Category: Psychiatry. Category: Psychiatry Scientific articles on psychiatry

Mental illness has always been a complex social phenomenon. At all times and eras, mentally ill people have not been treated with indifference. They were feared, pitied, prayed for, hated, treated, destroyed, considered messengers from other worlds. Indeed, mentally ill people never fit into the social system. Their actions were incomprehensible, their thoughts were not predictable, and the essence of mental illness was unknown in ancient times. Currently, the attitude towards patients has changed little. A statistical survey of 75 respondents unrelated to psychology and psychiatry was carried out in order to find out their emotional attitude towards the mentally ill. It turned out that 60% treat mentally ill people with fear and apprehension, about 30% with interest, and about 10% with pity. As an image of a mentally ill person, respondents offered the image of a strange, incomprehensible, potentially dangerous person. It is obvious that the image of a mentally ill person continues to be not entirely reliable. About half admitted that education in matters of psychiatry could bring positive results. Some noted that such education is similar in importance to promoting HIV/AIDS education.

What are the types of mental illnesses?? To avoid confusion, it is necessary to show the most common classification of mental disorders. Classification, in practical terms, is needed not only to systematize diseases, but also to understand treatment tactics and recommendations to relatives.

There are disorders endogenous, these are diseases that arise due to internal reasons. What exactly these reasons are, science has not yet established exactly, but it is absolutely certain that hereditary factors play a large role in their occurrence. These diseases do not depend on the situation in life, but they can clearly manifest themselves due to these situations. We've all heard that some people go permanently "crazy" because of grief; in fact, they've already had mental disorders, and stress can serve as a “nuclear button.” Such diseases include schizophrenia, endogenous depression, bipolar disorder (manic-depressive psychosis). Exogenous diseases, on the contrary, are caused external reasons– injuries and diseases of the brain (meningitis, encephalitis, brain tumors, vascular lesions), toxic effects. These are vascular dementia (mental decline), alcoholic brain damage, drug addiction and others.

Psychogenic diseases arise against the background of stress, conflicts and are caused by upbringing, the influence of the social environment and the individual-personal way of responding to difficult life circumstances. These are personal and neurotic disorders(neuroses), psychosomatic diseases, situational depressive reactions, crisis conditions. IN modern classification mental disorders are also distinguished psychotic And non-psychotic violations. The word “psychosis” is familiar to almost everyone. Psychosis- This pronounced violation perception of reality. In psychosis, delusions, hallucinations, and motor agitation most often occur, and a person cannot distinguish his painful experiences from the surrounding reality. Acute psychosis occurs in endogenous, exogenous and psychogenic diseases. Psychotic disorders include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and delusional disorder. The important thing is that even when sick with such diseases, a person will not always delirium, see hallucinations, or behave strangely. At proper treatment you can reduce the risk of psychosis to almost zero. At a non-psychotic level of mental disorders, there is an adequacy of emotional reactions, relative safety of criticism, but sensitivity to external influences, behavior changes, difficulties arise social adaptation. A striking example - neurosis. Neurosis develops as a result of a long-term, mentally traumatic situation that a person could not cope with on a healthy level, resulting in intrapersonal conflict and many symptoms - anxiety, fears, phobias, sleep disturbances, bodily manifestations (difficulty breathing, swallowing, palpitations, itching etc.)

When we come into contact with mentally ill people, we may experience fear, which may be due precisely to the fact that we have not formed an idea of ​​what needs to be done, how to act in a given situation. What to do if you see an obviously mentally ill person on the street? What if they turn out to be our relatives? What if we turned out to be sick ourselves?.. Mental illnesses manifest themselves in disorders of behavior, perception of reality, disorders of thinking, mood, intelligence, memory, as well as bodily symptoms (psychosomatics). Perception disorders. May occur in psychotic conditions (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcoholic and drug psychoses, reactive psychoses). Hallucinations are the perception of something that is not actually there in reality, while a person may believe that it really is, or may resist it. Hallucinations can be visual, auditory, tactile (bodily), and very rarely olfactory or gustatory. Hallucinations can be dangerous, especially in cases where they are of a command nature. If a person experiences hallucinations (he begins to look around, communicate with an invisible interlocutor, hide, scream, is excited, or shows aggression), it is better, if possible, to avoid contact with him, call a psychiatric ambulance team. Most often observed in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is one of the most complex mental illnesses, and this refers not only to the complexity of its treatment. This is a disorder that affects all areas of the psyche - thinking, emotional sphere, perception. Thinking disorders. Thinking is the world around us inside us. With the help of thinking, we create a picture of the world around us, and build our lives and activities on this basis. With mental disorders, the ability to adequately assess and analyze the world around us is impaired. One of the most common, striking thinking disorders is delirium. Delusions are a person’s attitudes that have nothing to do with reality and cannot be dissuaded; a person firmly believes, for example, that he is being watched (in some cases delusions may be plausible) or his wife is cheating on him, or he has the gift of prophecy, etc. d./This is how delirium differs from ordinary delusions, when a person is able to realize that he is wrong. Delusional ideas can greatly influence a person’s life, and he will build his life based on these beliefs - lock himself at home, write letters to various authorities. Delirium occurs in schizophrenia, dementia (acquired dementia), delusional disorder. If a person clearly exhibits hallucinations and delusions, then on the one hand, you need to make it clear to the patient that you understand his feelings, understand the reality of his experiences (but you yourself don’t see or hear anything). But, in no case should you share his conviction or deny this conviction, otherwise the patient may “include” you in his experiences as an enemy. You can suggest that the patient simply not pay attention to what he sees/hears/feels. It is important to seek medical help promptly.

Disorders of intelligence, memory, development. Intelligence is the ability to acquire knowledge, skills, abilities and use them. With intellectual impairments, a person loses the ability to use knowledge, navigate the world around him, and engage in various activities. Intellectual disorders can be acquired (for example, Pick's disease, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia) and congenital (mental retardation different degrees). With vascular dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, intelligence and memory suffer. Most often it affects older people, but with Pick's and Alzheimer's disease, the disease can occur at 50–60 years of age. A common mistake made by relatives of patients is the belief that noticeable memory impairment is a normal feature of older people. Some degenerative changes in older people will be normal, but if your relative begins to noticeably confuse dates, numbers, forget the names of relatives, gets lost in space - you need to immediately contact a neurologist, then a dementologist, or a psychiatrist. Almost every city has Dementia Centers. Mild intellectual impairment, on initial stages subject to correction, so it is important not to waste time. Mental retardation is an underdevelopment of the intellect, associated with the initially incorrect functioning of certain brain structures. Mental retardation is divided into mild, moderate, severe and profound. People with mental retardation are initially not like everyone else - their development is significantly delayed, they master speech later, and they do not have access to general education. school curriculum, comparatively complex species activities. However, when mild mental backwardness people are able to work in professions that do not require special training and based on a clear algorithm of actions - janitors, loaders, couriers.

Many people with mental retardation will cope well with this work - after all, they have simple, highly specific thinking (task - action). Of course, it is difficult for them to adapt to environment, but when creating it favorable conditions they can live a full life and create families. With moderate mental retardation, people adapt much worse to the environment and need care, however, they can also socialize by doing simple work. With severe and profound mental retardation, people are deeply disabled, requiring guardianship and care.

Affective and emotional disturbances. Mood is the emotional background of our life. When the mood is bad (or good), then the feeling of peace is corresponding. Mental balance, calmness, efficiency, and relationships with others depend on your mood. For mood disorders, changes in this emotional background reach such a degree that there is a persistent decrease in performance and well-being. The most known disease Among the mood disorders is depression. Depression is an extremely low, depressed mood that lasts long time(more than 14 days) with loss of interest in favorite activities, fatigue, pessimism, and low self-esteem. Decreased appetite and loss of sleep may occur. Depression can be an independent disease (endogenous depression), or it can be a reaction to severe stress or physical illness, childbirth. It is important to see a doctor; Depression is a condition that cannot be overcome by willpower. For endogenous depression, drug therapy will be most important; for reactions to stress, psychotherapy sessions are also required. Relatives of patients with depression can be given the following advice: 1) perceive the patient first of all as a person who feels bad, understand the severity of his experience, real depression is very serious condition. It is necessary to make it clear to him that depression is not forever, it will stop just as it began. Don't judge him - you will only make the situation worse. Maintain a sense of confidence in your closeness and support. 2) Spare him. Do not take a directive position, he should live the way he is used to. If he wants to do something, carefully approve it. 3) Behave naturally - don’t get excited, beware of pretense, but don’t show irritation. When joking, do not expect the patient to react to humor, especially since he may understand it as an insult. If pronounced apathy (indifference to the world around you) and alienation manifests itself, then it is best to try to evoke any feelings by everyone accessible ways. But be careful here - it’s better to consult your doctor.

To others frequent violations should be attributed to emotional and phobic disorders of the neurotic spectrum. Anxiety is a feeling of prolonged, uncertain, causeless anxiety with different bodily sensations - palpitations, hot flashes, dry mouth, etc. Sleep is disturbed and strong emotional stress arises. An acute, sudden-onset, severe, high-intensity anxiety state is panic attack with a pronounced fear of death, fear for one’s health, and terrible forebodings. Obligatory symptoms are somatic (bodily) manifestations - feelings of suffocation, palpitations, nausea. Other frequent disorder- phobia - recurring, uncontrollable fear certain situation or phenomena. The most common and significant are the fear of open spaces (agoraphobia), the fear of communicating with people, and people’s evaluation of their actions. People suffering from these phobias cannot live a full life. ordinary person, are not able to calmly study, work, enjoy life - it is possible to hide only by sitting at home, which is what these people do - after all, one of them characteristic features phobias are avoidant behavior. With schizophrenia, emotional disturbances also occur, which manifests itself in alienation, smoothness of emotions, lack of their brightness, as well as inadequacy of emotional responses (a schizophrenic may cry over a killed animal, and be indifferent to the death of a person) People suffering from anxiety and phobic disorders need the help of a doctor a psychotherapist in order to learn adequate behavior in problematic situations, teach a person to manage his emotions (relaxation techniques, etc.) in order to ultimately overcome fears. It is very important to overcome problems in communication and work activity.

Behavioral disorders. Such disorders can be understood as a pathological, deviating violation of socially acceptable ways of behavior both in relation to others (aggression) and in relation to oneself (suicide, self-harmful behavior). With alcoholism and drug addiction, both the environment and the person himself suffer. Behavioral disorders are often observed with personality disorders (psychopathy) - persistent personal qualities that run counter to social norms, manifesting itself in all spheres of life and leading to disruption of adaptation. Exists different types Personality disorders and behavioral disorders for each type have their own characteristics. Personality disorders can be antisocial in nature, possibly aggressive behavior, and a tendency toward addiction, which is based on emotional instability and temper. Avoidant, dependent, suspicious (paranoid), aloof, and withdrawn behavior may be present. Regardless of the type of personality disorder, these disorders lead to the fact that it is very difficult for a person to live in society, because he is guided not by rules and laws, but by habitual behavior.

Particularly socially significant behavioral disorder - suicide, because its frequency is inevitably growing. Suicide is common in different strata of society, different age groups, happen by various reasons– career collapse, death loved one, loneliness, serious illness. Separately, we can consider teenage suicides as one of the most problematic in terms of prognosis and causes. Here, more than ever, crisis psychotherapeutic intervention is important, with mandatory referral to a psychoneurological clinic. First aid for potential suicide (these recommendations will also be useful to loved ones) is a conversation about intentions, without avoiding this topic, without judgment and the desire to convince. It is necessary to develop a joint decision on further actions, to solve the problem that led to suicide, to look for alternative options solutions to these problems, to help the person cope with a powerful mass of problems (“cognitive chaos”), and to try to “pull” the person out of thoughts of suicide, to do everything so that he postpones its implementation. At the same time, you cannot argue about the meaning of life, prove the wrongness of his actions, persuade him to commit suicide - this will only worsen the contact. The main advice is to be close, not to leave the person, to talk about his problems, and not to reduce their importance. Build his trust, bring him into a frank conversation - about desires, thoughts, understand his feelings of despair.

Psychosomatic disorders. These diseases, unlike others, manifest themselves at the bodily level, but arise due to psychological problems, intrapersonal conflicts. They may appear as functional discomfort, pain, nausea, vomiting, paralysis, blindness without changes in the body and can imitate any pathology. But mental conflicts also lead to true psychosomatic diseases, and they will already be reflected at the level of the body ( hypertension, bronchial asthma etc.). When treating psychosomatic diseases, it is necessary to work with a psychotherapist, change lifestyle, and resolve the psychological conflict that led to psychosomatic pathology.

As you can see, there is a great variety of mental disorders, and only the main ones are described here. possible violations. They happen different intensity, severity, and not all pose a danger to others, and almost all diseases are subject to treatment, correction... Whatever the manifestations of mental disorders (impaired perception, thinking, behavior), they will decrease or completely disappear when the underlying disease is cured. For example, when proper therapy schizophrenia, the risk of psychosis is reduced to an absolute minimum. With proper and timely treatment for dementia, intelligence can improve significantly. Timely seeking help will help you fully recover from depression and neuroses. If your loved one has a mental disorder, then you need to register him with the city psychiatric clinic, if important issues bring the patient to an appointment; if the patient is unable to move, invite a local psychiatrist to the home. If the situation is acute, call the psychiatric team of the joint venture. It is important for patients to attend art therapy groups and communication skills training.

Translation Latin word alucinatio means “meaningless chatter, pipe dreams, nonsense.” People call this concept hallucinations. Hallucinations This term was first coined in the early 19th century and is still used today. However, hallucinations are not an image that appears in the mind during severe irritation. They are more likely to occur with certain severe fatigue, exposure to psychotropic substances, and certain mental illnesses. Our brain simply shows images that actually do not exist, and we do not see them in reality, they exist only in our imagination at the moment. Many people have experienced hallucinations famous personalities, scientists and artists. Hallucinations among geniuses can serve as an impetus for new discoveries or the creation of masterpieces. Maupassant, Yesenin, Chopin, Gogol, Swift experienced similar drying. But ultimately, frequent hallucinations destroy the brain and lead to degradation.

Dementia of the acquired form is scientifically called dementia from the Latin word dementia, that is, madness. This property of the body is not innate, it is acquired over the course of life. This disease is expressed in the loss of brain functions, which, in fact, makes a living person a unique person, an individual. Unlike mental retardation or congenital dementia, dementia is a breakdown of mental functions that occurs in the process of brain damage. This occurs most often in old age. Popularly, this concept is also called senile insanity.

It will not be nonsense for anyone that psychiatry is the most mysterious and multifaceted of the medical sciences.

« Psychiatry" - word German origin with Greek overtones, literally translated as “soul and healing.” This is a field of knowledge that deals with the study of mental disorders, methods of their diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Most people suffering from mental disorders require constant monitoring in special medical institution, since they pose a danger to themselves and others. All psychiatric diseases can be divided into several types. However, diagnosis is extremely subjective and varied, since there are still no 100% devices in the world that can help make a diagnosis clearly and without question. To simplify the processes of treatment and adaptation of a mentally ill patient, such a division of the course of the disease as nosological (etiopathogenetic, scientific and clinical) and pragmatic (statistical) is provided. It is always worth remembering that the causes of the disease in psychiatry have not been fully studied and established. In some cases, this may be inherited, which can also be carried out by male or female female line. In some cases it is acquired, for example with a traumatic brain injury or prolonged delirium. Or emergency, which shook the spiritual position. Unfortunately, there are limitless factors influencing the causes of its occurrence. For each case, the psychiatrist prescribes individual treatment, often these are psychotropic medications.

TO mental illness include schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, psychosomatic disorders, mental retardation, psychosis, alcoholism, etc. The main tasks of psychiatry are to determine the pattern of disturbances in activity, prepare and predict the future picture, and analytically perceive the situation by analyzing the medical history using the “was-and-has-been” method.

A separate fragment of psychiatry can be identified as children's, which in turn is divided into therapeutic-pedagogical, psychological and clinical-psychopathological.

The term " psychiatry“The majority of people compare it with the terms “subconscious”, “spirituality”; this is one of the most intangible sciences, since it cannot be touched or felt.

Much to our chagrin, there is now an increase in people suffering from mental disorders or diseases. Of course, the factors and reasons are not decreasing every year, but still, what serves as the lever for the fact that so many people are subject to a modified perception of reality? Perhaps it’s television and the Internet, the easy availability of drugs and alcohol, nevertheless people began to live in a fictitious reality, often losing themselves.

Psychology and psychiatry are sciences. Now everyone agrees with this statement and confirmation of which can be found in medical articles on psychology and psychiatry leading experts in this field. And, like any sciences, psychology and psychiatry have their own subjects of research. What is this item?

Psychology is a science that studies psychic phenomena humans and animals. This means that its subject is mental phenomena.

Psychiatry studies pronounced deviations from the norm of mental phenomena in humans.

But this answer is not worthy for a student who will answer this question during the session. Therefore, let's take a closer look at what these notorious mental phenomena are? First of all, you need to start with full definition, which, despite its boringness, every student who wants to get an A in the exam needs to know.

So, if you read medical articles on psychiatry and psychology, you can find out that the subject of these sciences is the psyche of people and animals as a form of reflection of objective reality, which is expressed on the basis of the formation and development of various kinds of impulses and the ability to respond to them or resist them (typical only the human psyche).

What are the main differences between the human psyche and animals? By turning to psychiatric and psychological medical articles, you can find out that, first of all, this is the ability to go against your desires, to put it simply. In scientific terms, the human psyche has a sociocultural character. That is, a person reflects the world in many ways as society dictates to him and how he can resist this pressure.

The psyche is a mediator between us and the world, that is, subjective and objective. What is the difference between subjective and objective? To do this, you need to turn to psychological and psychiatric medical articles, from which it is easy to find out that the subjective comes from the subject, in our case, a person. The objective exists regardless of how it reflects the world. These are open and undiscovered laws of the existence of the world and things that objectively exist in it.

After reading articles on psychology and psychiatry, it becomes clear that their subject is very large-scale. This leads to the fact that within the framework of the subject of psychology and psychiatry, many theories are identified that explain certain mental phenomena. By the way, what is this? These are special functional formations, which are aimed at reflecting objective reality by the psyche.

In total, according to articles on psychiatry and psychology, three classes of such phenomena are distinguished:

1. Mental processes are dynamic, developing phenomena that reflect the world through the prism of their own content, but in connection with other processes.
2. Mental states are spontaneously or consciously caused mental phenomena that affect the psyche’s reflection of the world at a given moment. They are characterized by changeability.
3. Mental properties - articles of a psychological orientation claim that this is a unique complex of biological, social and personal traits for each person that influence the psyche’s reflection of the surrounding reality.

So we have listed the main points concerning the psychological sciences and their subject. For further self-development in this direction, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the medical articles on psychology and psychiatry already available on our website and follow this constantly expanding section.