Circumstantial speech

Circumstantial speech—Speech pattern whereby the expressed ideas are characterized by unnecessary detail. The speaker ultimately makes his or her point, but in a very roundabout manner. 

Serious mental disorders fundamentally alter one s personality. Evidence from controlled studies demonstrates that antipsychotics can normalize thought processes. Some claim that the involuntary administration of these drugs violates a patient s freedom of speech. In fact, with the onset of a psychotic episode, patients normal mental processes become loose, rambling, illogical, circumstantial, incoherent, and inappropriately concrete and are often characterized by bizarre thought and speech patterns. Delusional ideas may dominate, with or without visual or auditory hallucinations. 

Thought disorder manifest by failure in the organisation of speech such that it drifts away from the point (tangentiality), never reaches the pome (circumstantiality), moves from one topic to the next illogically (loosened associations, knight s move chinking), breaks off abruptly only to continue on an unrelated topic (derailment) or moves from one topic to the next on the basis of a pun or words which sound similar (clang association). 

The most common behavioral effect is a generalized decrease in psychomotor activity and decrements in some domains of psychomotor performance. These effects appear to be dose related, with more pronounced changes associated with greater amounts of marijuana taken in. The general decrease in motor activity appears to be pervasive, and the state is described as associated w ith feelings of relaxation and tranquility. The only exception to this effect appears to be speech because marijuana use is associated with rapid or slurred speech, circumstantial talk, and loquaciousness. These speech effects often are observed more in the early smoking phase, followed by the more traditional relaxation. 

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