Tangential speech or tangentiality is a communication disorder in which the train of thought of the speaker wanders and shows a lack of focus, never returning to the initial topic of the conversation.[1] It tends to occur in situations where a person is experiencing high anxiety, as a manifestation of the psychosis known as schizophrenia, in dementia or in states of delirium.[2] It is less severe than logorrhea and may be associated with the middle stage in dementia.[1] It is, however, more severe than circumstantial speech, in which the speaker wanders but eventually returns to the topic.[3]
Some adults with right hemisphere brain damage may exhibit behavior that includes tangential speech.[4] Those who exhibit these behaviors may also have related symptoms such as seemingly inappropriate or self-centered social responses, and a deterioration in pragmatic abilities (including appropriate eye contact as well as topic maintenance).[5]