Thinking is the highest form of cognitive activity, and its disturbances underlie major psychopathological syndromes. In this chapter, we analyze how logic breaks down, the pace changes, and the essence of the patient's judgments becomes distorted.
The section includes two key topics. The first is general thought disorders in form and pace (disturbances of the associative process: acceleration, incoherence, thought blocking, loosening of associations). The second is the pathology of thought content, with a detailed examination of delusional, overvalued, and obsessive ideas.
During clinical case presentations and exams, you will most often be asked to distinguish loosening of associations in schizophrenia from incoherence in delirium, as well as to clearly differentiate the themes of delusions. The ability to identify these symptoms in conversation and correctly classify them is a fundamental skill for any physician, regardless of their future specialty.