In psychiatry, thought withdrawal (or thought extraction) is the delusion that thoughts have been 'taken out' of the patient's mind. It often accompanies thought blocking. The patient may experience a break in the flow of their thoughts believing that the missing thoughts have been withdrawn from their mind by some outside agency. This delusion is one of Schneider's first rank symptoms for schizophrenia. Because thought withdrawal is characterized as a delusion, this means that according to the DSM-IV TR it is a positive symptom of schizophrenia.[1]