Which description best captures Sam's current communication pattern?

Which description best captures Sam's current communication pattern?

• A. Increased spontaneity with complex answers
• B. Attends daily groups but answers are simple, one-word
• C. Disorganized thought with incoherent speech
• D. Poor memory for recent events

Answer: (B)

The pattern being tested is alogia, a negative symptom of schizophrenia characterized by reduced speech output and content. Sam attends daily groups but gives short, one-word replies, which shows preserved participation in activities alongside diminished verbal communication. This decline in conversational depth isn’t due to confusion or disorganized thinking; it’s a qualitative change in how much he talks and what he says.

Why this fits best: alogia reflects a constricted or impoverished speech pattern, where responses are brief and lack complexity, even though the person may still be engaged socially. The other options describe different phenomena: increased spontaneity with complex answers would point to pressured or rapid speech, not the restrained replies described; disorganized thought with incoherent speech would produce jumbled, illogical, or incoherent speech rather than succinct, one-word answers; poor memory for recent events involves cognitive deficits rather than a specific communication pattern.