Psychoemotional disorders in children. Main causes of disorders. Symptoms depending on the form of failure

Mental disorders in children or mental dysontogenesis - deviation from normal behavior, accompanied by a group of violations that relate to pathological conditions. Arise due to genetic, sociopathic, physiological reasons, sometimes their formation is facilitated by injuries or diseases of the brain. Violations that arose in early age, become the reason mental disorders and require treatment from a psychiatrist.

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Causes of disorders

The formation of a child’s psyche is associated with biological features body, heredity and constitution, the rate of formation of the brain and parts of the central nervous system, acquired skills. The root of the development of mental disorders in children should always be sought in biological, sociopathic or psychological factors that provoke the occurrence of disorders; often the process is triggered by a combination of agents. The main reasons include:

• Genetic predisposition. Assumes initially malfunction nervous system due to congenital features body. When close relatives have mental disorders, there is a possibility of passing them on to the child.
• Deprivation (inability to satisfy needs) in early childhood. The connection between mother and baby begins from the first minutes of birth; it sometimes has a major influence on a person’s attachments and the depth of emotional feelings in the future. Any type of deprivation (tactile or emotional, psychological) partially or completely affects a person’s mental development and leads to mental dysontogenesis.
• Limited mental abilities also refer to a kind of mental disorder and affect physiological development, sometimes causes other violations.
• Brain injury occurs due to difficult childbirth or head contusions, encephalopathy is caused by infections during intrauterine development or after past diseases. In terms of prevalence, this reason takes the leading place along with the hereditary factor.
• Bad habits of the mother, the toxicological effects of smoking, alcohol, drugs have Negative influence on the fetus during the period of gestation. If the father suffers from these ailments, the consequences of intemperance often affect the child’s health, affecting the central nervous system and brain, which negatively affects the psyche.

Family conflicts or an unfavorable environment at home are a significant factor that traumatizes the developing psyche and aggravates the condition.

Mental disorders in childhood, especially under one year of age, are united by a common feature: the progressive dynamics of mental functions are combined with the development of dysontogenesis associated with a violation of the morphofunctional brain systems. The condition occurs due to cerebral disorders, congenital characteristics or social influences.

Relationship between disorders and age

In children psychophysical development occurs gradually, is divided into stages:

• early - up to three years;
• preschool – up to the age of six;
• junior school – up to 10 years;
• school-puberty – up to 17 years.

Critical periods are considered to be time periods during the transition to the next stage, which are characterized by rapid changes in all body functions, including an increase in mental reactivity. At this time, children are most susceptible nervous disorders or worsening of existing mental pathologies. Age crises occur at 3-4 years, 5-7 years, 12-16 years. What features are characteristic of each stage:

• Before one year of age, babies develop positive and negative sensations and form initial ideas about the world around them. In the first months of life, disorders are associated with the needs that the child must receive: food, sleep, comfort and absence of painful sensations. The crisis of 7-8 months is marked by awareness of the differentiation of feelings, recognition of loved ones and the formation of attachment, so the child requires the attention of the mother and family members. How better parents provide satisfaction of needs, the faster a positive behavior stereotype is formed. Dissatisfaction causes negative reaction, the more unfulfilled desires accumulate, the more severe the deprivation, which subsequently leads to aggression.
• Children aged 2 years continue to actively mature brain cells, motivation for behavior appears, orientation toward evaluation by adults appears, and positive behavior is identified. With constant control and prohibitions, the inability to assert oneself leads to a passive attitude and the development of infantilism. With additional stress, behavior takes on a pathological character.
• Stubbornness and nervous breakdowns, protests are observed at 4 years of age, mental disorders can manifest themselves in mood swings, tension, and internal discomfort. Restrictions cause frustration, the child’s mental balance is disturbed due to even minor negative influences.
• At 5 years of age, disorders can manifest themselves when mental development is advanced, accompanied by dysynchrony, that is, a one-sided direction of interests appears. Also, attention should be paid if the child has lost skills acquired earlier, has become untidy, limits communication, has a decreased vocabulary, or does not play role-playing games.
• In seven-year-olds, the cause of neuroses is schoolwork; with the start of the school year, disturbances manifest themselves in instability of mood, tearfulness, fatigue, and headaches. The reactions are based on psychosomatic asthenia ( bad dream and appetite, decreased performance, fears), fatigue. The failure factor is the discrepancy between mental abilities and the school curriculum.
• In school and adolescence mental disorders manifest themselves in anxiety, increased anxiety, melancholy, mood swings. Negativism is combined with conflict, aggression, and internal contradictions. Children react painfully to others' assessment of their abilities and appearance. Sometimes there is increased self-confidence or, conversely, criticism, posturing, and disdain for the opinions of teachers and parents.

Mental disorders should be distinguished from anomalies of post-schizophrenic defect and dementia resulting from organic disease brain In this case, dysontogenesis acts as a symptom of pathology.



Types of pathologies

Children are diagnosed with mental disorders typical of adults, but children also have specific age-related ailments. Symptoms of dysontogenesis are varied, depending on age, stage of development and environment.

The peculiarity of the manifestations is that in children it is not always easy to distinguish pathology from characteristics of character and development. There are several types of mental disorders in children.



Mental retardation

Pathology refers to acquired or congenital mental underdevelopment with a clear lack of intelligence, when the child’s social adaptation is difficult or completely impossible. In sick children the following decreases, sometimes significantly:

• cognitive abilities and memory;
• perception and attention;
• speech skills;
• control over instinctual needs.

The vocabulary is poor, the pronunciation is unclear, the child is poorly developed emotionally and morally, and is unable to predict the consequences of his actions. IN mild degree It is detected in children upon entering school; moderate and severe stages are diagnosed in the first years of life.

The disease cannot be completely cured, but proper upbringing and training will allow the child to learn communication and self-care skills, with mild stage diseases, people are able to adapt to society. IN severe cases A person will need care throughout their entire life.

Impaired mental function

A borderline state between oligophrenia and the norm, disorders are manifested by delays in the cognitive, motor or emotional, speech sphere. Mental retardation sometimes occurs due to slow development of brain structures. It happens that the condition passes without a trace or remains as an underdevelopment of one function, while it is compensated by other, sometimes accelerated, abilities.

There are also residual syndromes - hyperactivity, decreased attention, loss of previously acquired skills. The type of pathology can become the basis for pathocharacterological manifestations of personality in adulthood.

ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)

A common problem in children of preschool age and up to 12 years old, it is characterized by neuro-reflex excitability. It shows that the child:

• active, unable to sit still or do one thing for a long time;
• constantly distracted;
• impulsive;
• intemperate and talkative;
• does not finish what he starts.

Neuropathy does not lead to a decrease in intelligence, but if the condition is not corrected, it often becomes the cause of difficulties with studying and adaptation in the social sphere. In the future, the consequence of attention deficit disorder may be incontinence, the formation of drug or alcohol addiction, family problems.

Autism

A congenital mental disorder is accompanied not only by speech and motor disorders; autism is characterized by a violation of contact and social interaction with people. Stereotypical behavior makes it difficult to change the environment, living conditions, changes cause fear and panic. Children tend to perform monotonous movements and actions, repeating sounds and words.

The disease is difficult to treat, but the efforts of doctors and parents can correct the situation and reduce the manifestations of psychopathological symptoms.

Acceleration

Characteristic for pathology accelerated development child physically or intellectually. Reasons include urbanization, improved nutrition, and interethnic marriages. Acceleration can manifest itself as harmonious development, when all systems develop evenly, but these cases are rare. With the progress of physical and mental development, somatovegetative abnormalities are noted at an early age, and endocrine problems are identified in older children.

The mental sphere is also characterized by disorder, for example, during the formation of early speech skills, motor skills or social cognition lag behind, and physical maturity is combined with infantilism. With age, differences smooth out, so violations usually do not lead to consequences.

Infantilism

With infantilism, the emotional-volitional sphere lags behind in development. Symptoms are identified at the school and adolescence when already big child behaves like a preschooler: prefers to play rather than gain knowledge. Does not accept school discipline and requirements, while the level of abstract logical thinking is not impaired. In an unfavorable social environment, simple infantilism tends to progress.

The causes of the disorder are often constant control and restriction, unjustified guardianship, projection negative emotions on the child and incontinence, which encourages him to close down and adapt.

What to look for?

Manifestations of mental disorders in childhood are varied, and sometimes it is difficult to confuse them with a lack of upbringing. Symptoms of these disorders can sometimes appear in healthy children, so only a specialist can diagnose the pathology. You should consult a doctor if signs mental disorders manifest themselves clearly, expressed in the following behavior:

• Increased cruelty. child in younger age does not yet understand that by dragging the cat by the tail, he hurts the animal. The student is aware of the level of discomfort of the animal; if he likes it, he should pay attention to his behavior.
• The desire to lose weight. The desire to be beautiful arises in every girl in adolescence, when... normal weight The schoolgirl considers herself fat and refuses to eat, so there is a good reason to go to a psychiatrist.
• If a child has a high degree of anxiety, panic attacks often occur, the situation cannot be left unattended.
• Bad mood and blues are sometimes common to people, but the course of depression for more than 2 weeks in a teenager requires increased attention from parents.
• Mood swings indicate mental instability and inability to adequately respond to stimuli. If a change in behavior occurs without a reason, this indicates problems that require solutions.

When a child is active and sometimes inattentive, there is nothing to worry about. But if this makes it difficult for him to even play outdoor games with peers because he is distracted, the condition requires correction.

Treatment methods

Timely detection behavioral disorders in children and the creation of a favorable psychological atmosphere makes it possible to correct mental disorders in most cases. Some situations require lifelong monitoring and medication. Sometimes it is possible to cope with the problem in short time, sometimes it takes years to recover, and the support of the adults around the child. Therapy depends on the diagnosis, age, causes of formation and type of manifestations of disorders; in each specific case, the treatment method is selected individually, even when the symptoms vary slightly. Therefore, when visiting a psychotherapist or psychologist, it is important to explain to the doctor the essence of the problem, to present Full description characteristics of the child's behavior, based on comparative characteristics before and after changes.

The following are used in the treatment of children:

• In simple cases, psychotherapeutic methods are sufficient, when the doctor, in conversations with the child and parents, helps to find the cause of the problem, ways to solve it, and teaches how to control behavior.
• A set of psychotherapeutic measures and reception medications talks about more serious development pathology. At depressive states, aggressive behavior, mood swings are prescribed sedatives, antidepressants, neuroleptics. Nootropics and psychoneuroregulators are used to treat developmental delays.
• In case of severe disorders, inpatient treatment is recommended, where the child receives a course necessary therapy under the supervision of a doctor.

During the treatment period and after it, it is necessary to create a favorable environment in the family, eliminate stress and negative impact environment influencing behavioral reactions.

If parents have doubts about the adequacy of the child’s behavior, they should contact a psychiatrist, a specialist will conduct an examination and prescribe treatment. It is important to identify pathology early stage in order to correct behavior in a timely manner, prevent the progression of the disorder and eliminate the problem.

Due to special factors, be it a difficult family atmosphere, genetic predisposition or traumatic brain injury, various disorders psyche. When a child comes into the world, it is impossible to understand whether he is mentally healthy or not. Physically, such children are no different. Violations appear later.

Mental disorders in children are divided into 4 large classes:

1) Mental retardation;

2) Developmental delays;

3) Attention deficit disorder;

4) Autism in early childhood.

Mental retardation. Developmental delay

The first type of mental disorder in children is oligophrenia. The child’s psyche is underdeveloped and there is an intellectual defect. Symptoms:

• Impaired perception and voluntary attention.
• The vocabulary is narrowed, speech is simplified and defective.
• Children are led environment, and not with your motivation and desires.

There are several stages of development depending on IQ: mild, moderate, severe and deep. Basically, they differ only in the severity of symptoms.

The causes of such a mental disorder are a pathology of the chromosome set, or trauma before birth, during childbirth or early in life. Maybe because the mother drank alcohol during pregnancy and smoked. Mental retardation can also be caused by infection, falls and injuries to the mother, and difficult childbirth.

Developmental delays (DD) are expressed in disorders cognitive activity, immaturity of the individual in comparison with healthy peers and a slow pace of mental development. Types of ZPR:

1) Mentally infantilism. The psyche is underdeveloped, behavior is guided by emotions and games, the will is weak;

2) Delays in the development of speech, reading, and counting;

3) Other violations.

The child lags behind his peers and learns information more slowly. The ZPR can be adjusted, the most important thing is that teachers and educators are aware of the problem. A child with a delay needs more time to learn something, however, with the right approach it is possible.

Attention deficit disorder. Autism

Mental disorders in children can take the form of attention deficit disorder. This syndrome is expressed in the fact that the child concentrates very poorly on a task and cannot force himself to do one thing for a long time and to the end. Often this syndrome is accompanied by hyperreactivity.

Symptoms:

• The child does not sit still, constantly wants to run somewhere or start doing something else, and is easily distracted.
• If he plays something, he can't wait for his turn to come. Can only play active games.
• He talks a lot, but never listens to what they say to him. Moves a lot.

• Heredity.
• Trauma during childbirth.
• Infection or virus, drinking alcohol while pregnant.

Exist various ways treatment and correction of this disease. It can be treated with medication, it can be treated psychologically - with training. child to cope with his impulses.

Autism in early childhood is divided into the following types:

- autism, in which the child is unable to communicate with other children and adults, never makes eye contact and tries not to touch people;

- stereotypes in behavior when a child protests against the most minor changes in his life and the world around him;

- speech development disorder. He does not need speech for communication - the child can speak well and correctly, but cannot communicate.

There are other disorders that children may be susceptible to. different ages. For example, manic states, Tourette's syndrome and many others. However, they all occur in adults. The disorders listed above are typical specifically for childhood.

In childhood, the most various diseases- neuroses, schizophrenia, epilepsy, exogenous brain damage. Although the main signs of these diseases that are most important for diagnosis appear at any age, the symptoms in children are somewhat different from those observed in adults. However, there are a number of disorders that are specific to childhood, although some of them may persist throughout a person’s life. These disorders reflect disturbances in the natural course of development of the body; they are relatively stable; significant fluctuations in the child’s condition (remissions) are usually not observed, as well as a sharp increase in symptoms. As they develop, some of the anomalies can be compensated or disappear altogether. Most of the disorders described below occur more often in boys.

Childhood autism

Childhood autism (Kanner syndrome) occurs with a frequency of 0.02-0.05%. It occurs 3-5 times more often in boys than in girls. Although developmental abnormalities can be identified in infancy, the disease is usually diagnosed between the ages of 2 and 5 years, when social communication skills are developing. The classic description of this disorder [Kanner L., 1943] includes extreme isolation, a desire for loneliness, difficulties in emotional communication with others, inadequate use of gestures, intonation and facial expressions when expressing emotions, deviations in the development of speech with a tendency to repeat, echolalia, misuse pronouns (“you” instead of “I”), monotonous repetition of noise and words, decreased spontaneous activity, stereotypy, mannerisms. These disorders are combined with excellent mechanical memory and obsessive desire maintaining everything unchanged, fear of change, the desire to achieve completeness in any action, preference for communicating with objects over communicating with people. The danger is represented by the tendency of these patients to self-harm (biting, pulling out hair, hitting the head). In senior school age Epileptic seizures are often associated. Concomitant mental retardation is observed in 2/3 of patients. It is noted that the disorder often occurs after an intrauterine infection (rubella). These facts support the organic nature of the disease. A similar syndrome, but without intellectual impairment, was described by H. Asperger (1944), who considered it as hereditary disease(concordance in identical twins up to 35%). Di This disorder must be differentiated from oligophrenia and childhood schizophrenia. The prognosis depends on the severity of the organic defect. Most patients show some improvement in behavior with age. For treatment, special training methods, psychotherapy, and small doses of haloperidol are used.

Childhood hyperkinetic disorder

Hyperkinetic behavior disorder (hyperdynamic syndrome) is relatively frequent violation development (from 3 to 8% of all children). The ratio of boys to girls is 5:1. Characterized by extreme activity, mobility, and impaired attention, which prevents regular classes and the assimilation of school material. The work started, as a rule, is not completed; with good mental abilities, children quickly cease to be interested in the task, lose and forget things, get into fights, cannot sit in front of the TV screen, constantly pester others with questions, push, pinch and pull parents and peers. It is assumed that the disorder is based on minimal brain dysfunction, but clear signs of a psychoorganic syndrome are almost never observed. In most cases, behavior normalizes between the ages of 12 and 20, but to prevent the formation of persistent psychopathic antisocial traits, treatment should begin as early as possible. Therapy is based on persistent, structured education (strict control by parents and educators, regular exercise). In addition to psychotherapy, they also use psychotropic drugs. Nootropic drugs are widely used - piracetam, pantogam, phenibut, encephabol. Most patients experience a paradoxical improvement in behavior with the use of psychostimulants (sydnocarb, caffeine, phenamine derivatives, stimulant antidepressants - imipramine and sydnophen). When using phenamine derivatives, temporary growth retardation and loss of body weight are occasionally observed, and dependence may form.

Isolated delays in skill development

Children often experience isolated delay development of any skill: speaking, reading, writing or counting, motor functions. Unlike oligophrenia, which is characterized by a uniform lag in the development of all mental functions, with the disorders listed above, usually, as one gets older, there is a significant improvement in the condition and a smoothing of the existing lag, although some disorders may remain in adults. Pedagogical methods are used for correction.

ICD-10 includes several rare syndromes, presumably of an organic nature, arising in childhood and accompanied by an isolated disorder of certain skills.

Landau-Kleffner syndrome manifests itself as a catastrophic impairment of pronunciation and speech understanding at the age of 3-7 years after a period of normal development. Most patients experience epileptiform seizures, and almost all have EEG abnormalities with mono- or bilateral temporal pathological epiactivity. Recovery is observed in 1/3 of cases.

Rett syndrome occurs only in girls. It is manifested by loss of manual skills and speech, combined with delayed head growth, enuresis, encopresis and attacks of shortness of breath, sometimes epileptic seizures. The disease occurs at the age of 7-24 months against a background of relatively favorable development. At a later age, ataxia, scoliosis and kyphoscoliosis occur. The disease leads to severe disability.

Disorders of certain physiological functions in children

Enuresis, encopresis, eating inedible (pica), stuttering can occur as independent disorders or (more often) are symptoms of childhood neuroses and organic lesions brain Often the same child has different age periods Several of these disorders or their combination with tics can be observed.

Stuttering It occurs quite often in children. They indicate that transient stuttering occurs in 4%, and persistent stuttering occurs in 1% of children, more often in boys (in various works sex ratio is estimated from 2:1 to 10:1). Typically, stuttering occurs at the age of 4 - 5 years against the background of normal mental development. 17% of patients have a hereditary history of stuttering. There are neurotic variants of stuttering with a psychogenic onset (after fright, against the background of severe intra-family conflicts) and organically caused (dysontogenetic) variants. The prognosis for neurotic stuttering is much more favorable; after puberty, the disappearance of symptoms or smoothing is observed in 90% of patients. Neurotic stuttering is closely related to traumatic events and personal characteristics of patients (anxious and suspicious traits predominate). Characterized by increased symptoms in situations of great responsibility and difficult experience of one’s illness. Quite often, this type of stuttering is accompanied by other symptoms of neurosis (logoneurosis): sleep disturbances, tearfulness, irritability, fatigue, fear public speaking(logophobia). Prolonged persistence of symptoms can lead to pathological development personality with an increase in asthenic and pseudoschizoid traits. The organically conditioned (dysontogenetic) variant of stuttering gradually develops regardless of traumatic situations; it is less pronounced psychological experiences regarding an existing speech defect. Other signs of organic pathology are often observed (disseminated neurological symptoms, changes in the EEG). Stuttering itself has a more stereotypical, monotonous character, reminiscent of tic-like hyperkinesis. Increased symptoms are associated more with additional exogenous hazards (injuries, infections, intoxications) than with psycho-emotional stress. Treatment of stuttering should be carried out in collaboration with a speech therapist. In the neurotic version, speech therapy sessions should be preceded by relaxation psychotherapy (“silent mode”, family psychotherapy, hypnosis, auto-training and other suggestions, group psychotherapy). In treatment organic options great importance is attached to the prescription of nootropics and muscle relaxants (mydocalm).

Enuresis at various stages of development is observed in 12% of boys and 7% of girls. The diagnosis of enuresis is made in children over 4 years of age; in adults, this disorder is rarely observed (up to 18 years of age, enuresis persists in only 1% of boys, and is not observed in girls). Some researchers note the participation of hereditary factors in the occurrence of this pathology. It is proposed to distinguish between primary (dysontogenetic) enuresis, which manifests itself in the fact that a normal rhythm of urination is not established from infancy, and secondary (neurotic) enuresis, which occurs in children against the background of psychological trauma after several years of normal regulation of urination. The latter variant of enuresis proceeds more favorably and by the end of puberty in most cases disappears. Neurotic (secondary) enuresis, as a rule, is accompanied by other symptoms of neurosis - fears, timidity. These patients often react acutely emotionally to the existing disorder; additional mental trauma provokes an increase in symptoms. Primary (dyzontogenetic) enuresis is often combined with mild neurological symptoms and signs of dysontogenesis (spina bifida, prognathia, epicanthus, etc.), and partial mental infantilism is often observed. There are more than calm attitude to your defect, strict frequency, not related to the immediate psychological situation. Urination during nocturnal attacks of epilepsy should be distinguished from inorganic enuresis. For differential diagnosis EEG is examined. Some authors consider primary enuresis as a sign predisposing to the occurrence of epilepsy [Shprecher B.L., 1975]. To treat neurotic (secondary) enuresis, calming psychotherapy, hypnosis and auto-training are used. Patients with enuresis are advised to reduce fluid intake before bedtime, as well as eat foods that promote water retention in the body (salty and sweet foods).

Tricyclic antidepressants (imipramine, amitriptyline) for enuresis in children have a good effect in most cases. Enuresis often goes away without special treatment.

Tiki

Tiki occur in 4.5% of boys and 2.6% of girls, usually at the age of 7 years and older, usually do not progress and in some patients disappear completely upon reaching maturity. Anxiety, fear, attention from others, and the use of psychostimulants intensify tics and can provoke them in an adult who has recovered from tics. A connection between tics and neurosis is often found obsessive states in children. You should always carefully differentiate tics from others motor disorders(hyperkinesis), often a symptom of severe progressive nervous diseases(parkinsonism, Huntingon's chorea, Wilson's disease, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, minor chorea, etc.). Unlike hyperkinesis, tics can be suppressed by force of will. The children themselves treat them as a bad habit. Family psychotherapy, hypnosuggestion and autogenic training. It is recommended to involve the child in activities that are interesting to him motor activity(for example, playing sports). If psychotherapy is unsuccessful, mild antipsychotics are prescribed (Sonapax, Etaparazine, Halotteridol in small doses).

A serious illness manifested by chronic tics isGilles de la Tourette syndrome The disease begins in childhood (usually between 2 and 10 years); in boys 3-4 times more often than in girls. At first, tics appear in the form of blinking, head twitching, and grimacing. After a few years in adolescence, vocal and complex motor tics appear, often changing localization, sometimes having an aggressive or sexual component. Coprolalia (swear words) is observed in 1/3 of cases. Patients are characterized by a combination of impulsiveness and obsessions, and a decreased ability to concentrate. The disease is hereditary in nature. There is an accumulation among relatives of sick patients with chronic tics and obsessional neurosis. There is a high concordance in identical twins (50-90%), and about 10% in fraternal twins. Treatment is based on the use of antipsychotics (haloperidol, pimozide) and clonidine in minimal doses. The presence of excessive obsessions also requires the prescription of antidepressants (fluoxetine, clomipramine). Pharmacotherapy helps control the condition of patients, but does not cure the disease. Sometimes the effectiveness of drug treatment decreases over time.

Peculiarities of manifestation of major mental illnesses in children

Schizophrenia with onset in childhood differs from typical options diseases with a more malignant course, a significant predominance negative symptoms over productive disorders. Early onset of the disease is more common in boys (sex ratio is 3.5:1). It is very rare to see such typical manifestations schizophrenia, such as delusions and pseudohallucinations. Disorders of the motor sphere and behavior predominate: catatonic and hebephrenic symptoms, disinhibition of drives or, conversely, passivity and indifference. All symptoms are characterized by simplicity and stereotyping. The monotonous nature of the games, their stereotyping and schematism are noteworthy. Often children select special objects for games (wires, forks, shoes) and neglect toys. Sometimes there is a surprising one-sidedness of interests (see a clinical example illustrating body dysmorphomania syndrome in section 5.3).

Although typical signs schizophrenic defect (lack of initiative, autism, indifferent or hostile attitude towards parents) can be observed in almost all patients, they are often combined with a kind of mental retardation, reminiscent of mental retardation. E. Kraepelin (1913) identified as an independent formpfropfschizophrenia, combining features of oligophrenia and schizophrenia with a predominance of hebephrenic symptoms. Occasionally, forms of the disease are observed in which mental development preceding the manifestation of schizophrenia occurs, on the contrary, at an accelerated pace: children begin to read and count early, and are interested in books that do not correspond to their age. In particular, it was noticed that paranoid form Schizophrenia is often preceded by premature intellectual development.

At puberty common symptoms The debut of schizophrenia is dysmorphomanic syndrome and symptoms of depersonalization. The slow progression of symptoms and the absence of obvious hallucinations and delusions may resemble neurosis. However, unlike neuroses, such symptoms do not depend in any way on existing stressful situations and develop autochthonously. The symptoms typical of neuroses (fears, obsessions) are early joined by rituals and senestopathies.

Affective insanity does not occur in early childhood. Distinct affective attacks can be observed in children at least 12-14 years old. Quite rarely, children may complain of feeling sad. More often, depression manifests itself as somatovegetative disorders, sleep and appetite disorders, and constipation. Depression may be indicated by persistent lethargy, slowness, unpleasant sensations in the body, moodiness, tearfulness, refusal to play and communicate with peers, and a feeling of worthlessness. Hypomanic states are more noticeable to others. They manifest themselves as unexpected activity, talkativeness, restlessness, disobedience, decreased attention, and inability to balance actions with their own strengths and capabilities. In adolescents, more often than in adult patients, a continuous course of the disease is observed with a constant change in affective phases.

Young children rarely show clear patterns neurosis. More often, short-term neurotic reactions are observed due to fear, an unpleasant prohibition from the parents for the child. The likelihood of such reactions is higher in children with symptoms of residual organic failure. It is not always possible to clearly identify variants of neuroses characteristic of adults (neurasthenia, hysteria, obsessive-phobic neurosis) in children. Noteworthy is the incompleteness, rudimentary nature of symptoms, the predominance of somatovegetative and movement disorders(enuresis, stuttering, tics). G.E. Sukhareva (1955) emphasized that the pattern is that the younger the child, the more monotonous the symptoms of neurosis.

A fairly common manifestation of childhood neuroses is a variety of fears. In early childhood it is a fear of animals, fairy tale characters, movie characters, in preschool and primary school age - fear of darkness, loneliness, separation from parents, death of parents, anxious anticipation of upcoming school studies, in adolescents - hypochondriacal and dysmorphophobic thoughts, sometimes fear of death. Phobias more often occur in children with an anxious and suspicious character and increased impressionability, suggestibility, and timidity. The emergence of fears is facilitated by hyperprotection on the part of parents, which consists of constant anxious fears for the child. Unlike obsessions in adults, children's phobias are not accompanied by a consciousness of alienation and pain. As a rule, there is no purposeful desire to get rid of fears. Obsessive thoughts, memories, and obsessive counting are not typical for children. Abundant ideationary, non-emotionally charged obsessions, accompanied by rituals and isolation, require differential diagnosis with schizophrenia.

Unfolded paintings hysterical neurosis it is also not observed in children. More often you can see affective respiratory attacks with loud crying, at the height of which respiratory arrest and cyanosis develop. Psychogenic selective mutism is sometimes noted. The reason for such reactions may be a parental prohibition. Unlike hysteria in adults, children's hysterical psychogenic reactions occur in boys and girls with the same frequency.

The basic principles of treating mental disorders in childhood do not differ significantly from the methods used in adults. Leading in treatment endogenous diseases is psychopharmacotherapy. In the treatment of neuroses, psychotropic drugs are combined with psychotherapy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Children, just like adults, often suffer from various acute or chronic mental disorders that have a negative impact on normal development child and this resulting lag is not always possible to catch up.

However, with timely contact with a specialist at the very initial stages, it is possible not only to stop the development of such a disorder, but, in some cases, to completely get rid of it.

Moreover, according to experts, many deviations are easy to recognize. Each has certain signs that an attentive parent will definitely notice.

Today on the Popular About Health website we will briefly look at the symptoms and types of mental disorders in children, and also find out the possible causes of their development:

Main causes of disorders

There are quite a lot of factors influencing the development of mental disorders in children. The most common of them are genetic predisposition, various mental development disorders, head injuries, brain damage, etc.

In addition, the cause may be problems in the family, constant conflicts and emotional turmoil (death loved one, divorce of parents, etc.) And this is not a complete list of reasons influencing the development of a mental disorder in a child.

Types of disorders and their symptoms

Signs of pathology depend on its type. Let us briefly list the main mental disorders in children and the main symptoms that accompany them:

Anxiety disorders

Quite a common pathology. It is expressed in a regularly occurring feeling of anxiety, which over time turns into real problem for the child and his parents. This disorder disrupts the daily rhythm of life and affects full development.

DPR – delayed psycho-speech development

Among mental disorders in children, this disorder is one of the first places. Characterized by delayed speech and mental development. It is expressed in varying degrees of lag in the formation of personality and cognitive activity.

Hyperactivity (attention deficit)

This disorder is defined by three main symptoms:

Poor concentration;
- excessive physical and emotional activity;
- impulsive behavior, frequent manifestations of aggression.

Pathology can be expressed by one, two or all of the described signs at once.

Eating disorders

Anorexia, bulimia or gluttony are defects eating behavior directly related to the psyche. With absence adequate treatment may pose a mortal danger.

They are expressed in the fact that the child concentrates all his attention on his own weight, or on food and therefore cannot fully fulfill his duties, cannot concentrate on anything else.

Teenagers suffering from bulimia and anorexia almost completely lose their appetite, rapidly lose weight, and experience frequent urge to vomiting.

Gluttony is expressed in constant desire eat, speed dial weight, which also prevents the child from living a normal life, full life.

Bipolar disorder

Expressed in long periods of depression, feelings of sadness, causeless melancholy. Or it can be determined by sudden mood swings. U healthy people Such conditions also occur, but in the case of pathology, these signs are much more serious and appear and are much more difficult to tolerate.

Childhood autism

The disorder is characterized by limitations in social communication. A characteristic symptom This disorder is isolation, refusal of contacts with others. Such children are very restrained in their emotions. Disturbances in mental development affect the child’s perception and understanding of the world around him.

Main hallmark autism lies in the fact that such a child refuses to contact the people around him, shows emotions with restraint and is very withdrawn.

Schizophrenia

This pathology in children, fortunately, is quite rare - one case per 50,000 people. The main reasons include, in particular, genetic disorders. TO characteristic features include:

Loss of connection with reality;
- memory losses;
- lack of orientation in time and space;
- lack of ability to build interpersonal relationships.

Common symptoms of mental disorders

There are clear signs of violations that should alert parents. Let's list them briefly:

Frequent changes in mood.

Long periods sadness or anxiety.

Unreasonable expressed emotionality, unreasonable fears, strange, obsessive repetition of certain movements.

Visible deviations in the development of thinking.

Atypical behavioral reactions, including: violation of rules of behavior, complete disregard for them, frequent manifestations of aggression, desire to harm others or oneself, suicidal tendencies.

Finally

If parents notice atypical behavior of their child, if there are signs described above, or other disorders, they need to show him to a neuropsychiatrist or psychiatrist as soon as possible. These pathologies are also dealt with by related specialists - psychologists, behavioral doctors, social workers and etc.

The sooner a diagnosis is made and treatment is prescribed, the higher the chances of full and healthy life further. In addition, the help of a specialist will help to avoid the possible development of severe mental disorders.