The Arroyos® Psychological Associates, Inc.

Thought Broadcasting is a psychotic symptom in which the patient has the experience that his or her thoughts are being broadcast aloud so that people around can hear the thoughts.  This symptom is most common in bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia.  The experience can be extremely upsetting and sort of like being “mentally naked.”  Suppose that when a young man standing in line at the local coffeehouse notices a cute girl, he believes that she can hear all of his private thoughts about her.  Also imagine that he thinks the guy he is standing behind in line also might go after this girl.  He is jealous of him, but he also thinks the other man can hear everything he is thinking.  He is afraid the man in front of him can hear his every thought, and as a result is going to turn around and smack him in the face, and the girl is going to laugh at him. He gets very upset, leaves the coffee shop without getting his coffee, and goes home embarrassed, frightened, and discouraged.   The patient who is having the experience of thought broadcasting believes that all of this is really happening.  It can be a devastating and crippling condition.