A nurse is caring for a client with schizophrenia. They say, "The night has a hamburger and take me out to the ballgame at the computer table". > Which abnormal thought process would best describe the client's speech? Select one: Neologism Flight of ideas Word salad Looseness of association

The most accurate term to describe the client's speech is **word salad**.<br /><br />* **Word salad** is characterized by a jumble of words that are meaningless together, even though individual words may be real words. The client's sentence is a mix of seemingly random words that don't form a coherent thought.<br /><br />* **Neologism** involves creating new words or giving existing words new and idiosyncratic meanings. While the client's sentence is nonsensical, they aren't using invented words.<br /><br />* **Flight of ideas** involves rapid shifts in topics with some connection between the topics, often based on word associations, distractions, or rhymes. While the client's sentence is fragmented, it doesn't demonstrate a shift between discernible ideas.<br /><br />* **Looseness of association** (also known as loose associations) refers to a lack of logical connection between thoughts and ideas. While present, word salad is a more specific and descriptive term for this particular example as the connections are so fragmented as to render the sentence meaningless.<br />