Signs of mental disorder. How to understand that a person is mentally ill? Signs of mental disorders

Mental disorders are a condition in which changes in a person’s psyche and behavior are observed. In this case, the behavior cannot be characterized as normal.

The term “mental disorder” itself has different interpretations in medicine, psychology, psychiatry and law. The fact is that mental disorder and mental illness are not identical concepts. The disorder characterizes a disorder in the human psyche. Mental disorders cannot always be defined as a disease. For these cases the term “mental disorder” is used.

Mental disorders are caused by changes in the structure or function of the brain, which can occur for several reasons:

1. Exogenous factors and causes. These include external factors that can influence the human body: industrial poisons, drugs, alcohol, radiation, viruses, traumatic brain and psychological injuries, vascular diseases.
2. Endogenous factors and causes. This internal factors, influencing at the chromosomal hereditary level. These include: gene mutations, hereditary diseases, chromosomal disorders.

Despite the clear division of the etiology of mental disorders, the causes of most of them have not yet been identified. It is completely unclear which factor from the identified groups causes certain disorders. But it is clear that almost every person has a tendency towards mental disorders.

The leading factors of mental disorders include biological, psychological and environmental.

Mental disorders can accompany a number of somatic diseases, such as diabetes, vascular diseases of the brain, infectious diseases, stroke. Disorders can be caused by alcoholism and.

Everyone knows such phenomena as autumn depression, which can “unsettle” a person. Needless to say, stress, troubles, and deep emotional experiences can also cause a number of mental disorders.

For the convenience of analyzing mental disorders, they are grouped according to etiology and clinical picture.

• A group of disorders caused by organic brain disorders: consequences of traumatic brain injury, strokes. This group is characterized by damage to cognitive functions: memory, thinking, learning ability with the appearance of delusional ideas, hallucinations, and mood swings.
• Persistent mental changes caused by the use of: alcohol, drugs.
• Schizotypal disorders and various types of schizophrenia, characterized by personality changes. This group of disorders manifests itself in a sharp change in personality, illogical actions of a person, a change in hobbies and interests, and a sharp decrease in performance. Sometimes a person’s sanity and full understanding of what is happening around disappears.
• A group of affective disorders characterized by sudden changes in mood. The most famous example This group is biopolar disorder. This group includes mania and depression.
• The group of neuroses and phobias combines stress, phobias, and somatized deviations. Phobias can be caused by a wide variety of objects. People successfully cope with some of them or learn to avoid them, while others cause panic attacks and are not amenable to self-correction.
• Behavioral syndromes caused by physiological disorders: food intake (overeating, anorexia), sleep disorders (hypersomnia, insomnia, etc.), sexual dysfunctions (frigidity, libido disorders, etc.).
• Behavioral and personality disorders V mature age. This group of disorders includes a number of violations of gender identification and sexual preferences, such as transsexualism, fetishism, sadomasochism, etc. This also includes specific disorders as a response to certain situations. Depending on the symptoms, they are divided into schizoid, paranoid, and dissocial disorders.
• Mental retardation. This large group congenital conditions characterized by intellectual impairment and (or) delay mental development. Such disorders are characterized by intellectual impairments: speech, memory, thinking, adaptation. Mental retardation can be severe, moderate or mild. It can be caused by genetic factors, pathologies intrauterine development, birth trauma, psychogenic factors. These conditions appear at an early age.
• Mental development disorders. This group includes speech impairments, delays in the formation of learning skills, motor dysfunctions, including fine motor skills, attention disorders.
• Hyperkinetic disorders. This group of behavioral disorders manifests itself in childhood. Children are disobedient, hyperactive, disinhibited, aggressive, etc.

This classification characterizes the main mental disorders, grouping them according to causation.

Mental disorders are surrounded by a number of myths. The main myth concerns the incurability of mental disorders. Most people tend to think that the psyche, which has once undergone a change (disorder), is incapable of recovery.

In fact, this is far from the case. Properly selected drug treatment can not only eliminate the symptoms of the disorder, but also restore a person’s psyche. At the same time, psychotherapeutic intervention and behavioral therapy can cure the disorder with a high degree of effectiveness.

The modern information system tends to classify any deviations from adequate normal behavior as mental disorders. Mood swings and inappropriate reactions to stress or adaptation disorders are just that and should not be classified as disorders.

However, these manifestations may be symptoms of mental disorders, the essence of which is not in external manifestations, but in deeper mechanisms. The symptoms of mental disorders are very varied.

The most common are:

• sensopathy: disturbance of nervous and tactile susceptibility;
• : exacerbation of irritants;
• hepaesthesia: decreased sensitivity;
• senestopathy: sensations of squeezing, burning, etc.;
• : visual, auditory, tactile;
• (when the object is felt inside);
• distortions in the perception of the reality of the world;
• violations thought processes: incoherence, lethargy, etc.;
• rave;
• obsessions and phenomena;
• fears (phobias);
• disorders of consciousness: confusion, ;
• memory disorders: amnesia, dimnesia, etc.;
• obsessions: obsessive words, melody, counting, etc.;
• obsessive actions: wiping things, washing hands, checking the door, etc.

Mental disorders are still the object of research by scientists in the field of psychiatry and psychology. The causes of the disorders are identified, but are not absolute. Most disorders appear as a result of the interaction of a number of factors: external and internal.

The same factors can cause severe mental illness in one person and simply distress in another. The reason for this is the stability of the psyche and the receptivity of a person.

It is very important to distinguish a mental disorder from overwork or nervous disorder. At the first signs of distress, you need to seek help from a specialist, without replacing treatment with sedatives, which will not bring any effectiveness.

Treatment of mental disorders occurs in the complex use of medications, behavioral therapy and pedagogical correction in certain types. Relatives and friends are required to strictly follow all the doctor’s instructions and be patient with an unhealthy person.

The effectiveness of treatment depends not only on the chosen methods, but also on the creation of a favorable psychological climate for the patient.

Today, the science of the soul—psychology—has long ceased to be the “handmaiden of the bourgeoisie,” as the classics of Leninism once defined it. All more people are interested in issues of psychology, and also try to learn more about such a branch as mental disorders.

Many books, monographs, textbooks have been written on this topic, scientific research And scientific works. In this short article we will try to briefly answer the questions of what mental disorders are, what types of mental disorders exist, the causes of such severe mental illnesses, their symptoms and possible treatment. After all, each of us lives in the world of people, rejoices and worries, but may not even notice how, at a life turn of fate, he will be overtaken by a serious mental illness. You shouldn’t be afraid of it, but you need to know how to counteract it.

Definition of Mental Illness

First of all, it is worth deciding what mental illness is.
IN psychological science This term is usually used to describe a person’s mental state that differs from a healthy one. The state of a healthy psyche is the norm (this norm is usually denoted by the term “ mental health"). And all deviations from it are deviation or pathology.

Today, such definitions as “mentally ill” or “mental illness” are officially prohibited as degrading the honor and dignity of a person. However, these diseases themselves have not gone away. Their danger to humans lies in the fact that they entail serious changes in such areas as thinking, emotions and behavior. Sometimes these changes become irreversible.

There are changes in the biological state of a person (this is the presence of a certain developmental pathology), as well as changes in his medical condition(the quality of his life deteriorates until it is destroyed) and social condition (a person can no longer live as a full-fledged member of society, enter into certain productive relationships with people around him). From here comes the conclusion that such conditions bring harm to a person, therefore they must be overcome both with the help of medication and with the help of psychological and pedagogical assistance to patients.

Classification of mental illnesses

Today there are many ways to classify such diseases. Let's list just a few of them.

• The first classification is based on the selection next sign– external or internal cause mental illness. Hence, external (exogenous) diseases are pathologies that arise as a result of human exposure to alcohol, drugs, industrial poisons and waste, radiation, viruses, microbes, brain trauma and injuries affecting the activity of the central nervous system. Internal mental pathologies (endogenous) are considered to be those that are caused by a person’s genetic predisposition and the circumstances of his personal life, as well as the social environment and social contacts.
• The second classification is based on identifying the symptoms of diseases, based on damage to the emotional-volitional or personal sphere person and factor in the course of the disease. Today this classification is considered classic; it was approved in 1997 by the World Health Organization (WHO). This classification identifies 11 types of diseases, most of which will be discussed in this article.

According to the degree of progression, all mental illnesses are divided into mild, which cannot cause serious harm to a person’s health, and severe, which pose a direct threat to his life.

Let us briefly outline the main types of mental disorders, give them a detailed classification, and also give them a detailed and comprehensive classical description.

The first disease: when tormented by severe doubts

The most common mental disorder is anancastic personality disorder. This condition is characterized by a person’s tendency to excessive doubts and stubbornness, preoccupation with unnecessary details, obsessions and obsessive caution.

Anancastic personality disorder also manifests itself in the fact that the patient cannot break any of the rules he has accepted, he behaves inflexibly, and shows intractability. He is characterized by excessive perfectionism, manifested in constant striving to perfection and constant dissatisfaction with the results of one’s work and life. It is common for such people to come to a serious state as a result of any failures in life.

Anancastic personality disorder in psychoanalysis is considered as a borderline mental illness (that is, a state of accentuation that is on the verge of normality and deviation). The reason for its occurrence is the inability of patients to master the world of their emotions and feelings. According to psychotherapists, people experiencing such emotionally uncomfortable unstable personality disorders were punished by their parents in childhood for not being able to control their behavior.

In adulthood, they retained the fear of punishment for losing control of themselves. It is not easy to get rid of this mental illness; specialists of the Freudian school offer hypnosis, psychotherapy and the method of suggestion as treatment methods.

Disease two: when hysteria becomes a way of life

A mental disorder that manifests itself in the fact that the patient is constantly looking for a way to attract attention to himself is called histrionic personality disorder. This mental illness is characterized by the fact that a person by any means wants to achieve recognition from others of his importance, the fact of his existence.

Hysterical personality disorder is often called acting or theatrical disorder. Indeed, a person suffering from such a mental disorder behaves like a real actor: he plays in front of people various roles to evoke sympathy or admiration. Often those around him blame him for unworthy behavior, and a person with this mental illness makes an excuse by saying that he cannot live otherwise.

According to psychiatrists, people with hysterical personality disorder are prone to exaggerated emotionality, suggestibility, a desire for excitement, seductive behavior and increased attention to their physical attractiveness (the latter is understandable, because patients think that the better they look, the more others like them). The causes of histrionic personality disorder should be sought in a person’s childhood.

According to scientists of the psychoanalytic Freudian school, this type mental disorder is formed during puberty in girls and boys whose parents forbid them to develop their sexuality. In any case, the manifestation of hysterical personality disorder is a signal to parents who sincerely love their child that they must reconsider the principles of their upbringing. Histrionic personality disorder is difficult to treat with medication. As a rule, when diagnosing it, psychotherapy of the Freudian school, hypnosis, as well as psychodrama and symbol drama are used.

Disease three: when egocentrism is above all else

Another type of mental illness is narcissistic personality disorder. What it is?
In this state, a person is confident that he is a unique subject, endowed with enormous talents and entitled to occupy the highest level in society. Narcissistic personality disorder gets its name from the ancient mythological hero Narcissus, who loved himself so much that he was turned into a flower by the gods.

Mental disorders of this kind are manifested in the fact that patients have enormous conceit, they are absorbed in fantasies about their high position in society, believe in their own exclusivity, need admiration from others, do not know how to sympathize with others, and behave extremely arrogantly.

Usually people around him accuse people with such mental pathology. Indeed, selfishness and narcissism are sure (but not the main) signs of this disease. Narcissistic personality disorder is difficult to treat drug treatment. As a rule, psychotherapy (art therapy, sand therapy, play therapy, symbol-drama, psychodrama, animal therapy and others), hypnotic suggestions and methods of advisory psychological conversation are used in treatment.

Disease four: when it is difficult to be a two-faced Janus

Mental disorders are diverse. One of their types is bipolar disorder personality. Symptoms of this disease include frequent mood swings in patients. A person laughs cheerfully at his problems in the morning, and in the evening he cries bitterly over them, although nothing has changed in his life. The danger of bipolar personality disorder is that a person, falling into depressive state may commit suicide.

An example of such a patient would be patient N., who, having come to see a psychotherapist, complained that in the morning he is always in a great mood, he wakes up, goes to work, communicates friendly with others there, but in the evening his mood begins to deteriorate sharply , and by nightfall he doesn’t know how to relieve his mental anguish and pain. The patient himself called his condition nocturnal depression (in addition, he complained of poor night sleep and nightmares). Upon closer examination, it turned out that the reason for this person’s condition was a serious hidden conflict with his wife; they have not found it for a long time common language and every time returning to his home, the patient experiences fatigue, melancholy and a feeling of dissatisfaction with life.

The fifth disease: when suspicion reaches its limit

Mental disorders have long been known to mankind, although their symptoms and treatment options could not be fully determined. This also applies paranoid disorder personality. IN this state a person is excessively suspicious; he suspects anyone and anything. He is vindictive, his attitude towards others reaches the point of hatred.

Paranoid personality disorder also manifests itself in symptoms such as belief in “conspiracy theories,” suspicion of one’s family and friends, constant struggle with others for rights, constant dissatisfaction and painful experiences of failure.

Psychoanalysts call the cause of such mental disorders negative projection, when a person strives to find in others those qualities that he is not satisfied with in himself, he transfers them from himself (considering himself ideal) to other people.

Overcoming this mental disorder with medications is ineffective; as a rule, active methods of psychological interaction are used.

Such a mental state of the patient, as a rule, causes many complaints from others. People of this type cause hostility, they are antisocial, so their mental illness entails serious consequences and, above all, social trauma.

Disease six: when emotions run high

A mental condition characterized by emotional instability, increased excitability, high anxiety and lack of connection with reality is commonly called borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder is an emotionally unstable personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder has been described in a wide range of scientific literature. In such a state, a person cannot control his emotional-volitional sphere. At the same time, there is debate in science about whether borderline personality disorder should be considered a serious type of mental disorder or not. Some authors consider the root cause borderline disorder personal nervous exhaustion.

In any case, borderline personality disorder is a state between normality and deviation. The danger of borderline personality disorder is the tendency of patients to suicidal behavior, so this disease is considered in psychiatry as quite serious.

Borderline personality disorder has the following symptoms: a tendency to unstable relationships with idealization and subsequent devaluation, impulsiveness accompanied by a feeling of emptiness, the manifestation of severe anger and other affects, and suicidal behavior. Treatment methods for borderline personality disorder are varied, they include both psychotherapeutic (art therapy, play therapy, psychodrama, symbol-drama, psychodrama, sand therapy) and medicinal methods (in the treatment of depressive conditions).

Disease seven: when a person has a teenage crisis

Mental disorders can have a wide variety of manifestations. There is a disease when a person experiences a state of extreme nervous excitement in acute crisis moments of your life. In psychology, this condition is usually called transient personality disorder.

Transient personality disorder is characterized by a short duration of its manifestation. Typically, this mental disorder is observed in adolescents and young adults. Transient personality disorder manifests itself in a sharp change in behavior towards deviation (that is, deviation from normal behavior). This condition is associated with the rapid psychophysiological maturation of a teenager, when he cannot control his internal state. Also, the cause of transient personality disorder can be the stress suffered by a teenager due to loss. loved one, unsuccessful love, betrayal, conflicts at school with teachers, and so on.

Let's give an example. Teenager - exemplary student, a good son, and suddenly in the 9th grade he becomes uncontrollable, begins to behave rudely and cynically, stops studying, argues with teachers, disappears on the street until night, hangs out with dubious companies. Parents and teachers, naturally, begin to “educate” and “reason” such a mature child in every possible way, but their efforts run into even greater misunderstanding and negative attitude on the part of this teenager. However, adult mentors should think about whether a child might have such a serious mental illness as transient personality disorder? Maybe he needs some serious psychiatric care? Do notations and threats only intensify the progression of the disease?

It should be noted that, as a rule, such a disease does not require drug treatment, his therapy uses non-directive methods of providing psychological assistance: psychological counseling, conversation, sand therapy and other types of art therapy. At proper treatment In transient personality disorder, manifestations of deviant behavior disappear after a few months. However, this disease tends to return in moments of crisis, so if necessary, the course of therapy can be re-prescribed.

Disease eight: when the inferiority complex has reached its limit

Mental illnesses find their expression in people who suffered from an inferiority complex in childhood and who were unable to completely overcome it in adulthood. In this state, an anxious personality disorder may develop. Anxious personality disorder manifests itself in a desire for social withdrawal, a tendency to worry about a negative assessment of one’s behavior from others, and avoidance social interaction with people.

In Soviet psychiatry, anxious personality disorder was commonly referred to as “psychasthenia.” The causes of this mental disorder are a combination of social, genetic and educational factors. Melancholic temperament can also influence the development of an anxious personality disorder.

Patients diagnosed with signs of an anxious personality disorder create a kind of protective cocoon around themselves, into which they do not allow anyone. A classic example of such a person can be Gogol’s famous image of the “man in a case,” an eternally ill gymnasium teacher who suffered from social phobia. Therefore, it is quite difficult to provide comprehensive help to a person with an anxious personality disorder: patients withdraw into themselves and reject all the efforts of the psychiatrist to help them.

Other types of mental disorders

Having described the main types of mental disorders, we will consider the main characteristics of the lesser known ones.

• If a person is afraid to take independent steps in life to accomplish any business or plans, this is a dependent personality disorder.
  Diseases of this type are characterized by the patient’s feeling of helplessness in life. Dependent personality disorder manifests itself in the deprivation of a sense of responsibility for one's actions. A manifestation of dependent personality disorder is the fear of living independently and the fear of being abandoned by a significant person. The cause of dependent personality disorder is a style of family education such as overprotection and an individual tendency to fear. In family education, parents instill in their child the idea that he will be lost without them; they constantly repeat to him that the world is full of dangers and difficulties. Having matured, a son or daughter raised in this way spends his whole life looking for support and finds it either in the person of parents, or in the person of spouses, or in the person of friends and girlfriends. Overcoming dependent personality disorder occurs with the help of psychotherapy, however, this method will also be ineffective if the patient’s anxious state has gone far.
• If a person cannot control his emotions, then this is an emotionally unstable personality disorder.
  Emotionally unstable personality disorder has the following manifestations: increased impulsivity combined with a tendency to affective states. A person refuses to control his mental state: he can cry over a trifle or be rude to his best friend because of a cheap insult. Emotionally unstable personality disorder is treated with exposure therapy and other types of psychotherapy. Psychological help It is effective only when the patient himself wants to change and is aware of his illness; if this does not happen, any help is virtually useless.
• When a deep traumatic brain injury has been experienced, this is an organic personality disorder.
  In organic personality disorder, the patient's brain structure changes (due to injury or other serious illness). Organic personality disorder is dangerous because a person who has not previously suffered from mental disorders cannot control his behavior. Therefore, the risk of organic personality disorder is high in all people who have experienced brain injury. This is one of the deepest mental illnesses associated with disruption of the central nervous system. Getting rid of an organic personality disorder is only possible through medication or even direct surgical intervention. Avoidant personality disorder. This term characterizes a state of mind in which people strive to avoid failures in their behavior, and therefore withdraw into themselves. Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by a person's loss of faith in their own abilities, apathy, and suicidal intentions. Treatment for avoidant personality disorder involves the use of psychotherapy.
• Infantile personality disorder.
  It is characterized by a person’s desire to return to the state of wounded childhood in order to protect himself from the problems that have piled up. This short-term or long-term condition is usually experienced by people who were dearly loved by their parents in childhood. Their childhood was comfortable and calm. Therefore, in adult life, when faced with insurmountable difficulties, they seek salvation in returning to childhood memories and copying their childhood behavior. You can overcome such an illness with the help of Freudian or Ericksonian hypnosis. These types of hypnosis differ from each other in the power of influence on the patient’s personality: if the first hypnosis involves a directive method of influence, in which the patient becomes completely dependent on the opinions and desires of the psychiatrist, then the second hypnosis involves a more careful attitude to the patient, such hypnosis is indicated for those who do not suffer from serious forms of this disease.

How dangerous are mental illnesses?

Any mental illness harms a person no less than the illness of his body. In addition, medical science has long known that there is a direct connection between mental and physical illnesses. As a rule, it is mental experiences that give rise to the most severe forms of physical diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis, etc. Therefore peace of mind and harmony with the people around you and with yourself can cost a person additional decades of his life.

Therefore, mental illnesses are dangerous not so much for their manifestations (although they can be severe), but for their consequences. It is simply necessary to treat such diseases. Without treatment, you will never achieve peace and joy, despite external comfort and well-being. Actually, these diseases belong to the field of medicine and psychology. These two directions are designed to save humanity from such serious illnesses.

What to do if you discover signs of mental illness?

By reading this article, someone may discover in themselves the signs that were described above. However, you should not be afraid of this for several reasons:

• firstly, you shouldn’t take everything upon yourself; mental illness, as a rule, has a severe internal and external manifestation, therefore, mere speculation and fears do not confirm it; sick people often experience such severe mental anguish that we never dreamed of it;
• secondly, the information you read may become a reason to visit a psychiatrist’s office, who will help you competently draw up a course of treatment if you are really sick;
• and thirdly, even if you are sick, you should not worry about it, the main thing is to determine the cause of your illness and be ready to make every effort to treat it.

In conclusion of our brief overview I would like to note that mental disorders are those mental illnesses that occur in people of any age and any nationality; they are very diverse. And they are often difficult to distinguish from each other, which is why the term “mixed mental disorders” has arisen in the literature.

Mixed personality disorder refers to a person’s state of mind when it is impossible to accurately diagnose his illness.

This condition is considered rare in psychiatry, but it does occur. IN in this case treatment is very difficult, since the person must be saved from the consequences of his condition. However, knowing the manifestations of various mental disorders, it is easier to diagnose them and then treat them.

The last thing to remember is that all mental illnesses can be cured, but such treatment requires more effort than overcoming ordinary physical illnesses. The soul is an extremely delicate and sensitive substance, so it must be handled with care.

This collective concept, denoting a group pathological conditions, affecting nervous system and the whole complex of human behavioral reactions. Such disorders can develop as a result of failures in metabolic processes, occurring in the brain. In a broad sense, this expression is usually understood as a state of the human psyche that differs from the generally accepted norm.

Mental disorders

An individual's resistance to mental disorders depends on general development his psyche and the complex of his specific physical characteristics.

Many of the mental disorders (especially in early stages development) may be invisible to the eyes of others, but at the same time, they significantly complicate the patient’s life.

Causes of mental disorders

The factors that provoke the occurrence of mental disorders are very diverse, but all of them can be divided into two large categories: exogenous (this includes external influences, for example, trauma, infectious diseases, intoxication) and endogenous (this group includes hereditary, genetic diseases, chromosomal mutations, mental development disorders).

The main causes of mental dysfunction:

Signs of a mental disorder

Such symptoms can cause a prolonged depressive state, interspersed with episodes of short-term bursts of affect.

Classification of mental illnesses

According to etiology (origin), all mental illnesses can be divided into two groups:

1. Endogenous- the causes of the disease in these cases are internal factors; This includes genetic diseases and diseases with a hereditary predisposition.
2. Exogenous- the causative factors of these diseases are poisons, alcohol, traumatic brain injuries, radiation, infections, stressful situations, psychological trauma. Variety exogenous diseases are psychogenic diseases arising as a result emotional stress, or may be related to social or family problems.

The following types of mental disorders are distinguished:

Flow

Most often, mental illnesses arise and debut in childhood or adolescence. The main features of mental disorders in these cases:

Diagnostics

When diagnosing, it is imperative to examine the patient for the presence (absence) of somatic diseases. The presence of complaints characteristic of internal diseases in the absence of external pathology internal organs will be one of indirect signs presence of mental illness.

A significant difficulty in treatment is the fact that a person suffering from a mental disorder is either unaware of it or is inclined to deny his condition due to fear of treatment or due to stereotypes. Meanwhile, in the early stages of many mental disorders, treatment can provide significant improvement and cause stable, long-term remission.

It is advisable to conduct therapy in conditions that promote the patient’s psychological comfort.

1. Psychotherapy has the goal of stopping or at least softening the patient’s discomfort, which he feels in the form of unpleasant obsessive thoughts, fears, anxiety; helps in getting rid of unpleasant character traits. Psychotherapy can be carried out either individually with the patient or in a group (with relatives, or with other patients who have similar problems).
2. Somatic therapy, especially, pharmacotherapy, aims to influence the well-being and behavioral characteristics of the patient, as well as eliminate unpleasant symptoms that cause him concern. Somatic therapy is now widely used in psychiatry, although the pathogenesis of some types of disorders is still not entirely clear.

Psychiatry has traditionally dealt with the recognition and treatment of mental illnesses and disorders. Those violations are being studied mental activity a person, which manifest themselves in thoughts, feelings, emotions, actions, and behavior in general. These violations may be obvious, strongly expressed, or may not be so obvious as to speak of “abnormality.” Unbalanced people are not always mentally ill.

The line where pathology begins behind the norm is quite blurry and has not yet been clearly defined either in psychiatry or psychology. Therefore, mental illnesses are difficult to unambiguously interpret and evaluate. If signs of mental disorder are observed in women, they may be the same in men. Obvious gender differences in the nature of the manifestation of mental illness are sometimes difficult to notice. In any case, with obvious mental disorders. But the prevalence rate by gender may vary. Signs of mental disorders in men appear with no less force, although they are not without their originality.

If a person believes, for example, that he is Napoleon or has superpowers, or he has observed sudden changes mood, or melancholy begins or he falls into despair because of the most trivial everyday problems, then we can assume that he is showing signs of mental illness. There may also be perverted attractions or his actions will be clearly different from normal. Manifestations of painful mental states are very different. But what will be common is that, first of all, a person’s personality and his perception of the world will undergo change.

Personality is the totality of a person’s mental and spiritual properties, his way of thinking and responding to changes environment, his character. Personality traits different people have the same differences as bodily, physical - the shape of the nose, lips, eye color, height, etc. That is, the individuality of a person has the same meaning as physical individuality.

By the manifestations of personality traits, we can recognize a person. Personality traits do not exist separately from each other. They are closely interconnected, both in their functions and in the nature of their manifestation. That is, they are organized into a kind of integral system, just as all our organs, tissues, muscles, bones form the bodily shell, the body.

Just like a body with age or under the influence external factors undergoes change, personality does not remain unchanged, it develops and changes. Personality changes can be physiological, normal (especially with age) and pathological. Personality changes (normal) with age, under the influence of external and internal factors, occur gradually. The mental appearance of a person gradually also changes. At the same time, personality properties change so that the harmony and integrity of the personality are not violated.

What happens when there is a sharp change in personality traits?

But sometimes, personality can change dramatically (or at least it will seem so to others). People I know suddenly turn from modest to boastful, too harsh in their judgments; they were calm and balanced, but they became aggressive and hot-tempered. They turn from being thorough into frivolous and superficial. Such changes are hard to miss. Personal harmony has already been disrupted. Such changes are already obvious pathological, are mental disorders. It is obvious that mental illness can cause such changes. Both doctors and psychologists talk about this. After all, mentally ill people often behave inappropriately to the situation. And this becomes obvious to others over time.

Factors provoking the emergence and development of mental illness:

• Traumatic injuries to the head and brain. At the same time, mental activity changes dramatically, clearly not in better side. Sometimes it stops altogether when a person falls into an unconscious state.
• Organic diseases, congenital brain pathologies. In this case, they may be disrupted or “fall out” as separate mental properties, and all the activities of the human psyche as a whole.
• General infectious diseases (typhoid, septecemia or blood poisoning, meningitis, encephalitis, etc.). They can cause irreversible changes in the psyche.
• Intoxication of the body under the influence of alcohol, narcotic drugs, gases, medicines, household chemicals (such as glue), poisonous plants. These substances can cause profound changes in the psyche and disruption of the central nervous system (CNS).
• Stress, psychological trauma. In this case, signs of mental abnormalities may be temporary.
• Burdened heredity. If a person has a history of close relatives with chronic mental illnesses, then the likelihood of manifestation of such a disease among subsequent generations increases (although this point is sometimes disputed).

There may be other reasons among the above factors. There may be many of them, but not all of them are known to medicine and science. Usually, a clearly mentally unbalanced person is immediately noticeable, even to ordinary people. And yet, the human psyche is perhaps the least studied system human body. That is why its changes are so difficult to analyze clearly and unambiguously.

Every case pathological changes The psyche needs to be studied individually. Mental disorder or illness may be acquired or congenital. If they are acquired, it means that a certain moment has come in a person’s life when pathological personality traits came to the fore. Unfortunately, it is impossible to trace the moment of transition from normal to pathology, and it is difficult to know when the first signs appeared. As well as preventing this transition.

Where and when does the “abnormality” begin?

Where is the line beyond which mental illness immediately begins? If there was no obvious interference from the outside in the psyche (head injury, intoxication, illness, etc.), in any case, there was no, in the opinion of both the sick person himself and his environment, then why did he get sick or did mental disorders arise? even if not psychogenic? What went wrong, at what point? Doctors have not yet answered these questions. One can only make assumptions, carefully study the anamnesis, try to find at least something that could provoke the changes.

Talking about congenital, it is assumed that human spiritual properties have never been in harmony. A person was born with a damaged personality. Mental disorders in children and their symptoms represent a separate area for study. Children have their own mental characteristics that differ from adults. And it should be borne in mind that signs of a mental disorder can be obvious and obvious, or they can appear as if gradually and by chance, occasionally. Moreover, anatomical changes (most often this means changes in the brain, first of all) in diseases and mental disorders can be visible and obvious, but sometimes it is impossible to trace them. Or their changes are so subtle that they cannot be traced at this level of medical development. That is, with pure physiological point vision, there are no impairments, but the person is mentally ill and needs treatment.

The pathophysiological basis of mental illness should be considered, first of all, disorders of the central nervous system - a violation of the basic processes of higher nervous activity(according to I.P. Pavlov).

If we talk directly about the signs of mental disorders, then we should take into account the peculiarities of the classification of mental illnesses. In each historical period of development of psychiatry, classifications have undergone various changes. Over time, it became obvious that there is a need for consistent diagnosis of the same patients by different psychiatrists, regardless of their theoretical orientation and practical experience. Although even now this can be difficult to achieve, due to conceptual disagreements in understanding the essence of mental disorders and diseases.

Another difficulty is that there are different national taxonomies of diseases. They may differ from each other in various criteria. On this moment from the point of view of the significance of reproducibility, the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD 10) and the American DSM-IV are used.

Types of mental pathology (according to the domestic classification) depending on the main causes that cause them:

• Endogenous (under the influence of external factors) mental illness, but with the participation of exogenous factors. These include schizophrenia, epilepsy, affective disorders, etc.
• Exogenous (under the influence of internal factors) mental illnesses, but with the participation endogenous factors. These include somatogenic, infectious, traumatic diseases, etc.
• Diseases caused by developmental disorders, as well as due to dysfunctions or disruptions in the functioning of mature body systems. These types of diseases include various disorders personalities, etc.
• Psychogenics. These are diseases with signs of psychosis, neuroses.

It is worth considering that all classifications not perfect and are open to criticism and improvement.

What is a mental disorder and how can it be diagnosed?

Patients with mental disorders may visit doctors frequently. They may be in the hospital many times and undergo numerous examinations. Although, first of all, mentally unhealthy people more often complain about a somatic condition.

The World Health Organization has identified the main signs of a mental disorder or illness:

1. Clearly expressed psychological discomfort.
2. Impaired ability to perform normal work or school responsibilities.
3. Increased risk of death. Suicidal thoughts, attempts to commit suicide. General disturbance of mental activity.

You should be wary if, even after a thorough examination, no somatic disorders are identified (and complaints do not stop), the patient has been “treated” for a long time and unsuccessfully different doctors, but his condition does not improve. Mental illnesses or mental illnesses can be expressed not only by signs of mental disorders, but in the clinical picture of the disease there may also be somatic disorders.

Somatization symptoms caused by anxiety

Anxiety disorders occur 2 times more often in women than in men. With anxiety disorders, patients more often present somatic complaints than complaints about changes in general mental state. Often somatic disorders are observed when various types depression. It is also a very common mental disorder among women.

Somatization symptoms caused by depression

Anxious and depressive disorders often meet together. ICD 10 even has a separate category for anxiety-depressive disorder.

Currently, in the practice of a psychiatrist, a comprehensive psychological examination is actively used, which includes a whole group of tests (but their results are not a sufficient basis for making a diagnosis, but only play a clarifying role).

When diagnosing a mental disorder, a comprehensive personality examination is carried out and various factors are taken into account:

• The level of development of higher mental functions (or their changes) - perception, memory, thinking, speech, imagination. What is the level of his thinking, how adequate are his judgments and conclusions? Are there any memory impairments, is attention depleted? How well do thoughts correspond to mood and behavior? For example, some people can tell sad stories and still laugh. They evaluate the pace of speech - whether it is slow or, on the contrary, the person speaks quickly and incoherently.
• They evaluate the general background of the mood (depressed or unreasonably high, for example). How adequate are his emotions to the surrounding environment, to changes in the world around him?
• They monitor his level of contact and willingness to discuss his condition.
• Assess the level of social and professional productivity.
• The nature of sleep, its duration,
• Eating behavior. Does a person suffer from overeating or, on the contrary, does he eat too little, rarely, unsystematically?
• The ability to experience pleasure and joy is assessed.
• Can the patient plan his activities, control his actions, behavior, are there any violations of volitional activity.
• The degree of adequacy of orientation in themselves, other people, in time, place - do patients know their name, do they recognize themselves as who they are (or consider themselves a superman, for example), do they recognize relatives, friends, can build a chronology of events in their lives and lives of loved ones.
• The presence or absence of interests, desires, inclinations.
• Level of sexual activity.
• The most important thing is how critical a person is of his condition.

These are only the most general criteria, the list is far from complete. In each specific case, age, social status, health status, and individual personality characteristics will also be taken into account. In fact, signs of mental disorders can be ordinary behavioral reactions, but in an exaggerated or distorted form. Of particular interest to many researchers is the creativity of mentally ill people and its influence on the course of the disease. Mental illness is not such a rare companion even for great people.

It is believed that “Mental illnesses have the ability to sometimes suddenly open up the springs of the creative process, the results of which are ahead of ordinary life, sometimes for a very long time.” Creativity can serve as a means of calm and have a beneficial effect on the patient. (P.I. Karpov, “Creativity of the mentally ill and its influence on the development of art, science and technology,” 1926). They also help the doctor penetrate deeper into the patient’s soul and understand him better. It is also believed that creators in the fields of science, technology and art often suffer from nervous imbalance. According to these views, the creativity of mentally ill people often has no less value than the creativity of healthy people. Then what should mentally healthy people be like? This is also an ambiguous wording and the signs are approximate.

Signs of mental health:

• Adequate to external and internal changes behavior, actions.
• Healthy self-esteem not only of yourself, but also of your capabilities.
• Normal orientation in one's personality, time, space.
• Ability to work normally (physically, mentally).
• Ability to think critically.

A mentally healthy person is a person who wants to live, develop, knows how to be happy or sad (shows a large number of emotions), does not threaten himself and others with his behavior, is generally balanced, in any case, this is how he should be assessed by the people around him. These characteristics are not exhaustive.

Mental disorders most common in women:

• Anxiety disorders
• Depressive disorders
• Anxiety and depressive disorders
• Panic disorders
• Eating disorders
• Phobias
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Adjustment disorder
• Histrionic personality disorder
• Dependent personality disorder
• Pain disorder, etc.

Often, signs of a mental disorder are observed in women after the birth of a child. Especially, signs of neuroses and depression of varying nature and severity may be observed.

In any case, the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders should be carried out by doctors. The success of treatment strongly depends on the timeliness of therapy. The support of loved ones and family is very important. In the treatment of mental disorders, combined methods of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are usually used.

Instructions

A mental disorder can be diagnosed by one specialist or a group of psychiatrists if one doctor finds it difficult to diagnose accurate diagnosis. Initially, a conversation is held with the patient, on the basis of which a mental disorder cannot be diagnosed. Only in case of pronounced violations and deviations in behavior, one conversation is enough.

In addition, an electroencephalogram of the brain may be prescribed and several tests may be performed. diagnostic samples. The test can contain up to 200-300 questions, which the patient must answer independently.

At the same time, the patient himself may feel quite comfortable and be completely unaware that he is sick, which is why it is so important to listen to relatives, who most often initiate a visit to a psychiatrist.

The presence of visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations is a direct confirmation of a mental illness, which can be short-term in nature and caused by taking large amounts of alcoholic beverages, narcotic or psychotropic substances. Often, a mental disorder occurs due to industrial poisons, toxic substances, after exposure to radiation on the body, due to cerebral and psychotraumatic factors - all this refers to exogenous disorders and is temporary.

Endogenous mental disorders have internal factors of occurrence, for example, associated with gene diseases, chromosomal disorders, hereditary predisposition. This mental disorder is difficult to treat and can accompany a person throughout his life with short periods of remission, when enlightenment occurs, and periodic exacerbations.

Mental illness are divided into schizophrenia, mania, bipolar disorder, neuroses, psychoses, panic attacks, paranoia. In turn, each disorder is further divided into several types. If the doctor cannot accurately make a diagnosis, it is permissible to indicate that the etiology of the mental disorder has not been identified. Depending on the patient’s condition, treatment is carried out on an outpatient or inpatient basis.