Alogia

Alogia is reduced speech output or diminished meaningful content in speech. It is classified as a negative symptom of schizophrenia and can also occur in other conditions.

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Poverty of speech: A marked reduction in the amount of spontaneous speech a person produces. This is alogia expressed as unusually brief or infrequent speech.
Negative symptom: A reduction or loss of ordinary motivation, expression, cognition, or social behavior. Alogia is classified as a negative symptom because it involves diminished speech.
Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms: A clinical rating scale that assesses negative symptoms of schizophrenia across several domains. Its alogia domain rates poverty of speech and poverty of content.
Aphasia: An acquired impairment of language production or comprehension caused by brain injury or disease. Aphasia is a language impairment; alogia usually describes reduced speech associated with psychiatric or cognitive symptoms.
Poverty of content of speech: Speech that is fluent or lengthy but conveys little information. This is alogia expressed through low informational content rather than few words.
Schizophrenia: A psychiatric disorder involving psychosis, with possible changes in thought, emotion, behavior, and functioning. Alogia is a recognized symptom domain in schizophrenia.
Brief Negative Symptom Scale: A clinician-rated scale for assessing negative symptoms in schizophrenia. It evaluates alogia while distinguishing it from motivation and expressive deficits.
Dysarthria: Imprecise or difficult speech caused by impaired control of the muscles used for speaking. Dysarthria affects speech mechanics, whereas alogia concerns reduced output or content.
Thought blocking: A sudden interruption in the flow of thought, often followed by a pause in speech. An interruption can resemble reduced speech but differs from a persistent paucity of output.
Working memory: The limited-capacity system that temporarily holds and manipulates information for ongoing tasks. Working-memory difficulties may contribute to reduced spontaneous speech in some people with schizophrenia.