The Seba library treats Associative Disturbance in 9 passages, across 3 authors (including Bleuler, Eugen, Jung, C. G., Neumann, Erich).
The association disturbances were conceived of as being primary; from these we can derive the majority of secondary symptoms. In schizophrenia, the habitual well-worn pathways of association have lost their cohesiveness.
Bleuler establishes associative disturbance as the primary, generative defect in schizophrenia, from which virtually all secondary symptoms — hallucinations, stereotypies, affect-blocking — are derivable.
, Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias, 1911thesis
In dementia praecox we have a different kind of associative disturbance, as well as a typical affect disturbance.
Bleuler differentiates the associative disturbance of schizophrenia from that of idiocy and paranoia, asserting it as a diagnostically specific and qualitatively distinct phenomenon.
, Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias, 1911thesis
In schizophrenia, however, single images or whole combinations may be rendered ineffective, in an apparently haphazard fashion. Instead, thinking operates with ideas and concepts which have no, or a completely insufficient, connection with the main idea.
Bleuler provides the mechanism of associative disturbance: the selective rendering-ineffective of associative threads causes thinking to become confused, bizarre, and abrupt, culminating in total blocking.
, Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias, 1911thesis
A high degree of associational disturbance usually results in states of confusion. As to the time element in associations, we know of two disturbances peculiar to schizophrenia — pressure of thoughts, that is, a pathologically increased flow of ideas, and the particularly characteristic 'blocking.'
Bleuler maps the temporal dimension of associative disturbance, distinguishing pressure of thoughts from blocking as the two characteristic time-related manifestations in schizophrenia.
, Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias, 1911supporting
conditions is a disturbance of attention, which is probably always the immediate cause for all association types similar to flight of ideas. The origin of disturbed attention is of course different in each single process; it can equally well be based on motor excitation or on loss or decrease of kinesthetic feelings, on mental excitement, or on psychological split.
Jung identifies disturbed attention as the proximate mechanism underlying association disturbances resembling flight of ideas, and enumerates its heterogeneous causes including psychological split — his bridge between experimental findings and complex-theory.
, Experimental Researches, 1904supporting
A complex has suddenly emerged, has attracted some of the attention to itself; meanwhile the reaction is produced and, owing to the disturbance of attention, it can be only [superficial].
Jung demonstrates how a complex's intrusion into consciousness constitutes an internal associative disturbance, producing superficial or sound reactions as the attention is fractured.
, Experimental Researches, 1904supporting
The main characteristic of the complex is certainly its relative independence, which can manifest itself particularly in two directions: in increased emphasis and stability in consciousness, and in repression, i.e., resistance against reproduction while in the unconscious.
Jung theorises that the complex's relative autonomy — its resistance to reproduction — explains the characteristic disturbances of reproduction that attend associative interference in the word-association experiment.
, Experimental Researches, 1904supporting
The mania is connected with all the signs of overaccentuation of the conscious system, such as intensified associations, sometimes amounting to an associative 'fugue,' paroxysms of will and action, senseless optimism.
Neumann extends the concept of associative disturbance into a phenomenology of mania, characterising the manic associative fugue as symptomatic of over-inflation of the conscious system through identification with the spiritual father archetype.
, The Origins and History of Consciousness (Princeton, 2019aside
Repetition of the stimulus-word by the subject (as if he had not heard it properly). Mishearing of the stimulus-word. Expressive movements (laughing, twitching of the face, etc.)... Perseveration, i.e., a disturbing influence on subsequent reactions.
Jung catalogues the observable complex-indicators — perseveration, mishearing, expressive movements, defective reproduction — that mark the sites of associative disturbance within the word-association experiment.
, Experimental Researches, 1904supporting