During a psychiatric assessment, a patient involuntarily repeats the exact words spoken by the interviewer. What speech disturbance is this?

Appeared in: PGIMER Nursing Officer - 2025

Explanation

Echolalia is the automatic repetition of another person's spoken words.
It is a speech disturbance seen in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Key differentiator: involves verbal repetition, not movement or new word creation.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

Option B: Echopraxia refers to the involuntary imitation of another person's movements, not speech. It is a motor, not a verbal, phenomenon.
Option C: Neologism is the creation of new, non-existent words or phrases that have meaning only to the patient. It does not involve repeating another person's words.
Option D: Confabulation is the fabrication of stories or facts to fill in memory gaps, typically seen in memory disorders. It is not related to repetition of another's speech.

Related Visual

Differentiation of speech disturbances: echolalia repetition of words, echopraxia imitation of movements, neologism creation of new words, confabulation fabrication of st...

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Recognition of speech disturbances in psychiatric assessment to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
Recognizing echolalia helps in diagnosing conditions like schizophrenia, autism, and certain neurological disorders.
Nurses should document the presence of echolalia as it may indicate underlying cognitive or psychiatric impairment.
What if? If the patient instead mimicked the examiner's gestures, the diagnosis would shift to echopraxia, suggesting a different underlying disorder.

How to Approach the Question

Identify the specific behavior described in the stem (repetition of words).
Recall definitions of common speech and movement disturbances in psychiatry.
Match the described symptom to the correct term by focusing on whether it is verbal or motor.
Eliminate options that do not fit the exact behavior (e.g., movement imitation, word invention, story fabrication).
Use clinical context clues to confirm your choice.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Recognition of speech disturbances in psychiatric assessment
Stem keywords: psychiatric assessment, involuntarily repeats, exact words, interviewer
Lead-in keywords: What speech disturbance is this
Clinical cues: Involuntary repetition of examiner's words indicates a specific speech disorder

Question ID

Qig-OMR0YQ--4Tb_4eZwE2

Reference Book

E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) pp. 1572-1574, 3795-3797

E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) p. 50-52

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