`   It's important not to get too distracted by the association between formal thought disorder and schizophrenia, as demonstration of the former is NOT pathognomonic of the latter. Bipolar affective disorder (in particular the manic phase) frequently displays phenomena outlined in this article as formal thought disorder, for example circumstantiality and tangentiality - but it is a totally different clinical entity to schizophrenia. Displaying formal thought disorder doesn't automatically earn the label of schizophrenia in the clinical setting, it is more indicative of psychosis in general (with whatever underlying cause). Incidentally pressured speech is often not referred to by clinicians as ``formal thought disorder`` but thought more to be a sign of the underlying symptom of racing thoughts (commonly described by and found in manic patients). It is also observed in a separate category of the mental state examination (which by one commonly used model goes Appearance/Behaviour, Speech (where pressure is noted), Mood/Affect, Thought (both form and content), Perception, Intelligence/Cognition, Rapport, Insight/Judgement). I freely admit this is opinion, observation and experience based on study and working as a psychiatric resident at a hospital for three months, but I can heartily recommend reading both the DSM-V and a great text by Kaplan & Sadoch for accurate but accessible descriptions of the terms and their associations.  Carly`