As one person with lived experience of psychosis put it, “psychosis messes with our language skills, like being able to talk and get what other people are saying”.
There are two specific things that can happen with schizophrenia that have to do with language: formal thought disorder (FTD) and auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs).
Schizophrenia is one of the unique conditions where FTDs and AVHs often happen in the same person, often at the same time.
We find that a chemical in the brain called glutamate may not work right in the parts of the brain that help with language, and this might be what’s causing FTD and AVHs.
We are now undertaking more research to figure out how to diagnose and treat these language problems in schizophrenia.
