In psychology, neologism is defined as the use or the invention of new, meaningless words or expressions, which often possess only personal significance. Although the invention of words is prevalent in daily language and creativity (for example in technology or slang), in clinical psychology it is referred to as language that is atypical in relation to specific language disorders.
Neologisms are usually noted in relation to schizophrenia, as the thought and language phenomena that are characteristic of schizophrenia are capable of producing neologisms. For example, someone might use the neologism ‘flinderstang’ in reference to a chair or other common object. In addition to schizophrenia, several other clinical conditions also stem neologisms, including certain forms of aphasia, in which the speech production mechanism is altered, resulting in the spontaneous creation of novel terms. Though technically meaningless, these phrases or words often hold a significant reference to the speaker.
From a clinical point of view, neologisms are of great importance because they show profound disorders of organization of thoughts, which may point to other cognitive, as well as neuropsychological and psychological disorders. In reality, neologism shows how thought and language articulate themselves interdependently. In psychology, communication disruptions represent neologism and so it’s a valuable feature in diagnosis and therapy planning. In society, it shows people’s creativity and how dynamic their expressions are.