
{"id":15853,"date":"2012-12-14T13:38:24","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T21:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?page_id=15853"},"modified":"2015-08-18T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T20:45:00","slug":"poverty-of-content","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/poverty-of-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Poverty of Content"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-19850 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/pile-of-puzzle-pieces.jpg\" alt=\"pile-of-puzzle-pieces\" width=\"270\" height=\"203\" title=\"\">Poverty of content<\/strong><\/span> is a speech problem wherein a person talks a lot but does not say anything substantive, or says much more than is necessary to convey a message. For example, when a person answers the question, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What color is the couch?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with a five-minute monologue about colors and couches instead of simply answering the question, he\/she may be exhibiting poverty of content. The speech is understandable and grammatically correct, but does not convey meaningful information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Causes of Poverty of Content<\/strong><br \/>\nMost people exhibit poverty of content from time to time, particularly when they are nervous or do not know how to answer a question. A classic example of this is a teenager who talks around the question, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Where were you last night?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The teenager might provide a host of irrelevant information to distract from the issue at hand, or might be so nervous that he or she is unable to coherently answer the question.<\/p>\n<p>However, poverty of content can also be symptomatic of an underlying mental health syndrome. People with severe anxiety, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/learn-about-therapy\/issues\/intellectual-disabilities\">intellectual disabilities<\/a>, and\/or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/learn-about-therapy\/issues\/schizophrenia\">schizophrenia<\/a> may all regularly exhibit poverty of content. Poverty of content is also common among people with autism, particularly when they are asked questions regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/psychpedia\/emotion\">emotions<\/a> and other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s states of mind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Treatment for Poverty of Content<\/strong><br \/>\nBecause most people periodically exhibit poverty of content, it does not always warrant treatment. However, in therapy poverty of content may be a clue to an underlying mental health condition, and may also help therapists identify topics that are particularly stressful for their clients. When poverty of content is symptomatic of an underlying mental health condition, the underlying condition would be the focus of therapy. In particular, occupational therapy is helpful for people with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/learn-about-therapy\/issues\/aspergers-autism\">autism<\/a>, developmental delays, and intellectual disabilities, and people with speech disorders often benefit from the help of a speech pathologist.<\/p>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Colman, A. M. (2006). <em>Oxford dictionary of psychology<\/em>. New York, NY: Oxford UniversityPress.<\/li>\n<li>Schizophreniform disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:\/\/www.minddisorders.com\/Py-Z\/Schizophreniform-disorder.html<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poverty of content is a speech problem wherein a person talks a lot but does not say anything substantive, or says much more than is necessary to convey a message. For example, when a person answers the question, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What color is the couch?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with a five-minute monologue about colors and couches instead of simply answering [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2474,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"psychpedia.php","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15853","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}