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The psyche is a subtle instrument that plays a fundamental role in human life. Quite often, people experience pathological deviations from the normal state, which are called mental disorders. In modern medical practice, several of the most common types of mental disorders are known.

Anxious personality disorder

A person suffering from anxiety disorders exhibits an increased sense of fear towards certain things, situations, or phenomena, sometimes reaching the point of horror and panic. The emotional component is accompanied physical signs, typical for stressful situations: the heart rate increases sharply, the person “breaks into a sweat.” If the reaction is inadequate to the real state of affairs, or gets out of a person’s control, or interferes with normal life activities, doctors diagnose an anxiety disorder.

Types of anxiety disorders:

• disorders of a generalized type (a mandatory sign is a persistent feeling of general, abstract anxiety);
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – stress disorders after mental trauma (post-traumatic), in world practice PTSD is sometimes called “Vietnamese syndrome”;
• obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD);
• panic disorder syndrome;
• anxious reaction to social situations (social anxiety);
• specific, or isolated, anxiety mental disorders (phobias).

Affective disorder

This mental disorder is characterized by uncontrollable fluctuations in emotional sphere; No wonder another name for affective disorders is mood disorders. A person suffering from an affective disorder may fall into deep sadness or experience bouts of excessive, painful joy. Patients often experience sharp fluctuations between these two extremes.

Commonly observed types of mood disorders:

• depression, excessive low mood;
• mania, excessive excitement;
• biopolar mental disorders (previously called manic-depressive psychosis).

Psychotic disorder

The impaired ability of the human personality to think clearly and adequately, a distorted perception of the surrounding reality is diagnosed as a psychotic disorder. This term combines a number of serious mental disorders. Among the symptoms of a psychotic disorder, hallucinations (auditory or visual) are most often noted, when a person sees non-existent images and hears disembodied voices, as well as the development of some delusional idea - a belief that does not correspond to reality, which the patient perceives as an immutable truth and zealously defends.

A striking and most common example of psychotic disorders is schizophrenia.

Eating disorder or disordered eating behavior

This term refers to any mental disorder (inappropriate emotions, behavior, perception) associated with food: its intake, certain types of products, body weight, etc.

The most commonly diagnosed eating disorders are:

• Anorexia Nervosis is a neuropsychic type of anorexia, persistent refusal to eat;
• nervous gluttony, or bulimia nervosa;
• compulsive gluttony (overeating).

Impulse control disorder (addiction)

This is a common mental disorder in which a person cannot fight the internal urge to take certain actions, even if these actions lead to negative consequences for himself and the people around him. The development of addiction (mania) can be so strong that people with impaired impulse control stop fulfilling their social and work responsibilities, and ignore family and other interpersonal relationships.

Modern examples of addiction (impulse control disorders):

• kleptomania - an uncontrollable tendency to steal;
• pyromania - the desire to set off fireworks at any time and anywhere;
• Gambling addiction is unbridled gambling in casinos or slot machine halls.

Personality disorder

Personality disorders include severe behavioral disturbances and personal characteristics. In other words, a person has extremely pronounced, poorly corrected qualities that interfere with living normally in society and building relationships with other people. This mental disorder depresses the person himself, and also causes multiple problems in the learning process, labor activity, family life. In addition, society most often rejects people with personality disorders, since the thinking and behavior of such a person, limited by the rigid framework of the disorder, strongly diverges from generally accepted ones.

Variants of personality disorders:

• dissocial (antisocial) disorders, or sociopathy, as previously diagnosed;
• obsessive-compulsive types of personality disorders (obsessive states);
• paranoia (personality disorder of the paranoid type).

Diseases associated with mental disorders:

• dissociative amnesia (psychogenic) – loss of memory about personal events;
• psychogenic reaction of flight, attacks of vagrancy;
• gambling addiction – addiction to gambling;
• obsessive, most often groundless fear of diseases - hypochondria;
• borderline states;
• multiple personality (identity disorder, multiple personality disorder);
• motor stereotype disorder (stereotypical movements);
• rumination syndrome (chewing gum syndrome);
• “mimic speech”, or Ganser’s syndrome;
• MSBP, Munchausen syndrome by proxy;
• narcissism (pathological narcissism)
• syndrome (disease) Gilles de la Tourette;
• "Dramatic" personality disorders - theatrical personality disorders.

Mental Health Specialists and Treatments

Appropriate medications have been developed to treat each type of mental disorder. In many cases (for example, with eating disorders), a combination of medication and cognitive behavioral therapy produces good results.

If you suspect a mental disorder, you should consult a psychiatrist. If a visit to a psychiatric office makes you afraid, you can first get a consultation with a psychotherapist.

There are about 8 thousand rare diseases identified by the European Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD). There is no single indicator of such ailments, because in different countries the number of cases may vary. But there are diseases and mental disorders that are distinguished by their unusualness, because they are caused by extremely rare factors. In this article we will introduce just such ailments.

Alien hand syndrome

Alien hand syndrome is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder in which one or both upper limbs suddenly begin to function regardless of the person’s will. In some cases, this syndrome is accompanied by epilepsy.

This neuropsychiatric disorder was first identified by the German neurologist Goldstein in 1909. In his practice, he encountered a patient who, while sleeping, left hand started trying to choke her. No other abnormalities in the patient’s psyche were identified, and the attack did not recur subsequently. After her death, an autopsy was performed, and the doctor discovered damage in the brain that was causing an interruption in the transmission of signals between the hemispheres. It was this pathology that led to the development of alien hand syndrome.

According to doctors, the development of such a neuropsychiatric disorder is associated with the treatment of epilepsy, aneurysms and other diseases. Despite such conclusions, many adherents of mysticism still try to connect the development of anarchist hand syndrome with demonic possession.

Zombie Syndrome

Zombie syndrome (or Cotard's syndrome) is a rare mental disorder, accompanied by the appearance of delusions that the entire body or some part of it does not exist or has died. The patient can count:

• that part of the world or some people are no longer alive;
• that he is missing some organ;
• that his body had acquired enormous dimensions (“the size of the Universe”).

Some patients with zombie syndrome believe in their immortality, and almost all patients are suicidal. To test their immortality, they may attempt suicide or demand to be killed.

Sometimes zombie syndrome is observed with schizophrenia, hallucinations or depression. This mental disorder can be detected among people of different ages, but is more often observed in people of middle age. His attacks occur suddenly, against the background of complete mental health. Before the first episode, there are signs of anxiety that last for weeks or years. Sometimes the only warning sign of an attack of zombie syndrome is irritability.

So far, scientists have not given a clear answer about the reasons for the development of this rarely observed mental disorder. There are versions that it can be provoked by structural changes in the brain, toxic or metabolic disorders. But they are not confirmed by computed tomography data. Researchers from Japan suggest that the development of zombie syndrome may be caused by beta-endorphins, which affect the regulation of behavior, hormonal secretion and pain perception. And scientists from the University of Cambridge are inclined to the version about the depressive nature of this mental disorder, because during the research, psychotic depression was observed in 100% of patients with this illness.

Synesthesia syndrome

Patients with synesthesia may perceive sounds as colors.

Synesthesia refers to the perception of sounds, colors or smells that are unusual for most people. People with such a deviation literally see color in response to music or human speech, describe the color of the scent of a flower, etc. There can be many reasons for such a deviation. Depending on them, this syndrome is divided into intoxication, traumatic, hypnopompic and hypnagogic (at the moment of transition from wakefulness to sleep and back), etc.

The prevalence of synesthesia is about 4.4% of cases, and it is more often observed in creative or creative people. Its most common variant can be considered the feeling of the days of the week in color scheme. And composer A.N. Scriabin, for example, had “color hearing”: he could distinguish colors in the notes of the musical scale.

In most cases, this syndrome does not affect the quality of life and does not manifest itself externally. Its most common manifestations are the following phenomena:

• musical-color - music is perceived in the form of color spots, stripes, waves, etc.;
• phoneme-color – human speech heard in the form of different colors;
• grapheme-color – letters are perceived in a certain color;
• phonemic-gustatory - individual words evoke taste associations.

Synesthesia syndrome begins to manifest itself in early childhood and develops over the years. Society may treat such people differently. Some consider this a pathology, while others put unique people on a pedestal of unusualness and try to apply this syndrome in their work. For example, the Ford automobile company created a position that requires the occupant to “listen and smell cars.”

Delusion Capgras

Capgras delusion (or delusion of having a negative double) is a syndrome from the field of psychiatry in which the patient is sure that he or one of his relatives or friends has been replaced by a double. At the same time, he attributes all negative actions committed by the double to the double, and positive ones to himself. Capgras delusion is often accompanied by signs of other mental or neurological diseases (eg, schizophrenia). In some cases it is accompanied by other symptoms.

Fregoli delusion

This syndrome is the exact opposite of the delusion of having a negative double syndrome described earlier in this article. If it is present, the patient is sure that the people around him are one of his acquaintances, who has made himself up to look like them or knows how to change his appearance. The name “Fregoli delusion” comes from the name of a famous Italian actor who can quickly change his appearance during performances.

Amputephilia

Patients suffering from amputephilia experience an obsessive thought that their limbs (upper or lower) are simply superfluous and need to be amputated. With the progression of such a violation of the perception of their body, they can independently perform such actions, making themselves disabled. To do this, the patient can inflict self-mutilation leading to paralysis of a limb, or amputate an arm or leg on his own. After performing the “operation” they feel satisfied with the long-awaited harmony with their body.

Repetitive paramnesia

Patients with recurrent paramnesia are confident that an existing place or institution in one city (or other geographical area) also exists in another. At the same time, they absolutely need to get to an imaginary “twin” place. For example, while undergoing treatment in a hospital on Veteranov Street in the city of Volgograd, the patient is sure that the same street and clinic exist in Moscow or Barnaul. At the same time, for an inexplicable reason, he needs to get there.

Androphobia

This phobia consists of the development of a fear of men that arises against the background psychological trauma received in childhood. Androphobia is treatable, but only in cases where the person suffering from it recognizes the need for therapy. This mental disorder has nothing to do with feminism ( political movement), as some relatives of the patient believe. With androphobia, a representative of the fairer sex experiences certain symptoms, and with feminism, a woman’s behavior depends on her social tasks performed to achieve political goals.

The reason for the development of this mental deviation can be episodes of assault from male relatives, violence or disrespectful attitude towards the mother observed by a girl, sexual harassment, etc. The same mental deviations can also be observed in boys, who subsequently reject any manifestations of male brutality .

In some cases, the reason for the development of such a phobia lies in the unsuccessful first sexual experience of a girl who has encountered infidelity, violence or betrayal. In especially impressionable representatives of the fairer sex, androphobia can even be provoked by watching or reading films or news with scenes of rudeness and violence.

Fear of men is accompanied by the following symptoms that occur upon contact with them:

• redness or paleness of the skin;
• (up to vomiting);
• profuse sweating;
• the urge to defecate or urinate.

Psychological techniques and psychotropic drugs can be used to treat this mental disorder. The choice of treatment tactics depends on each clinical case, but most doctors are inclined to believe that psychotherapeutic treatment is more effective.

Lima syndrome

Lim's syndrome manifests itself during hostage-taking by terrorists and is expressed in the emergence of sympathy for the captured people on the part of the rapists during the process of communication on both sides. As a result, the invaders become so sympathetic that they let the people go.

Lima syndrome was first observed at the Peruvian Embassy in Japan, when terrorists from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement captured hundreds of people participating in a reception taking place at the ambassador's residence. The prisoners included diplomats, high-ranking military personnel and businessmen from different countries.

The events unfolded over many days: from December 17, 1996 to April 22, 1997. 2 weeks after the start of the siege, the terrorists released 220 hostages. They held the remaining prisoners for another 4 months and conducted unsuccessful negotiations. As a result, the captured people were released and only one of them was killed during the process.

Against the background of Lima syndrome, the exact opposite syndrome, Stockholm syndrome, is often observed. After the release of prisoners in Japan, some of those captured expressed the opinion that the leader of the terrorists, previously characterized as a very cruel person, made only a favorable impression on them. They described him as polite, dedicated and educated.

Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia refers to a mental disorder in which the perception of people's faces is impaired, but the recognition of objects remains intact. This pathology can be congenital or acquired.

Cases of prosopagnosia have been known since the 9th century, but the term itself was introduced into medical practice by the German neurologist Bodamer only in 1947. He described the symptoms of a military man who received a bullet wound to the head and stopped recognizing previously familiar people and his reflection in the mirror. At the same time, he retained other sensory senses: hearing, tactile sensations and visual memory for the gait and movement patterns of loved ones and relatives.

Depending on the severity, symptoms of prosopagnosia may include the following:

• visual failure to recognize previously familiar faces;
• inability to distinguish female from male faces;
• inability to see facial expressions;
• using workarounds to recognize others (recognition by voice, hairstyle, gait, smell of favorite perfume, etc.);
• impaired recognition of birds and animals;
• the inability to recognize oneself in one’s own mirror image or in a photograph.

The severity and variability of the above signs of this mental disorder are associated with the severity of the clinical case. In mild cases, recognition impairment is present only when viewing photographs or films, and in severe cases, the patient is unable to recognize his own face.

Prosopagnosia can be caused by the following reasons:

• the presence of injuries in or in the lower occipital region;

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is characterized by compulsive and frequently repeated pulling out of one's own hair on the body or head. At the same time, their pronounced loss is observed from the outside. To perform such actions, the patient can use his nails, tweezers, needles or other mechanical devices.

Most often, hair pulling is performed in the scalp area: scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, mustache, beard, nostrils or ear canal. In more rare cases, hair in the chest area, upper and lower extremities, pubic or perirectal area is removed.

The process of hair destruction is often accompanied by a strong and intense desire to perform such an action, and after the result is achieved, the person experiences relief. Usually the patient pulls out his hair when no one sees him or during activities that occupy him so much that he does not think about the fact that people around him might notice him (while talking on the phone, watching an interesting movie, etc.). Sometimes trichotillomania is accompanied by hair eating - trichophagia.

With this mental disorder, the patient is well aware that the actions he performs are abnormal. They try to hide the fact that they have no hair and can wear a hat, tattoo their eyebrows, glue on false eyelashes, etc.

To treat trichotillomania, various methods of psychotherapy are used: individual, group, hypnosis, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. The therapy program is compiled individually for each patient and depends not only on the severity of the mental disorder and its causes, but also on personal characteristics.

Group madness

Group madness, or, as this syndrome was previously called, shared mental illness, manifests itself in the transfer of mental disorders from one person to another. The syndrome was first described by the French psychiatrist Charles Lasegue in the 9th century. In most cases, the disease is observed in two people (usually a married couple), but episodes of this mental pathology can be detected among a larger number of people. Group madness may occur first in one patient and then be transmitted to another or others. However, there are also cases of independent madness occurring at the same time in several patients.

One of the most known cases This syndrome affects the married couple of actor Randy Quaid and Evie Motolanez. They considered themselves Hollywood refugees fleeing a gang of "hunters" Hollywood stars" The actor's wife was sure that representatives of organized crime were trying to kill her and her husband. Randy Quaid echoed his wife and stated that the gang he called " cancerous tumor”, tries to follow their every move.

Genital retraction syndrome

Genital retraction syndrome is a mental disorder that is accompanied by the sensation that the penis in men or the breasts in women are retracted into the body. At the same time, the sick person is sure that complete retraction will lead to death. The unusual nature of this mental illness lies in the fact that it is observed only in residents of Southeast Asia. So far, scientists have not found an explanation for the occurrence of this syndrome.

This mental disorder forces patients to begin performing manipulations that, in their opinion, can prevent the retraction of the genitals. They use various tricks for this - tying weights, gluing with tape, refusing to sleep, etc. In some cases, the syndrome becomes the subject of a local epidemic - the entire village is afraid that the penises will retract and the men will die. After some period of time, the signs of the disorder go away on their own.

Fatal familial insomnia

Fatal familial insomnia is a hereditary disease and runs in families. That is why this disease is called familial. This pathology was described by the writer Jorge Luis Borges in his work “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

This disorder is one of the most severe and debilitating diseases. It is caused by a mutation in the PRNP gene, which leads to changes in protein molecules that, when collided, form a sticky substance in the part of the brain responsible for sleep. Because of this, a person develops insomnia, which cannot be treated and progresses over time. As a result, after 12-16 months, nervous exhaustion leads to death.

Kleine-Levin syndrome

Sleeping beauty syndrome is characterized by excessive sleepiness, which is followed by an acute feeling of hunger.

Kleine-Levin syndrome (or Sleeping Beauty syndrome) is a rare neurological disorder that is accompanied by severe attacks of drowsiness, followed by a sharp feeling of hunger and nervous disorders. The reasons for the development of this disease have not been fully established. Some scientists suggest that the disease is provoked by malfunctions in the hormonal system, while others are confident in its genetic nature, since the disease is often inherited. In addition to these two versions, the development of Kleine-Levin syndrome may be caused by acute lesions of the hypothalamus that have not yet been fully studied.

Marie, the 19-year-old heroine of Haruki Murakami's novel After Dark, tells her interlocutor about her sister Eri, who sleeps all the time, waking up only to eat. It turns out that writers often describe rare diseases in order to give expression to one or another of their ideas.

Symptoms of the pathology are expressed in the appearance of an episode of sudden drowsiness. The patient can sleep for about 20 hours. After waking up, he begins to have an attack of gluttony, during which he does not pay special attention on the quality of food and has poor taste. Such manifestations of the disease have their own periodicity.

In most cases, the syndrome is observed among teenage boys. After 20 years, it usually disappears on its own or the period of remission of the disease stabilizes significantly. Doctors do not recommend treatment for this rare disorder, since the disease can heal itself, and the patient only needs the support of loved ones during periods of exacerbation.

Congenital insensitivity to pain

Congenital inability to feel pain refers to genetic diseases. It is caused by a mutation on chromosome 1 (1q21-q22), which encodes a receptor that plays a key role in the regulation of pain.

The main symptoms of congenital insensitivity to pain are expressed in the following signs:

• congenital absence of pain response that occurs to habitual factors;
• tendency to self-harm;
• as an exception, delayed psychomotor development is noted;
• thermoregulation disorders;
• fever of unknown origin;
• lack of sweat reaction to heat, pain, emotional or chemical factors;
• episodes

In patients suffering from this rare congenital disease, it is extremely difficult to diagnose other pathologies, because they do not feel pain. It is this fact that can cause their death. About 100 patients with this rare driving pathology have been registered in the world.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive is an extremely rare disease that is accompanied by ossification of tendons, fascia and connective tissue areas of muscles. It occurs in the form of outbreaks, accompanied by swelling of an inflammatory nature in soft tissues skeleton, and periods of remission. Subsequently, the affected tissues transform into cartilage, and then into bone tissue. Such changes occur in the following sequence: muscles of the back and neck, shoulders, hips. Only smooth muscles and myocardium are not susceptible to change.

The causes of this rare disease are not yet fully understood by scientists. There is a version about the possible genetic origin of the disease, since there have been many cases (about 75%) where the disease was inherited. In 2006, scientists from Pennsylvania discovered a gene whose mutation can cause this disease. Later they were able to identify the location of the gene on chromosome 2q23-24.

There is no effective therapy for this rare disease yet, but doctors have learned to use drugs to slow down the progression of fibrodysplasia. For this purpose, the drug Interferon is used. Scientists see promise in gene therapy for this rare, fatal disease. Since 2014, they have been conducting clinical trials of the drug Palovarotene, which can block gene mutation.

Mental illnesses are a whole group of mental disorders that affect the nervous system person. 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 timely diagnosis of the disease difficult. 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 brain damage;
• 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 the participation of 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 illness, which arise as a result of organic brain damage 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 of 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 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 illnesses negatively affect all or virtually all nervous functions of 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 of a particular 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 mental disorders can be called euphoria, in which a person becomes carefree and content, while his associative processes do not accelerate.

Manic manifestation affective syndrome 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.

TO this disorder also include 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-compulsive disorder. Firstly, their consciousness remains clear, while obsessions are reproduced against their will. Secondly, the emergence of obsessive states is closely intertwined with negative emotions person. 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. Simple disorders include senestopathy - 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.

More complex disorders are considered depersonalization, when a person stops living own life, but as if he was watching her from the side. 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.

A 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 - chronic fatigue syndrome. 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 in a patient is manifested by increased irritability, bad mood, headaches. It is possible to develop photosensitivity or fear of loud sounds;
• Illusions (visual, acoustic, verbal, etc.). Distorted perception of real-life 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 of stressful situations, overwork, exhaustion of the body due to a previous illness, etc. We will talk about mental illness 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.

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, 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, with chronic poisoning and intoxication, and 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 one’s own body is disrupted. 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 in organic brain lesions, 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 are constant uncertainty about the correctness of the actions and actions taken. 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 of 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 justified beliefs arise based on real events, associated with personality traits and extremely charged emotionally. 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 a general change in 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 a direct relation to it, it was 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- elevated 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 disturbances of emotions 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, cardiovascular system), for the cellular and biochemical composition of the blood. If a person is not aware of emotions, they are able to “record” in the muscles, creating muscle disorders, or “freeze” inside, manifesting themselves 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 psychological activity, aimed at achieving a goal, at 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? A sharp increase in appetite, even to the point of gluttony, is called bulimia, and is 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 the focus of 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 specific 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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Psychiatric pathologies have existed at all times. Previously, clinics for mentally ill people were considered a scary place. After all, the methods of treating such diseases were barbaric. They are currently being revised. Therefore, mentally ill people and their relatives began to seek help more often. However, there is no trend toward a decrease in psychiatric pathologies. This is due to the emergence of new diseases that arise as a result of changes in society. Such pathologies include a tendency to computer games, Internet addiction, commitment to extremist organizations.

Mentally ill people: signs, photos

We will consider treatment of patients suffering from similar ailments below. For now, let's talk about how to understand when we're talking about about pathology.

It is worth knowing that it is not always possible to distinguish a mentally ill subject from a healthy one. Often during the period of remission, patients seem quite adequate. Mentally ill people move freely around the city and lead a normal life. This helps them adapt to public life and does not infringe on human rights. However, some patients require constant care. Otherwise, they pose a danger to themselves and others. Such people immediately stand out in the crowd for their Some patients look normal, but their mental deviation can be understood when communicating with them. Therefore, it is important to know how mentally ill people differ. Signs of pathology are listed below.

1. Marked antisocial behavior. These people often talk to themselves and use profanity. Their words are sometimes not connected in meaning. In some cases, they try to attract the attention of others: they shout, express aggression, and start inappropriate conversations. Most often, these people do not pose a danger to others.
2. Mental retardation. Diseases accompanied by this symptom include Down syndrome and dementia. With a mild degree of pathology, patients can lead an independent life, engage in physical labor or simple mental activity. IN severe cases they are always accompanied by relatives. Patients with mental retardation are non-dangerous mentally ill people. The signs, photos and characteristics of a person suffering from this pathology are usually easy to determine in comparison with healthy subjects. The difference is not only in behavior, but also in appearance(wide bridge of nose, small size heads, flattened cranial vaults, enlarged tongue).
3. Disturbance in self-orientation, pronounced changes in memory. Alzheimer's is one of these pathologies. Patients do not understand where they are, who is next to them, and confuse past events with the present time.
4. different kinds delirium. Often considered a manifestation of schizophrenia.
5. Refusal to eat, reluctance to get out of bed, get dressed, etc. Such symptoms indicate an unfavorable form of schizophrenia (catatonic syndrome).
6. The appearance of depressive and manic states.
7. Split personality.

Treatment is based on providing moral assistance to a person. Not only the doctor must conduct conversations with the patient, but also close people are obliged to support him and not isolate him from society.

Causes of mental illness

Naturally, it was not by chance that mentally ill people became like this. Many pathologies are considered congenital and, when exposed to unfavorable factors, appear at a certain point in life. Other diseases are acquired ailments; they arise after stressful situations. The following causes of mental disorders are identified:

1. Transmission of pathology by inheritance. It is believed that some diseases are caused by the presence of mutant genes.
2. Adverse effects on the mother's body during pregnancy. These include: the use of narcotic substances, chemical agents, stress, infectious pathologies, and taking medications.
3. Infringement of personality development during its formation (cruelty, aggression towards a child).
4. Severe stress - loss of loved ones, favorite work, dissatisfaction with life and the inability to change something.
5. Alcoholism and drug addiction.
6. Progressive brain lesions, tumors.

Mentally ill people: symptoms of mental illness

The clinical picture depends on the type of pathology that the patient suffers from. However, there are some General characteristics ailments. Thanks to them, you can understand how mentally ill people differ. Their symptoms may not always be pronounced, but sometimes they still appear. We have already mentioned some of them earlier.

Obvious symptoms also include:

1. Changing a person's appearance. In some cases, mentally ill people do not take care of their appearance and wear unkempt clothes. With congenital syndromes, a change in the structure of the skull is noted. Also included in the main symptom is something unusual for healthy people. They may reflect anxiety, fear, aggression, and lack of mental activity.
2. Coprolalia is the unmotivated use of profanity in speech.
3. Mood changes: transition from a depressed state to cheerfulness, excitement (mania).
4. Hallucinatory syndrome.

Diagnosis of psychiatric pathologies

When entering the clinic, all mentally ill people are examined. They are interviewed and asked to undergo psychiatric tests. Diagnosis is based on the external manifestations of the disease, assessment of the patient’s consciousness, his orientation in time, space, and his own personality. Also important is the story of relatives about a person’s behavior throughout life, about the changes that have occurred to him.

Treatment methods for mentally ill people

The main way to treat mentally ill people is psychotherapy. Its benefit lies in the possibility of identifying the causes of the development of pathology and its impact on human consciousness. During the conversation, the patient tries to understand himself and recognize his illness. In this case, he develops a desire to be cured. Drug treatment used for attacks of mania, depression, hallucinations. The drugs used are Carbamazepine, Haloperidol, and Amitriptyline.

Features of mentally ill people

Despite their illness, people suffering from mental illness often have great potential. Psychiatric pathologies are combined with the development of intuition, various talents, abilities to see the future, etc. Mentally ill patients are often excellent artists, poets and writers. Not at the moment scientific explanation this phenomenon.

Is it possible to cure mentally ill people?

Unfortunately, psychiatric illnesses are difficult to treat. It is impossible to completely get rid of the pathology if it is congenital or caused by dystrophic lesions of the brain. Diseases that appear as a result of alcoholism and drug addiction are treatable. At in the right mood patient and long-term psychotherapy can achieve stable remission and even recovery.