Clanging (or clang associations) is a symptom of mental disorders, primarily found in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This symptom is also referred to as association chaining, and sometimes, glossomania.
Lucas C. Steuber defines it as "repeating chains of words that are associated semantically or phonetically[,] with no relevant context". This may include compulsive rhyming or alliteration without apparent logical connection between words.
Clanging refers specifically to behavior that is situationally inappropriate. While a poet rhyming is not evidence of mental illness, disorganized speech that impedes the patient's ability to communicate is a disorder in itself, often seen in schizophrenia.
Example
This can be seen by a section of a 1974 transcript of a patient with schizophrenia:
The speaker makes semantic chain associations on the topic of cats, to the colour of her cat, which (either the topic of colours/patterns, or the topic of pets) leads her to jump from her goldfish to the associated clown, a point she reaches via the word clownfish. The patient also exhibits a pattern of rhyming and associative clanging: clown to Halloween (presumably an associative clang) to down.
This example highlights how the speaker was distracted by the sound or meaning of her own words, and led herself off the topic, sentence by sentence. In essence, it is a form of derailment driven by self-monitoring.
Thought disorders are measured using the Thought, Language and Communication Scale (TLC) developed by Andreasen in 1986.
In schizophrenia
Formal Thought Disorders are one of five characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia according to the DSM-IV-TR. Aschaffenburg also found that the frequency of these associations increased for all individuals as they became more fatigued.
Andreasen found that when comparing Formal Thought Disorder symptoms between people with schizophrenia and people with Mania, that there was greater reported incidence of clang associations of people with mania. However, more research is required into not only understanding the causes of such symptoms, but how it works.
See also
- Thought disorder
- Word salad
- Schizophrenia
- Bipolar disorder