Health

What Causes Pressured Speech and How to Manage It?

Pressured speech, also referred to as hyperverbal speech is a mental health condition wherein, an individual speaks faster than usual. It can be difficult to control pressured speech, which can make it hard for people to communicate effectively. Psychotherapy or speech therapy are some of the effective ways that can relieve the symptoms of this condition.

Fast speaking can be natural in some people, while people also speak fast when excited. However, pressured speech makes people speak fast, in an urgent and agitated manner. In this frenzied conversation, the individuals with pressured speech jump from one idea to another, and it becomes difficult for the people to follow the conversation. Here, we will discuss the causes, symptoms and treatment of pressured speech.

What Is Pressured Speech? An Overview

Pressured speech can be a result of the bipolar mania that makes people feel as if they can’t speak fast enough to express themselves. Therefore, they speak quickly and erratically, which makes it hard for the others to understand and follow through the conversation. People often experience pressured speech during manic periods, when their moods or energy levels are very high.

What Are The Symptoms Of Pressured Speech?

Keeping an eye on the following symptoms can help you determine the pressured speech:

  • Urge to speak rapidly in order to express thoughts.
  • Rapid speech, which is really hard to keep up with.
  • The volume of the speech gets higher than normal.
  • Difficult to stop speaking, preventing others from adding up their opinions.
  • Inappropriate place or situation for the speech.
  • Random thought process, or jumping from one idea to another without making sense.
  • Frequent jokes or rhymes in the speech.
  • Difficulty expressing thoughts as they are going too fast in the mind.
  • The speech can be inappropriate or impulsive.

What Causes Pressured Speech?

Pressured speech is linked to the Bipolar disorder and generally observed in the episode of mania or hypomania.

An episode of mania boosts energy or mood and can make it difficult for a person to control their thoughts or actions. Thus, a consistent stream of thoughts makes them think that they aren’t speaking fast enough to express their thoughts effectively. Therefore, they speak rapidly and agitatedly, making it hard for the others to engage in two-way conversations. The signs of mania often remain for a week.

Hypomania, on the other hand, can cause milder symptoms of pressured speech. It doesn’t interfere much in the day-to-day life of the individuals and the signs often last for about 4 days.

The exact reason behind the bipolar disorder is yet to be discovered. However, it has been associated with genetics. Therefore, people with pressured speech are likely to have someone in their family with bipolar disorder.

Other Possible Factors

Pressured speech shares the most apparent association with bipolar mood disorder. Additionally, it is also linked to these conditions:

  1. ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, abbreviated as ADHD, alleviates the focus span and makes it hard for the people to organize thoughts and actions. Individuals with ADHD may experience fast-paced thinking, thereby ending up with pressured speech.
  2. Psychosis: Psychosis is a condition that makes a person lose touch with reality and their interpretation about the things varies from others. Thus, they sound delusional and people can’t relate to the conversations.
  3. Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a mental health problem that breaks the connectors between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, causing delusional and disorganized thoughts. The speech reflecting these thoughts also gets distorted.
  4. Anxiety Disorder: Anxiety disorder can also make it hard for a person to express their thoughts quickly. In response to this situation, they may develop rapid or uncontrolled thoughts and try to keep up with the thoughts in speech.
  5. Autism: Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that causes difficulty in social interactions and communication. It is diagnosed in early childhood and can also promote this speech condition characterized by the rapid, loud, or non-stop talking. The role of speech therapist in autism treatment associated with pressured speech is crucial.
  6. Substance Abuse: Individuals with bipolar disorder are highly prone to develop substance abuse disorder. It includes mainly the consumption of illegal drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamines, etc.

Treatment Of Pressured Speech

There is no specific treatment for the pressured speech, but the doctors or therapists try to resolve the underlying cause of this condition. One of the biggest challenges related to the treatment is the misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder. Therefore, receiving the right treatment becomes difficult for the people experiencing the pressured speech. However, with the correct diagnosis, bipolar disorder can be treated with psychotherapy.

Some of the most effective forms of the psychotherapies for pressured speech are:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps people gain a better understanding of their thoughts, thereby enabling them to manage thoughts effectively. If their problematic thoughts (caused due to depression or anxiety disorders) are resulting in pressured speech, CBT can be helpful. Also, it enables people to identify the destructive thought patterns affecting their behavior negatively.

Family Focused Therapy

Family focused therapy involves the immediate family members taught to respond early to emergent symptoms along with the caregivers. Negative family interactions can be one of the potential reasons behind bipolar disorders, including pressured speech. However, when the families learn effective communication and problem solving skills for resolving conflicts, it can be helpful for the individuals dealing with the pressured speech.

Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy

Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) is an intervention for the treatment of bipolar disorder. The intended action of this therapy is to stabilize down the circadian rhythm disruptions commonly seen in the individuals with the bipolar disorder with pressured speech.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy includes the two contradictory aspects – Accept and Change. It enables people to gain better self awareness and accept who they are. At the same time, you need to change for the better. This intervention enables people to manage their intense emotions, which is helpful for the individuals with the pressured speech.

Winding Up!

This post elaborates on pressured speech, its causes, symptoms and treatment. A professional speech therapist or psychotherapist can help individuals deal with this condition through well-thought-out interventions. It is important to find the best professional near me, so that you can have regular sessions of the therapy without compromising the ease.

Read: Understanding Dementia: Early Signs and Symptoms

Reflect Within

Reflect Within is a holistic mental health organization dedicated to nurturing well-being at every level. Through integrative approaches encompassing therapy, mindfulness, and wellness practices, we guide individuals on transformative journeys toward inner harmony and resilience. Our compassionate team fosters healing, growth, and empowerment, promoting holistic flourishing in mind, body, and spirit. We Offer Services like: Psychologist, Occupational Therapist, Psychiatrist, Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapist, Food & Nutritionist, School Counselling, Corporate Wellness, Remedial Therapist & Special Educator and more

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