Reasoning – what is it, signs, types, examples

Reasoning is understood as a type of thinking disorder in which the patient reasons a lot without any specifics or purposefulness, as well as with fruitless verbosity.

The best definition was given by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov: Reasoning thinking is a “tendency to fruitless philosophizing,” a “verbal tumor.”

At the same time, a person expresses himself using some complex logical constructions, uses rare abstract terms, often without understanding their true meaning.

When talking with a doctor, an ordinary patient strives to answer all his questions as fully as possible, so that from his answers it would be as easy as possible to determine the cause of the disease.

When reasoning, the patient talks a lot, but at the same time it seems that the aspect of the doctor’s understanding of his reasoning is in first place from the end of the list.

That is, he is interested in the process of reasoning itself , and not the final result, while the reasoning itself moves confusedly and without clear content. At the same time, there are frequent cases of abstract reflections with a complete separation from reality, which are combined with the primitiveness of the ideas expressed.

What are the characteristics of

The main sign of reasoning is the meaninglessness of reasoning. A person suffering from such a thinking disorder may use many smart words, the meaning of which he himself does not know. He wants to seem smart. His speeches are florid and can be replete with some facts and evidence that seem weighty and convincing to him. But, in the end, his verbosity does not lead to any result.

Interpretation options

Worth o is a multi-faceted term. For example, in psychopathology it denotes the loss of the ability and ability to think specifically. Reasoners do not pursue a specific goal, do not use any facts in their arguments, and are not able to draw clear and unambiguous conclusions.

There is another interpretation option. Only it concerns not psychology, but literature. Reasoning heroes are characters in a work who take virtually no part in the development of the plot or action. In other words, they are only witnesses who state what is happening. These heroes are most often found in classical and medieval theaters. However, the use of such characters reached its peak of popularity during the period of bourgeois literature. And the reasoners in such works were not just staters - in these characters the authors expressed objectivity and logic, criticizing through them the sad (at that time) reality. A striking example can be Chatsky from the work “Woe from Wit” - it is he who speaks out about the problems of government, realistically talking about life.

How is it diagnosed?

Reasoning thinking is diagnosed according to three groups of signs:

pace of thinking;
mobility of the thought process;
structure of speech.

The pace of thinking of people with reasoning may be different. It could be:

Slowing down and thinking for a long time, during which the ability to make a decision is lost.
Acceleration. A person has a very fast decision-making process. Ideas are formed at lightning speed. Too much rapid thinking is characteristic of manic states.
Sperrung. A person’s flow of ideas suddenly stops. The thought stops and suddenly comes to a dead end.
Mentism. Obsessive thoughts suddenly intrude in situations to which they have nothing to do.

The mobility of the thought process also reveals a reasoner in a person. His speech may include:

The minor topics he details add non-existent details.
Thoroughness. He systematically focuses attention on details and circumstances that have little or no relation to the main idea.
Viscosity. This is a state when it is impossible to track the initial idea in the stream of thoughts and bring it to its logical conclusion, since the thoughts are already bogged down.

The structure of speech during reasoning thinking abounds:

Speech stereotypes and cliches.
Meaningless repetitions of the same words, sounds, endings (verbigeration).
Incoherent chains, words, in no way comparable to each other.

Delusional ideas

Such thinking disorders as delusional ideas are a set of false and erroneous conclusions, the cause of which is a painful basis, and criticism and correction are not available for them. If a person is completely healthy, but he is mistaken, then in this case he can at least somehow be convinced, or he himself will understand his erroneous views.

Whereas in another case, delirium is a manifestation of mental disorders, and it can only be eliminated with special treatment. Based on psychopathological mechanisms, delusions can be primary and secondary.

With primary delirium

, a person interprets due to impaired thinking, incorrect connections are made, real objects and their relationships are incorrectly perceived. Primary delusions are mainly characteristic of mild mental illnesses.

With secondary delirium

, ideas occur from a primary disorder, which can be any emotion, consciousness, memory or perception. A crazy idea could be:

Hallucinatory.
Depressed.
Figurative.
Confabulatory.
Manic.

From the above, it becomes clear that the occurrence of secondary delusions is associated with a deeper level of mental disorder.

Examples of reasoning

You can see typical signs of reasoning if you ask such a person to explain the meaning of the proverb.

For example, analyzing the proverb “without effort, you can’t pull a fish out of a pond,” a healthy person will explain its essence simply: in order to achieve some result, you need to make an effort.

A person who is sick with reasoning will not stop at this explanation. He will begin to think about what gear is best to catch fish from the pond, at what time of year, how polluted the pond is with waste from a nearby factory, etc. As a result, a simple explanation will turn into a set of empty phrases and thoughts that are not related to the situation. The reasoner will get bogged down in them and by the end of the conversation will completely forget what was discussed.

Self-regulation disorder

Self-regulation disorder refers to the inability to purposefully organize one’s mental actions. At the same time, the subject may have access to complex generalizations and logical operations, and as a result, everything becomes blurred, there is no focus, and as a result, he is unable to solve the assigned problems. This also applies to patients with schizophrenia.

Self-regulation can also be impaired in epileptics. Rigidity manifests itself in their thoughts, and the desire to detail everything in detail. There are violations of the regulatory aspect of goal formation, and schizophrenics experience a decrease in sense of purpose.

Psychopathology considers thinking disorders as disorders with the associative process, pathology of reasoning, and pathology of the development of thoughts according to speed. The occurrence of disorders with the associative process is associated with a painful change in speed, disruption of the structure and purposefulness of thoughts.

Reasoning: causes of thinking disorders

The reasons for the appearance of reasoning may be disorders in the brain or mental disorders - schizoid or hysteroid.

The reason for the appearance of reasoning in people without mental disorders can be a difficult emotional situation. For example, an important exam. In healthy people this phenomenon is temporary. It will pass as soon as the stressful situation stabilizes.

In sick people, reasoning thoughts arise regardless of the situation or circumstances.

Incoherent thinking

A characteristic phenomenon for an incoherent disorder of thinking is absolute chaos and an associative process that does not have any semantic load; the state of speech is determined by individual words, between which there is no relationship. This slightly suggests schizophasia, but the difference between incoherence and it is that its occurrence occurs due to a violation of consciousness. Let's look at some of the options below:

Pathology of judgments, which is expressed by an obsessive state, overvalued and delusional ideas.
An obsessive state, that is, a variety of thoughts, desires, fears, doubts... that involuntarily appear in the mind of the patient, who very well understands all their absurdity and at the same time cannot overcome them. There is a kind of imposition of ideas on a person that he cannot get rid of of his own free will. Even mentally healthy people are not immune from the episodic appearance of obsessive thoughts. This can occur from overwork or lack of sleep. These could be some obsessive memories of some melody, lines from a song, a set of numbers, names, etc.

Classification of reasoning

Reasoning in psychology and psychiatry is usually divided into 3 types:

Classic (schizophrenic). It manifests itself in the patient’s desire to tell the world some information. But during the broadcast, only empty phrases and abstract judgments are heard. The example with the proverb is a type of such a disease.
Organic. This is a loud commentary on a particular process. Often occurs when there are difficulties in communication.
Epileptic. This is obsessive teaching and moralizing. At first glance, this looks more like healthy reasoning. They arise in the process of communication.

Super valuable ideas

Thinking disorders are also associated with such a pattern as the emergence of overvalued ideas. This occurs due to logically based beliefs that have a large emotional charge, a close connection with a person’s worldview, and are based on real events. In a person’s life process, they occupy a dominant position that is inadequate in its significance, crushing all his life activity, which is fraught with disadaptation. Highly valuable ideas in their content reflect a person’s worldview, while there is a lack of criticism, or there is criticism, but only formally. They give a person an impetus to actions corresponding to their content. Due to this organization of thoughts, a person’s range of interests is narrowed, and selective sensitivity to realities appears. After some time, highly valuable ideas become irrelevant. Their content may be associated with a revaluation of the following points:

Superiority is given to the biological properties of a person, that is, he tends to exaggerate how sick he is, or in the same form to convince of the presence of biological defects and shortcomings.
The psychological properties of one’s own personality are exaggerated, for example, the emergence of ideas of excessive talent or reformism.

Phenomenology

Reasoning is also called a verbal tumor. How do you even know that a person has this disorder? His speech is filled with overly pretentious and complex expressions, very abstract phrases, terms the interpretation of which the speaker himself does not understand, as well as various concepts that are not appropriate in a particular case.

Perhaps these are the most recognizable signs. A reasoner is a person who is not interested in the final thought. He enjoys the direct process of presenting his ideas. Although the thoughts he expresses are difficult to call this concept. After all, an idea is something concrete, a prototype that exists in the human mind. The reasoner doesn’t have this, he just has a stream of words that are not related to each other in meaning.

Reasoning is a “tendency to fruitless philosophizing,” a “verbal tumor” (I. P. Pavlov). The reasoner uses complex expressions, foreign words, neologisms to explain simple things[1]. Speech is replete with complex logical constructions, fanciful abstract concepts, and terms that are often used without understanding their true meaning.

If a patient with thoroughness strives to answer the doctor’s question as fully as possible, then for patients with reasoning it does not matter whether their interlocutor understood or not. They are interested in the process of thinking itself, and not the final thought. Thinking becomes amorphous, devoid of clear content. When discussing simple everyday issues, patients find it difficult to accurately formulate the subject of the conversation, express themselves in florid ways, and consider problems from the point of view of the most abstract sciences (philosophy, ethics, cosmology).

Types of pathology

The reasons for rational thinking may be associated with mental illness, organic brain damage, certain personal qualities (excessive need for self-affirmation, pride), schizoid or hysterical personality disorder, changes in the field of motivation. Reasoning against the background of mental illness is accompanied by profound disturbances in thinking, affective disorders, and distortion of values. Based on the type of psychopathology, the following types of reasoning are distinguished:

Organic - manifests itself in mental retardation and damage to brain tissue, mainly the right and anterior regions of the left hemisphere. It is distinguished by the commentary nature of its statements, closest to the reasoning manner of mentally healthy people.
Schizophrenic – characteristic of people suffering from various types of schizophrenia. Characterized by pretentious, emotional speeches, a tendency toward pretension, evaluation, abstraction, and increased attention to unimportant topics.
Epileptic – develops with epilepsy, manifests itself in dialogue. The reasoning of an epileptic is characterized by a penchant for moralizing, reasoning on the topic of morality, and vivid emotional statements.

Modern medicine distinguishes 3 types.

Types of reasoning for various mental pathologies

Reasoning is a disorder of mental activity, expressed in a tendency to complex, intricate reasoning that does not lead to a specific goal. Persons suffering from this disorder are eloquent and verbose, but operate with concepts superficially, turning to the direct lexical meaning of words, not paying attention to the nuances of their use and the meaning of the story. The reasoner does not need to be heard and understood; he speaks solely for the sake of the speaking process.

The tendency to reason often becomes a companion to such psychiatric diseases and disorders as:

epilepsy;
schizophrenia;
oligophrenia;
schizoid personality disorder;
hysterical personality disorder.

According to research by T.I. Tepenitsyn, reasoning is a disorder not only of thinking, but also of the personality as a whole, and its occurrence is due to:

affective thinking;
the desire to bring everyday circumstances under some kind of “idea”.

Often, a reasoner can be distinguished not even based on the characteristics of his speech, but simply by intonation: everything is said pathetically, with a special meaning, significantly. In psychiatry, to diagnose this disorder, one is asked to explain a proverb, saying or catchphrase. Patients can bring Newton’s law to the proverb about the apple and the apple tree, or the idea of the unity of form and content to the saying “not all that is gold...”.

In patients with reasoning, there are no violations of the immediate mental or logical sphere. This syndrome is caused by changes in the personal and motivational sphere. Such patients are characterized by an increased need to express their personal qualities and self-affirmation.

Reasoning thinking can also occur in people without obvious signs of mental illness, if they have characteristic personality traits. In mental illnesses, the picture of personality characteristics is aggravated by disturbances in thinking, distortion of the value system and affective inadequacy of the patient.