the central idea.c. The capacity to generalize and to formulate concepts is called abstract thinking. The inability to abstract is called concreteness and is seen in organic disorders and sometimes in schizophrenia. Abstract thinking is commonly assessed by testing similarities, differences, and the meaning of proverbs.d. Negative symptoms include a motivation, apathy, and social withdrawal. These symptoms are often seen in schizophrenia.