What is obsessive-phobic syndrome. Characteristic signs of obsessive-phobic syndrome Anxiety-phobic neurosis symptoms

A type of neurosis characterized by obsessive thoughts (obsessions), often flowing into ritual actions (compulsions), is called obsessive-phobic syndrome. This type of disorder is treatable. But each patient goes through the stages of healing individually. Features of therapy can only be determined experienced doctor based on a survey and a series of analyses.

Description of the syndrome

OFS is characterized not only by the emergence of obsessive thoughts and ideas, pathological fears, but also by their development. The patient himself understands the meaninglessness of his actions, but cannot cope with the symptoms of the disease on his own. When they appear, you need to start treatment under the guidance of an experienced psychotherapist.

The main causes of neuroses are fears of various origins. For example, the prevailing fear of getting sick serious illness(cardiophobia, cancerophobia, syphilophobia, speedophobia, etc.).

People with neurotic phobic disorders try not to find themselves in situations where they are faced with a far-fetched problem: patients with claustrophobia do not use the elevator, and those suffering from agoraphobia avoid large crowds of people. Less commonly, this disease manifests itself through the occurrence of obsessive thoughts, which are difficult for patients to get rid of.

The dynamics of neuroses consists of three stages:

• the occurrence of fear in a person only when he is afraid of something;
• the emergence of fear when thinking about this situation;
• the emergence of obsessive fear when a conditionally pathogenic stimulus occurs (words associated with a phobia, an image, etc.).

A characteristic feature of neuroses in some patients is the manifestation of panic attacks. They provoke an attack of fear, which is accompanied by shortness of breath, loss of consciousness, rapid heartbeat, etc.

Such patients have a fear of recurrence of attacks, and they avoid going out unaccompanied. Symptoms may appear due to stress or overwork. In a psychiatric clinic, the above manifestations are described as diencephalic syndrome. The development of neuroses is protracted, turning into a neurotic formation of the patient.

Signs and causes of the disorder

The disease often begins after psychological trauma or as a result of a prolonged state of psychological discomfort. The disease can be identified by specific signs.

There are several causes of this disease:

• biological;
• psychological;
• social-public.

TO biological reasons Experts attribute the following factors to the occurrence of obsessive syndrome:

• disorders in the autonomic nervous system;
• features of the functioning of electronic brain impulses;
• malfunction of neurons, metabolic processes in nerve cells of the brain;
• consequences of traumatic brain injury;
• infection with viral infections;
• the predisposition is hereditary.

Towards psychological and social reasons nervous disorders include the following factors:

• traumatic family and social relationships;
• features of strict or religious upbringing;
• stress situations in the family and at work;
• fear and anxiety due to a situation experienced that really threatened life.

Manifestations of panic fear can arise as a result of imposition by society or as a result of personal traumatic experience. For example, a person has watched crime news and is haunted by obsessive thoughts about being attacked by criminals.

If a person cannot overcome such obsessions on his own, and he again performs control rituals (looks back every few steps, checks whether the door is closed, etc.), you need to turn to specialists.

The sooner psychotherapeutic treatment of such an illness is started, the greater the chances of protecting the human psyche from neurosis, which without necessary treatment may turn into paranoid syndrome.

The following criteria will help recognize the presence of neurosis:

• constant occurrence of obsessive thoughts and actions that cause anxiety;
• regular occurrence of obsessive grievances and thoughts in situations that do not involve their occurrence;
• frequent attempts to ignore obsessive experiences and thoughts, replacing them with others, switching to other useless actions;
• obsessive anxieties have nothing to do with reality, a person understands this, but continues to be in a restless state;
• there is an acute feeling of an irresistible desire to perform certain ritual actions in order to avoid the occurrence of any event, but the person is aware of the illogicality of his actions.

If you notice similar deviations in behavior in yourself or others, you need to psychiatric care, to install accurate diagnosis and prescribe comprehensive treatment for phobic neurosis.

Treatment of the disorder

Diseases associated with various kinds of neuroses can sometimes occur in completely healthy children and adults. You need to be attentive to your body in order to recognize the onset of the disease in time.

On initial stages It is always easier to defeat a disease than to fight it chronic manifestations. You must analyze the current situation with hysterical phobias and other symptoms of obsessive disorder, try to develop a strategy for your behavior to protect yourself from the disease.

Learn about the syndrome obsessive states. Read in detail about the causes, course and treatment of the disease. Compare the symptoms with your behavior by writing them down on a piece of paper. Having spoiled each detected manifestation, draw up an action plan to overcome it. This will help you cope if the alarming situation arises again.

An outside assessment will help you understand the current situation more deeply. A visit to a specialist doctor will help you understand the symptoms, analyze the course of the disease and develop strategic plan protection against neurosis.

Look your phobias in the eye. People suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders realize that their fears are fictitious and born only of their imagination. As soon as a new desire arises to once again check whether the door, windows, etc. are locked, just remind yourself that this is a useless ritual and interrupt yourself at the stage of thinking. This method will help get rid of nervousness, you will learn to soberly assess the situation.

Praise yourself constantly. This method will put you in a positive mood. Rejoice at every successful step you take on the road to recovery. Praise yourself even for small victories, and you will feel yourself becoming stronger than the obsessive state. By gaining control over the situation, you will completely get rid of the symptoms of the disease.

When a person does not have enough of his own will to overcome nervous symptoms, you definitely need to organize a trip to a psychologist.

Methods of psychology in solving problems

IN modern psychology This syndrome is most effectively treated through psychotherapeutic sessions. The medical arsenal includes several methods of getting rid of such a disease.

The method of cognitive-behavioral therapy of neurosis is a method aimed at counteracting the syndrome by reducing compulsions to minimal manifestations, and then completely eliminating them.

The technique involves step-by-step instructions, after which the patient fully understands his disorder and analyzes the causes of its occurrence. He takes decisive steps, after which he gets rid of obsessive syndrome forever.

The founder of this technique is famous psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz. With the help of his technique, people are healed from psychological trauma, stressful situations and constant anxiety. It consists of four steps that are successfully used in the treatment of psychoneurological conditions by modern psychologists around the world.

Joseph Wolpe's technique is for a patient with a psychonervous disorder to look at the problematic situation from the outside. The patient recalls the stressful situation he experienced, and immediately after the onset of the obsessive state, the doctor introduces the principle of stopping thought.

The patient begins to be asked certain questions that help the specialist conduct an in-depth analysis of the patient’s behavior in a stressful situation. The patient is able to photograph the analyzed situation and examine it in detail from all angles. The comparative technique helps to restore control over emotions and remove anxious experiences.

There are many other methods for treating neurological conditions, but only the doctor chooses which one to use in each specific case.

Healing with medicines

Cases where medication is used to treat obsessive-compulsive syndrome are called severe. Metabolic disorders affect the functionality of neurons, and this leads to a lack of serotonin in nerve cells.

To recover, the patient is prescribed drugs that slow down the reuptake of serotonin by neurons. Among the drugs that have a slowing effect, several can be distinguished: effective means: Fluvoxamine, Escitalopram, tricyclic antidepressants, Paroxetine, etc.

A number of neuroscience studies have found therapeutic effect the following drugs: Memantine, Riluzole, Lamotrigine, Gabapentin, N-acetylcysteine, etc.

At chronic form obsessive-compulsive syndrome, the patient is prescribed atypical antipsychotic therapy. Combination medicinal method treatment with psychotherapy enhances the effect several times, and the patient successfully passes the stages of treatment.

Psychoprophylaxis as relapse prevention

There are many preventive methods preventing relapses of obsessive-compulsive syndrome.

To protect against the syndrome, you must:

• change the patient's attitude towards stressful situations through personal conversations, suggestion, self-hypnosis, etc.;
• consult a doctor on time when an exacerbation of neuroses occurs and undergo regular medical examinations;
• increase the brightness of daylight indoors, conduct light therapy sessions; such procedures promote the production of serotonin;
• use vitamin therapy, walks fresh air, ensure proper sleep;
• provide good nutrition, including products that contain tryptophan: amino acids can form serotonin; dates, figs, dark chocolate, and dairy products are rich in them;
• monitor all body functions, and in case of violations, treat them; Special attention should be given to the endocrine and cardiovascular systems;
• exclude the use of alcoholic beverages, narcotic and toxic drugs.

This neurosis includes a number of neurotic conditions in which patients experience obsessive fears, thoughts, actions, memories, which they themselves perceive as alien and unpleasant, painful; at the same time, patients cannot free themselves from their obsessions.

In the origin of the disease important role constitutional and personal predisposition plays a role. Among the patients, people who are prone to reflection (self-analysis), as well as anxious and suspicious ones, predominate.

Most often, the leading symptoms of neurosis are fears (phobias). There is a predominant fear of contracting severe somatic or infectious diseases(cardiophobia, cancerophobia, syphilophobia, speedophobia, etc.). For many patients, a feeling of fear is caused by staying in confined spaces, transport (claustrophobia); they are afraid to go outside or be in a crowded place (); in some cases, fear arises when patients only imagine this difficult situation for them. Neurotics, if present phobic disorders, try in any way to get rid of those situations in which they have fears. Many of them constantly turn to various doctors to make sure there are no heart diseases (cardiophobia), cancer(cancerophobia). Close attention to the work of your internal organs promotes the formation.

Sometimes neuroses develop in connection with a disruption of any habitual activity, while patients are in a state of anticipation of failure in its implementation. A typical example may be the occurrence of a psychogenic weakening of adequate erections in men, which subsequently leads to a fixation of attention on a possible “failure” when it is necessary to get closer to a woman and the formation of “expectation neurosis” (E. Kraepelin, 1910).

In more rare cases, the characteristics of neurosis are characterized by a predominance of obsessive thoughts. In addition to their desire, patients experience, for example, intrusive memories that they cannot get rid of; some patients senselessly count the steps on the stairs, the number of passing cars of any one color, ask themselves various questions many times and try to answer them (why are there four letters in the word “chair”, and five letters in the word “lamp”; why is a chair - it is a chair, not a table, although both words have four letters, etc.). In this case, the phenomenon of “mental chewing gum” is formed. Patients understand the meaninglessness of such thoughts, but cannot get rid of them. Particularly difficult for them are obsessive thoughts about the need to commit some shameful actions, for example, swearing obscenely in public, killing their child (contrasting thoughts, “blasphemous” thoughts). Although patients never realize such tendencies, they have a hard time experiencing them.

In addition to such disorders, obsessive actions (compulsions) may occur, for example, compulsive washing of hands to achieve ideal cleanliness (up to 100 times or more per day), returning home to check whether the door is closed, whether the gas or iron is turned off. In some cases, obsessive actions (rituals) arise in order to eliminate obsession. For example, a patient must jump 6 times and only after that he can leave the house, because he is calm and knows that nothing bad will happen to him today, etc.

In the dynamics of obsessive-compulsive neurosis (N. M. Asatiani), three stages are distinguished. At the first stage, obsessive fear arises only in a situation where the patient is afraid of something, at the second - at the thought of being in a similar situation, at the third - a conditionally pathogenic stimulus is a word that is somehow connected with the phobia (for example, in cardiophobia such words can be “heart”, “vessels”, “heart attack”; for cancerophobia - “tumour”, “cancer”, etc.).

Some patients experience “” - repeated attacks of severe fear, most often fear of death, or loss of consciousness, which are accompanied by palpitations, shortness of breath, painful sensations. These conditions can last quite a long time, patients subsequently fear their recurrence, do not go out alone or move with accompanying persons. Most of these autonomic paroxysmal attacks with palpitations and shortness of breath are closely associated with chronic stress and occur against the background of overwork. IN domestic psychiatry such conditions were described as sympathoadrenal crises or designated as diencephalic syndrome.

Phobic neurosis is a type of disorder in which a person experiences feelings of fear and anxiety associated with an object, phenomenon or memory. The condition is uncontrollable, the person is seized with panic. But at the same time, the person realizes the irrationality of his reactions.

Types of phobic neuroses and causes of occurrence

There are dozens of types of phobias. Let's look at common disorders (the object of fear is indicated in parentheses):

• acrophobia (heights);
• agoraphobia (large open spaces, crowded places);
• claustrophobia (closed spaces);
• nosophobia ( fatal disease);
• hypochondria (disease);
• social phobia (fear of being the center of attention);
• Thanatophobia (death).

Phobic neurosis develops according to two scenarios:

1. Formed as primary conditioned reflex. Fear is associated with negative personal experiences and mental trauma. For example, a person is afraid of dogs because they bit him badly in childhood.
2. Arises as a secondary conditioned reflex. Fear is not associated with the object, conditions, or event itself, but arises against the background of an association. For example, a person is afraid to go outside because he was bitten by dogs as a child.

Cause-and-effect relationships are established arbitrarily and depend on the characteristics of the individual.

The occurrence of obsessive-phobic neurosis is influenced by:

• heredity;
• character accentuations (anxiety, suspiciousness, hyper-responsibility);
• suggestibility (news from the media can cause fear);
• overwork, psychophysiological exhaustion;
• endocrine disorders;
• poor diet, disrupted sleep patterns, bad habits;
• infections, brain injuries that cause problems with work nerve cells;
• mental disorders personality (schizophrenia, psychasthenia, depression).

The likelihood of phobic neurosis increases during periods of natural hormonal changes in the body: adolescence, pregnancy and menopause in women, midlife crisis.

Can phobic neurosis be cured?

Without treatment, fear accumulates and grows like a snowball, over time it takes over a person’s entire life. But you can get rid of obsessive thoughts, memories and fears.

The choice of treatment depends on the symptoms and severity of the neurosis. There are 3 degrees in total:

1. Mild: fear occurs upon contact with an object.
2. Medium: fear arises when waiting for contact.
3. Severe: fear arises from the mere thought of an object.

The earlier treatment begins, the better the prognosis.

Symptoms and treatment of phobic neurosis

Symptoms of neurosis include:

• isolation, avoidance of places, objects, conditions reminiscent of trauma;
• irrational fear and anxiety;
• obsessions, or obsessive thoughts associated with the subject of fear;
• compulsions (obsessive actions), as an attempt to compensate for the feeling of loss of control over the situation;
• panic attacks.

Panic attacks appear nearby somatic symptoms: heart rhythm disturbances, breathing problems, suffocation, sweating, fear of death. The condition is beyond the patient's control.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder often develops due to phobic neurosis. A person comes up with the idea that obsessive actions (rituals) will help cope with anxiety. For example, a patient washes his hands 10 times to get rid of germs, or, when leaving home, checks the switches 6 times to prevent a fire. In advanced cases, people can stand in the shower for hours, waiting for the water to “wash away” obsessive thought out of my head.

You cannot get rid of obsessions and phobias on your own. You need to see a doctor so he can tell you how to treat it. phobic neurosis in a special case.

Phobias require complex treatment which include:

1. Psychotherapy. Fear arises due to psychological trauma. We need to find and eliminate it. The problem is that the reason is hidden in the subconscious and is not realized by the person himself, especially in the case of a secondary origin of neurosis. The doctor will help you find the deep causes of the phobia, break erroneous cause-and-effect relationships, accept negative memories and change your attitude towards them. To work with phobias, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy and neurolinguistic programming (NLP) are used.
2. Drug treatment. The prescription of drugs depends on the characteristics and severity of the neurosis. The doctor may prescribe antidepressants, tranquilizers, sedatives. Inhibitors may be needed to restore normal brain function.
3. Lifestyle change. It is necessary to normalize diet, sleep and work. You need to relax, carry out calming activities, walk, play sports. All this maintains normal hormonal levels, helps to distract yourself, and relieve tension.
4. The support and love of family and friends. We need to recognize the problem and find like-minded people.

Trying to cope with anxiety on your own only makes it worse. A person accuses himself of being weak-willed, but this has nothing to do with it. Neurosis is a disease, not a character flaw. Therefore, you cannot blame yourself and self-medicate; you need to see a psychotherapist.

Usually fear, panic and anxiety are manifestations pathological condition, which is called phobic neurosis in medicine. By phobia we mean a psychological state of strong fear, which leads to neuroses, including those of a phobic nature.

Most often, pathology is detected in adolescents and young men. During this period, the child’s body undergoes active hormonal changes, which leads to various mental disorders. Anxious phobic neurosis is expressed in timidity, shyness, and suspiciousness.

If an illness develops, the child has little conversation with peers. When they start talking to him, it leads to panic fear and even hysterics. The child subsequently tries to exclude communication with people, which leads to various mental disorders.

At the initial stage of the development of the disease, the appearance of fear is due to a number of factors, but soon its occurrence occurs when any situation or object is mentioned. Subsequently, the person begins to be pathologically afraid of everything. Even though he understands his illness, he fears everything against his will. People who have a problem in the form of phobic manifestations try to protect themselves from panic attacks throughout their lives.

In addition, with phoboneurosis disease, other unpleasant symptomatic signs may appear in the form of headaches, dizziness, depressive states, cardiac pathologies and some others. Seeing something that evokes terrible associations, a person again becomes susceptible to phobias. The patient is very tense and cannot relax, no matter how hard he tries.

People prone to phobias diligently avoid the conditions that caused the pathology. They try to think about other situations and objects.

A person is susceptible to phobostates in the following situations:

• if there is a negative association about the subject;
• if you have had bad experiences in the past.

Manifestations of the disease may occur due to:

• dysfunction endocrine system body;
• a number of hereditary factors;
• increased anxiety, constant worry, excessive responsibility, suspiciousness;
• emotional stress and physical exhaustion;
• dysfunction of sleep processes;
• improper nutrition and daily routine;
• infectious pathogenic conditions;
• excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages, smoking tobacco products, drug use and other bad habits that are incredibly harmful to the human body.

The emergence of phoboneuroses is due to the development of other pathological psychostates, including schizophrenic, obsessive-compulsive, and psychoasthenic manifestations.

Phobic neuroses arise at certain stages life path person. Particularly at risk are people in adolescence, in adolescence, as well as before the onset of menopause.

Types of neurosis

When a person is struck by fear at the sight of people or objects, he develops a phobic condition. Sometimes the patient only needs to remember something to begin to fear and be afraid of everything. IN modern world Phobias develop in two ways:

1. If a person performed some work unsuccessfully and this contributed to the appearance negative consequences, then this served to develop the primary reflex. For example, a person burned himself on the surface of a hot iron and is now afraid to iron clothes.
2. The appearance of fears is caused by a secondary reflex. For example, a patient is afraid to talk on the phone because some time ago during the conversation a fire or accident occurred.

Modern man is becoming susceptible to agoraphobia, the fear of open space. He is afraid to leave the room. A person may also experience claustrophobia, which is expressed in a strong fear of enclosed spaces. The patient attempts to visit only spacious rooms and stay in outdoor conditions.

If a person develops a fear of heights, this leads to acrophobia. When there is a fear of various living beings, a zoophobic phobostate occurs. When a person is the center of attention, they talk about the presence of social phobia.

In the modern world, there are a large number of psychoneurotic phobostates, which are united by one thing - dysfunction of mental processes.

Experts distinguish 3 types of panic fear:

1. The person tries not to touch the objects that caused his panic fear.
2. A person expects to touch the object that caused the phobic state.
3. Patients imagine touching an object, after which fear appeared, which leads to the onset of psychophobic states.

Real examples

Agoraphobia and nosophobia are rare in nature. There is no close connection with panic psychostates.

But sometimes agoraphobic manifestations may occur due to panic attacks. Such phenomena can arise out of the blue, a person begins to worry, fear everyone and everything. A person understands a panic attack as a catastrophic threat to life. At the same time, there is a weak expression of vegetative symptoms.

Panic attacks occur in the second variant of phobic disorders along with obsession and hypochondriacal symptoms. At this time, the patient tries to eliminate the factors that led to panic. Patients develop certain rules, compliance with which will not lead to the development of the disease. People often write a letter of resignation and change their working conditions, area of ​​residence, and their compliance with correct mode day, do not communicate with anyone outside.

If vegetative-crisis phobostates develop, then the occurrence of panic attacks against the background of residual insufficiency is due to the appearance of severe anxiety, various painful sensations. If psychogenic factors are not eliminated, this leads to rapid heartbeat, sensations of lack of air, and suffocation. The patient does not feel better as the disease progresses. People begin to carefully monitor their health, believing that they are developing a serious pathological illness.

Signs

Experts highlight the following general signs phobic neurotic states:

• frequent feelings of panic and fear;
• dysfunction of the heart, blood vessels, respiratory organs and other organs and systems human body;
• dysfunction of sleep processes;
• Constant pain and dizziness;
• feeling of general weakness;
• depressive symptoms;
• the person becomes emotionally and mentally tense.

The detection of all of the above signs occurs as a result of contact with an ill person with an object of phobic pathology.

Symptoms

Experts divide symptomatic signs into several groups:

1. The appearance of panic attacks. The patient is afraid and expects a speedy death. All this occurs accompanied by an increase in sweat secretion, dysfunction heart rate, the appearance of dizziness. The person begins to feel sick, suffocates and feels the unreality of the situations occurring.
2. The emergence of agrophobia, manifested by fear of large crowds of people, open space. If the disease progresses to severe stage, then he is afraid to leave his own home.
3. If a patient is afraid of any disease, then he may develop the pathology of hypochondriacal phobia. It seems to him that an incurable disease has already affected his body.
4. In the modern world, one can often encounter social phobias, expressed in fear of the attention of others, fear of criticism or ridicule.

Treatment

Anxiety-phobic neurosis is often treated in a complex. Specialists prescribe psychotherapeutic measures and treatment methods.

Elimination of the condition is possible with the help of psychotherapeutic influence. Patients are taught to avoid the phobic objects and use relaxation techniques. Behavioral therapy and hypnosis are sometimes used. Patients are trained to withstand fearful objects and use a variety of relaxation techniques.

Panic attacks are eliminated with the help of antidepressants. Neurosis is effectively treated with the help of Anafranil (Clomipramine), Fluvoxamine, Sertraline, Fluoxetine.

If social neurosis develops, treatment is carried out with Moclobemide (Aurox).

In addition to antidepressants medications It is necessary to take tranquilizers in the form of Meprobamate, Hydroxyzine, Alprazole and Clonazepam. They can only sometimes lead to side effects. If the drugs are used for a long period of time, then drug dependence is not observed. It is necessary to strictly monitor the use of Diazepam and Elenium, as a person soon gets used to them.

It is possible to use antipsychotic medications, especially Triftazin, Haloperidol and others.

The appearance of phobic disorders often occurs due to various factors, which can only be eliminated by a neuropsychiatrist after examination and prescription various methods medical procedures. If the patient ignores the psychostate, then the onset of undesirable consequences for the human body, therefore, at the first appearance of fear, it is better to consult a doctor.

Phobic (or anxiety-phobic) neurosis is one of the many types of neuroses. The main manifestation of this disorder is an uncontrollable feeling of fear and anxiety as a reaction to a specific object (object, action, memory, etc.). This feeling is so strong that a person is unable to control himself, even if he realizes that the fear is groundless and his life and health are not in danger.

Phobic neurosis is associated with an uncontrollable feeling of fear

A person can develop a phobia in two cases:

• if a person directly had a bad experience in the past regarding some thing, action, place and other similar objects. For example, after accidental painful contact with a hot iron, fear of hot objects may develop in the future;
• if the object is associated with thoughts and memories of a negative nature. For example, in the past, while talking on the phone, there was a fire or someone got hurt.

The development and occurrence of phobic neuroses are influenced by:

• heredity;
• person's character: increased anxiety, constant state of anxiety, excessive responsibility, suspiciousness;
• emotional stress and physical exhaustion;
• disturbances in the functioning of the body's endocrine system;
• sleep disturbance and poor diet;
• infections and bad habits that cause significant harm to the body.

Often these disorders occur against the background of another disease: schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychasthenia, obsessional neurosis.

The risk of phobic neurosis increases during certain periods of a person’s life: during puberty, early adulthood and immediately before menopause.

Types of phobic neuroses

The most common phobia in this moment is a fear of open spaces - agrophobia. A person suffering from this disorder, depending on the severity of the disease, either tries not to leave the house unnecessarily, or is unable to force himself to even leave his own room.

Claustrophobia - fear of closed and enclosed spaces

The opposite of this phobia is claustrophobia. A person is seized with fear at the moment when he is in a closed space. This is especially true for elevators.

According to the severity of manifestation, phobic neuroses are divided into three groups:

• mild degree– fear arises from direct contact with the object of fear;
• average degree– fear arises in anticipation of contact with the object of fear;
• severe– just the thought of the object of fear seizes a person into panic.

Most often, phobias arise in adolescence against the background of hormonal changes in the body, and then can develop into obsessive fears or, conversely, disappear. The beginning of such disorders is always direct or indirect contact with a future object of fear, which is negative in nature. Patients are critical of their illness and may realize the groundlessness of their own fears, but at the same time they are not able to get rid of them.

Signs of phobic nephrosis

TO general symptoms phobic neuroses include:

• panic attacks;
• irregularities in work autonomic system organs ( the cardiovascular system, respiratory, etc.);
• headache;
• general weakness;
• sleep disorders;
• depression;
• emotional tension.

All these signs are easy to detect when the patient comes into contact with the subject of the phobia.

Depression may be one of the symptoms of phobic neurosis

In medicine, all symptoms are divided into 4 groups:

1. Panic attacks are intense fear and a feeling of imminent death, accompanied by increased sweating, heart rhythm disturbances, dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing and a feeling of the unreality of what is happening.
2. Agrophobia is a fear of open spaces, large crowds of people, and in severe cases, fear of leaving one’s own home or room.
3. Hypohodrical phobias are the fear of contracting some disease or the feeling that a person is already terminally ill.
4. Social phobias are the fear of being the center of attention, being criticized or ridiculed.

There are many types of phobias

Treatment of phobic neuroses

If you have a question about the consequences and treatment of phobic neurosis, you need to consult a doctor, and not self-medicate and rely on Internet resources for everything. Ill-informed treatment can only worsen the situation.

For mild forms of phobias, you can limit yourself to attending sessions with a professional psychoanalyst.

For more advanced cases, the most effective way is considered cognitive behavioral therapy. Its main task is to teach the patient to manage his own emotions and fears through a detailed examination of the situations in which an attack occurs, identifying the causes and ways to get rid of such reactions.

Drug therapy is used in combination with any psychotherapy. It is impossible to overcome a phobia with medications alone.

A therapist can help treat phobias

In addition to basic treatment methods, doctors usually recommend relaxing massage, yoga or meditation, herbal medicine, short regular rest in sanatoriums, and acupuncture.