Language in depressive disorder – a blueprint for cognitive, affective and perceptual changes Cover Image

Limbajul în tulburarea depresivă – o reliefare a modificărilor cognitive, afective și perceptive
Language in depressive disorder – a blueprint for cognitive, affective and perceptual changes

Author(s): Raluca Nicoleta Trifu
Subject(s): Psycholinguistics, Cognitive linguistics, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Asociația Specialiștilor în Terapia Tulburărilor de Limbaj din România
Keywords: depressive disorder; verbal fluency; cognitive impairments; psycholinguistic markers;

Summary/Abstract: Depression represents a mental health problem and a real concern in the actual pandemic context. As a state or a trait, depression is also common in persons with special needs. The person diagnosed with depression is unable to concentrate, to sustained attention and to retrieve information. Speed is also impaired. Those particularities impact on language and communication for persons with depression. There is a link between poor verbal interaction and the flow of ideas. Depressive persons use less words in communication and avoid the use of verbal language. In major depressive disorder, the most frequent depressive disorder, affecting 10-25% of women and 5-12% of men, verbal fluency is impaired. Words repetitions are frequent. This is an indicator for impaired working memory. Concentration is also affected, ideo-verbal disorganization and unstructured sentences are present. Adjectives and negative semantic words are used. Depressive persons prefer more past tense then present tense and future tense is almost absent. They use the ”I” more than persons without depression or in remissions. Language display by depressive persons could be a valid indicator for early and differential diagnosis. This study is a narrative one focus on highlight the language displayed by persons with depressive disorder as a refection of specific cognitive, affective ad perceptual changes.

  • Issue Year: VIII/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 84-98
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Romanian