Prompt treatment of a thought disorder, especially before there is florid schizophrenic disruption, may keep an affected teenager functioning within a normal social and academic range and prevent what could be lifelong personality stunting.
These are the views of William M. Easson, MD, professor and head of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans.
A thought disorder is an inability to think clearly and put one's thoughts into words that make sense to other people. The potential thought disorder patient often speaks in vague and rambling fashion and has difficulty coming to the point. Males and females are equally affected.
Speaking to the 11th Annual Taylor Manor Psychiatric Symposium in Ellicott City, Md, recently, Easson noted that teenagers with an early thought disorder consume much energy in keeping their thinking processes integrated. They find that they have to study harder and that