Mental illness symptoms and signs in women. How to detect mental illness in yourself

Mental illnesses are a whole group of mental disorders that affect the state of the human nervous system. Today, such pathologies are much more common than is commonly believed. Symptoms of mental illness are always very variable and varied, but they are all associated with a disorder of higher nervous activity. Mental disorders affect a person’s behavior and thinking, his perception of the surrounding reality, memory and other important mental functions.

Clinical manifestations of mental diseases in most cases form entire symptom complexes and syndromes. Thus, a sick person may experience very complex combinations of disorders, which only an experienced psychiatrist can evaluate to make an accurate diagnosis.

Classification of mental illnesses

Mental illnesses are very diverse in nature and clinical manifestations. A number of pathologies may be characterized by the same symptoms, which often makes it difficult timely diagnosis diseases. Mental disorders can be short-term or long-term, caused by external and internal factors. Depending on the cause of occurrence, mental disorders are classified into exocogenous and exogenous. However, there are diseases that do not fall into either group.

Group of exocogenic and somatogenic mental diseases

This group is quite extensive. This does not include a variety of mental disorders, the occurrence of which is caused by the adverse effects of external factors. At the same time, factors of an endogenous nature may also play a certain role in the development of the disease.

Exogenous and somatogenic diseases of the human psyche include:

• drug addiction and alcoholism;
• mental disorders caused by somatic pathologies;
• mental disorders associated with infectious lesions located outside the brain;
• mental disorders arising from intoxication of the body;
• mental disorders caused by brain injuries;
• mental disorders caused by infectious lesion brain;
• mental disorders caused by cancer of the brain.

Group of endogenous mental diseases

The emergence of pathologies belonging to the group of endogenous ones is caused by various internal, primarily genetic factors. The disease develops when a person has a certain predisposition and participation external influences. The group of endogenous mental illnesses includes diseases such as schizophrenia, cyclothymia, manic-depressive psychosis, as well as various functional psychoses characteristic of older people.

Separately in this group we can distinguish the so-called endogenous-organic mental diseases, which arise as a result of organic damage to the brain under the influence of internal factors. Such pathologies include Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, senile dementia, Huntington's chorea, atrophic brain damage, as well as mental disorders caused by vascular pathologies.

Psychogenic disorders and personality pathologies

Psychogenic disorders develop as a result of the influence of stress on the human psyche, which can arise against the background of not only unpleasant, but also joyful events. This group includes various psychoses characterized by a reactive course, neuroses and other psychosomatic disorders.

In addition to the above groups, in psychiatry it is customary to distinguish personality pathologies - this is a group of mental diseases caused by abnormal personality development. These are various psychopathy, oligophrenia (mental underdevelopment) and other defects mental development.

Classification of mental illnesses according to ICD 10

In the international classification of psychoses, mental illnesses are divided into several sections:

• organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders (F0);
• mental and behavioral disorders arising from the use of psychotropic substances (F1);
• delusional and schizotypal disorders, schizophrenia (F2);
• mood-related affective disorders (F3);
• neurotic disorders caused by stress (F4);
• behavioral syndromes based on physiological defects (F5);
• mental disorders in adults (F6);
• mental retardation (F7);
• defects in psychological development (F8);
• behavioral and psycho-emotional disorders in children and adolescents (F9);
• mental disorders of unknown origin (F99).

Main symptoms and syndromes

The symptoms of mental illness are so diverse that it is quite difficult to somehow structure their characteristic clinical manifestations. Since mental illness negatively affects everything or practically everything nerve functions the human body, all aspects of his life suffer. Patients experience disorders of thinking, attention, memory, mood, depressive and delusional states.

The intensity of symptoms always depends on the severity and stage specific disease. In some people, the pathology can occur almost unnoticed by others, while other people simply lose the ability to interact normally in society.

Affective syndrome

Affective syndrome is usually called a complex of clinical manifestations associated with mood disorders. There are two large groups of affective syndromes. The first group includes conditions characterized by pathologically elevated (manic) mood, the second – conditions with depressive, that is, depressed mood. Depending on the stage and severity of the disease, mood swings can be either mild or very pronounced.

Depression can be called one of the most common mental disorders. Such conditions are characterized by extremely depressed mood, volitional and motor retardation, suppression of natural instincts such as appetite and the need for sleep, self-deprecating and suicidal thoughts. In especially excitable people, depression may be accompanied by outbursts of rage. The opposite sign of a mental disorder can be called euphoria, in which a person becomes carefree and content, while his associative processes do not accelerate.

Manic manifestation of affective syndrome is accompanied by accelerated thinking, rapid, often incoherent speech, unmotivated elevated mood, as well as increased motor activity. In some cases, manifestations of megalomania are possible, as well as increased instincts: appetite, sexual needs, etc.

Obsessiveness

Obsessive behavior is another common symptom that accompanies mental disorders. In psychiatry, such disorders are designated by the term obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which the patient periodically and involuntarily experiences unwanted, but very obsessive ideas and thoughts.

This disorder also includes various unreasonable fears and phobias, constantly repeating meaningless rituals with the help of which the patient tries to relieve anxiety. A number of signs can be identified that distinguish patients suffering from obsessive states. Firstly, their consciousness remains clear, while obsessions are reproduced against their will. Secondly, the occurrence of obsessive states is closely intertwined with a person’s negative emotions. Thirdly, intellectual abilities are preserved, so the patient realizes the irrationality of his behavior.

Impaired consciousness

Consciousness is usually called a state in which a person is able to navigate the world around him, as well as his own personality. Mental disorders very often cause disturbances of consciousness, in which the patient ceases to perceive the surrounding reality adequately. There are several forms of such disorders:

View	Characteristic
Amnesia	Complete loss of orientation in the surrounding world and loss of idea of ​​one’s own personality. Often accompanied by threatening speech disorders and increased excitability
Delirium	Loss of orientation in the surrounding space and one’s own personality, combined with psychomotor agitation. Delirium often causes menacing auditory and visual hallucinations.
Oneiroid	The patient’s objective perception of the surrounding reality is only partially preserved, interspersed with fantastic experiences. In fact, this state can be described as half-asleep or a fantastic dream
Twilight stupefaction	Deep disorientation and hallucinations are combined with the preservation of the patient’s ability to perform purposeful actions. In this case, the patient may experience outbursts of anger, unmotivated fear, aggression
Outpatient automatism	Automated form of behavior (sleepwalking)
Turning off consciousness	Can be either partial or complete

Perception disorders

Typically, it is perception disorders that are easiest to recognize in mental illness. TO simple disorders Senesthopathy refers to a sudden unpleasant bodily sensation in the absence of an objective pathological process. Seneostapathy is characteristic of many mental diseases, as well as hypochondriacal delirium and depressive syndrome. In addition, with such disorders, the sensitivity of a sick person may be pathologically decreased or increased.

Depersonalization is considered a more complex disorder, when a person stops living his own life, but seems to be watching it from the outside. Another manifestation of pathology can be derealization - misunderstanding and rejection of the surrounding reality.

Thinking disorders

Thought disorders are quite difficult to understand ordinary person symptoms of mental illness. They can manifest themselves in different ways: for some, thinking becomes inhibited with pronounced difficulties when switching from one object of attention to another, for others, on the contrary, it becomes accelerated. A characteristic sign of a thinking disorder in mental pathologies is reasoning - repetition of banal axioms, as well as amorphous thinking - difficulty in orderly presentation of one's own thoughts.

One of the most complex forms of thinking disorders in mental illnesses are delusional ideas - judgments and conclusions that are completely far from reality. Delusional states can be different. The patient may experience delusions of grandeur, persecution, and depressive delusions characterized by self-abasement. There can be quite a lot of options for the course of delirium. In severe mental illness, delusional states can persist for months.

Violations of will

Symptoms of impaired will in patients with mental disorders are quite common. For example, in schizophrenia, both suppression and strengthening of will can be observed. If in the first case the patient is prone to weak-willed behavior, then in the second he will forcibly force himself to take any action.

More complex clinical case is a condition in which the patient has some painful aspirations. This may be a form of sexual preoccupation, kleptomania, etc.

Memory and attention disorders

Pathological increase or decrease in memory accompanies mental illness quite often. So, in the first case, a person is able to remember very large amounts of information, which is not typical for healthy people. In the second, there is a confusion of memories, the absence of their fragments. A person may not remember something from his past or prescribe to himself the memories of other people. Sometimes entire fragments of life fall out of memory, in which case we will talk about amnesia.

Attention disorders are very closely related to memory disorders. Mental illnesses are very often characterized by absent-mindedness and decreased concentration of the patient. It becomes difficult for a person to carry on a conversation or concentrate on something, or remember simple information, as his attention is constantly scattered.

Other clinical manifestations

In addition to the above symptoms, mental illness can be characterized by the following manifestations:

• Hypochondria. Constant fear getting sick, increased concern about one’s own well-being, assumptions about the presence of some serious or even fatal disease. The development of hypochondriacal syndrome is associated with depressive states, increased anxiety and suspiciousness;
• Asthenic syndrome - syndrome chronic fatigue. It is characterized by the loss of the ability to conduct normal mental and physical activities due to constant fatigue and a feeling of lethargy, which does not go away even after a night’s sleep. Asthenic syndrome manifests itself in the patient increased irritability, bad mood, headaches. It is possible to develop photosensitivity or fear of loud sounds;
• Illusions (visual, acoustic, verbal, etc.). Distorted perception is real existing phenomena and objects;
• Hallucinations. Images that appear in the mind of a sick person in the absence of any stimuli. Most often, this symptom is observed in schizophrenia, alcohol or drug intoxication, and some neurological diseases;
• Catatonic syndromes. Movement disorders, which can manifest themselves in both excessive excitement and stupor. Such disorders often accompany schizophrenia, psychosis, and various organic pathologies.

Suspect mental illness loved one can be determined by characteristic changes in his behavior: he stopped coping with the simplest everyday tasks and everyday problems, began to express strange or unrealistic ideas, and showed anxiety. Changes in your usual daily routine and diet should also be of concern. Signs of the need to seek help will include outbursts of anger and aggression, prolonged depression, thoughts of suicide, alcohol abuse or drug use.

Of course, some of the above symptoms may occur from time to time in healthy people Under the influence stressful situations, overwork, exhaustion of the body due to illness, etc. Mental illness will be discussed when pathological manifestations become very pronounced and negatively affect the quality of life of a person and his environment. In this case, the help of a specialist is needed, and the sooner the better.

Women are emotional and sensitive creatures, and therefore are more susceptible to nervous and mental disorders than men. Moreover, for certain period In the life of the fair half, certain mental disorders are characteristic.

Of course, not for everyone and not always, but the risk exists. The main thing here is to recognize the symptoms in time and begin timely treatment. This will help return life to its usual course.

What are the signs of a mental disorder, what is the behavior of women? Let's talk about this today on the Popular About Health website:

Common mental disorders

Representatives of the fairer sex often suffer from mental disorders: depression, disorders eating behavior, seasonal affective and somatized mental disorders.

They often have hysterical attacks of panic, anxiety and fear. Manic-depressive psychosis, various phobias and suicidal attempts may occur.

For each period, critical stage in life, there is a group of the most likely mental disorders. Let's look at them in more detail:

During childhood, girls are much less likely to develop mental health problems than boys of the same age. But even at this stage they are not immune from the occurrence of anxiety states and disorders associated with relationships with peers and learning disabilities.

Young girls are more likely to develop premenstrual dysphoria, which may appear after the first menstrual bleeding. Well, after puberty, girls are twice as likely as boys to suffer from depression.

Young women are susceptible to a variety of mental health problems during pregnancy and after childbirth. They are frightened by the fear of pregnancy and future motherhood, frequent mood swings occur, and depression and other disorders may develop.

Most often, everything goes away soon and no treatment is required. However, some experience more severe symptoms of a psychotic disorder that require immediate treatment.

Women of the so-called middle age are at high risk of developing affective and anxiety states, fears, mood swings and other disorders, including schizophrenia. At this age, sexual function may decrease, especially while taking antidepressants.

During menopause, the risk of severe depression increases. In addition to hormonal changes, which have a negative impact on mental health, many people experience changes in their personal lives and family.

During menopause, women experience severe physical discomfort, which is also associated with hot flashes. They often have tantrums. It should be noted here that this period is experienced most strongly by those women who previously had problems with the nervous system or psyche.

Most older women shift their attention from raising children, who are now adults, to aging parents. Some become, in the literal sense of the word, nurses - they take upon themselves all the care and care for them. Which undoubtedly reduces the quality of life.

As you age, your likelihood of developing dementia, stroke, and related psychiatric complications increases.

In older women, who usually have many somatic pathologies and take a large number of different medications, the risk of delirium increases. After 60 years, they often suffer from a psychotic disorder - paraphrenia.

In addition, older women and old age They begin to lose loved ones, some even become completely alone. They experience all this very hard, which cannot but affect their mental state.

How to recognize the problem, what behavior?

There are common characteristic signs of mental disorder in women. They are associated with changes in behavior and attitude towards others. You must understand that often they themselves do not notice anything strange about themselves.

Therefore, loved ones should know the symptoms of disorders in order to provide timely help. to a loved one. Here are the most common ones:

Frequent hysterics and scandals, often out of nowhere. This often happens in women who are not resistant to stress.

There is a strong craving for the occult, everything supernatural and unreal - magical and religious rituals, shamanism, etc.

Often overcome by anxieties, fears and phobias.

Concentration decreases, lethargy appears, mental activity is impaired, and there is a lack of activity.

Apathy, loss of strength occurs, and frequent mood swings occur for no reason.

Sleep is disturbed. This manifests itself in insomnia or excessive sleepiness.

Appetite is disrupted - from bouts of gluttony to complete reluctance to eat.

Reasons to immediately contact a specialist are also: confusion in consciousness, forgetfulness, inadequate self-esteem, as well as obsession, or complete reluctance to communicate and, of course, suicidal thoughts or actions.

Treatment of mental disorders is comprehensive and includes drug therapy and psychotherapy. It is also recommended to change the diet in favor of foods rich in vitamins and eliminate alcohol.

You can use infusions of plants that have a calming effect. In particular, healers recommend taking tinctures of valerian, chamomile, mint, St. John's wort, etc.

However, in any case, before doing anything, you must consult with a specialist - a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. Be healthy!

Symptomatic mental disorders occur against the background of somatic (physical) diseases. All such disorders or psychoses, accompanied by hallucinations or delusions, are characterized by a number of common features. Particular attention is paid to mental disorders that arise against the background of brain tumors; two stages of the development of the disease are distinguished.

Main symptoms and types of human mental disorders

Mental disorders that arise in connection with diseases of internal organs and systems are called symptomatic mental disorders, and psychoses with delusions and hallucinations are called symptomatic, or somatogenic (“soma” - body) psychoses.

The main signs of mental disorders are:

1. The presence of a somatic disease, i.e. a disease of the internal organs caused by infection, intoxication, tumor or endocrine disorders.

2. The presence of a noticeable connection in time between somatic and mental disorders and their course.

In addition, the presence serious illness this in itself affects a person’s personality, his emotional sphere - a reaction to the disease occurs. Most often, symptoms of mental disorders are expressed by decreased and unstable mood, anxiety, and fear in connection with upcoming treatment and hospital stay. Sometimes such a sign of mental disorders may arise as oppressive melancholy, occurring against the background of general lethargy and isolation.

For diseases accompanied severe intoxication, in the manifestations of symptomatic psychosis, disorders of consciousness predominate.

The main types of human mental disorders are acute and prolonged symptomatic psychoses.

Prolonged symptomatic psychoses are formed against the background of prolonged asthenic conditions. The main symptom of mental disorders of this type is a persistent personality change of a psychopathic type (when character traits such as selfishness, callousness, irritability, intolerance to the point of malice, or a pronounced “obsession” with illness appear or become sharpened). Depressive, hypochondriacal and paranoid syndromes. As such a mental disorder manifests itself, a psychoorganic syndrome with severe memory impairment may develop. Also, this type of human mental disorder in some cases can lead to the emergence of a psychopathic-like syndrome. But a complete recovery is also possible.

Features of mental disorders in somatic vascular and infectious diseases

Mandatory in the picture of mental disorders in somatic and infectious diseases is asthenic syndrome. It manifests itself as weakness, increased fatigue, irritability, lack of attention, and sleep disorders.

For different somatic diseases, mental disorders have their own characteristics.

For example, with coronary heart disease and angina pectoris, mood disorders in the form of anxiety and fear of death predominate. Hypochondriasis (“obsession” with illness, aggravation and invention of symptoms) and cardiophobia (fear of heart pain) are typical.

IN acute period Myocardial infarction features of mental disorders are feelings of melancholy, anxiety, a sense of hopelessness, and fear of death. And in severe cases, euphoria and denial of the disease (anosognosia) are possible, which seriously complicates treatment. There are also psychoses with delusions and hallucinations.

For diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and infectious diseases, mental disorders, along with hypochondriasis, are characterized by the occurrence depressive states and cancerophobia (fear of cancer).

In case of kidney diseases against the background of damage from toxic products that are not eliminated through them, disturbances of consciousness and epileptiform seizures are possible.

Postpartum septic processes may be accompanied by disturbances of consciousness with catatonic manifestations. Mental disorders that arise in the postpartum period can manifest themselves as a feeling of alienation and hostility towards the child or husband, and depression.

With elevated levels of thyroid hormones, a person becomes irritable, anxious, and impatient. A sign of a mental disorder in a person with a decrease in the level of thyroid hormones are conditions similar to apathetic depression with a lack of energy and desire to do anything.

Diabetes mellitus with high levels of glucose in the blood is dangerous not only due to tissue nutritional disorders, gangrene, and impaired renal function. Often, due to a malnutrition of brain tissue (“excess” glucose settles on red blood cells as a low-permeability film), it is possible delirium tremens(delirium), memory impairment up to dementia.

In hypertension and cerebral atherosclerosis, mental disorders occur due to disruption of brain nutrition. The fact is that in narrowed vessels, blood circulates faster, without having time to fully exchange food and remove decay products. Mental disorders with vascular diseases are caused by the fact that the vessels gradually become covered with atherosclerotic plaques and become more fragile.

Main stages of mental disorders

There are several stages of mental disorders, the main ones being pseudoneurasthenic, quite pronounced and significant.

1) Pseudoneurasthenic. Asthenic syndrome is characterized by increased fatigue, irritability, impatience, emotional instability, sleep disturbances, headaches, and dizziness. Anxiety-depressive states are common, while in the morning a low mood is often combined with elements of irritability, and in the evening anxiety increases more. There are complaints of a hypochondriacal nature, excessive listening to one’s condition, fear of physical activity, traveling in transport, fear of being alone at home, often reaching the point of obsession.

2) In the second, fairly pronounced stage, all of the above may be more pronounced. What signs of mental disorder are characteristic of this stage? Anxiety-depressive syndrome is increasing. Characterized by weakness (incontinence of emotions, tearfulness), people begin to cry for minor reasons, easily moving from tears to a smile. Character changes often. Personality traits that were previously compensated for and invisible become stronger (sharpened). Suspicious and distrustful people become suspicious; they feel that their rights are constantly being infringed upon. Thrifty people become stingy, unkind people become angry, selfishness grows.

Impairments of consciousness such as stupor, delirium (delirium tremens), twilight states; delusions of relation, poisoning, persecution, visual or auditory hallucinations. Memory decreases, first for current events. And then the memory begins to fade into reverse order, that is, immediate events are forgotten first, and later more distant ones.

3) In the third, significant stage, violations cerebral circulation become the most pronounced. Inactivity, indifference to what is happening increases, activity decreases, or vice versa, a person becomes disinhibited, a sense of proportion and tact is lost.

Possible strokes with severe neurological disorders, paralysis, speech and writing disorders. Patients develop dementia quite quickly. At first it is lacunar in nature, when a person understands that something wrong is happening to him, then it becomes total.

Mental disorders in humans with tumors and syphilis of the brain

Mental disorders due to brain tumors or brain metastases are characterized by the location of their appearance. From frequent or constant, uncontrollable headaches, attacks of impairment or loss of consciousness - with or without convulsions - to hallucinations and delusions. Paresis, paralysis, speech, hearing, and vision disorders are possible.

It can lead to severe brain damage many years after infection (due to “undertreatment”) syphilitic infection. Distinguish early forms lesions - syphilis of the brain, and late - progressive paralysis. Blood tests for syphilis play an important role in making a diagnosis.

Syphilis of the brain can develop 5-10 years after infection. Manifestations of mental disorders in this case are associated with damage to the blood vessels of the brain, accompanied by hemorrhages in the brain and an increase in dementia; can occur with the formation of gummas (specific areas of inflammation in the form of tumor-like formations). Disorders depend on the location and size of gummas.

With progressive paralysis, unlike mental disorders with brain tumors, symptoms appear 10-15 years after infection. The disease has several stages:

1) pseudoneurasthenic - in the form asthenic syndrome(fatigue, irritability, frequent headaches, sleep disturbances);

2) stage of developed signs of the disease; comes in the form various manifestations. The expansive (manic, high mood) form is more common. Characterized by complacency, euphoria, sometimes with a tinge of anger, excessive talkativeness, and a desire for unproductive activities. There is delusion of grandeur, absurd in content, disinhibition of drives, and cynicism. There is a depressive form, agitated (characterized by excitement, patients either sing, or scream, or dance, or attack, or tear their clothes, or eat greedily, or scatter food around them), dementia (against the background of dementia, absurd, cynical forms are noted behavior, the sense of distance disappears, they are annoying and unceremonious in their requests).

Treatment of symptomatic mental disorders is aimed primarily at eliminating the causes of brain dysfunction. A selection of drugs is carried out to control the level of hormones, blood pressure, measures to restore blood circulation, nutrition, treatment of infections, and elimination of intoxication. Psychiatric medications play a supporting role here: for behavior correction, obsessive thoughts, mood, anxiety, agitation and other manifestations of the disease.

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According to the presumption of mental health, a person does not have to prove that he is not sick. Particularly if symptoms mental illness its symptoms are not clearly expressed and do not appear systematically, but in general it is quite stable. But there are a number of signs of mental disorders that provide sufficient grounds for a psychiatric examination.

Signs of neuropsychiatric disorders: symptoms of impaired perception

The first group of mental illnesses includes symptoms of impaired perception

Senestopathies- this is a breakthrough of signals from internal organs and muscles into consciousness. These symptoms of mental disorders manifest themselves in the form of painful, unpleasant, often migrating sensations in the head, chest, abdomen, and limbs. This is when it twists, hurts, overflows, burns somewhere inside, and the doctors say that nothing can hurt. In many cases, they are manifestations of hidden depression and neuroses.

Illusions- this is a distorted perception of really existing objects and things of the surrounding world. They are divided into auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory and visual.

An example of a visual illusion would be a bush by the road, mistaken for an animal; the lace on a curtain folds into the shape of a face.

An example of auditory illusions is falling drops of water, the noise from which is mistaken for a conversation, or the sound of train wheels is mistaken for music.

Illusions as signs of mental illness often occur in infectious patients, when chronic poisoning and intoxications, at the beginning of the development of delirium tremens. But they are also observed in healthy people. This can happen in cases where the perception of the environment is unclear (darkness, noisy room) or the person is in a state of emotional stress.

Example of a physical illusion: a spoon dipped into a glass of water seems to be broken.

In addition, there are psychosensory disorders when the perception of signs of objects and own body. They appear larger or smaller, further or closer than they actually are, proportions are distorted, quantity, lighting, color change.

How to understand that a person has a mental disorder: hallucinations

Hallucinations are imaginary perceptions that do not have an external object as their source. They can be elementary (knock, noise, rumble, color spots) and complex (voices, music, pictures, objects, people).

How to understand that a person has a mental disorder, and what hallucinations are there? These imaginary perceptions are divided into auditory, visual, gustatory, tactile and olfactory. They can have a “made” character or seem real, real.

Auditory (verbal) hallucinations are characterized by the fact that the patient hears individual words, phrases, songs, and music. Sometimes the words are threatening or commanding in nature, and then it can be difficult to disobey them.

Visual hallucinations can be represented by figures, objects, or entire pictures or films.

Tactile hallucinations are felt as foreign objects touching the body, like insects or snakes crawling on or inside the body.

Taste hallucinations are represented by the feeling that the patient has bitten off something.

Olfactory - the sensation of a non-existent odor, most often unpleasant.

Hallucinations are nonspecific, occur in a wide variety of diseases and, like delusions, are signs of psychosis. They are found in schizophrenia, intoxication, delirium tremens (delirium tremens), organic (vascular, tumor) diseases of the brain, and senile psychoses.

The presence of these signs of mental illness in a person can be judged by his behavior. He gets irritated, scolds, laughs, cries, talks to himself, and responds to an imaginary attack with a defensive reaction.

A symptom of mental illness is impaired thinking

The second group of signs of mental illness are symptoms of thinking disorders.

The patient's pace of thinking may change. It can speed up so much that the patient does not have time to express his thoughts and experiences in words. When speaking, he misses words and entire phrases. A similar condition is observed more often in a state of mania during manic-depressive psychosis. The state of slow thinking is characterized by inhibition of patients; they answer in monosyllables, with long pauses between words. These symptoms of mental illness are characteristic of dementia, deafness.

Sometimes they talk about the viscosity of thinking. In this condition the patient is very detailed. If he is asked to talk about something, he gets stuck for a long time on minor details and has difficulty getting to the most important part of the story. It is extremely difficult to listen to such people. The viscosity of thinking reflects its rigidity; occurs when organic lesions brain, epilepsy.

Thinking disorders also include the so-called reasoning - a tendency to empty ranting and philosophizing.

The fragmentation of thinking is manifested in the fact that individual phrases are not connected with each other; The phrases of such patients are completely impossible to understand.

Reasoning and fragmented thinking are more common in schizophrenia.

Symptoms of neuropsychiatric diseases such as disorders of the content of thinking can be divided into obsessive, overvalued and delusional ideas.

Obsessive states include conditions that occur in patients against their will; patients evaluate them critically and try to resist them.

For example, obsessive doubts - constant uncertainty about the correctness committed actions and actions. This haunting unknown exists in defiance of reason and logic. Patients check 10 times whether the appliances are turned off, whether the doors are closed, etc.

Intrusive memories are intrusive memories of an unnecessary, often unpleasant fact or event.

Obsessive abstract thoughts - constantly scrolling through various abstract concepts in the head, operating with numbers.

There is a large group of symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders such as. These are fears of getting sick: alienophobia (fear of going crazy), cancerophobia (fear cancer), cardiophobia (fear of heart disease), vertigophobia (fear of fainting), mysophobia (fear of pollution, which can lead to infectious disease); fears of space: agoraphobia (fear of open space), claustrophobia (closed space), acrophobia (fear of heights); social phobias: lalophobia (fear of speaking, speaking in front of listeners, fear of incorrect pronunciation of words, stuttering), mythophobia (fear of telling a lie), ereitophobia (fear of blushing), gynecophobia (fear of communicating with women) and androphobia (with men). There are also zoophobia (fear of animals), triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number “13”), phobophobia (fear of fear) and many others.

Obsessive ideas can be observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

With overvalued ideas, logically based beliefs arise that are based on real events, associated with personality traits, and extremely emotionally charged. They encourage a person to engage in narrowly focused activities, which often leads to maladjustment. Criticism remains for highly valuable ideas, and there is the possibility of their correction.

How to identify a mental disorder: symptoms of delirium

A mental disorder can be identified as a harbinger of impending instability by the presence of delusions in a person.

According to the mechanism of development, delirium is divided into chronically developing (systematized) and acutely emerging (not systematized).

Delusional ideas are understood as false judgments arising from mental illness that do not correspond to reality. These judgments cannot be corrected, there is no criticism of them, and they completely take over the consciousness of patients, change their activities and maladapt in relation to society.

Systematized delirium of interpretation develops slowly, gradually and is accompanied by general change personality. Delusional ideas and judgments are carefully justified by the patient, who provides a consistent chain of evidence that has subjective logic. But the facts that the patient cites to support his ideas are interpreted by him one-sidedly, abstractly and biasedly. This kind of nonsense is persistent.

One of the symptoms of a mental personality disorder is relational delusion. The patient believes that all the facts and events surrounding him are related to him. If two people are talking somewhere, it’s definitely about him. If there is a fork or knife on the table, then this has something to do with it direct relation, done with some purpose or intent.

How else do mental disorders manifest themselves in humans? One of the options is delusions of jealousy. The patient believes that his partner is cheating on him. He finds a lot of facts to support this: she was late at work for 30 minutes, put on a yellow dress; brushed my teeth and didn't throw out the trash.

Delusions of harm are more common in elderly patients with senile dementia. They always feel like they are being robbed, their things, valuables and money are being taken away. Patients constantly hide what they have, and then forget about it and cannot find what is hidden, since their memory, as a rule, is impaired. Even while in the hospital, they hide everything they can from possible thieves and robbers.

Hypochondriacal delirium. Patients suffering from this type of delusion constantly talk about their imaginary illness. Their “stomach is rotting,” their heart “hasn’t worked for a long time,” “worms are in their heads,” and “the tumor is growing by leaps and bounds.”

Delusions of persecution are characterized by the fact that the patient thinks that he is being watched by people and organizations sent by enemies. He claims that he is being watched through the window day and night, being followed on the street, and listening devices have been installed in his apartment. Sometimes such people, when traveling on buses, constantly change trains to hide from their “enemies,” go to another city, remove wallpaper from the walls, and cut electrical wires.

With delusions of influence, patients believe that they are being affected by “special rays”, “psychotropic weapons”, hypnosis, radio waves, specially created machines in order to destroy them, force them to obey, cause them unpleasant thoughts and sensations. This also includes delusions of obsession.

Delusions of grandeur are perhaps the most pleasant. Patients consider themselves rich people, having wagons of money and barrels of gold; They often imagine themselves to be great strategists and generals who have conquered the world. Occurs with progressive paralysis (with syphilis), dementia.

There is delirium of self-blame and self-abasement, when patients blame themselves for the sins they allegedly committed: murder, theft, and causing “terrible harm” to the world.

Delusions, like hallucinations, are a sign of psychosis. Occurs in schizophrenia, epilepsy, organic brain diseases, and alcoholism.

Main clinical symptoms of mental personality disorder: disturbance of emotions

The third group of main symptoms of mental illness includes signs of emotional disturbance.

Emotions reflect a person’s attitude towards reality and himself. The human body is closely related to environment, and it is constantly affected by internal and external stimuli. The nature of this influence and our emotional reaction determine our mood. Remember? If we can’t change the situation, let’s change our attitude towards it. Emotions can be controlled both through thoughts (formulas of suggestion, meditation) and through the external bodily reflection of emotions (gestures, facial expressions, laughter, tears).

Emotions are divided into positive, negative, ambiguous and uncertain (they arise when something new appears and should quickly turn into positive or negative).

A violent manifestation of emotions (sadness, joy, anger) is called affect.

Affect can be pathological if it occurs against the background of a darkened consciousness. It is at this moment that a person can commit serious crimes, since his actions at this moment are not controlled by the central nervous system.

Emotions are divided into positive (not in the sense of “good”, but in the sense of newly appeared ones) - these are hypothymic, hyperthymic, parathymic - and negative (lost).

Hypotymia- decreased mood. It manifests itself in the form of melancholy, anxiety, confusion and fear.

Yearning- this is a state with a predominance of sadness and depression; this is oppression for everyone mental processes. Everything around is seen only in dark colors. Movements are usually slow, and a feeling of hopelessness is expressed. Often, life seems to have no meaning. High risk of suicide. Melancholy can be a manifestation of neuroses, manic-depressive psychosis.

Anxiety- this is an emotional state characterized by internal anxiety, constraint and tension localized in the chest; accompanied by a premonition and expectation of impending disaster.

Fear- a state the content of which is fear for one’s well-being or life. It can be unconscious, when patients are afraid, without knowing what, and are in anticipation that something terrible might happen to them. Some want to run away somewhere, others are depressed and freeze in place.

Fear can have certainty. In this case, the person knows what he is afraid of (some people, cars, animals, etc.).

Confusion- a changeable emotional state with feelings of bewilderment and futility.

Hypothymic states are not specific and occur in a variety of conditions.

Hyperthymia - high mood. Manifests itself in the form of euphoria, complacency, anger and ecstasy.

Euphoria- a feeling of causeless joy, fun, happiness with an increased desire for activity. Occurs with drug or alcohol intoxication, manic-depressive psychosis.

Ecstasy- this is a state of highest elation, exaltation. Occurs in epilepsy, schizophrenia.

Complacency- a state of contentment, carelessness, without the desire for activity. Characteristic of senile dementia, atrophic processes of the brain.

Anger- the highest degree of irritability, malice with a tendency to aggressive and destructive actions. The combination of anger and sadness is called dysphoria. It is characteristic of epilepsy.

All of the above emotions are also found in Everyday life in healthy people: it’s all about their quantity, intensity and impact on human behavior.

Parathymia (the main symptoms of mental disorders of emotions) include ambivalence and emotional inadequacy.

Ambivalence- this is a duality of attitude towards something, a duality of experience, when one object evokes two opposing feelings in a person at the same time.

Emotional inadequacy- discrepancy between the emotional reaction and the occasion that caused it. For example, joyful laughter at the news of the death of a loved one.

How to recognize a mental disorder: emotional dullness

How can you recognize a mental disorder in a person by observing his emotional state?

Negative emotional disorders include emotional dullness. This symptom can be expressed to varying degrees. With a milder degree, patients simply become more indifferent to the world around them, and treat loved ones, relatives, and acquaintances coldly. Their emotions are somehow smoothed out and appear very unclear.

With more pronounced emotional dullness, the patient becomes apathetic to everything that happens, everything becomes indifferent to him, and “paralysis of emotions” occurs.

The patient is absolutely inactive and strives for solitude. Clinical symptoms of mental disorders such as parathymia and emotional dullness are most often found in schizophrenia.

Regulation emotional states associated with the work of deep brain structures (thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, etc.), which are responsible for the functioning of internal organs (gastrointestinal tract, lungs, of cardio-vascular system), for cellular and biochemical composition blood. If a person is not aware of emotions, they are able to “record” in the muscles, creating muscle disorders, or “freeze” inside, manifesting itself in the form of psychosomatic diseases (colic, neurodermatitis, etc.).

What are the other main signs of mental disorders: memory impairment

What other signs of mental disorders are described in modern psychiatry?

The fourth group of signs of mental disorders includes symptoms of impaired memory.

Memory disorders are considered the loss or decrease in the ability to remember, retain and reproduce information and individual events. They are divided into two types: amnesia (lack of memory) and paramnesia (memory deceptions).

Amnesia can be of different types. With retrograde amnesia (loss of memory of the days, months and years preceding the present illness), the patient may not remember not only some life events (partial retrograde amnesia), but also the entire chain of events, including his first and last name (systemic retrograde amnesia). Congrade amnesia is the loss from memory of only the disease or injury itself; anterograde - events subsequent to the disease.

There are also concepts of fixation and reproductive amnesia. In the first case, the patient is deprived of the ability to remember current events; in the second case, he cannot reproduce in his memory the necessary information needed at the moment.

Progressive amnesia is a gradual decay of memory from new, recently acquired knowledge to old. Events from distant childhood are most clearly preserved in memory, while events recent years fall out of memory completely (“fell into childhood”).

Paramnesia is divided into false memories and memory distortion. The first includes fictitious events, facts and cases that take the place of events that have completely fallen out of memory. The second is the transfer of past events to the present time in place of the disappeared ones.

Memory disorders are characteristic of systematic psychoses, epilepsy, brain injuries, and organic diseases of the central nervous system.

How to determine a mental disorder in a person: a violation of volitional activity

You can identify a mental disorder as a reason to consult a psychiatrist based on the symptoms of a disorder of volitional activity - this is the fifth group of signs of a mental illness.

Will- this is a psychological activity aimed at achieving a goal and overcoming the obstacles that arise.

Volitional disorders can manifest themselves as a weakening of volitional activity (hypobulia) or its complete absence (abulia), perversion of volitional acts (parabulia).

Hypobulia- reduction in the intensity and quantity of all impulses to activity. Individual instincts may be suppressed: food (, loss of appetite); sexual (decreased libido - sexual desire); defensive (lack of defensive actions in response to an external threat).

As a transient phenomenon, it occurs in neuroses and depression; more persistent ones occur in some types of organic brain damage, schizophrenia, and dementia.

How else to recognize mental illness by characteristic features? Sharp rise loss of appetite, even to the point of gluttony, is called bulimia, often found in mental retardation, dementia, and hypothalamic syndrome. With these same diseases, some forms of psychopathy and manic-depressive psychosis, hypersexuality occurs (satiriasis in men and nymphomania in women).

There are also many perverted drives and instincts. For example, dromomania - a pathological attraction to vagrancy, pathological gambling - to games, suicidomania - to suicide, shopaholism - to shopping; This also includes paraphilias-perversions of sexual desire (sadism, masochism, fetishism, exhibitionism, etc.).

Paraphilias occur in psychopathy, schizophrenia and addictive behavior diseases.

How mental disorders manifest themselves: symptoms of attention disorders

How else do mental illnesses manifest in humans? The sixth group of main signs of mental disorders includes symptoms of attention impairment.

Attention is direction mental activity on the phenomena of the surrounding world and on the processes occurring in the body.

There are passive and active attention.

Passive (indicative) attention is based on a person’s indicative reaction to signals. Active (voluntary) attention comes down to focusing a person on solving a problem, achieving a goal.

Attention disorders are manifested by absent-mindedness, exhaustion, distractibility and stiffness.

Distracted (unstable) attention manifests itself in the inability to concentrate on a certain type of activity.

Attention Fatigue manifests itself in an increasing weakening of the intensity of the ability to concentrate during work. As a result, passion for work becomes impossible and productivity drops.

Distractibility- this is a painful mobility of attention, when the change of activity is too fast and unreasonable, as a result of which its productivity sharply decreases.

Stiffness of attention- painful fixation, difficulty switching from one object to another.

Attention disorders almost always occur in mental illness.

How to identify a mental disorder in a person is described in psychiatric textbooks, but many special examinations must be carried out to make a diagnosis.

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The disease manifests itself in a sharp change in the patient’s behavior, loss of an adequate attitude towards life and others, and a lack of desire to perceive the existing reality. At the same time, mental disorders interfere with the awareness of the presence of these very problems; a person cannot eliminate them on his own.

Due to the emotional component, hormonal explosions and exposure to stress, psychosis and other mental disorders occur twice as often in women as in men (7 versus 3%, respectively).

What are the reasons and who is at greatest risk?

The main reasons for the development of psychosis in females are as follows:

• pregnancy and childbirth;
• menopause;
• diseases different organs and systems;
• infectious diseases;
• alcohol poisoning or drug abuse;
• prolonged chronic stress;
• mental illnesses of various types;
• depressive states.

One of the main reasons is increased emotional excitability or the presence similar disease in the family of women, mothers, sisters, that is, a genetic component.

Who's at risk

The root cause of psychosis is often alcohol abuse and subsequent intoxication of the body. In most cases, men are most susceptible to alcoholism, so women suffer from alcoholic psychosis much less often and tolerate it faster and easier.

But there is also a reason that is specific only to women, which increases the risk of the disease. This is pregnancy and childbirth. Physical factors for the appearance of psychosis in this case include toxicosis, vitamin deficiency, decreased tone of all body systems, various diseases or complications due to difficult pregnancy and childbirth.

Psychological ones include fear, anxiety, increased emotional sensitivity, unpreparedness to become a mother. At the same time, postpartum mental disorders are more common than during pregnancy.

Features of behavior

A woman with mental disorders is characterized by the following changes in behavior and life activity (with the symptoms being noticeable only from the outside, the patient herself and unaware that she is sick):

• lack of resistance to stress, which often leads to hysterics or scandals;
• the desire to isolate yourself from communication with colleagues, friends and even loved ones;
• there is a craving for something unreal, supernatural, interest in magical practices, shamanism, religion and similar areas;
• the emergence of various fears and phobias;
• decreased concentration, sluggish mental activity;
• loss of strength, apathy, reluctance to show any activity;
• sudden changes in mood for no apparent reason;
• disturbances in sleep patterns, which can manifest themselves in both excessive drowsiness and insomnia;
• reduction or complete absence desire to eat food.

Types of deviations in mental state

Psychoses can be divided into two large groups:

1. Organic. In such cases, psychosis is a consequence of a physical illness, a secondary disorder after disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous and cardiovascular systems.
2. Functional. Such disorders are initially caused by a psychosocial factor and the presence of a predisposition to their occurrence. These include affective disorders, disturbances in the process of thinking and perception. Among others, the most common are: manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, paranoia, paranoid.

Separately, we can distinguish postpartum psychosis, it appears in 1 - 3% of women in the first months after the birth of a child, unlike the more common postpartum depression, psychotic deviation does not go away on its own and requires treatment under qualified supervision of specialists.

• decreased appetite and rapid weight loss;
• constant anxiety, sharp changes mood;
• desire for isolation, refusal to communicate;
• violation of the level of self-esteem;
• thoughts about committing suicide.

Symptoms appear individually, for some they may appear within a day after birth, for others after a month.

Mental failure may be accompanied by various states, which provoke disruptions in the functioning of a woman’s entire body.

Violation of diet, activity and rest, emotional tension, taking medications. These factors “hit” the nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive and endocrine systems. Manifestation concomitant diseases individually.

Who should I turn to for help?

Self-medication in this case is contraindicated. You should also not contact familiar doctors of various specialties, psychologists, or traditional healers. Treatment should only be carried out by government or private doctor- highly qualified psychotherapist!

The specialist will examine the patient, refer her for additional tests and, based on their results, prescribe treatment and the necessary medications.

Treatment can take place in a hospital setting with the participation of medical staff, or at home. When treating at home, a mandatory safety measure will be to care for the baby with the least intervention from the mother (in case of postpartum mental health problems). The nanny or relatives should take on these concerns until all the symptoms of the disease disappear in the patient.

Treatment usually consists of a complex, which includes:

• medications, usually antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers;
• psychotherapy – regular sessions with a psychotherapist and family psychologist;
• social adaptation.

It is not immediately possible for the patient to fully understand and accept her condition. Relatives and friends must be patient to help the woman return to her normal lifestyle.

The consequences of lack of therapy are extremely unfavorable. The patient loses touch with reality, her behavior becomes inappropriate and dangerous not only for her own life and health, but also for those around her.

A person is suicidal and may become a victim or cause of violence.

How to prevent mental breakdown?

Preventive measures include:

• regular monitoring of your health;
• treatment of diseases that can cause mental disorders;
• strengthening the immune system;
• physical activity;
• active social life;
• cessation of smoking, alcohol, and drugs;
• reducing stress and fatigue in everyday life;
• thorough, varied preparation for pregnancy and childbirth;
• preparation for menopausal changes in the body.

Prevention should be a priority, especially for those women who are susceptible to emotional disturbances or have a hereditary predisposition to psychotic disorders.

This section was created to take care of those who need a qualified specialist, without disturbing the usual rhythm of their own lives.

Symptoms of mental disorders

The article provides an overview of the symptoms and syndromes of mental disorders, including the features of their manifestation in children, adolescents, the elderly, men and women. Some methods and means used in traditional and alternative medicine for the treatment of such diseases.

Causes of emotional illnesses

Pathological changes in the psyche can lead to:

• infectious diseases affecting the brain directly or due to secondary infection;
• exposure to chemicals - medications, food components, alcohol, drugs, industrial poisons;
• damage to the endocrine system;
• traumatic brain injuries, oncology, structural anomalies and other pathologies of the brain;
• burdened heredity, etc.

Syndromes and signs

Asthenic syndrome

The painful condition, also called asthenia, neuropsychic weakness or chronic fatigue syndrome, is manifested by increased fatigue and exhaustion. Patients experience a weakening or complete loss of the ability to perform any prolonged physical and mental stress.

The development of asthenic syndrome can lead to:

• prolonged physical, emotional or intellectual stress;
• some diseases of internal organs;
• intoxication;
• infections;
• nervous and mental illnesses;
• improper organization of work, rest and nutrition.

Asthenic syndrome can be observed both in initial stage development of diseases of internal organs, and occur after an acute illness.

Asthenia often accompanies a chronic disease, being one of its manifestations.

Chronic fatigue syndrome most often occurs in people with an unbalanced or weak type of higher nervous activity.

The presence of asthenia is indicated by the following signs:

• irritable weakness;
• prevalence of low mood;
• sleep disorders;
• intolerance to bright light, noise and strong odors;
• headache;
• weather dependent.

Manifestations of neuropsychic weakness are determined by the underlying disease. For example, with atherosclerosis, severe memory impairment is observed, with hypertension - painful sensations in the heart area and headaches.

Obsessiveness

The term “obsession” (obsessive state, compulsion) is used to refer to a set of symptoms associated with periodically occurring intrusive unwanted thoughts, ideas, and ideas.

An individual who fixates on such thoughts, which usually cause negative emotions or a stressful state, finds it difficult to get rid of them. This syndrome may manifest as obsessive fears, thoughts and images, the desire to get rid of which often leads to the performance of special “rituals” - copulsions.

Psychiatrists have identified several distinctive features obsessive states:

1. Obsessive thoughts are reproduced by the consciousness arbitrarily (against the will of the person), while the consciousness remains clear. The patient tries to fight obsession.
2. Obsessions are alien to thinking; there is no visible connection between obsessive thoughts and the content of thinking.
3. Obsession is closely related to emotions, often depressive in nature, and anxiety.
4. Obsessions do not affect intellectual abilities.
5. The patient realizes the unnaturalness of obsessive thoughts and maintains a critical attitude towards them.

Affective syndrome

Affective syndromes are symptom complexes of mental disorders that are closely related to mood disorders.

There are two groups of affective syndromes:

1. With a predominance of manic (elevated) mood
2. With a predominance of depressive (low) mood.

IN clinical picture affective syndromes, the leading role belongs to disorders emotional sphere- from small mood swings to quite pronounced mood disorders (affects).

By nature, all affects are divided into sthenic, which occur with a predominance of excitement (delight, joy), and asthenic, which occur with a predominance of inhibition (melancholy, fear, sadness, despair).

Affective syndromes are observed in many diseases: with circular psychosis and schizophrenia they are the only manifestations of the disease, with progressive paralysis, syphilis, brain tumors, vascular psychoses - its initial manifestations.

Affective syndromes are disorders such as depression, dysphoria, euphoria, mania.

Depression is a fairly common mental disorder that requires special attention, since 50% of people who attempt suicide show signs of this mental disorder.

Characteristic features of depression:

• low mood;
• pessimistic attitude to reality, negative judgments;
• motor and volitional inhibition;
• inhibition of instinctive activity (loss of appetite or, conversely, a tendency to overeat, decreased sexual desire);
• focus on painful experiences and difficulties in concentrating;
• decreased self-esteem.

Dysphoria, or mood disorders, which are characterized by an angry-sad, intense affect with irritability leading to outbursts of anger and aggressiveness, are characteristic of psychopaths of the excitable type and alcoholics.

Dysphoria often occurs in epilepsy and organic diseases of the central nervous system.

Euphoria, or high spirits with a hint of carelessness and contentment, not accompanied by acceleration of associative processes, is found in the clinic of atherosclerosis, progressive paralysis, and brain injury.

Mania

Psychopathological syndrome, which is characterized by a triad of symptoms:

• unmotivated high mood,
• acceleration of thinking and speech,
• motor excitement.

There are signs that do not appear in all cases of manic syndrome:

• increased instinctive activity (increased appetite, sexual desire, self-protective tendencies),
• instability of attention and overestimation of oneself as an individual, sometimes reaching delusional ideas of greatness.

A similar condition can occur with schizophrenia, intoxication, infections, injuries, brain damage and other diseases.

Senesthopathy

The term “senesthopathy” defines a suddenly appearing painful, extremely unpleasant bodily sensation.

This sensation, devoid of objectivity, arises at the place of localization, although the objective pathological process is missing from it.

Senestopathies are common symptoms of mental disorders, as well as structural components of depressive syndrome, hypochondriacal delirium, and mental automatism syndrome.

Hypochondriacal syndrome

Hypochondria (hypochondriacal disorder) is a condition characterized by constant anxiety about the possibility of getting sick, complaints, concern for one’s well-being, the perception of ordinary sensations as abnormal, assumptions about the presence, in addition to the main disease, of some additional disease.

Most often, concerns arise about the heart, gastrointestinal tract, genitals and brain. Pathological attention can lead to certain malfunctions in the functioning of the body.

Certain personality traits contribute to the development of hypochondria: suspiciousness, anxiety, depression.

Illusion

Illusions are distorted perceptions in which a really existing object or phenomenon is not recognized, but another image is perceived instead.

There are the following types of illusions:

1. Physical, including optical, acoustic
2. Physiological;
3. Affective;
4. Verbal, etc.

Metamorphopsia (organic), physical and physiological illusions can occur in people whose mental health is not in doubt. A patient with optical illusions may perceive a raincoat hanging on a hanger as a lurking killer, spots on bed linen They look like bugs to him, the belt on the back of the chair looks like a snake.

With acoustic illusions, the patient distinguishes threats addressed to himself in an overheard conversation, and perceives the remarks of passers-by as accusations and insults addressed to him.

Most often, illusions are observed in infectious and intoxicating diseases, but can occur in other painful conditions.

Fear, fatigue, anxiety, exhaustion, as well as distortion of perception due to poor lighting, noise, decreased hearing and visual acuity.

Hallucination

An image that appears in consciousness without a stimulus is called a hallucination. In other words, this is an error, an error in the perception of the senses, when a person sees, hears, feels something that does not really exist.

Conditions under which hallucinations occur:

• extreme fatigue
• use of certain psychotropic substances,
• the presence of mental (schizophrenia) and neurological diseases.

There are true, functional and other types of hallucinations. True hallucinations are usually classified according to analyzers: visual, acoustic, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, somatic, motor, vestibular, complex.

Delusional disorders

Delusional disorder is a condition characterized by the presence of delusions - a disorder of thinking, accompanied by the emergence of reasoning, ideas and conclusions that are far from reality.

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There are three groups of delusional states, united by a common content:

1. Delirium of persecution. This group includes beliefs that the patient is being persecuted, wants to poison (delusion of poisoning), his property is being damaged and stolen (delusion of damage), his sexual partner is cheating (delusion of jealousy), everything around him is rigged, an experiment is being conducted on him (delusion of staging).
2. Delusions of grandeur in all varieties (delusions of wealth, invention, reform, origin, love). Sometimes a patient with a mental disorder in the form of religious delirium may call himself a prophet.
3. Depressive delirium. The main content of delusional states is self-accusation, self-abasement and sinfulness. This group includes hypochondriacal and nihilistic delusions, Cotard's syndrome.

Catatonic syndromes

Catatonic syndrome belongs to a group of psychopathological syndromes, the main clinical manifestation of which is movement disorders.

The structure of this syndrome is:

1. Catatonic excitement (pathetic, impulsive, silent).
2. Catatonic stupor (cataleptic, negativistic, stupor with numbness).

Depending on the form of excitation, the patient may experience moderate or pronounced motor and speech activity.

Extreme degree of excitement - chaotic, senseless actions of an aggressive nature, causing severe damage to oneself and others.

The state of catatonic stupor is characterized by motor retardation and silence. The patient may be in a constrained state for a long time - up to several months.

Diseases in which manifestations of catatonic syndromes are possible: schizophrenia, infectious, organic and other psychoses.

Blackout

Twilight disorder (stupefaction) is one of the types of disturbance of consciousness that occurs suddenly and is manifested by the patient’s inability to navigate the world around him.

At the same time, the ability to perform habitual actions remains unchanged, speech and motor excitation, affects of fear, anger and melancholy are observed.

Acute delusions of persecution and predominantly visual hallucinations of a frightening nature may occur. Delusional ideas of persecution and grandeur become determining factors in the behavior of the patient, who can commit destructive, aggressive actions.

Twilight stupefaction is characterized by amnesia - complete forgetting of the period of the disorder. This condition is observed in epilepsy and organic lesions of the cerebral hemispheres. Less common in traumatic brain injury and hysteria.

Dementia

The term “dementia” is used to denote an irreversible impoverishment of mental activity with a loss or decrease in the knowledge and skills acquired before the onset of this state and the inability to acquire new ones. Dementia occurs as a result of past illnesses.

According to the degree of severity, they are distinguished:

1. Complete (total), arising from progressive paralysis, Pick's disease.
2. Partial dementia (with vascular diseases of the central nervous system, consequences of traumatic brain injury, chronic alcoholism).

With complete dementia, there are profound impairments in criticism, memory, judgment, unproductive thinking, the disappearance of individual character traits previously inherent in the patient, as well as a carefree mood.

With partial dementia, there is a moderate decrease in criticism, memory, and judgment. Low mood with irritability, tearfulness, and fatigue predominates.

Video: Growth of mental illnesses in Russia

Symptoms of mental disorder

Among women. There is an increased risk of developing mental disorders in the premenstrual period, during and after pregnancy, during middle age and aging. Eating disorders, affective disorders, including postpartum, depression.

In men. Mental disorders occur more often than in women. Traumatic and alcoholic psychoses.

In children. One of the most common disorders is attention deficit disorder. Symptoms include problems with long-term concentration, hyperactivity, and poor impulse control.

In teenagers. Eating disorders are common. School phobias, hyperactivity syndrome, and anxiety disorders are observed.

In the elderly. Mental illnesses are detected more often than in young and middle-aged people. Symptoms of dementia, depression, psychogenic-neurotic disorders.

Video: Panic attacks

Treatment and prevention

When treating asthenic syndrome, the main efforts are directed towards eliminating the cause that led to the disease. General strengthening therapy is carried out, including taking vitamins and glucose, proper organization of work and rest, restoring sleep, good nutrition, dosed physical activity, medications are prescribed: nootropics, antidepressants, sedatives, anabolic steroids.

Treatment of obsessive states is carried out by eliminating the causes that traumatize the patient, as well as by influencing the pathophysiological links in the brain.

Therapy affective states begins with establishing supervision and referring the patient to a specialist. Depressed patients who are capable of making a suicide attempt are subject to hospitalization.

When prescribing drug therapy, the characteristics of the patient’s condition are taken into account. For example, for depression, which is a phase of circular psychosis, psychotropic drugs are used, and in the presence of anxiety, they are prescribed combination treatment antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs.

An acute mental disorder in the form of a manic state is an indication for hospitalization, which is necessary to protect others from the inappropriate actions of a sick person. Antipsychotics are used to treat such patients.

Since delirium is a symptom of brain damage, pharmacotherapy and biological methods of influence are used to treat it.

To treat hypochondria, it is recommended to use psychotherapeutic techniques. In cases where psychotherapy is ineffective, measures are taken to reduce the significance of hypochondriacal fears. For most cases of hypochondria drug therapy excluded.

Folk remedies

The list of remedies used by traditional healers to treat depression includes:

• pollen,
• bananas,
• carrot,
• tinctures of ginseng roots and Manchurian aralia,
• infusions of angelica and bird knotweed,
• peppermint leaf decoction,
• baths with infusion of poplar leaves.

In the arsenal of traditional medicine there are many tips and recipes that help get rid of sleep disorders and a number of other symptoms of mental disorders.

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How to identify signs of mental disorder in women in time?

The weaker sex is more susceptible to mental illnesses. Emotional involvement in social life and natural sensitivity increase the risk of developing diseases. They need to be diagnosed in time to start correct treatment and return life to normal.

Mental illnesses at different age periods of a woman’s life

For each age period (girl, young woman, woman), a group of the most likely mental illnesses has been identified. At these critical developmental stages for the psyche, situations occur that most often provoke the development of the disorder.

Girls are less susceptible to mental illnesses than boys, however, they are not immune from the development of school phobias and attention deficit. They are at increased risk of developing anxiety and learning disorders.

Young girls in 2% of cases may become victims of premenstrual dysphoria after the first episode of bleeding during the menstrual period. After puberty, it is believed that girls are 2 times more likely to develop depression than boys.

Women who are included in the group of patients with mental disorders do not undergo drug treatment when planning pregnancy. In this way they provoke relapses. After childbirth, there is a high probability of signs of depression appearing, which, however, can go away without medication.

A small percentage of women do develop psychotic disorders, the treatment of which is complicated by a limited number of approved drugs. For each individual situation, the degree of benefit and risk of drug treatment during breastfeeding is determined.

Women from 35 to 45 years of age are at risk of developing anxiety disorders, they are susceptible to mood changes, and are not immune from the onset of schizophrenia. Decreased sexual function can occur due to taking antidepressants.

Menopause changes the usual course of a woman’s life, her social role and relationships with loved ones. They switch from caring for their children to looking after their parents. This period is associated with depressive moods and disorders, but the connection between the phenomena has not been officially proven.

In old age, women are susceptible to the development of dementia and complications of somatic pathologies with mental disorders. This is due to their life expectancy; the risk of developing dementia (acquired dementia) increases in proportion to the number of years lived. Elderly women who take a lot of medications and suffer from somatic diseases are more prone to insanity than others.

Those over 60 should pay attention to the symptoms of paraphrenia (a severe form of delusional syndrome); they are at greatest risk. Emotional involvement in the lives of others and loved ones at an advanced age, when many have completed their life’s journey, can cause mental disorders.

Dividing a woman’s existence into periods allows doctors to single out the only correct one from a variety of diseases with similar symptoms.

Signs of mental disorders in girls

In childhood, the development of the nervous system occurs continuously, but unevenly. However, 70% of the peak of mental development occurs during this period; the personality of the future adult is formed. It is important to have the symptoms of certain diseases diagnosed by a specialist in a timely manner.

• Decreased appetite. Occurs with sudden changes in diet and forced food intake.
• Increased activity. Characterized by sudden forms of motor excitement (bouncing, monotonous running, shouting)
• Hostility. It is expressed in the child’s confidence in the negative attitude towards him of those around him and loved ones, which is not confirmed by facts. It seems to such a child that everyone laughs at him and despises him. On the other hand, he himself will show groundless hatred and aggression, or even fear towards his family. He becomes rude in everyday interactions with relatives.
• Painful perception of physical disability (dysmorphophobia). The child chooses a minor or apparent disadvantage in appearance and tries with all his might to disguise or eliminate it, even turning to adults with a request for plastic surgery.
• Game activity. It comes down to monotonous and primitive manipulation of objects not intended for play (cups, shoes, bottles); the nature of such a game does not change over time.
• Morbid obsession with health. Excessive attention to one’s physical condition, complaints about fictitious diseases.
• Repeated movements of the word. They are involuntary or obsessive, for example, the desire to touch an object, rub your hands, or tap.
• Mood disturbance. The state of melancholy and meaninglessness of what is happening does not leave the child. He becomes whiny and irritable, his mood does not improve for a long time.

• Nervous state. Change from hyperactivity to lethargy and passivity and back. Bright light and loud and unexpected sounds are difficult to tolerate. The child cannot strain his attention for a long time, which is why he experiences difficulties with his studies. He may experience visions of animals, scary-looking people, or hear voices.
• Disorders in the form of repeated spasms or convulsions. The child may freeze for a few seconds, turning pale or rolling his eyes. The attack may manifest itself in shaking of the shoulders, arms, and less often legs, similar to squats. Systematic walking and talking in your sleep at the same time.
• Disturbances in daily behavior. Excitability coupled with aggression, expressed in a tendency to violence, conflict and rudeness. Unstable attention due to lack of discipline and motor disinhibition.
• A pronounced desire to cause harm and subsequent pleasure from it. The desire for hedonism, increased suggestibility, a tendency to leave home. Negative thinking along with vindictiveness and bitterness against the backdrop of a general tendency towards cruelty.
• A painful and abnormal habit. Biting nails, pulling out hair from the scalp and at the same time reducing psychological stress.
• Obsessive fears. Day forms accompanied by facial flushing, increased sweating and palpitations. At night, they manifest themselves in screaming and crying from frightening dreams and motor restlessness; in such a situation, the child may not recognize loved ones and brush someone off.
• Impaired reading, writing and counting skills. In the first case, children have difficulty relating the appearance of a letter to its sound or have difficulty recognizing images of vowels or consonants. With dysgraphia (writing disorder), it is difficult for them to write what they say out loud.

These signs are not always a direct consequence of the development of a mental illness, but require qualified diagnosis.

Symptoms of diseases characteristic of adolescence

Adolescent girls are characterized by anorexia nervosa and bulimia, premenstrual dysphoria and depressive states.

To anorexia frolicking on nervous soil, include:

• Denial of the existing problem
• Painful and obsessive feeling excess weight in its apparent absence
• Eating food standing or in small pieces
• Disturbed sleep patterns
• Fear of gaining excess weight
• Depressed mood
• Anger and unreasonable resentment
• Passion for cooking, preparing meals for the family without personal participation in the meal
• Avoidance general techniques food, minimal communication with loved ones, spending a long time in the bathroom or playing sports outside the home.

Anorexia also causes physical problems. Due to weight loss, problems with the menstrual cycle begin, arrhythmia appears, and constant weakness and muscle pain are felt. How you treat yourself depends on the amount of weight lost versus gained. A person with anorexia nervosa tends to biasedly assess his condition until the point of no return is reached.

Signs of bulimia nervosa:

• The amount of food consumed at a time exceeds the norm for a person of a certain build. Pieces of food are not chewed, but quickly swallowed.
• After eating, a person deliberately tries to induce vomiting to empty the stomach.
• Behavior is dominated by mood swings, closedness and unsociability.
• A person feels helpless and lonely.
• General malaise and lack of energy, frequent illnesses throat, upset digestion.
• Destroyed tooth enamel - a consequence frequent vomiting, which contains gastric juice.
• Enlarged salivary glands on the cheeks.
• Denying the existence of a problem.

Signs of premenstrual dysphoria:

• The disease is typical for girls forming premenstrual syndrome. It, in turn, is expressed in depression, gloomy mood, unpleasant physical sensations and an uncomfortable psychological state, tearfulness, disruption of the usual sleep and eating patterns.
• Dysphoria occurs 5 days before the start of menstruation and ends on the first day. During this period, the girl is completely unfocused, cannot concentrate on anything, and is overcome by fatigue. The diagnosis is made if the symptoms are pronounced and bother the woman.

Most adolescent diseases develop due to nervous disorders and characteristics of puberty.

Postpartum mental disorders

In the field of medicine, there are 3 negative psychological states women in labor:

• Neurotic depression. There is an exacerbation of mental problems that were present when the child was pregnant. This disease is accompanied by a depressed state and nervous exhaustion.
• Traumatic neurosis. Appears after a long and difficult birth; subsequent pregnancies are accompanied by fear and anxiety.
• Melancholy with delusional ideas. The woman feels guilty, may not recognize loved ones and may see hallucinations. This disease is a prerequisite for the development of manic-depressive psychosis.

Mental disorder may manifest itself as:

• Depressed state and tearfulness.
• Unreasonable anxiety, feelings of restlessness.
• Irritability and excessive activity.
• Mistrust of others and a feeling of fear.

• Slurred speech and decreased or increased appetite.
• Obsessiveness in communication or the desire to isolate yourself from everyone.
• Confusion and lack of concentration.
• Inadequate self-esteem.
• Thoughts about suicide or murder.

In the first week or month, these symptoms will make themselves felt in the event of the development of postpartum psychosis. Its duration is four months on average.

The period of middle age. Mental illnesses that develop during menopause

During menopause, the hormonal glands of sexual secretion reverse development; this symptom is most pronounced in women between 45 and 50 years of age. Menopause slows down cell renewal. As a result, those diseases and disorders that were previously absent completely or occurred latently begin to appear.

Mental illnesses characteristic of the menopause period develop either 2-3 months before the final completion of the menstrual cycle or even after 5 years. These reactions are temporary, most often they are:

• Mood swings
• Anxiety about the future
• Increased sensitivity

Women at this age are prone to self-criticism and dissatisfaction with themselves, which entails the development of depressive moods and hypochondriacal experiences.

With physical discomfort during menopause, associated with flushing or fainting, hysterics appear. Serious disorders against the background of menopause, develop only in women who initially had such problems

Mental disorders in women in senile and pre-senile periods

Involutionary paranoid. This psychosis, which appears during involution, is accompanied by delusional thoughts combined with unbidden memories of traumatic situations from the past.

Involutional melancholy is typical for women over 50 years of age. The main prerequisite for the appearance of this disease is anxiety-delusional depression. Usually involutionary paranoid appears after a change in lifestyle or a stressful situation.

Late-life dementia. The disease is an acquired dementia that worsens over time. Based on clinical manifestations, there are:

• Total dementia. In this option, perception, level of thinking, creativity and problem solving abilities are reduced. The boundaries of personality are erased. A person is not able to critically evaluate himself.
• Lacunar dementia. Memory impairment occurs when the level of cognitive function is maintained. The patient can evaluate himself critically, but the personality basically remains unchanged. This disease manifests itself in syphilis of the brain.
• These diseases are a warning sign. The mortality rate of patients with dementia after a stroke is many times higher than that of those who escaped this fate and did not become dementia.

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Treatment of mental disorders is divided into medications and complex psychotherapy. For eating disorders typical of young girls, a combination of these treatment methods will be effective. However, even if most of the symptoms coincide with the described disorders, before undertaking any type of treatment it is necessary to consult with a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.