Pressure of speech (or pressured speech) is a speech fast and frenetic (i.e. mainly without pauses), including some irregularities in loudness and rhythm or some degrees of circumstantiality; it is hard to interpret and expresses a (generally non-apparent) feeling/affect of emergency.[1][2] It is mainly a neuropsychological symptom of specific mental disorders, such as bipolar disorders, thought disorders, and stress-related disorders among others.
Pressured speech is unrelenting, rapid, often loud talking without pauses. Those with pressured speech do not respond to verbal and nonverbal cues indicating that others wish to speak, turning from one listener to another or speaking even when no listeners remain.
Psychostimulants such as cocaine or amphetamines may cause speech resembling pressured speech in individuals with pre-existing psychopathology and produce hypomanic or manic symptoms in general, owing both to the substance's own qualities and the underlying nature of an individual's psyche. In many psychotic disorders, use of certain drugs amplifies certain expressions of symptoms, and stimulant-induced pressured speech is among them.
Cluttering is a speech disorder that is related to pressure of speech in that the speech of a clutterer sounds improperly verbalized. However, cluttering is a distinct language disorder. Even though cluttering sounds almost identical to pressure of speech, it differs in that pressure of speech is rooted in anxiety, where cluttering is not.
Pressure of speech is an instance of tachylalia, or rapid speech. Pressure of speech is also variously related to agitolalia, agitophasia, tachyphasia, and verbomania.
Circumstantial speech is a communication disorder in which the focus of a conversation drifts.[12] In circumstantiality, unnecessary details and irrelevant remarks cause a delay in getting to the point.[13]
^Kroncke, Anna P.; Willard, Marcy; Huckabee, Helena (February 2016). "Emotions, mood, behavior, and adaptive assessment". Assessment of autism spectrum disorder. Springer. ISBN978-3-319-25504-0.
^Sakakibara, Eisuke; Nishida, Takuji; Sugishita, Kazuyuki; Jinde, Seiichiro; Inoue, Yushi; Kasai, Kiyoto (July 2012). "Acute psychosis during the postictal period in a patient with idiopathic generalized epilepsy: Postictal psychosis or aggravation of schizophrenia? A case report and review of the literature". Epilepsy & Behavior. 24 (3): 373–376. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2012.04.127. PMID22652424. S2CID10873224.
^Perkins, William H. (1 January 1993). "What Is Stuttering and Why?". In Boberg, Einer (ed.). Neuropsychology of stuttering. University of Alberta. p. 226. ISBN978-0-88864-239-4. Retrieved 13 December 2010.