The etiology of mental pathology is varied, but mostly the causes remain unknown. Quite often, the cause of pathological changes in the patient’s psyche are various infectious diseases, which can directly affect the brain (for example, meningitis, encephalitis) or the effect will manifest itself as a result of brain intoxication or secondary infection (infection comes to the brain from other organs and systems).
Also, the cause of such disorders can be various influences chemical substances, these substances may be some medications, and food components, and industrial poisons.
Damages to other organs and systems (for example, the endocrine system, vitamin deficiencies, exhaustion) cause the development of psychoses.
Also, as a result of various traumatic brain injuries, transient, long-term and chronic mental disorders, sometimes quite severe, can occur. Brain oncology and other severe pathologies are almost always accompanied by one or another mental disorder.
In addition, various defects and anomalies in the structure of the brain, changes in the functioning of the higher nervous activity often go along with mental disorders. Strong mental shocks sometimes cause the development of psychosis, but not as often as some people think.
Toxic substances are another cause of mental disorders (alcohol, drugs, heavy metals and other chemicals). Everything listed above, all these harmful factors, under some conditions can cause a mental disorder, under other conditions - only contribute to the occurrence of the disease or its exacerbation.
Also, family history increases the risk of developing mental illness, but not always. For example, some kind of mental pathology may appear if it occurred in previous generations, but it can also appear if it never existed. The influence of hereditary factors on development mental pathology remains far from being studied.
Main symptoms of mental illnesses.
There are a lot of signs of mental illness, they are inexhaustible and extremely diverse. Let's look at the main ones.
Sensopathies are disorders of sensory cognition (perception, sensation, ideas). These include
hyperesthesia (when the susceptibility of ordinary external stimuli increases, which are normally neutral, for example, blinding by the most ordinary daylight) often develops before some forms of clouding of consciousness;
hypoesthesia (the opposite of the previous one, decreased sensitivity to external stimuli, for example, surrounding objects look faded);
senestopathy (various, very discomfort: tightening, burning, pressure, tearing, transfusion and others, emanating from different parts of the body);
hallucinations (when a person perceives something that is not really there), they can be visual (visions), auditory (divided into acoasms, when a person hears different sounds, but not words and speech, and phonemes - accordingly, he hears words, conversations; commentary - the voice expresses opinions about all the actions of the patient, imperative - the voice orders actions), olfactory (when the patient feels a variety of odors, often unpleasant), gustatory (usually together with olfactory, a sensation of taste that does not correspond to the food or drink that he takes, also more often unpleasant in nature), tactile (the feeling of insects, worms crawling over the body, the appearance of some objects on the body or under the skin), visceral (when the patient feels the obvious presence of foreign objects or living beings in the body cavities), complex (the simultaneous existence of several types of hallucinations );
pseudohallucinations, they also come in a variety of forms, but unlike true hallucinations, they are not compared with real objects and phenomena; patients in this case talk about special voices, special visions, mental images that are different from real ones;
hypnagogic hallucinations (visions that occur involuntarily while falling asleep, when the eyes are closed, in a dark field of vision);
illusions (false perception of real things or phenomena) are divided into affective (more often occurring in the presence of fear, anxious and depressed mood), verbal (false perception of the content of a really ongoing conversation), pareidolic (for example, instead of patterns on wallpaper, fantastic monsters are perceived);
functional hallucinations (appear only in the presence of an external stimulus and, without merging, coexist with it until its effect ceases); metamorphopsia (changes in the sense of size or shape of perceived objects and space);
Body schema disorder (changes in the sense of the shape and size of your body). Emotional symptoms include: euphoria (very good mood with increased drives), dysthymia (the opposite of euphoria, deep sadness, despondency, melancholy, a dark and vague feeling of deep unhappiness, usually accompanied by various physical painful sensations - depression of well-being), dysphoria (dissatisfied, melancholy-angry mood, often mixed with fear), emotional weakness (pronounced change in mood, sharp fluctuations from high to low, where the increase usually has a tinge of sentimentality, and the decrease - tearfulness), apathy (complete indifference, indifference to everything around you and your situation, thoughtlessness).
A disorder of the thought process, which includes: acceleration of the thought process (increase in the number of diverse thoughts formed in each given period of time), inhibition of the thought process, incoherence of thinking (loss of the ability to make the most basic generalizations), thoroughness of thinking (the formation of new associations is extremely slowed down due to prolonged dominance of previous ones), perseveration of thinking (long-term dominance, with a general, pronounced difficulty in the thought process, of any one thought, one idea).
A delusion, an idea, is considered delusional if it does not correspond to reality, reflects it distortedly, and if it completely takes over consciousness, remains, despite the presence of an obvious contradiction with real reality, inaccessible to correction. It is divided into primary (intellectual) delusions (initially occurring as the only sign of the disorder mental activity, spontaneously), sensory (figurative) delirium (not only rational, but also sensory cognition is disrupted), affective delirium (figurative, always arises along with emotional disorders), overvalued ideas (judgments that usually arise as a result of real, real circumstances, but then they subsequently occupy a meaning that does not correspond to their position in consciousness).
Obsessive phenomena, their essence lies in the involuntary, irresistible emergence of thoughts, unpleasant memories, various doubts, fears, aspirations, actions, movements in patients with awareness of their painfulness and a critical attitude towards them, which is how they differ from delirium. These include abstract obsession (counting, remembering names, surnames, terms, definitions, etc.), figurative obsession (obsessive memories, obsessive feeling of antipathy, obsessive desires, obsessive fear - phobia, rituals). Impulsive phenomena, actions (occur without internal struggle, without control of consciousness), desires (dipsomania - binge drinking, desire for drunkenness, dromomania - desire to move, kleptomania - passion for theft, pyromania - desire for arson).
Disorders of self-awareness, these include depersonalization, derealization, and confusion.
Memory disorders, dysmnesia (weakened memory), amnesia (lack of memory), paramnesia (memory deceptions). Sleep disorders, sleep disorders, awakening disorders, loss of the sense of sleep (when patients wake up, they do not consider that they have slept), sleep duration disturbances, intermittent sleep, sleepwalking (performing a number of sequential actions in a state of deep sleep - getting out of bed, moving around the apartment, putting on clothes and others simple steps), changes in the depth of sleep, disturbances in dreams, in general, some scientists believe that a dream is always an abnormal fact, just as every dream is a deception (consciousness is deceived by treating the product of fantasy as reality), with normal (ideal) sleep there is no place for dreams; distortion of the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.
Study of the mentally ill.
Clinical psychiatric research is carried out by questioning patients, collecting subjective (from the patient) and objective (from relatives and friends) anamnesis and observation. Questioning is the main method of psychiatric research, since the vast majority of the above symptoms are established only through communication between the doctor and the patient, and the patient’s statements.
In all mental illnesses, as long as the patient retains the ability to speak, questioning is the main part of the investigation. The success of research by questioning depends not only on the knowledge of the doctor, but also on the ability to question.
Questioning is inseparable from observation. While questioning the patient, the doctor observes him, and while observing, asks questions that arise in connection with this. To correctly diagnose the disease, you need to monitor the patient’s facial expression, the intonation of his voice, and note all the patient’s movements.
When collecting anamnesis, you need to pay attention to the hereditary burden of the parents, the state of health, illness, injuries of the patient’s mother during pregnancy, and how the birth proceeded. To establish the characteristics of the patient’s mental and physical development in childhood. Additional material for psychiatric research in some patients is a self-description of their illness, letters, drawings and other types of creativity during it.
Along with psychiatric research with mental disorders A neurological examination is required. This is necessary in order to exclude gross organic brain damage. For the same reason, it is necessary to conduct a general somatic examination of the patient to identify diseases of other organs and systems; for this it is also necessary to conduct a laboratory test of blood, urine, and, if necessary, sputum, feces, gastric juice and another.
In case of mental disorders arising from gross organic lesions of the brain, a study of the cerebrospinal fluid is necessary. Other methods include X-ray (skull x-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging), electroencephalography.
Laboratory research of higher nervous activity is necessary to establish the nature of the disorder of basic brain processes, the relationship of signaling systems, the cortex and subcortex, and various analyzers in mental illness.
Psychological research is needed to investigate the nature of the change individual processes mental activity in various mental illnesses. A pathological examination in the event of a patient’s death is mandatory in order to identify the cause of the disease and death and verify the diagnosis.
Prevention of mental illness.
TO preventive measures include timely and correct diagnosis and treatment of non-mental diseases (general somatic and infectious) that can lead to mental disorders. This should include measures to prevent injuries, poisoning by various chemical compounds. During some serious mental upheaval, a person should not be left alone; he needs the help of a specialist (psychotherapist, psychologist) or people close to him.
Mental disorders and behavioral disorders according to ICD-10
Organic, including symptomatic mental disorders
Mental and behavioral disorders associated with use psychoactive substances
Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders
Mood disorders [affective disorders]
Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders
Behavioral syndromes associated with physiological disorders and physical factors
Personality and behavior disorders in mature age
Mental retardation
Disorders psychological development
Emotional and behavioral disorders that usually begin in childhood and adolescence
Mental disorder not otherwise specified
More about mental disorders:
Mental disorder is a very frightening phrase that every person is afraid to hear addressed to them. In fact, this term has very wide boundaries; a mental diagnosis is not always a death sentence. In different contexts (legal, psychiatric, psychological) this concept is interpreted differently. In the ICD-10 list, mental and behavioral disorders are identified as a separate class of diseases and differ according to the clinical picture. The peculiarities of the human psyche have always aroused keen interest among doctors and scientists, especially from the point of view of the border between normality and pathology. World organization health care says that every fifth person on the planet suffers from various mental disorders.
What types of mental disorders are there? What causes mental disorders?
Etiological differences The human psyche and brain are so complex that it is still not possible to clearly identify all the causes of mental disorders. The most correct opinion is that such diseases develop due to the complex influence of social, personal and biological reasons. All provoking factors can be divided into two large categories : endogenous (internal) and exogenous (external). Mental disorders of an endogenous nature in to a greater extent associated with genes and heredity. The onset of such diseases usually occurs suddenly, without any obvious environmental influences. Exogenous factors include various neuroinfections, stressful situations, intoxication, psychological trauma received in the process of personality formation. Mental disorders due to brain injuries or vascular disorders are also a consequence of the influence of external causes.
Sometimes it happens that the mere tendency to certain mental illnesses does not guarantee their occurrence. However, it is various external factors and mental characteristics that can ultimately work as a trigger.
The article provides an overview of the symptoms and syndromes of mental disorders, including the features of their manifestation in children, adolescents, the elderly, men and women. Some methods and remedies used in traditional and alternative medicine to treat such diseases are mentioned.
Syndromes and signs
Asthenic syndrome A painful condition also called asthenia, neuropsychiatric weakness or syndrome chronic fatigue
, manifested by increased fatigue and exhaustion. Patients experience a weakening or complete loss of the ability to perform any prolonged physical and mental stress.
The development of asthenic syndrome can lead to: Asthenic syndrome can be observed both at the initial stage of disease development internal organs
, and occur after an acute illness. Asthenia often accompanies chronic illness
, being one of its manifestations. Chronic fatigue syndrome occurs more often in people with unbalanced or weak type
higher nervous activity.
- The presence of asthenia is indicated by the following signs:
- prevalence of low mood;
- sleep disorders;
- intolerance to bright light, noise and strong odors;
- headache;
- weather dependent.
Manifestations of neuropsychic weakness are determined by the underlying disease. For example, with atherosclerosis, severe memory impairment is observed, with hypertension - painful sensations in the heart area and headaches.
Obsessiveness
The term “obsession” (obsessive state, compulsion) is used to refer to a set of symptoms associated with periodically occurring intrusive unwanted thoughts, ideas, and ideas. 
An individual who fixates on such thoughts, which usually cause negative emotions or a stressful condition, it is difficult to get rid of them. This syndrome can manifest itself in the form of obsessive fears, thoughts and images, the desire to get rid of which often leads to the performance of special “rituals” - copulsions.
Psychiatrists have identified several distinctive signs of obsessive states:
- Obsessive thoughts are reproduced by the consciousness arbitrarily (against the will of the person), while the consciousness remains clear. The patient tries to fight obsession.
- Obsessions are alien to thinking; there is no visible connection between obsessive thoughts and the content of thinking.
- Obsession is closely related to emotions, often depressive in nature, and anxiety.
- Obsessions do not affect intellectual abilities.
- The patient realizes the unnaturalness of obsessive thoughts and maintains a critical attitude towards them.
Affective syndrome
Affective syndromes are called symptom complexes mental disorders, closely associated with mood disorders. 
There are two groups of affective syndromes:
- With a predominance of manic (elevated) mood
- With a predominance of depressive (low) mood.
In the clinical picture of affective syndromes, the leading role belongs to disorders emotional sphere- from small mood swings to quite pronounced mood disorders (affects).
By nature, all affects are divided into sthenic, which occur with a predominance of excitement (delight, joy), and asthenic, which occur with a predominance of inhibition (melancholy, fear, sadness, despair).
Affective syndromes are observed in many diseases: with circular psychosis and schizophrenia they are the only manifestations of the disease, with progressive paralysis, syphilis, brain tumors, vascular psychoses - its initial manifestations.
Affective syndromes are disorders such as depression, dysphoria, euphoria, mania. 
Depression is a fairly common mental disorder that requires special attention, since 50% of people who attempt suicide show signs of this mental disorder.
Characteristic features of depression:
- low mood;
- pessimistic attitude to reality, negative judgments;
- motor and volitional inhibition;
- inhibition of instinctive activity (loss of appetite or, conversely, a tendency to overeat, decreased sexual desire);
- focus on painful experiences and difficulties in concentrating;
- decreased self-esteem.
Dysphoria, or mood disorders, which are characterized by an angry-sad, intense affect with irritability leading to outbursts of anger and aggressiveness, are characteristic of psychopaths of the excitable type and alcoholics.
Dysphoria often occurs in epilepsy and organic diseases of the central nervous system.
Euphoria, or high spirits with a hint of carelessness and contentment, not accompanied by acceleration of associative processes, is found in the clinic of atherosclerosis, progressive paralysis, and brain injury.
Mania
Psychopathological syndrome, which is characterized by a triad of symptoms:
- unmotivated high mood,
- acceleration of thinking and speech,
- motor excitement.
There are signs that do not appear in all cases of manic syndrome:
- increased instinctive activity (increased appetite, sexual desire, self-protective tendencies),
- instability of attention and overestimation of oneself as an individual, sometimes reaching delusional ideas of greatness.
A similar condition can occur with schizophrenia, intoxication, infections, injuries, brain damage and other diseases.
Senesthopathy
The term “senesthopathy” defines a suddenly appearing painful, extremely unpleasant bodily sensation.
This sensation, devoid of objectivity, occurs at the site of localization, although there is no objective pathological process in it.
Senestopathies are common symptoms of mental disorders, as well as structural components of depressive syndrome, hypochondriacal delirium, and mental automatism syndrome.
Hypochondriacal syndrome
Hypochondria (hypochondriacal disorder) is a condition characterized by constant anxiety about the possibility of getting sick, complaints, concern for one’s well-being, the perception of ordinary sensations as abnormal, assumptions about the presence, in addition to the main disease, of some additional disease. 
Most often, concerns arise about the heart, gastrointestinal tract, genitals and brain. Pathological attention can lead to certain malfunctions in the functioning of the body.
Certain personality traits contribute to the development of hypochondria: suspiciousness, anxiety, depression.
Illusion
Illusions are distorted perceptions in which a really existing object or phenomenon is not recognized, but another image is perceived instead.
There are the following types of illusions:
- Physical, including optical, acoustic
- Physiological;
- Affective;
- Verbal, etc.
Metamorphopsia (organic), physical and physiological illusions may occur in people whose mental health no doubt. A patient with optical illusions may perceive a raincoat hanging on a hanger as a lurking killer, stains on bed linen seem to be beetles, a belt on the back of a chair seems like a snake. 
With acoustic illusions, the patient distinguishes threats addressed to himself in an overheard conversation, and perceives the remarks of passers-by as accusations and insults addressed to him.
Most often, illusions are observed in infectious and intoxicating diseases, but can occur in other painful conditions.
Fear, fatigue, anxiety, exhaustion, as well as distortion of perception due to poor lighting, noise, decreased hearing and visual acuity predispose to the occurrence of illusions.
Hallucination
An image that appears in consciousness without a stimulus is called a hallucination. In other words, this is an error, an error in the perception of the senses, when a person sees, hears, feels something that does not really exist.
Conditions under which hallucinations occur:
There are true, functional and other types of hallucinations. True hallucinations are usually classified according to analyzers: visual, acoustic, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, somatic, motor, vestibular, complex.
Delusional disorders
Delusional disorder is a condition characterized by the presence of delusions - a disorder of thinking, accompanied by the emergence of reasoning, ideas and conclusions that are far from reality.
There are three groups of delusional states, united by a common content:
Catatonic syndromes
Catatonic syndrome belongs to the group of psychopathological syndromes, the main clinical manifestation which are movement disorders.
The structure of this syndrome is:
- Catatonic excitement (pathetic, impulsive, silent).
- Catatonic stupor (cataleptic, negativistic, stupor with numbness).
Depending on the form of excitation, the patient may experience moderate or pronounced motor and speech activity.
Extreme degree of excitement - chaotic, senseless actions of an aggressive nature, causing severe damage to oneself and others.
The state of catatonic stupor is characterized by motor retardation and silence. The patient may be in a constrained state for a long time - up to several months.
Diseases in which manifestations of catatonic syndromes are possible: schizophrenia, infectious, organic and other psychoses.
Blackout
Twilight disorder (stupidity) of consciousness is one of the types of disturbances of consciousness that occurs suddenly and is manifested by the patient’s inability to navigate the world around him.
At the same time, the ability to perform remains unchanged habitual actions, speech and motor agitation, affects of fear, anger and melancholy are observed.
Acute delusions of persecution and predominantly visual hallucinations of a frightening nature may occur. Delusional ideas of persecution and grandeur become determining factors in the behavior of the patient, who can commit destructive, aggressive actions.
Twilight stupefaction is characterized by amnesia - complete forgetting of the period of the disorder. This condition is observed in epilepsy and organic lesions of the cerebral hemispheres. Less common in traumatic brain injury and hysteria.
Dementia
The term “dementia” is used to denote an irreversible impoverishment of mental activity with a loss or decrease in the knowledge and skills acquired before the onset of this state and the inability to acquire new ones. Dementia occurs as a result of past illnesses. 
According to the degree of severity, they are distinguished:
- Complete (total), which arose with progressive paralysis, Pick's disease.
- Partial dementia(at vascular diseases central nervous system, consequences of traumatic brain injury, chronic alcoholism).
With complete dementia There are profound impairments in criticism, memory, judgment, unproductive thinking, the disappearance of individual character traits previously inherent in the patient, as well as a carefree mood.
With partial dementia There is a moderate decrease in criticism, memory, and judgment. Low mood with irritability, tearfulness, and fatigue predominates.
Video: Growth of mental illnesses in Russia
Symptoms of mental disorder
Among women. There is an increased risk of developing mental disorders in the premenstrual period, during and after pregnancy, during middle age and aging. Eating disorders, affective disorders, including postpartum, depression.
In men. Mental disorders occur more often than in women. Traumatic and alcoholic psychoses.
In children. One of the most common disorders is attention deficit disorder. Symptoms include problems with long-term concentration, hyperactivity, and poor impulse control.
In teenagers. Eating disorders are common. School phobias, hyperactivity syndrome, and anxiety disorders are observed.
In the elderly. Mental illness are detected more often than in young and middle-aged people. Symptoms of dementia, depression, psychogenic-neurotic disorders.
Video: Panic attacks
Treatment and prevention
In the treatment of asthenic syndrome The main efforts are directed towards eliminating the cause that led to the disease. General strengthening therapy is carried out, including taking vitamins and glucose, proper organization of work and rest, restoring sleep, good nutrition, dosed physical activity, and prescribing medications: nootropics, antidepressants, sedatives, anabolic steroids.
Treatment of obsessive disorders is carried out by eliminating the causes that injure the patient, as well as by influencing the pathophysiological links in the brain.
Therapy for affective states begins with establishing supervision and referring the patient to a specialist. Depressed patients who are capable of making a suicide attempt are subject to hospitalization.
When prescribing drug therapy, the characteristics of the patient’s condition are taken into account. For example, for depression, which is a phase of circular psychosis, they use psychotropic drugs, and in the presence of anxiety, combined treatment with antidepressants and antipsychotics is prescribed.
Acute mental disorder in the form of a manic state is an indication for hospitalization, which is necessary to protect others from the inappropriate actions of a sick person. Antipsychotics are used to treat such patients.
Since delirium is a symptom of brain damage, it is treated with pharmacotherapy and biological methods impact.
For the treatment of hypochondria It is recommended to use psychotherapeutic techniques. In cases where psychotherapy is ineffective, measures are taken to reduce the significance of hypochondriacal fears. For most cases of hypochondria, drug therapy is excluded.
Folk remedies
List of tools used traditional healers for the treatment of depression, includes:
- pollen,
- bananas,
- carrot,
- tinctures of ginseng roots and Manchurian aralia,
- infusions of angelica and bird knotweed,
- peppermint leaf decoction,
- baths with infusion of poplar leaves.
In the arsenal of tools traditional medicine There are many tips and recipes to help get rid of sleep disorders and a number of other symptoms of mental disorders.
Refers to a large number various pathological conditions. The appearance, course and outcome of a particular disorder largely depends on the influence of internal and external factors. To understand the essence of the disease - a mental disorder, it is necessary to consider the main signs of pathologies. Further in the article the most popular syndromes will be presented, their clinical picture will be described, and characteristics will be given.
General information
Psychiatry studies this category. Diagnoses are made based on various factors. The study, as a rule, begins with a presentation of the general pathological condition. Private psychiatry is then explored. Diagnoses are made after a thorough examination of the patient and identification of the causes that provoked the condition. Based on these data, the necessary treatment method is selected.
Pathology groups
The importance of endogenous (internal) and exogenous (external) factors is important. It is different for certain violations. On the basis of this, in fact, the classification of mental disorders is carried out. Thus, two broad groups of pathologies are distinguished - endogenous and exogenous. The latter should include disorders provoked by psychogenic factors, exogenous-organic brain damage (vascular, traumatic, infectious), somatic pathologies. Schizophrenia and mental retardation are endogenous mental disorders. The list of these pathologies can also be continued with affective states, senesopathies, and hypochondria.
Separation by etiology
Separation by clinical manifestations
Depending on the nature of a particular symptom of a mental disorder, it is classified into one of the existing categories. In particular, neuroses are distinguished. Neurotic is a mental disorder that does not exclude sanity. They are closer to normal states and sensations. They are also referred to as borderline mental disorders. This means that their manifestations can be controlled without the use of radical methods. There is also a group of psychoses. These include pathologies accompanied by severe thinking disorders, delusions, changes in perception, severe inhibition or agitation, hallucinations, inappropriate behavior, and so on. In this case, the patient is not able to distinguish his experiences from reality. Next, we will consider some features of mental disorders of various types.
Syndromes and signs
This is a fairly common condition. The main symptom of a mental disorder is increased fatigue. A person feels a decrease in performance, internal exhaustion. People with mental disorders may behave differently. With asthenia, for example, they are characterized by impressionability, instability of mood, tearfulness, and sentimentality. Such people are very easily moved, they can quickly lose their composure over little things. Asthenia itself can act as a symptom of a mental disorder, which, in turn, accompanies conditions after severe infectious lesions, operations, and so on.
Obsessions
These include conditions in which, against the will, some fears, thoughts, doubts appear. People with mental disorders of this type accept all these manifestations as their own. Patients cannot get rid of them, despite a rather critical attitude towards them. Doubt is the most common symptom of this type of mental disorder. So, a person can check several times whether he has turned off the light or closed the door. At the same time, moving away from home, he again feels these doubts. As for obsessive fears - phobias, these are quite common fears of heights, open space or enclosed spaces. In some cases, in order to calm down a little, relieve internal tension and anxiety, people perform certain actions - “rituals”. For example, a person who is afraid of all kinds of pollution may wash his hands several times or sit in the bathroom for hours. If something distracts him during the process, he will start the procedure again.
Affective states
They are quite common. Such conditions manifest themselves in a persistent change in mood, usually a decrease in mood - depression. Often, affective states are noted in the initial stages of mental illness. Their manifestations can be observed throughout the pathology. At the same time, they often become more complicated, accompanying acute mental disorders.
Depression
The main symptoms of this condition are considered to be deterioration in mood, the appearance of a feeling of depression, melancholy, and oppression. In some cases, a person may physically feel chest pain or heaviness. This condition is extremely painful. It is accompanied by a decrease in mental activity. A person in this state does not immediately answer questions and gives monosyllabic, short answers. He speaks quietly and slowly. Very often, people with depression note that it is somewhat difficult for them to understand the essence of a question or text, and complain of memory deterioration. They have difficulty making decisions and have difficulty switching from one type of activity to another. People may experience lethargy, weakness, and talk about fatigue. Their movements are constrained and slow. In addition to the listed symptoms, depression is accompanied by feelings of guilt, sinfulness, despair, and hopelessness. This is quite often accompanied by suicide attempts. Some relief of well-being may occur in the evening. As for sleep, with depression it is superficial, with early awakening, with disturbing dreams, and intermittent. The state of depression may be accompanied by tachycardia, sweating, feelings of cold, heat, constipation, and weight loss.
Mania
Manic states are manifested by an acceleration of the pace of mental activity. A person has a huge number of thoughts, desires, various plans, ideas increased self-esteem. In this condition, as during depression, sleep disturbances are noted. People with manic mental disorders sleep very little, but a short period of time is enough for them to feel rested and alert. With mild mania, a person feels uplifted creative power, enhancing intellectual productivity, increasing tone and performance. He can sleep very little and work a lot. If the condition progresses and becomes more severe, then these symptoms are accompanied by poor concentration, distractibility and, as a result, decreased productivity.
Synestopathies
These conditions are characterized by very different and unusual sensations in the body. In particular, it may be burning, tingling, tightening, twisting, and so on. All these manifestations are in no way related to pathologies of internal organs. When describing such sensations, patients often use their own definitions: “there was a rustling under the ribs,” “it seemed like the head was coming off,” and so on.
Hypochondriacal syndrome
It is characterized by a persistent preoccupation with one's own health. A person is haunted by thoughts of having a very serious, progressive and probably incurable disease. Patients present somatic complaints, presenting ordinary or normal sensations as manifestations of pathology. Despite doctors’ dissuadings and negative test results, people regularly visit specialists and insist on conducting additional, more in-depth studies. Often, hypochondriacal conditions appear against the background of depression.
Illusions
When they appear, a person begins to perceive objects in an erroneous - altered form. Illusions can accompany a person with normal mental state. For example, a change in an object can be observed if it is placed in water. As for the pathological condition, illusions can appear under the influence of fear or anxiety. For example, in a forest at night, a person may perceive trees as monsters.
Hallucinations
They act as a persistent symptom of many mental disorders. Hallucinations can be auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, visual, muscular, and so on. Often there is a combination of them. For example, a person can not only see strangers indoors, but also to hear their conversation. Patients call verbal hallucinations “voices.” They may have different content. For example, it could be simply calling a person by name or entire sentences, dialogues or monologues. In some cases, the “voices” are imperative. They are called A person can hear orders to kill, remain silent, or harm himself. Such conditions are dangerous not only for the patient himself, but also for those around him. Visual hallucinations can be objective or elementary (in the form of sparks, for example). In some cases, the patient can see entire scenes. Olfactory hallucinations represent a sensation of an unpleasant odor (rotting, some food, decay), less often pleasant or unfamiliar.
Rave
This disorder, according to many experts, is one of the main signs of psychosis. It is quite difficult to define what nonsense is. The conclusions of doctors when assessing the patient’s condition are quite contradictory. There are a number of signs of a delusional state. First of all, it always appears on a painful basis. Delusion cannot be dissuaded or corrected from the outside, despite a fairly clear contradiction with reality. A person is absolutely convinced of the truthfulness of his thoughts. Delusions are based on erroneous judgments, incorrect conclusions, false belief. These thoughts are of great significance for the patient, and therefore, to one degree or another, determine his behavior and actions. Delusions may be associated with:
Delusional disorders are different various shapes. Thus, interpretive nonsense stands out. In this case, a person uses one-sided interpretations of daily facts and events as evidence. This disorder is considered quite persistent. In this case, the patient’s reflection of the cause-and-effect relationship between events and phenomena is disrupted. This form of delirium always has a logical basis. The patient can endlessly prove something, debate, give reasons. The content of interpretative delirium can reflect all of a person’s experiences and feelings. Another form of this disorder can be figurative or sensory conviction. Such delirium appears due to anxiety or fear, hallucinations. In this case, there are no logical premises or evidence; a person perceives everything around him in a “delusional” way.
Derealization and depersonalization
These phenomena often precede the development of sensory delirium. Derealization is a feeling that the world has changed. Everything that is around a person is perceived by him as “unreal”, “rigged”, “artificial”. Depersonalization manifests itself in a feeling of change in one’s personality. Patients characterize themselves as having “lost face,” “lost the fullness of sensations,” and “become stupid.”
Catatonic syndromes
These conditions are characteristic of motor disorders: or, on the contrary, agitation. In the latter case, there is repetition, lack of purpose, and randomness of some movements. They may be accompanied by shouting individual words or remarks or silence. The patient may freeze in an awkward, unusual position, such as raising a leg, extending an arm, or raising the head above a pillow. Catatonic syndromes are also observed against the background of clear consciousness. This indicates a greater severity of the disorder. If they are accompanied by confusion, then we can talk about a favorable outcome of the pathology.
Dementia
I also call it dementia. Dementia manifests itself in a deep impoverishment of all mental activity and a persistent decrease in intellectual functions. Against the background of dementia, the ability to learn new knowledge worsens, and in many cases is completely lost. In this case, a person’s adaptability to life is disrupted.
Blackout
Such disorders can occur not only in mental disorders, but also in patients with severe somatic pathologies. Clouding of consciousness is characterized by difficulty in perceiving the environment and a severance of connections with the outside world. Patients are detached and cannot realize what is happening. As a result, their contact with other people is disrupted. In addition, patients have poor orientation in time, in their own personality, in a specific situation. People are not able to think logically and correctly. In some cases, incoherent thinking is observed.
