A first year psychiatric resident is interviewing a patient in psychiatry ward. On asking any question, patient starts giving long details and to the point that listener may get bored, but eventually patient answers the question. Which of the following abnormality the resident could find in this patient?

Ans. D. CircumstantialityCircumstantiality is indirect speech that is delayed in reaching the point but eventually gets there. Circumstantiality is characterized by an overinclusion of details. Verbigeration is a meaningless repetition of specific words or phrases. Blocking is an abrupt interruption in the train of thinking before a thought or idea is finished. After a brief pause, the person indicates no recall of what was being said or what was going to be said. It is also known as thought deprivation. Tangentiality is the inability to have a goal-directed association of thoughts. The patient never gets from the desired point to the desired goal. Word salad is an incoherent mixture of words and phrases.