Palilalia

What it means

Palilalia is the involuntary repetition of one's own phrases, words, or syllables 2 or more times in a row. Typically, palilalic utterances decrease in volume with the increasing number of repetitions. Sometimes, the repetitions are also uttered with an accelerating speed.

In 1908, Souques first described palilalia in a patient with an ischemic stroke of the right hemisphere. Since then, palilalia, which is typically documented in up to a third of patients with Tourette syndrome was reported in patients with other neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder or trisomy 16p and neurodegenerative disorders, such as progressive supranuclear palsy, dementia of the Alzheimer's type, valosin-containing-protein proteinopathy, or chorea-acanthocytosis. Focal brain lesions, typically affecting thalamic and/or midbrain structures, may also lead to the expression of palilalic behaviors. A family with extensive intracerebral calcification was reported to present palilalia, and indeed patients with Fahr syndrome, an etiologically heterogeneous disorder, will often present this clinical sign. Further, palilalia was reported as ictal, autoimmune, and drug-induced phenomenon (e.g., with clozapine or cefepime).

Rare diseases that can present with this2

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category