Tea at Trianon: Clanging and Schizophrenia

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, August 19, 2022

Clanging and Schizophrenia

From Medical News Today:

Schizophrenia causesTrusted Source formal thought disorders. A formal thought disorder is a condition that affects the way a person communicates and expresses themselves. Doctors view formal thought disorders as a sign of psychosis, which is a symptom of schizophrenia.
People with schizophrenia commonly experience things others do not, including delusions and hallucinations. These experiences may alter their thinking, causing non-typical or harmful thoughts. Schizophrenia may also cause people to have changes in their ability to have insight into their own behavior or into others’ thoughts and feelings.
All of these symptoms can affect the way a person expresses themselves. A person may not notice that they are communicating in non-typical ways and may not realize that others may perceive these communications as unusual. Additionally, people may find that cognitive changes make expressing themselves more difficult.
Clanging is a sign of a thought disorder. A 2020 studyTrusted Source emphasizes that language changes are common in schizophrenia. Comparing 26 people with schizophrenia to 22 people without this condition, the researchers of the above study were correctly able to diagnose 89% of participants with schizophrenia by monitoring for language changes. The researchers also found that language changes have an association with negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Negative symptoms include not feeling motivated or finding it difficult to feel pleasure. (Read more.)