Cataphasia

Cataphasia is a condition in which a person cannot remember the word they wanted to say and instead says the first one that comes to mind. This phenomenon can be caused by various reasons such as stress, anxiety, depression or memory impairment.

Cataphasia can manifest itself in both oral and written speech. A person may use cataphasia to avoid awkward silences or fill a gap in conversation. However, if cataphasia becomes a persistent problem, it can lead to decreased self-esteem and poorer social adjustment.

One of the most common treatments for cataphasia is cognitive behavioral therapy. This approach includes exercises to improve memory and attention, as well as develop self-control skills. In addition, medications such as antidepressants or antipsychotics may be prescribed to help improve mood and reduce anxiety.

Overall, cataphasia is quite common but can be successfully treated with appropriate techniques. It is important to remember that this condition is not a sign of intellectual disability and should not lead to social isolation or decreased self-esteem.

Cataphasia is the loss of the ability to name objects and actions, while articulation is not impaired; a person names this or that word, but literally replaces it with synonyms unrelated to specific objects and actions. A person may call a cloth material instead of a cloth, call a walkway carpet (instead of a door carpet), or call a curb a terrace instead of a concrete fence. However, if a person is presented with exact synonyms, for example, the name of a disk circling around the axis, characteristic defects will be observed in pronunciation. With a pronunciation defect of the cataphasia type, word substitutions are noticed in which the order of the alphabet is disrupted (cataphatic). To cataphase something is to perform an action by replacing words with unrelated synonyms.

The term comes from the Greek words “kata” translated as “from above” (cavern), “phasis” - phasis, “speech”.

There are several variants of cataphasia, which are characterized by a violation of articulation during glossia (aphasic cataphasia) - while physiologically the act of sound formation is possible (repetition of onomatopoeia, whistling, rhythmic rattling is possible), with a change in voice (logophonic cataphasia), with neologisms (neologismic cataphasia, according to the mechanism of which attempts to verbally complete phrases in meaning and sound structure arise, that is, the effect of pseudo-reading).

Cataphasia appears in patients in two main forms. Cataphasing and articulation disorders are independent groups of syndromes. Both cataphasing and articulatory insufficiency correspond to their own impairments in the mobility of the muscles of the speech apparatus of varying degrees.