Using language in psychiatry

Abstract

Much of the diagnosis and definition of psychiatric disorders depends on language behaviour. Both the lay and clinical communities recognize that some atypical language behaviour helps to the identify psychiatric disorders. A functional approach to language provides the means to classify the atypicalities in meaning and in wordings that are associated with psychiatric disorders. Culture levels, register, genre, context, vocabulary-grammar, and sound must all be taken into account in considering language atypicalities. Language simultaneously conveys 3 kinds of meaning - ideational, interpersonal and textual. Individually or combined, these 3 kinds of meaning can be used to describe the atypical language behaviour associated with psychiatric disorders.