Types of mental disorders. What signs indicate a mental disorder

Mental disorders are human conditions that are characterized by a change in the psyche and behavior from normal to destructive. The term is ambiguous and has different interpretations in the fields of law, psychology and psychiatry.

A little about concepts

According to the International Classification of Diseases, mental disorders are not entirely identical to concepts such as mental illness or mental illness. This concept gives general characteristics various types of human mental disorders. From a psychiatric point of view, it is not always possible to identify biological, medical and social symptoms of a personality disorder. Only in some cases can a mental disorder be based on a physical disorder of the body. Based on this, ICD-10 uses the term “mental disorder” instead of “mental illness”.

Etiological factors

Any disturbance in a person’s mental state is caused by changes in the structure or function of the brain. Factors influencing this can be divided into two groups:

1. Exogenous, which includes all external factors influencing the state of the human body: industrial poisons, narcotic and toxic substances, alcohol, radioactive waves, microbes, viruses, psychological trauma, traumatic brain injury, vascular diseases of the brain;
2. Endogenous – immanent reasons for the manifestation of psychological exacerbation. They include chromosomal disorders, gene diseases, hereditary diseases, which can be inherited due to an injured gene.

But, unfortunately, at this stage of the development of science, the causes of many mental disorders remain unknown. Today, every fourth person in the world is prone to mental disorder or behavior change.

The leading factors in the development of mental disorders include biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Mental syndrome can be transmitted genetically in both men and women, which causes frequent similarities in the characters and individual specific habits of some family members. Psychological factors combine the influences of heredity and environment that can lead to personality disorder. Raising children with incorrect family values ​​increases their chances of developing a mental disorder in the future.

Mental disorders most often occur in people with diabetes mellitus, vascular diseases of the brain, infectious
diseases, in the state of a stroke. Alcoholism can deprive a person of sanity and completely disrupt all psychophysical processes in the body. Symptoms of mental disorders also appear with the constant use of psychoactive substances that affect the functioning of the central nervous system. nervous system. Autumn exacerbation or troubles in the personal sphere can unsettle any person, lead him into mild condition depression. Therefore, especially in the autumn-winter period, it is useful to take a course of vitamins and medications that have a calming effect on the nervous system.

Classification

For ease of diagnosis and processing of statistical data, the World Health Organization has developed a classification in which types of mental disorders are grouped by etiological factor and clinical picture.

Groups of mental disorders:

Myths

IN Lately It has become fashionable to classify any mood swings or deliberately pretentious behavior as a new type of mental disorder. Selfies can also be included here.

Selfie – the tendency to constantly take pictures of yourself with a camera mobile phone and post them in social media. A year ago, news flashed in the news that psychiatrists from Chicago had identified the symptoms of the development of this new addiction. In the episodic phase, a person takes photographs of himself more than 3 times a day and does not post the pictures publicly. The second stage is characterized by taking photographs of yourself over 3 times a day and publishing them on social networks. At chronic stage a person takes his own pictures throughout the day and posts them more than six times a day.

None scientific research this data has not been confirmed, so we can say that this kind of news is designed to attract attention to one or another modern phenomenon.

Symptoms of mental disorder

The symptoms of mental disorders are quite large and varied. Here we look at their main features:

Possible deterioration of the thought process: its acceleration, incoherence, inhibition, perseveration, thoroughness.

The patient may develop delusions (a complete distortion of ideas and non-acceptance of other points of view on a given issue) or simply obsessive phenomena - an uncontrolled manifestation in patients of difficult memories, obsessive thoughts, doubts, and fears.

Disorders of consciousness include: confusion, depersonalization, derealization. Mental disorders may also have memory impairments in their clinical picture: paramnesia, dysmnesia, amnesia. This also includes sleep disorders and disturbing dreams.

The patient may experience obsessions:

• Distracted: obsessive counting, recalling names and dates in memory, decomposing words into components, “sterile philosophizing”;
• Figurative: fears, doubts, obsessive desires;
• Taking possession: a person gives out wishful thinking. Often occurs after the loss of a loved one;
• Obsessive actions: more like rituals (wash hands a certain number of times, pull a locked front door). The patient is confident that this helps prevent something terrible.

Refers to a large number various pathological conditions. The appearance, course and outcome of a particular disorder largely depends on the influence of internal and external factors. To understand the essence of the disease - a mental disorder, it is necessary to consider the main signs of pathologies. Further in the article the most popular syndromes will be presented, their description will be described. clinical picture, the characteristic is given.

General information

Psychiatry studies this category. Diagnoses are made based on various factors. The study, as a rule, begins with a presentation of the general pathological condition. Private psychiatry is then explored. Diagnoses are made after a thorough examination of the patient and identification of the causes that provoked the condition. Based on these data, it is selected required method treatment.

Pathology groups

The importance of endogenous (internal) and exogenous (external) factors is important. It is different for certain violations. On the basis of this, in fact, the classification of mental disorders is carried out. Thus, two broad groups of pathologies are distinguished - endogenous and exogenous. The latter should include disorders provoked by psychogenic factors, exogenous organic brain (vascular, traumatic, infectious) damage, and somatic pathologies. Schizophrenia and mental retardation are endogenous mental disorders. The list of these pathologies can also be continued with affective states, senesopathies, and hypochondria.

Separation by etiology

Division by clinical manifestations

Depending on the nature of a particular symptom of a mental disorder, it is classified into one of the existing categories. In particular, neuroses are distinguished. Neurotic is a mental disorder that does not exclude sanity. They are closer to normal conditions and sensations. They are also referred to as borderline mental disorders. This means that their manifestations can be controlled without the use radical methods. There is also a group of psychoses. These include pathologies accompanied by severe thinking disorders, delusions, changes in perception, severe inhibition or agitation, hallucinations, inappropriate behavior, and so on. In this case, the patient is not able to distinguish his experiences from reality. Next, we will consider some features of mental disorders of various types.

Asthenic syndrome

This is a fairly common condition. The main symptom of a mental disorder is increased fatigue. A person feels a decrease in performance, internal exhaustion. People with mental disorders may behave differently. With asthenia, for example, they are characterized by impressionability, instability of mood, tearfulness, and sentimentality. Such people are very easily moved, they can quickly lose their composure over little things. Asthenia itself can act as a symptom of a mental disorder, which, in turn, accompanies conditions after severe infectious lesions, operations, and so on.

Obsessions

These include conditions in which, against the will, some fears, thoughts, doubts appear. People with mental disorders of this type accept all these manifestations as their own. Patients cannot get rid of them, despite a rather critical attitude towards them. Doubt is the most common symptom of this type of mental disorder. So, a person can check several times whether he has turned off the light or closed the door. At the same time, moving away from home, he again feels these doubts. As for obsessive fears - phobias, these are quite common fears of heights, open space or enclosed spaces. In some cases, to calm down a little, remove internal tension and anxiety, people perform certain actions - “rituals”. For example, a person who is afraid of all kinds of pollution may wash his hands several times or sit in the bathroom for hours. If something distracts him during the process, he will start the procedure again.

Affective states

They are quite common. Such conditions manifest themselves in a persistent change in mood, usually a decrease in mood - depression. Affective states are often noted during initial stages mental illnesses. Their manifestations can be observed throughout the pathology. At the same time, they often become more complicated, accompanying acute mental disorders.

Depression

The main symptoms of this condition are considered to be deterioration in mood, the appearance of a feeling of depression, melancholy, and oppression. In some cases, a person may physically feel chest pain or heaviness. This condition is extremely painful. It is accompanied by a decrease in mental activity. A person in this state does not immediately answer questions and gives monosyllabic, short answers. He speaks quietly and slowly. Very often, people with depression note that it is somewhat difficult for them to understand the essence of a question or text, and complain of memory deterioration. They have difficulty making decisions and have difficulty switching from one type of activity to another. People may experience lethargy, weakness, and talk about fatigue. Their movements are constrained and slow. In addition to the listed symptoms, depression is accompanied by feelings of guilt, sinfulness, despair, and hopelessness. This is quite often accompanied by suicide attempts. Some relief of well-being may occur in the evening. As for sleep, with depression it is superficial, with early awakening, with disturbing dreams, and intermittent. The state of depression may be accompanied by tachycardia, sweating, feelings of cold, heat, constipation, and weight loss.

Mania

Manic states manifest themselves by accelerating the pace mental activity. A person has a huge number of thoughts, desires, various plans, ideas of increased self-esteem. In this condition, as during depression, sleep disturbances are noted. People with manic mental disorders sleep very little, but a short period of time is enough for them to feel rested and alert. With a mild course of mania, a person feels an increase in creative power, increased intellectual productivity, increased tone and efficiency. He can sleep very little and work a lot. If the condition progresses and becomes more severe, then these symptoms are accompanied by poor concentration, distractibility and, as a result, decreased productivity.

Synestopathies

These conditions are characterized by very different and unusual sensations in the body. In particular, it may be burning, tingling, tightening, twisting, and so on. All these manifestations are in no way related to pathologies of internal organs. When describing such sensations, patients often use their own definitions: “there was a rustling under the ribs,” “it seemed like the head was coming off,” and so on.

Hypochondriacal syndrome

It is characterized by a persistent preoccupation with one's own health. A person is haunted by thoughts of having a very serious, progressive and probably incurable disease. Patients present somatic complaints, presenting ordinary or normal sensations as manifestations of pathology. Despite doctors’ dissuadings and negative test results, people regularly visit specialists and insist on conducting additional, more in-depth studies. Often, hypochondriacal conditions appear against the background of depression.

Illusions

When they appear, a person begins to perceive objects in an erroneous - altered form. Illusions can accompany a person with normal mental state. For example, a change in an object can be observed if it is placed in water. As for the pathological condition, illusions can appear under the influence of fear or anxiety. For example, in a forest at night, a person may perceive trees as monsters.

Hallucinations

They act as a persistent symptom of many mental disorders. Hallucinations can be auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, visual, muscular, and so on. Often there is a combination of them. For example, a person can not only see strangers indoors, but also to hear their conversation. Patients call verbal hallucinations “voices.” They may have different content. For example, it could be simply calling a person by name or entire sentences, dialogues or monologues. In some cases, the “voices” are imperative. They are called A person can hear orders to kill, remain silent, or harm himself. Such conditions are dangerous not only for the patient himself, but also for those around him. Visual hallucinations can be objective or elementary (in the form of sparks, for example). In some cases, the patient can see entire scenes. Olfactory hallucinations represent a sensation of an unpleasant odor (rotting, some food, decay), less often pleasant or unfamiliar.

Rave

This disorder, according to many experts, is one of the main signs of psychosis. It is quite difficult to define what nonsense is. The conclusions of doctors when assessing the patient’s condition are quite contradictory. There are a number of signs delirious state. First of all, it always appears on a painful basis. Delusion cannot be dissuaded or corrected from the outside, despite a fairly clear contradiction with reality. A person is absolutely convinced of the truthfulness of his thoughts. Delusions are based on erroneous judgments, incorrect conclusions, and false beliefs. These thoughts are of great significance for the patient, and therefore, to one degree or another, determine his behavior and actions. Delusions may be associated with:

Delusional disorders are different various shapes. Thus, interpretive nonsense stands out. In this case, a person uses one-sided interpretations of daily facts and events as evidence. This disorder is considered quite persistent. In this case, the patient’s reflection of the cause-and-effect relationship between events and phenomena is disrupted. This form of delirium always has a logical basis. The patient can endlessly prove something, debate, give reasons. The content of interpretative delirium can reflect all of a person’s experiences and feelings. Another form of this disorder can be figurative or sensory conviction. Such delirium appears due to anxiety or fear, hallucinations. In this case, there are no logical premises or evidence; a person perceives everything around him in a “delusional” way.

Derealization and depersonalization

These phenomena often precede the development of sensory delirium. Derealization is a feeling that the world has changed. Everything that is around a person is perceived by him as “unreal”, “rigged”, “artificial”. Depersonalization manifests itself in a feeling of change in one’s personality. Patients characterize themselves as having “lost face,” “lost the fullness of sensations,” and “become stupid.”

Catatonic syndromes

These conditions are characteristic of motor disorders: or, on the contrary, agitation. IN the latter case repetition, lack of purpose, and randomness of some movements are noted. Moreover, they may be accompanied by shouting of individual words or remarks or silence. The patient may freeze in an awkward, unusual position, such as raising a leg, extending an arm, or raising the head above a pillow. Catatonic syndromes are also observed against the background of clear consciousness. This indicates a greater severity of the disorder. If they are accompanied by confusion, then we can talk about a favorable outcome of the pathology.

Dementia

I also call it dementia. Dementia manifests itself in a deep impoverishment of all mental activity and a persistent decrease in intellectual functions. Against the background of dementia, the ability to learn new knowledge worsens, and in many cases is completely lost. In this case, a person’s adaptability to life is disrupted.

Blackout

Such disorders can occur not only in mental disorders, but also in patients with severe somatic pathologies. Clouding of consciousness is characterized by difficulty in perceiving the environment and a severance of connections with the outside world. Patients are detached and cannot realize what is happening. As a result, their contact with other people is disrupted. In addition, patients have poor orientation in time, in their own personality, in a specific situation. People are not able to think logically and correctly. In some cases, incoherent thinking is observed.

Against the background of mental illness, delusion arises, which is often the primary or sole manifestation of it. In most cases, delirium is also combined with other mental disorders, such as hallucinations and various types of disturbances of consciousness.

Types of delusional syndromes.

Delusional syndromes are mental disorders in which the most important feature is delusion - a false opinion or idea that is not connected with reality and a certain life situation, which arises in the patient’s head and completely takes possession of him. The patient is one hundred percent sure that he is right in his judgments.

Delusional syndromes accompany such mental illnesses as schizophrenia, manic-depressive syndrome, as well as organic (as a result of trauma, infection and tumor) diseases of the brain, its chronic poisoning and vascular lesions (intoxication, alcohol abuse).

The main delusional syndromes can be called paranoid, paranoid and paraphrenic. Let us consider in more detail how mental disorders manifest themselves in such syndromes.

Paranoid delusional syndrome.

Delirium, which develops with clear consciousness and often with normal intellectual abilities and professional skills.

An extremely valuable idea, which often lies at the core, is a belief that was formed under the influence of objectively real life situations. But the patient attaches too much importance to the priceless idea, which it is not worth.

Gradually, turning into classified paranoid nonsense, such an invaluable idea acquires more and more new conjectures. Such delirium can be acute or chronic.

This mental disorder manifests itself gradually. The idea of ​​persecution appears first. Then the patient is afraid of persecution at work, or hostility from neighbors... Over time, the patient begins to fear for his life. And here it is already necessary to take more active actions towards the patient.

Patients become withdrawn, shutting themselves off from the entire outside world, or aggressively attack people (“enemies” in their understanding), committing actions that are contrary to their rights. Sometimes paranoia appears as a delusion of greatness, invention, and social transformation.

Acute paranoid syndrome is often expressed by the unexpected appearance of anxiety, fear, or exalted delight against the background of some fictitious opinion. Strong emotional experiences often contribute to the appearance in patients to a large extent aggression. Most often, a mental disorder such as paranoid delusions occurs in schizophrenia.

Paranoid delusional syndrome.

Paranoid or hallucinatory-paranoid syndrome is a complex of symptoms that are manifested by delusional ideas of persecution and impressionable disorders with verbal hallucinations and mental automatisms (impositions of “strangers” on the mind). In addition to the feeling of persecution, other delusional ideas arise - applications physical strength, jealousy, poisoning, surveillance.

Delusions of persecution and influence are often combined. It seems to the patient that someone is constantly watching him, and thereby this harms him. “Enemies” are capable of introducing delusional ideas into his thinking, which force him to take certain actions. Paranoid syndrome often develops gradually, but can also begin acutely.

Acute paranoid delusions are a combination of hallucinations with figurative delusions, non-existent hallucinations and the imposition of someone's thoughts in the head (mental automatism syndrome). With such manifestations of paranoid syndrome, patients are constantly confused and unreasonably alarmed.

Paranoid syndrome usually occurs with a chronic disease such as schizophrenia.

Paraphrenic delusional syndrome.

Paraphrenia (fantasophrenia, fantastic-paranoid syndrome) is a complex of symptoms dominated by delusions of non-existent content, which is often combined with grandiose delusions of grandeur with ideas of persecution or influence by someone relative to the patient and often with auditory hallucinations or non-existent hallucinations. The level of systematization of nonsense and its utopianism may vary. Often similar symptoms paraphrenic delusional syndrome is combined with verbal hallucinations.

In one of the psychiatric hospitals, patients say that they are affected by various fantastic devices. That they are supposedly dating celebrities. Paraphrenic syndrome is caused by chronic ongoing diseases.

The term "mental disorder" refers to a huge number of different illness conditions. To learn how to navigate them, to understand their essence, we will use the experience of presenting the doctrine of these disorders, that is, psychiatry, in textbooks intended for specialists.

The study of psychiatry (Greek psyche - soul, iateria - treatment) traditionally begins with the presentation of general psychopathology and only then moves on to specific psychiatry. General psychopathology includes the study of symptoms and syndromes (signs) of mental illness, since any disease, including mental illness, is, first of all, a set of its specific manifestations. Private psychiatry provides a description of specific mental illnesses - the causes of their occurrence, mechanisms of development, clinical manifestations, treatment, and preventive measures.

Let's consider the main symptoms and syndromes of mental disorders in order of their severity - from mild to more profound.

Asthenic syndrome.

Asthenic syndrome (asthenia) is a widespread condition that manifests itself increased fatigue, exhaustion, decreased performance. People with asthenic disorders experience weakness, instability of mood, they are characterized by impressionability, sentimentality, and tearfulness; They are easily moved, they are easily irritated, they lose their composure over any little thing. Asthenic conditions are also characterized by frequent headaches and sleep disturbances (it becomes superficial, does not bring rest, and increased sleepiness is noted during the day).

Asthenia is a nonspecific disorder, i.e. can be observed in almost any mental illness, as well as in somatic diseases, in particular after operations, severe infectious diseases, or overwork.

Obsessiveness.

Obsessions are experiences in which a person, against his will, has any special thoughts, fears, doubts. At the same time, a person recognizes them as his own, they visit him again and again, it is impossible to get rid of them, despite a critical attitude towards them. Obsessive disorders can manifest themselves in the emergence of painful doubts, completely unjustified, and sometimes simply ridiculous thoughts, in an irresistible desire to count everything. A person with such disorders may check several times whether he has turned off the light in the apartment, whether he has closed the front door, and as soon as he moves away from the house, doubts take possession of him again.

This same group of disorders includes obsessive fears - fear of heights, enclosed spaces, open spaces, traveling in public transport and many others. Sometimes, in order to relieve anxiety, internal tension, and calm down a little, people experiencing obsessive fears and doubts perform certain obsessive actions or movements (rituals). For example, a person with obsessive fear contaminated person can spend hours in the bathroom, wash his hands repeatedly with soap, and if he is distracted by something, start the whole procedure again and again.

Affective syndromes.

These mental disorders are the most common. Affective syndromes are manifested by persistent changes in mood, more often by a decrease in mood - depression, or an increase in mood - mania. Affective syndromes often occur at the very beginning of mental illness. They may remain predominant throughout, but may become more complex and coexist for a long time with other, more severe mental disorders. At reverse development Depression and mania are often the last illnesses to disappear.

When we talk about depression, we primarily mean its following manifestations.

1. Decreased mood, feelings of depression, depression, melancholy, severe cases physically felt as heaviness or pain in the chest. This is an extremely painful condition for a person.
2. Decreased mental activity (thoughts become poorer, shorter, more vague). A person in this state does not answer questions immediately - after a pause, gives short, monosyllabic answers, speaks slowly, in a quiet voice. Quite often, patients with depression note that they find it difficult to understand the meaning of the question asked of them, the essence of what they read, and complain of memory loss. Such patients have difficulty making decisions and cannot switch to new activities.
3. Motor inhibition - patients experience weakness, lethargy, muscle relaxation, talk about fatigue, their movements are slow and constrained.

In addition to the above, characteristic manifestations depressions are:

• feelings of guilt, ideas of self-blame, sinfulness;
• a feeling of despair, hopelessness, impasse, which is very often accompanied by thoughts of death and suicide attempts;
• daily fluctuations in condition, often with some relief of well-being in the evening;
• sleep disorders night sleep superficial, intermittent, with early awakenings, disturbing dreams, sleep does not bring rest).

Depression may also be accompanied by sweating, tachycardia, fluctuations blood pressure, feeling of heat, cold, chilliness, loss of appetite, weight loss, constipation (sometimes symptoms such as heartburn, nausea, belching occur in the digestive system).
Depressions are characterized high risk committing suicide!

Read the text below carefully - this will help you to notice in time the appearance of suicidal thoughts and intentions in a person with depression.

If you have depression, the possibility of a suicide attempt is indicated by:

• statements of a sick person about his uselessness, guilt, sin;
• a feeling of hopelessness, meaninglessness of life, reluctance to make plans for the future;
• sudden calm after a long period of anxiety and melancholy;
• accumulation of medications;
• a sudden desire to meet old friends, ask forgiveness from loved ones, put your affairs in order, make a will.

The appearance of suicidal thoughts and intentions is an indication for immediate appeal see a doctor, decide on hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital!

Manias (manic states) are characterized by the following symptoms.

1. Increased mood (fun, carefree, rosy, unshakable optimism).
2. Acceleration of the pace of mental activity (the appearance of many thoughts, various plans and desires, ideas of overestimation of one’s own personality).
3. Motor excitement (excessive liveliness, mobility, talkativeness, feeling of excess energy, desire for activity).

Manic states, like depression, are characterized by sleep disturbances: usually people with these disorders sleep little, but a short sleep is enough for them to feel alert and rested. With a mild version of the manic state (so-called hypomania), a person experiences an increase in creative powers, an increase in intellectual productivity, vitality, and performance. He can work a lot and sleep little. He perceives all events with optimism.

If hypomia turns into mania, that is, the condition becomes more severe, the listed manifestations are accompanied by increased distractibility, extreme instability of attention and, as a result, loss of productivity. Often people in a state of mania look lightweight, braggarts, their speech is replete with jokes, witticisms, quotes, their facial expressions are animated, their faces are flushed. When talking, they often change their position, cannot sit still, and actively gesticulate.

Characteristic symptoms of mania are increased appetite and increased sexuality. The behavior of patients can be unrestrained, they can establish multiple sexual relationships, and commit thoughtless and sometimes ridiculous actions. A cheerful and joyful mood can be replaced by irritability and anger. As a rule, with mania, the understanding of the painfulness of one’s condition is lost.

Senestopathies.

Senestopathies (Latin sensus - feeling, sensation, pathos - illness, suffering) are symptoms of mental disorders, manifested by a wide variety of unusual sensations in the body in the form of tingling, burning, twisting, tightening, transfusion, etc., not associated with any disease internal organ. Senestopathies are always unique, unlike anything else. The vague nature of these disorders causes serious difficulties when trying to characterize them. To describe such sensations, patients sometimes use their own definitions (“rustling under the ribs,” “squelching in the spleen,” “it seems like the head is coming off”). Senestopathy is often accompanied by thoughts about the presence of some kind of somatic disease, and then we are talking about hypochondriacal syndrome.

Hypochondriacal syndrome.

This syndrome is characterized by persistent preoccupation with one's own health, constant thoughts about the presence of a serious, progressive and possibly incurable somatic disease. People with this disorder present persistent physical complaints, often interpreting normal or routine sensations as manifestations of illness. Despite the negative results of the examinations and the dissuading specialists, they regularly visit different doctors, insisting on additional serious examinations and repeated consultations. Often hypochondriacal disorders develop against the background of depression.

Illusions.

When illusions arise, real-life objects are perceived by a person in a changed - erroneous form. Illusory perception can also occur against the background of complete mental health, when it is a manifestation of one of the laws of physics: if, for example, you look at an object under water, it will seem much larger than in reality.

Illusions can also appear under the influence strong feeling- anxiety, fear. So, at night in the forest, trees can be perceived as some kind of monster. In pathological conditions, real images and objects can be perceived in a bizarre and fantastic form: a wallpaper pattern as a “tangle of worms”, a shadow from a floor lamp as a “head of a terrible lizard”, a pattern on a carpet as a “beautiful unprecedented landscape”.

Hallucinations.

This is the name for disorders in which a person with a disturbed psyche sees, hears, feels something that does not exist in reality.

Hallucinations are divided into auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and general sense hallucinations (visceral, muscular). However, their combination is also possible (for example, a sick person can see a group of strangers in his room and hear them talking).

Auditory hallucinations manifest themselves in the patient’s pathological perception of certain words, speeches, conversations (verbal hallucinations), as well as individual sounds or noises. Verbal hallucinations can be very different in content - from the so-called calls, when a sick person hears a voice calling him by name or surname, to entire phrases and conversations involving one or more voices. Patients call verbal hallucinations “voices.”

Sometimes the “voices” are of an imperative nature - these are the so-called imperative hallucinations, when a person hears an order to remain silent, to hit, to kill someone, or to harm himself. Such conditions are very dangerous both for the patients themselves and for those around them, and therefore are an indication for serious drug treatment as well as special supervision and care.

Visual hallucinations can be elementary (in the form of sparks, smoke) or objective. Sometimes the patient sees entire scenes (battlefield, hell). Olfactory hallucinations most often represent an imaginary sensation unpleasant odors(rotting, decay, poisons, some kind of food), less often unfamiliar or pleasant.

Tactile hallucinations occur predominantly in late age, while patients experience burning, itching, bites, pain, other sensations, touching the body. The text below lists the signs by which one can determine or at least suspect the presence of auditory and visual hallucinatory disorders in a sick person.

Signs of auditory and visual hallucinations.

• conversations with oneself that resemble a conversation (for example, emotional answers to some questions);
• unexpected laughter for no reason;
• anxious and preoccupied look;
• difficulty concentrating on a topic of conversation or a specific task;
• a person listens to something or sees something that you cannot see.

Delusional disorders.

According to experts, such disorders are among the main signs of psychosis. Defining what delirium is is not an easy task. With these disorders, even psychiatrists often disagree in their assessment of the patient’s condition.

The following signs of delirium are distinguished:

1. It is based on incorrect conclusions, erroneous judgments, and false beliefs.
2. Delirium always occurs on a painful basis - it is always a symptom of a disease.
3. Delusion cannot be corrected or dissuaded from the outside, despite the obvious contradiction with reality, a person with delusional disorder is completely convinced of the reliability of his erroneous ideas.
4. Delusional beliefs are of extreme significance for the patient; one way or another, they determine his actions and behavior.

Delusional ideas are extremely diverse in their content. These ideas could be:

• persecution, poisoning, influence, material damage, witchcraft, damage, accusations, jealousy;
• self-deprecation, self-blame, hypochondriacal, denial;
• invention, high birth, wealth, greatness;
• love, erotic delirium.

Delusional disorders are also ambiguous in their form. There is a so-called interpretive delusion, in which the evidence of the main delusional idea is one-sided interpretation of everyday events and facts. This is a fairly persistent disorder when a sick person is disrupted in reflecting cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena. Such nonsense is always logically justified in its own way. A person suffering from this form of delusion can endlessly prove that he is right, give a lot of arguments, and debate. The content of interpretative delirium can reflect everything human feelings and experiences.

Another form of delirium is sensory or figurative delirium, which occurs against a background of anxiety, fear, confusion, severe mood disorders, hallucinations, and disturbances of consciousness. Such delirium is observed in acutely developed painful conditions. In this case, during the formation of delusions, there is no evidence or logical premises, and everything around is perceived in a special “delusional” way.

Often the development of acute sensory delirium syndrome is preceded by such phenomena as derealization and depersonalization. Derealization is a feeling of change in the surrounding world, when everything around is perceived as “unreal”, “rigged”, “artificial”; depersonalization is a feeling of change in one’s own personality. Patients with depersonalization characterize themselves as having “lost their own face,” “becoming stupid,” and “losing the fullness of their feelings.”

Catatonic syndromes.

This is how conditions are determined in which disturbances in motor sphere: lethargy, stupor (lat. stupor - numbness, immobility) or, on the contrary, excitement. With catatonic stupor, muscle tone is often increased. This condition is characterized by complete immobility, as well as complete silence and refusal to speak. A person can freeze in the most unusual, uncomfortable position - with his arm extended, one leg raised, with his head raised above the pillow.

The state of catatonic excitation is characterized by chaoticity, lack of purpose, and repetition of individual movements, which can be accompanied by either complete silence or shouting of individual phrases or words. Catatonic syndromes can be observed even with clear consciousness, which indicates a great severity of disorders, and be accompanied by confusion. In the latter case, we are talking about a more favorable course of the disease.

Syndromes of confusion.

These conditions occur not only in mental disorders, but also in severe somatic patients. When consciousness is clouded, perception of the environment becomes difficult, contact with the outside world is disrupted.

There are several syndromes of stupefaction. They are characterized by a number of common features.

1. Detachment from the outside world. Patients are unable to comprehend what is happening, as a result of which their contact with others is disrupted.
2. Disorientation in time, place, situation and in one’s own personality.
3. Thinking disorder is the loss of the ability to think correctly and logically. Sometimes there is incoherent thinking.
4. Memory impairment. During the period of clouding of consciousness, the assimilation of new information and the reproduction of existing information are disrupted. After emerging from a state of impaired consciousness, the patient may experience partial or complete amnesia (forgetting) of the transferred state.

Each of the listed symptoms can occur in different mental disorders, and only their combination allows us to talk about clouding of consciousness. These symptoms are reversible. When consciousness is restored, they disappear.

Dementia (dementia).

Dementia is a deep impoverishment of a person’s entire mental activity, a persistent decline in all intellectual functions. With dementia, the ability to acquire new knowledge deteriorates (and sometimes is completely lost). practical use, adaptability to the surrounding world is impaired.

Experts distinguish between acquired pathology of intelligence (dementia, or dementia), which develops as a result of the progression of certain mental illnesses, and congenital pathology (oligophrenia, or dementia).

To summarize the above, we note that this lecture provides information about the most common symptoms and syndromes of mental disorders. It will help the reader better understand what specific mental illnesses are, such as schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, and neuroses.

E.G. Rytik, E.S. Akimkina
"Main symptoms and syndromes of mental disorders."

characterized by disorders of mental and intellectual activity varying degrees severity and emotional disorders. Psychotic disorders are understood as the most striking manifestations of mental illnesses, in which the patient’s mental activity does not correspond to the surrounding reality, the reflection of the real world in the mind is sharply distorted, which manifests itself in behavioral disorders, the appearance of unusual pathological symptoms and syndromes.

Covers psychoses and other mental disorders arising from trauma, brain tumors, encephalitis, meningitis, syphilis of the brain, as well as senile and presenile psychoses, vascular, degenerative and other organic diseases or lesions of the brain.

Mental disorders include post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia, and mental and behavioral disorders associated with reproductive function among women ( premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy disorders, disorders postpartum period- "ancestral blues" postpartum depression, postpartum (puerperal) psychoses). Post-traumatic stress disorder is a disorder of mental activity due to psychosocial stress that is excessive in intensity.

Causes of mental disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders due to the numerous causes that cause them are extremely diverse. These are depression, and psychomotor agitation, and manifestations alcoholic delirium, withdrawal syndrome, and different kinds delirium, and memory impairment, and hysterical attacks and much more. Let's look at some of these reasons.

Neuroses

The first step to exhaustion of the nervous system is basic anxiety. Agree, how often we begin to imagine incredible things, drawing various horrors, and then it turns out that all the worries are in vain. Then, as a critical situation develops, anxiety can develop into more serious nervous disorders, which leads to disturbances not only in a person’s mental perception, but also to failures of various internal organ systems.

Neurasthenia

A mental disorder such as neurasthenia occurs in response to prolonged exposure to a traumatic situation and is accompanied by high human fatigue, exhaustion of mental activity against the background of excessive excitability and constant grumpiness over trifles. Moreover, excitability and irritability are protective methods against the final destruction of nerves. People with a sense of duty and anxiety, as well as those who do not get enough sleep and are burdened with many worries are especially prone to neurasthenia.

Hysterical neurosis

Hysterical neurosis occurs as a result of a strong traumatic situation, and a person does not try to resist it, but, on the contrary, “runs away” into it, forcing himself to experience the full severity of this experience. Hysterical neurosis can last from several minutes, hours to several years, and the longer the period it spreads, the stronger the mental disorder can be, and only by changing a person’s attitude towards his illness and seizures can the cessation of this disease be achieved.

Depression

TO neurotic disorders also includes depression, which is characterized by a lack of joy, a pessimistic perception of life, sadness and reluctance to change anything in one’s life. It may be accompanied by insomnia, refusal to eat, refusal of sexual intercourse, and lack of desire to do one’s business, including what one loves. Often the manifestation of depression is expressed in a person’s apathy to what is happening, melancholy; he seems to be in his own dimension, not noticing the people around him. For some, depression prompts them to turn to alcohol, drugs, and other substances that are harmful to their health. The worsening of depression is dangerous because the patient, losing criticality and adequacy of thinking, can commit suicide, unable to bear the burden of the severity of this disease.

Chemical substances

Also, the cause of such disorders can be exposure to various chemical substances, these substances can be some medications, food components, and industrial poisons. Lesions of other organs and systems (for example, endocrine system, vitamin deficiencies, exhaustion) cause the development of psychosis.

Traumatic brain injuries

Also, as a result of various traumatic brain injuries, transient, long-term and chronic mental disorders, sometimes quite severe, can occur. Brain oncology and other severe pathologies are almost always accompanied by one or another mental disorder.

Toxic substances

Toxic substances are another cause of mental disorders (alcohol, drugs, heavy metals and other chemicals). Everything listed above, all these harmful factors, under some conditions they can cause a mental disorder, under other conditions they can only contribute to the occurrence of the disease or its exacerbation.

Heredity

Also, family history increases the risk of developing mental illness, but not always. For example, some kind of mental pathology may appear if it occurred in previous generations, but it can also appear if it never existed. The influence of hereditary factors on the development of mental pathology remains far from being studied.