In the
Mental Health field, (originally from the
German ''Wortsalat'') is used to describe the symptom of confused, and often repetitious, language that is symptomatic of various
Mental Illness es. It is usually associated with a
Manic presentation and other symptoms of serious mental illnesses, such as
Psychoses , including
Schizophrenia . It describes the apparently confused usage of
Word s with no apparent meaning or relationship attached to them. In this context, it is considered to be a symptom of a
Formal Thought Disorder . In some cases word salad can be a sign of asymptomatic schizophrenia; e.g. the question "Why do people believe in God?" elicits a response like "Because he makes a twirl in life, my box is broken help me blue elephant. Isn't lettuce brave? I like electrons, hello."
Word salad is in contrast to another symptom of cognitive disruption,
Loose Association and
Cognitive Slippage .
Listed to the right are the international diagnostic codes corresponding to
Word Salad . The American diagnostic codes, from the
DSM-IV , do not specifically code for this disorder although they include it as a symptom under the diagnosis of
Schizophrenia .
Word salad is a very serious condition that indicates a severe, pervasive disruption of many important systems of the brain. Word salad alone "can be recognized as grossly abnormal by college undergraduates" (Cohen, 1961) and as such is very useful in the diagnosis of many mental disorders. Pervasive disruptions of speech quickly raise flags of witness discomfort in anyone listening, further aiding to the diagnosis of abnormality.
The character
Homsar in the animated internet cartoon series
Homestar Runner is known for speaking in word salads, as are members of the
Xaositect faction of the
Planescape setting of the
Dungeons & Dragons game,
Ed from the animated
Cartoon Network series ''
Ed Edd And Eddy '', the
Bursar from the fantasy book series
Discworld by
Terry Pratchett and
Happy Noodle Boy from
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac . On the March 28th 2006 episode of Boston Legal, Alan Shore (
James Spader ) began to speak in word salad.
