Explain why a technical neologism, coined to name a private experience, is considered clinically distinct from other neologisms arising from disordered thought.
Most neologisms arising from disordered thought reflect a breakdown in the ordinary processes of forming coherent speech — a blend produced by disorganised thinking, or a word shaped by the content of a hallucinatory voice, with little functional purpose behind it. A technical neologism is different: it is coined deliberately, or at least functionally, to name a specific private experience for which the person feels no existing word is adequate, and it then tends to be used consistently and explainably whenever that experience recurs. Recognising this distinction matters because a technical neologism, however strange it sounds, reflects an attempt at communication and self-understanding rather than a pure symptom of disorganisation, which can change how a clinician chooses to engage with it in conversation.
References
- Casey, P. & Kelly, B. (2019). Fish's Clinical Psychopathology, 4th ed. Ch. 4, 'Disorders of Thought and Speech'.