Could Kamala Harris’ mental health be shaky? As the presidential candidate is criticized for speaking in “word salads” and laughing inappropriately, experts suggest it’s a symptom of a little-known psychological disorder

Kamala Harris’s rambling “word salad” speeches may be a symptom of a little-known but common psychological condition called logorrhea, also known as verbal diarrhea.

The US vice president, who was endorsed by Joe Biden after he withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday, is known for her rambling, sometimes incoherent speaking style.

Among her most notorious speeches were those on the “meaning of the passage of time” and the “necessity of getting somewhere and being able to get where you need to go.”

Her nonsensical statement that “it’s time to do what we do, and that’s every day” and her astonishing anecdote about falling from a coconut tree are also a rich source for internet meme makers.

But while it can be a symptom of anxiety or overconfidence, logorrhea is no laughing matter. It can indicate a brain injury, autism, or a serious medical condition.

A 2009 study of the condition in Spain found that age and gender did not play a role in the prevalence of logorhoea, but education level did.

People with lower educational levels were more likely to ‘talk in circles’.

Logorrhea is also associated with bursting into laughter at random moments, something Ms. Harris has become known for. Donald Trump has even nicknamed her “Laughin’ Kamala.”

American behavioral expert Gregg Levoy wrote in a blog post on Psychology Today that for people who chatter on, talking can be “more of a barrier than a unifier.”

He wrote: ‘It’s easy to dismiss them as simply narcissistic, but that’s incredibly difficult to undo and not necessarily their fault.

“It’s a holdover from the egocentric stage around year one or two, when children naturally feel grandiose and the center of attention.”

However, logorrhea is also a common frontal lobe problem that many victims of traumatic brain injury suffer from. It has been linked to several serious psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Examples include schizophrenia, brain injuries, damage to the brain areas involved in language, and ADHD.

People with autism may also experience logorrhea, or uncontrollable or slurred speech, because they are unable to organize their thoughts or pick up social cues from other people.

In a study analyzing Ms. Harris’s speech during a vice-presidential debate, Ratu Annisa of the University of North Sumatra concluded that “social factors” were the most likely cause of her “word salad.”

Ms. Annisa wrote: “There (was) no slip of the tongue. The causes of the speech errors Kamala Harris made are social factors, both situational anxiety and social circumstances.”

Ms. Harris was left speechless in July 2022 during a speech at the White House about “expanding access to transportation.”

She said, ‘You’ve got to go out there, and you’ve got to be able to get where you need to be, do your job, and come home.’

That same year, she gave a much-discussed speech about high-speed Internet in Louisiana, saying, “The governor and I were all visiting the library, and we were talking about the importance of the passage of time.

The meaning of the passing of time.

“If you think about it, the passage of time is very important in what we need to do to lay these cables and to create these jobs.

“And the passing of time has such great meaning when we think about a day in the lives of our children.”

Ms. Harris’ concerns about time came up again last April at a political event on reproductive rights.

She told the audience: ‘I think it’s really important…for us at any moment in time and certainly at this moment, to see the moment in time that we exist and are present in, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we are in history and in the moment, in relation to not only the past but also the future.’

Last March, she stated that during Women’s Month, we “celebrate and honor the women throughout history who made history, who saw how the burden of the past could be lifted.”

She has spoken at least twice about her bewildering love of Venn diagrams, a simplistic illustration that uses overlapping circles to show the relationship between two or more sets of items.

Last year she said, ‘I just love Venn diagrams. I really do, I love Venn diagrams. There’s just something about those three circles and the analysis of them, where the intersection is, right?’

And last year, she made her most famous, meaningless statement during a White House swearing-in ceremony.

“My mother used to — she would sometimes harass us and say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. Do you think you fell out of a coconut tree?’ she said, laughing. ‘You exist in the context of everything you live in and everything that’s happened before you.’

On Sunday night, after the 81-year-old Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsed Ms. Harris, the coconut tree comment went viral on the internet.

A bar in Washington was offering $5 “Pina Kamala” coconut shots all night long.

And Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii posted a photo of himself climbing a coconut tree, with the caption: “Madam Vice President, we’re here to help.”

Republican strategist Matt Whitlock previously accused Ms. Harris of not being able to speak “normally.”

He posted: ‘It’s pretty obvious that she just can’t talk properly. Does she actually smoke weed before she gets on the mic? It would explain so much.’

And Fox News’ Laura Ingram said, “As Joe slips into dementia, Kamala slips into another dimension.”