Mentism in healthy people and in mental disorders

The literature review is dedicated to the problem of mentism a well-known yet ambiguous phenomenon of impaired spontaneity of thought. The presented literary material is based on a search for Russian and English articles in the following databases: ELibrary.ru, Web of Science, Scopus, Clinical Case, PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The search for articles was conducted using the keywords: mentism; spontaneity of thought; automatism; basis symptoms of schizophrenia. Inclusion criteria: full-text articles in Russian and English; original research; Cochrane reviews; clinical observations; publication date from 1895 to 2025. Exclusion criteria: abstracts, theses, educational materials; publication date before 1895. A total of 126 publications were found. 28 publications met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. This review provides detailed descriptions of the phenomenon of mentism across different historical periods. A possible typology of mentism is proposed, the relationship of mentism with affective pathology and schizophrenia is examined, the position of mentism in contemporary diagnostic classifications, and its interpretation as a basis symptom of schizophrenia and a symptom of affective disorders is discussed. The authors of the review present a list of unresolved questions related to mentism, suggesting that clarifying these issues could be beneficial for improving the quality of diagnosis and therapy for mental disorders.