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 feeling/affect of emergency. It is mainly a neuropsychological symptom of specific mental disorders, such as bipolar disorders, thought disorders, and stress-related disorders among others.

Description

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.

Causes

Mental disorders' symptoms

Pressure of speech mainly happens in the bipolar disorders, during the hypomanic and manic episodes. It also happens because of acute or chronic over-stress in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thought disorders' symptoms like flight of ideas can induce pressured speech, with some degrees of circumstantiality or tangential speech. It is also a direct or indirect symptom of anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia.

Stimulants

Stimulants 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.

Effects

Pressured speech may lead to stuttering, e.g., whenever the persons want expressing themselves faster than their ability to utter their thoughts.

Related conditions