Mental imbalance symptoms. Unbalanced mental health symptoms

One in five people in the world today suffers from mental disorders. Now imagine what are your chances of crossing paths with such people? We talked to a psychotherapist about how to behave with a mentally unstable person and how to spot them.

ANTON SAPRONOV
Psychotherapist, supervisor

WHAT IS MENTAL UNBALANCE?

If we talk about mental instability in the context of psychiatry, we mean a violation normal course mental processes. This can occur against the background of organic lesions and changes in the brain, personality disorders, situational reactions of a person, as well as a combination of all these factors.

Such disorders can be isolated in nature: decrease, increase or change in mood, impaired attention or memory, irritability, anxiety. All these are called symptoms that each of us can encounter. Uniting in groups, they form syndromes that make up various mental illnesses.

HOW TO DETECT A MENTALLY UNBALANCED PERSON?

First of all, we need to highlight depressive syndrome . In this case, a person’s mood deteriorates, he loses interest, sleep and appetite are disturbed. Nothing makes such a person happy; he looks at the world and his future in gloomy colors, and constantly thinks about death.

This condition can occur against the background of external circumstances, to which the individual cannot adapt, and then we talk about adaptation disorders.

Otherwise this may happen against the backdrop of apparent external well-being. In this case, there are assumptions about the presence of an endogenous process (primary disruption of biochemical processes in the brain), as well as about an internal personal crisis.

The last option is something that is often underestimated by those around that person., since he continues to work normally, his sleep and appetite are not disturbed, but periodically he talks out loud pessimistically about the meanings, his value, goals in life, and expresses his insignificance. At the same time, relatives react stereotypically, reminding them that “you have everything, why are you worrying.” The last flash mob on social networks was about this condition.

In children and adolescents, depression manifests itself as behavioral disturbances, frequent illnesses, decreased academic performance, increased aggressiveness, which does not exclude the above symptoms.

At anxiety syndrome a person may express fears for his health, those around him, and the future. He looks fussy, overly tense, speaks quickly, but cannot maintain attention during dialogue. Sleep may also be disrupted, heart rate may increase, and arterial pressure. Abdominal pain, fear of going outside, panic attacks, dizziness, obsessive thoughts, a feeling of the unreality of what is happening - also from here.

All this may be present in various combinations. A person may become irritable and aggressive when trying to calm themselves down. There are combinations of depression and anxiety.

I would like to say in a separate line about irritability and aggressiveness, since this is exactly what others most often react to. Aggression is normal human quality necessary to protect or achieve what is needed. In life, aggression can be a natural reaction in conflict, but it is necessary to understand the form and degree of its manifestation.

If we are talking about a personality disorder, which is characterized by excessive impulsivity or increased excitability, then aggression will be a habitual reaction of this person, with which those around him will have to learn to live.

In addition, aggression can be accompanied by various mental disorders. This could be an attempt to cope with anxiety or heartache(here we often talk about auto-aggression), convey something to the environment. Or be a component of psychotic disorders that are accompanied by hallucinations.

All these phenomena can vary in intensity and extent. It is important to understand this in order to react correctly and provide assistance in a timely manner.

HOW TO BEHAVIOR YOURSELF?

If you are in a relationship with someone who has schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, remind yourself of your boundaries and your own goals in life. This will help maintain stability, which will have a positive effect on your well-being and the condition of the patient. You can seek help from a psychotherapist to help maintain this stability, otherwise there is a risk that you will be sucked into this person’s anxiety.

If you meet in a public place with an emotionally excitable or aggressive person, then you need to remember that this is a gross violation of your boundaries, so the primary and natural reaction will be fear and anger. At this moment, it is important to restrain yourself physically and not be provoked into insults, literally monitor your own breathing and remind yourself of your own self-esteem. In the end, you can step aside. IN otherwise there is a risk of losing your temper and being provoked, and this can lead to physical aggression.

If you meet a person in hysterics, anxiety, fear in his gaze and he is looking for help, then simply offer him this help: ask if he needs it. This reaction will calm him down a little.

Don't ignore anything a person says, do not devalue him, even if it seems to you that everything is fine in his life. This is your assessment, it may differ for him.

Talk to him, even if he refuses, do it not aggressively. In general, try not to show aggression, although this reaction often occurs among those around a depressed person.

Suggest that he see a specialist, however, in the process, use your ability to help: just be attentive, supportive, make it clear that you care about him, but you have limitations and he may need the help of a professional.

Don't use phrases“forget it”, “it will pass”, “everyone is depressed”, “go dig your garden”, “don’t whine, you’re a man/strong-willed woman”, “you have an apartment, a car, a good salary, what else do you need?”

When someone else is worried, maintain your own stability.. Try not to “get infected” with this anxiety, remind yourself “of yourself” and breathe.

If this is your child, then ask him a question, why his behavior suddenly changed or his performance decreased, what is happening at school, maybe something is wrong in your relationship. Most often the reason is found.

If a person's behavior changes dramatically, he has become “strange”, stopped taking care of himself, self-harms, loses weight sharply, talks about death, experiences hallucinations, then immediately seek help from a specialist.

Try to dissuadesuch peoplefrom visiting grandmothers, healers and psychics. IN in this case you're walking through a minefield because you don't know what level of anxiety a person has. If she is borderline or psychotic, then this approach may stimulate the development of acute psychosis.

AND NOW, VERY BRIEFLY ABOUT HOW TO CONDUCT YOURSELF

Do not underestimate, do not devalue, be included, restrain aggression, be sincere in your emotions of concern for the person and contact specialists in a timely manner if necessary. All this will help us maintain both mental and physical health, as well as life.

Photo: from the hero's personal archive.

There are people who, over trifles, can become hysterical and break out in aggression. Unbalanced people are difficult people to communicate with, who may fail to fulfill their obligations, disrupt plans, and this is only a small list of gifts that they can present. The ability to recognize such people and behave correctly with them will help protect yourself from their aggression, defuse the situation if necessary, and maybe help them.

Externally unbalanced person may appear reserved, calm, even quiet. But there are signs that can reveal his imbalance: a tense face, a lack of naturalness in behavior (sometimes this can be exaggerated goodwill), the feeling that a person is constantly trying to control himself. He may constantly be fiddling with something with his hands, or he may have the habit of swinging his leg. Imbalance can also manifest itself openly: a person looks irritated, sharp notes may break through in his voice every now and then, or he generally constantly speaks in a raised voice.

The difficulty in relationships with such a person is that it is almost impossible to predict his behavior. Such people's mood changes for no apparent reason. The psychological characteristics of relationships with an unbalanced person are that an outburst of anger or conflict can be provoked by a seemingly harmless remark.

Of course, any person can have moments of imbalance. But, as a rule, a person, having left a state of balance, easily calms down. An unbalanced person is like a river overflowing its banks. It is very difficult for him to return to normal.

Of course, communication with such a person, as a rule, is not particularly pleasant, but such an unbalanced person could be a close relative or a manager at work. In general, a person with whom communication is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to avoid. Therefore, in my opinion, it is worth knowing a few rules for communicating with such people.

The basic rule of dealing with an unbalanced person is:

You should never conflict with an unbalanced person

Try not to provoke him with criticism, offensive remarks addressed to him, or reproaches. His reaction may be inadequate. In response to the remark, you may get an outburst of anger.

The best thing you can do during nervous breakdown, this is to distance yourself as much as possible, behave calmly and not get drawn into conflict. Don’t argue, don’t object, listen to everything he says in silence.

Moreover, most of them not only do not arouse the slightest suspicion among others, but also occupy a fairly high social status.

Has high self-esteem

Excellent at managing and manipulating other people

Is a pathological liar

Finds it difficult to express remorse or empathy or sympathy for anyone

Does not have the ability to become emotionally close to other people or awaken in them any feelings towards themselves

Never takes responsibility for what he does

Very quickly succumbs to feelings of boredom and is in constant search of new emotional stimuli

Likes to live at the expense of others

Often loses self-control

Regularly engages in short sexual relationships

Finds it difficult to set realistic, long-term goals

Becomes sullen and irritable after any decision he makes.

Had any run-ins with the law at a young age

Very often does not keep his promises

Breaks off relationships with people after a short period of time

Rules for interacting with an unbalanced person

Greetings, my dear readers! We all, one way or another, encounter hysterics and scandals in our lives. Sometimes even we ourselves initiate such scenes. But everything is good when a person can quickly calm down and come to his senses. But there is another case. Who is a mentally unbalanced person, signs, his behavior, how to interact with him? Let's talk about how you can quickly identify such comrades, what tactics to choose to deal with them, and what you definitely should not do.

How to calculate it?

A mentally unstable person can look different. Some people seem to be calm, quiet, adequate people until the very end. It is not always easy to distinguish an unbalanced person from a calm one.

There are several signs: an unrealistically tense face, like a doll’s, a frozen gaze; behavior does not include spontaneous actions, as if he is trying to keep himself under control, there is no easy and relaxed naturalness; my fingers are constantly fiddling with something nervously.

You can also find another option when you almost immediately understand who is in front of you: outwardly tense and nervous, high notes often slip into the voice, or a constantly raised tone, irritability to any situation.

In my practice, I have encountered examples of both the first and second. It’s easier with the latter, because you immediately have the opportunity to notice an unbalanced person, but with the former you will have to talk longer to find out the truth.

What is the peculiarity of the behavior of such people? They do not keep promises and quickly and abruptly change their minds or decisions. It’s hard to rely on them, because today he says one thing, and tomorrow he can act completely differently.

Even in behavior or conversations, you can see how a person steps beyond the boundaries of the norm. There are extremes in the conversation, you may notice that it is impossible to convince such a person, as if the whole world is circling around his idea and sees some specific, hidden intention in everything.

The problem in communication arises because we cannot predict what he will do in next moment. WITH an ordinary person we can, one way or another, assume a reaction and subsequent action. And unbalanced people quickly change their mood, often even for no apparent reason.

We all lose our temper sometimes. There is nothing scary or criminal in this. To a normal person manages to pull himself together and quickly regain balance and calm state.

The difference between unbalanced people is that they cannot quickly return to a calm state. More often than not, it even happens that the hysteria increases, the degree of aggression increases.

Psychopathy

It is worth noting isolated case. There are people who have pronounced qualities such as callousness, lack of empathy, self-obsession and deceit, and only superficial emotional reactions.

Agree, in modern cinema and literature the image of a sociopathic, uncommunicative, self-obsessed hero is glorified. Millions want to imitate them, they take everything from them as a carbon copy, without thinking about the deeper meaning of the character. And forgetting that this is just a character.

Such people begin to behave deliberately rude and unfriendly with people, considering this an interesting trait of their character. They spit on social norms and morals. They don’t put other people’s wishes into anything, just wanting to fulfill their own dreams.

Sometimes such behavior begins in childhood; for some, the first signs appear already in childhood. conscious age. Some have individual qualities.

Your behavior

When we understand how to identify such a person, the question remains - how to behave with him?

Remember the basic principle of communicating with such comrades - do not get involved in conflict.

If you remember this rule and follow it, it will become much easier for you to be around unbalanced people. Better yet, try to avoid communicating with them.

It is necessary to communicate with them extremely politely, calmly, showing that everything is fine. Some unbalanced people have deeply hidden reasons for this behavior. They want to keep everything under control, they lose their tempers, and begin to become hysterical.

Therefore, your task is to show that everything is fine, everything is under control, to try to calm him down.

Do not shout, do not swear, do not engage in verbal altercations, do not try to give advice or moralizing. You may have a righteous motive and the right desire, but it can only lead to a worsening of the situation, because the reaction of such people is unpredictable.

Don't object or argue. It would be best to avoid the conflict altogether. Walk away, do not participate or become involved in the situation on an emotional level.

What to do if hysteria gains momentum, do you understand that a person can harm himself or others? Don't hesitate to seek professional medical help.

Don't try to cope on your own.

If, for example, your boss is clearly an unbalanced type and you have to communicate with him, then try to be calm, polite, and do not provoke a conflict. Save your nerves.

Are there similar personalities among your friends? How do you deal with their tantrums and scandals?

Calmness and a polite smile are your best weapons!

Mentally unbalanced person

No matter how strange it may sound, every day there is a high probability that you will encounter a mentally unbalanced person. Moreover, the sad news is that such “special” people are not easy to distinguish from ordinary people. In most cases, the word “crazy” evokes in each of us an image aggressive personality with a blank look, but sometimes these signs do not appear in real life.

Physicians, psychiatrists and various other specialists have identified the following symptoms that help distinguish a patient from a normal person:

Mentally healthy people during a conversation focus on verbs and nouns for one simple reason - they are the ones who carry the meaning of each phrase. Psychopaths, in turn, use pretexts to explain their own actions. Remember that, according to statistics, they most often use “for” and “so that”.
Such dangerous individuals are dominated by carnal desires. They strive with all their might to satisfy their personal physiological needs.
In most cases, a mentally unbalanced person lives only for himself, however, it is worth adding to this characteristic that they prefer living alone and pay attention to others in order to satisfy their desires.
They have a lower emotional background, that is, such people are unemotional, very inattentive and hypocritical.
During a conversation with such a person, you will get the impression that she knows everything about you, and you know nothing about her. In addition, psychopaths often share with their interlocutor what they desire. They cleverly confuse the conversation. As a result of this, you will not be able to remember where it even began. It will be positive if you eventually realize that you have been indoctrinated into someone else’s worldview. Moreover, for some time you accepted him and completely shared every opinion of such a person.

Peculiarities of behavior of mentally ill patients.

The legal criterion of insanity implies the inability of a mentally ill person to be aware of his actions (inaction) and the deprivation of the ability to manage them. B.V. Shostakovich, V.V. Gorinov (1996) include defects in the potential ability to understand the meaning of their actions and manage them in persons with “mental anomalies” that significantly reduce the completeness of reflection of objective and subjective reality in consciousness, worsen, distort its perception reduces freedom of personal choice and self-control, which makes it difficult to solve problem situations. Most significant in law enforcement practice mental disorders in the acute phase may correspond to these signs. Accordingly, disharmony of mental processes manifests itself in appearance patients, the nature of their thinking and speech, emotions and behavior, criticality or non-criticality to the current life situation, including criminal ones.

** - A common feature for patients with mental disorders is their low competitiveness of the patient in the labor market. Apparently, therefore, among all patients under psychiatric dispensary registration in the Grodno region, disabled people make up 85.7%, and disabled people of the 3rd group make up only 5.0%.

*** - Mental disorders are diseases with high risk disability, which determines the social and economic significance of the rehabilitation direction in psychiatry.

**** - The average per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in the Republic of Belarus in 2012 was 12.6 liters of absolute alcohol per capita, including children under 15 years of age.

Many of us associate strange and even ridiculous behavior, incorrect and incomprehensible reasoning, unexpected actions inappropriate to the circumstances, pronounced agitation and aggressive actions with ideas about a mentally ill person. These features, which are indeed characteristic of some patients, are, however, not obligatory and far from exhausting the significant variety of manifestations of mental disorders.

From point of view practical significance For the forensic characterization of persons prone to committing OOD, it is advisable to highlight the following elements in its structure:

Specific external behavioral signs;

Personality characteristics of persons with mental disabilities;

Characteristics of the crime: circumstances of the commission, features of the method of committing the crime; properties of traces left at the crime scene by persons of this category; features of the immediate subject of the criminal offense.

Knowledge of these signs will allow the operative worker, the investigator, based on information received from eyewitnesses and the testimony of witnesses, to put forward substantiated versions of the commission of OOD by persons with mental anomalies.

External behavioral signs are understood as a set of signs of a person’s appearance and his clothing, speech properties, emotional signs, expressed in individual typological characteristics. Thus, a patient with schizophrenia or depression may be sloppy, a patient with epilepsy may have traces of physiological waste on his clothes, it may be dirty, and at the corners of his mouth there may be traces of dried blood from biting his tongue during an attack; a person who has suffered a TBI may have traces of injuries skin and surgical interventions. In the stage of dementia in cases of schizophrenia, epilepsy, senile atrophic processes, GM is evident external signs decreased intelligence, a meaningless look, lack of purposeful behavior, which is often inconsistent with the real situation.

Psychoabnormal persons prone to committing OOD are characterized by disturbances in speech properties and anomalies of speech production, for example:

a) lisp, dysarthria (impaired clarity of pronunciation due to changes in the speech apparatus itself);

b) repetition of the same words, including those heard accidentally (echalalia);

c) speech fragmentation, that is, a meaningless set of words, fragmentation (individual fragmentary statements, logically not connected with external circumstances);

d) slurred speech (idiocy, imbecility);

e) primitiveness of statements, “flat” humor (alcohol addicts suffer from this);

f) slowness, poverty, viscosity, thoroughness of speech (this is typical for patients with epilepsy);

g) excessive use of diminutive words (spoon, crib, flower - typical for patients with epilepsy, pediatricians and kindergarten teachers, in the last two categories it is a characteristic of the profession);

h) rapid and inconsistent transitions from one thought to another (disruption of speech - characteristic of schizophrenia);

i) speech agitation, excessive talkativeness (distinguishes patients in the manic phase of bipolar disorder);

j) tongue twister and abundance of neologisms;

k) mutism (refusal to speak) – more often in people suffering from schizophrenia.

There may be excessive sweating in a neurotic person, cyanosis of the skin in patients with cardiac decompensation caused by vascular diseases, trembling of hands (tremor) in persons dependent on psychoactive substances during the withdrawal period, absent-mindedness in a patient with epilepsy immediately after an attack or in exceptional conditions. Hysterical psychopaths strive to stand out from the crowd with their clothes and hairstyle (hair color can be red, green, etc.). Characteristic of psychasthenic psychopaths emotional lability in the form of easily occurring tearfulness, tearfulness, for example, when watching a film about the war.

The personality traits of mentally ill people are understood as certain variants of personal properties that are realized in ways that deviate from the usual social norms behavior. For example, increased excitability at the slightest provocation in a psychopath (a person with a mature personality disorder), inhibition and resentment in ordinary situations in an epileptic, non-standard behavior and speech production in a patient with schizophrenia. Anatomical and functional signs, which should be alarming in terms of the presence of psychiatric pathology:

a) dysplasticity, disproportion of physique;

b) motor agitation (epileptic dysphoria, alcohol dependence, mania in MDP, as well as gross organic mental abnormalities);

c) impaired coordination of movements (oligophrenia, alcohol intoxication, vascular diseases GM);

d) slowness of movements (with depression of various origins);

e) behavior reminiscent of a child in adults (puerilism) - when organic lesions GM;

f) excessive eroticism, sexuality (morioid traits) - in persons with atrophic processes of the age-related GM.

Persons with mental disorders who are capable of committing violent crimes are often particularly cruel. Their mental abnormalities (which is why they are easily registered in psychoneurological institutions) are often so pronounced that they are easily perceived (“catchy by the eye”) of any person. Identifying a person who has the above characteristics and who has committed a socially dangerous act is, in most cases, not difficult.

Among other signs of committing crimes, in addition to extreme cruelty, persons of this category can also be identified:

Lack of preliminary preparation and attempts to establish contact with the victim;

Primitivism of criminal behavior;

Committing homogeneous crimes with elements of straightforwardness;

Using weapons that are unusual for these purposes to cause damage;

Extreme audacity, bordering on recklessness;

Making cynical inscriptions with the blood of the victim, desecration of the corpse;

Obvious redundancy of damage that does not correspond to real resistance;

Scattering of internal organs;

Pointless arson, digging up graves and some other circumstances that may be the basis for putting forward versions of a crime being committed by a person with a clear mental disorder.

Persons with mental disorders prone to OOD may experience aggressive behavior in any environment (at home, in in public places, with a large crowd of citizens). In such cases, the first person to deal with patients is the police, who must prevent the dangerous consequences of their actions.

Unbalanced man

Here we will talk about who an unbalanced person is; it is important not only to know who an unbalanced person is, but also to see him in himself, if he exists.

Currently, almost all the inhabitants of our planet are unbalanced. Yes, and that's exactly it. Just some to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent. Usually, people consider those who have various mental disorders to be unbalanced, this is true, it's just that people with mental disorders spend most of their lives in an unbalanced state, when like the average person from time to time.

Before you can help yourself become core or balanced, a person needs to accept and realize that there are signs of imbalance within him, then through certain actions he will be able to balance himself from all sides.

Below are the signs of an unbalanced person in order to understand them and see them in yourself.

Sign No. 1. Hot temper

Oddly enough, temper comes first. Hot-tempered people quickly explode and waste huge reserves energy is simply wasted. The reason could be anything, an undesirable situation.

Like, for example, there is a traffic jam and a person is rushing to work. But there's nothing you can do about the traffic jam. You need to either accept what is and wait calmly, or look for a way out of the situation. Let's say you immediately warn your boss that you are late and are ready to work the missed hours.

But just because a person simply explodes, screams and gets nervous, the traffic jam will not disappear anywhere, and this must be understood. But your health can be damaged, and damaged well. When a person is dusty, a huge supply of energy leaves his body, which he could spend wisely and profitably.

A person will not be as tired if he physically works all day than if he spends five minutes screaming with all his might, getting nervous and exploding.

Sign No. 2. Fears

Yes, fears also cause imbalance. A person who constantly lives in fear is not able to soberly assess the surrounding environment and the situation in his life. As a rule, it is very difficult for his loved ones to contact such a person. Constant fears They are not allowed to communicate openly, and besides, their loved ones are so sick of it that if possible, they would be happy to have less contact with such a person.

After all, you yourself will become the same if you constantly communicate with a person who sees danger everywhere and is afraid of everything.

Sign No. 3. Worry and anxiety

Worry and anxiety are cousins, and their progenitor is fear. In general, all negative emotions have one source - fear. Anxiety plagues a person. And how the body suffers is beyond words. Is loosening nervous system, strokes and heart attacks are all a consequence of anxiety. If a person stopped simply worrying about what was or will be, his life would improve significantly, and his health would improve significantly.

The same can be said about anxiety. Worry and worry less. There is one wise proverb, if you adhere to it, it will be easier to live.

If a problem can be solved, then there is no need to worry about it; if it cannot be solved, then there is no use worrying about it.

Sign No. 4. Fussiness

This is another sign of human imbalance. A fussy person, always in a hurry somewhere, doing something, he cannot stop for a couple of minutes and just sit in silence. He constantly needs to do something. The reason for this is thoughts in the head that do not stop for a second, and the body simply follows them. There can’t even be any talk of peace here. Naturally, fears, worries, and anxiety are also associated with the chaotic activity of thinking, behind which there is not even a drop of awareness.

Such a person does not see the difference between reality and the illusions in his head. This is very subtle question, see your thoughts, so delicate process that there are very few conscious people on Earth who are able to see thoughts. These are the masters of life.

Of course, there can be no talk about the effectiveness of actions. Again, a lot of energy is spent, but there is no result.

Fussiness is the enemy of a person, which makes him very ineffective in life.

Sign No. 5. Importance

This is, perhaps, also one of the main signs of imbalance. Important or arrogant people are very easy to anger. Importance makes such people heavy and clumsy. They consider themselves better than everyone else. They are unable to see their mistakes and learn from them.

They attribute all the laurels to themselves, although there are people who helped them achieve certain successes in life.

They try to surround themselves with people of lower rank in order to always surpass them.

An important person cannot laugh at himself, and in general he has a problem with humor.

Taking life too seriously. It is very easy to hook such people.

Conclusions on the topic “An Unbalanced Person”:

hot-tempered people spend a lot of energy, but get zero results;
fear is one of the main signs of human imbalance, only the fear that arises from an illusory danger, and not the one that arises from the danger that is present here and now;
worry and anxiety are the children of fear, they greatly unbalance a person, undermine the nervous system and make a person unstable, it is better to abandon them;
fussiness is another sign of a person’s imbalance, a fussy person does many actions that do not give much result, therefore, the effectiveness of a fussy person is zero;
It’s very easy to hook and piss off an important person, be simpler, know how to laugh at yourself, don’t consider yourself better than anyone;
An unbalanced person spends a lot of vitality and energy throughout life, and the result is most often zero. The effectiveness of his actions is not great.

You can ask all questions in the comments, which are located immediately below this article.

Even if you don’t have any questions, you, dear reader, can leave positive feedback under this article in the comments. If you liked it, I, as the author, will be immensely grateful to you.

What signs can be used to identify a mentally unbalanced sick person?

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

Human personality as a changing system

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

If a person believes, for example, that he is Napoleon or has superpowers, or he experiences sudden mood swings for no reason, or begins to feel sad or falls into despair because of the most trivial everyday problems, then we can assume that he is exhibiting signs mental illness. There may also be perverted attractions or his actions will be clearly different from normal. Manifestations painful conditions psyches are very different. But what will be common is that, first of all, a person’s personality and his perception of the world will undergo change.

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

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

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

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

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

Factors provoking the emergence and development of mental illness:

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

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

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

Where and when does the “abnormality” begin?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You should be wary if, even with a thorough examination, they are not identified somatic disorders(and the complaints do not stop), the patient was “treated” for a long time and unsuccessfully different doctors, but his condition does not improve. Mental illnesses or mental illnesses can be expressed not only by signs of mental disorders, but in the clinical picture of the disease there may also be somatic disorders.

Somatization symptoms caused by anxiety

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

Somatization symptoms caused by depression

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

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

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

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

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

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

Signs of mental health:

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

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

Mental disorders most common in women:

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

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

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

Unbalanced Unbalanced

The scales must oscillate before they reach balance.

Theodore Dreiser. Titanium

What is equilibrium if not constantly corrected disequilibrium?

Maurice Druon. Zeus Diaries

Imbalance as a personality quality is the inability to have mental balance, the tendency to react excessively strongly, inappropriately to the current situation, to life circumstances.

Nasrudin was a master of answering questions according to the mindset or intentions of those asking. One day, someone, mistaking him for an idiot, asked: “Why do some people go in one direction, and others in the exact opposite?” Nasreddin answered immediately: “You see, if everyone were on one part of the Earth, it would become overloaded and turn over from top to bottom.”

Imbalance, like a river overflowing its banks, floods the mind, only emotions float to the surface. In an unbalanced person, emotions clearly prevail over reason. Excitation processes dominate over inhibition processes, or vice versa: inhibition processes dominate over excitation processes.

The laws of the universe favor equilibrium state of mind personality. Any idealization, pride in all its many forms irritate the equilibrium forces of the universe. The person is taught lessons that involve removing imbalance. If he does not adequately respond to life situations, then, to some extent, he gives them excessive significance, creates a potential for tension, which the balancing forces strive to destroy. In a word, imbalance constantly conflicts with the equilibrium forces of the universe, creating troubles and problems for itself. If an unbalanced person does not learn the lessons taught to him, he is left for a “second year.” Inveterate “losers” who do not want to study are expelled from school due to illness - due to heart attacks or strokes.

Any defect is directly the cause of some disease. A person with an unbalanced psyche reproduces a whole “bouquet” of diseases. It's not just a stomach ulcer or duodenum, which are usually associated with mental imbalance, but to a certain extent also ischemic disease hearts with previous angina pectoris, heart attack and other diseases. The formation of some types of kidney stones is also believed to be related to stress. This, of course, also applies to a number of internal diseases, some types of cancer, not to mention skin and other diseases. Mental balance increases the body's resistance.

It must be said right away that women can be emotionally unbalanced, but they should not be overly angry. Anger is more characteristic of men. Women's anger is touchiness. An unbalanced man is a disaster both for him and for those around him. A man can “explode” under certain circumstances, but if this becomes a stable, repeated reaction to life circumstances, then a sad diagnosis can be made – imbalance. With a woman it's the other way around. It is stupid to accuse a woman of being emotional and sensitive. Unlike a man, whose mind is closer to reason, a woman’s mind is in direct contact with feelings and emotions. Therefore, it is absurd to be irritated by the fact that a woman is constantly worried and worried, that is, in the male understanding, she shows imbalance. In fact, this is her nature. Only an immature man can accuse a woman of being unbalanced.

Same-sex marriage is now common in the West. If you want a calm, balanced life partner, marry a man. Adopt a child and you will be so calm and calm. You’ll go to the bathhouse, and your little son will say: “Dad, what a big pussy you have.” - You, son, haven’t seen your mother yet. In a word, if you want to build happiness with a woman, come to terms with her worries, anxieties and experiences. By the way, one of the main responsibilities of a man is to give a woman emotional protection. Nature, in the person of a man, took care of how to bring a woman into a balanced state of mind.

Imbalance is the nonsense of life. In nature, everything is in balance. Writer Victoria Tokareva writes: “I have long noticed that nature lives according to the “But” principle. Ugly, but smart. And if he’s smart and handsome, he drinks. And if he’s smart, handsome, and doesn’t drink, then there’s no happiness in life. And each fate is like an anniversary ruble - on the one hand one thing, and on the other hand another...” Only people are characterized by an imbalance that burns them, which is not able to control their emotions.

Imbalance is the fruit of intemperance, lack of self-control and self-control. It clouds the mind, making a person stupid and reckless. There is such a parable. Balance is the balance of soul and mind, Prudence and Pride, Patience and Passion. Balance is the hard science of Love. We are looking for balance in ourselves and in nature, but years pass in search. Everyone searches, but only a few find. Begin with yourself! Until you find balance in yourself, and each other does not find it, there is no, and there will be no balance in the World, for the imbalance of each leads to the imbalance of everyone, and the World as a whole. And therefore, peace on the planet depends on each of us, and on all people without exception. Max Fry in the book “Objoa - Laughing” writes: “The Universe seems to be simply obsessed with balance. Don’t feed her bread, let her balance everything. Darkness with light, emptiness with abundance, eternity with time, and... - And every living creature is Shadow.”

Imbalance is a serious obstacle to interpersonal communication. It is difficult to communicate with a person whose mood changes for no apparent reason, who can lose his temper at any moment, flare up like a torch, and turn to direct aggression. He can go to extremes, break his obligations and promises, and disrupt other people's plans. Outwardly, imbalance is difficult to recognize, because it may seem calm and restrained. But an experienced observer is able to diagnose it by a tense face and lack of naturalness in behavior.

For example, a person shows exaggerated goodwill, or you get the feeling that he is constantly trying to control himself. An unbalanced person may constantly fiddle with something with his hands, or he may have the habit of swinging his leg. In open form, imbalance manifests itself through an irritated voice, in which harsh notes can break through every now and then. Often an unbalanced person constantly speaks in a raised voice. Conflicting with imbalance is stupid and downright dangerous. You can run into short-term madness - anger or outright aggression. (The conductor with an unbalanced psyche killed two birds with one stone.)

The best thing is to stay away from her. If this is impossible, then at the moment of a nervous breakdown you need to distance yourself as much as possible and behave calmly. For example, the husband is angry. You need to say: “Oh, sorry. I need to go to the toilet". There is no object, the anger subsides. Imbalance often manifests itself not because a person is the embodiment of evil and violence, but because deep down in her soul she feels fear, confusion, confusion and self-doubt.

The great Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol had an unbalanced character. He was very afraid of thunderstorms. According to contemporaries, the bad weather had a bad effect on his weak nerves. He was extremely shy. As soon as a stranger appeared in the company, Gogol disappeared from the room. He was embarrassed by his nose. In all the portraits of Gogol, his nose looks different - so, with the help of artists, the writer tried to confuse future biographers.

Neither contemporaries nor descendants can explain what happened to Gogol in last years his life. It is believed that when Gogol visited Rome in 1839, he contracted malaria. Despite the fact that over time the disease did subside, its consequences became fatal for the writer. It was not so much the physical torment as the complications that caused Gogol to have seizures, fainting, but most importantly, visions, which made his recovery difficult and lengthy.

In the fall of 1850, while in Odessa, Nikolai Vasilyevich felt relief. Contemporaries recall that his usual liveliness and vigor returned to him. He returned to Moscow and seemed completely healthy and cheerful. Gogol read out to his friends individual fragments from the second volume “ Dead souls"and rejoiced like a child, seeing the delight and hearing the laughter of the listeners. But as soon as he put an end to the second volume, it seemed to him that emptiness and doom had fallen upon him. He felt the fear of death, such as his father had once suffered.

No one knows for certain what happened on the night of February 12, 1852. Biographers, with a joint titanic effort, tried literally minute by minute to reconstruct the events of that night, but what is absolutely certain is that until three o’clock in the morning Gogol prayed earnestly. Then he took his briefcase, took out some sheets of paper from it, and ordered everything that was left in it to be immediately burned. After which he crossed himself and, returning to bed, sobbed uncontrollably until the morning. It is traditionally believed that that night Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls, but some biographers and historians are confident that this is far from the truth, which is unlikely to be known by anyone.

Seven years before his death, the writer warned in his will: “I bequeath my body not to be buried until obvious signs of decomposition appear. They did not listen to Gogol, and when the remains were reburied in 1931, a skeleton with a skull turned to one side was found in the coffin. According to other data, the skull was completely absent.

When Gogol was little, his grandmother, Tatyana Semyonovna, told him about the divine staircase: angels lowered it from heaven, giving their hand to the soul of the deceased. Last words Gogol were: “Stairs! Hurry up and give me the stairs!”

How to communicate with a mentally unstable person?

It is common to associate mental imbalance with mental illness. At its core, mental imbalance in varying degrees is inherent in almost every person. Imbalance can be episodic in nature, or it can become something of a lifestyle when a person experiences for long years gives the impression of being mentally unstable and in need of outside help.

Signs of a mentally unstable person

It is important to know and be able to identify the signs of mental imbalance. This will help you see them in yourself or loved ones and avoid serious consequences.

Irritability

People, exposed to even minor stress, are capable of erupting into a storm of emotions. During this, huge reserves of energy are wasted, which could be used for creation. Moreover, in five minutes of frantic screaming, swearing and worry, a person can become tired as if he had been doing physical labor all day.

Unreasonable fears

The constant feeling of imminent danger can drive you crazy. An unbalanced person begins to see a threat to his own life and safety almost everywhere and loses the ability to soberly assess the surrounding situation. Constantly being in a restless state, anxious state leads to serious problems with health – the nervous system is weakened, the risk of heart attack and stroke increases. Constant panic attacks can lead to agoraphobia and a reclusive lifestyle.

Fussiness and arrogance

Another sign of imbalance is constant rushing, inability to stop for a few minutes and relax. Constant tension and the need to occupy yourself with something are caused by an overabundance of thoughts running chaotically through your head. The line between reality and one’s own illusory world is blurred. Naturally, this leads to decreased productivity and wasted energy.

The desire to show one’s importance, difference from others, and attributing exorbitant merit to oneself is also a sign of mental instability. Arrogant people become rigid and have a hard time noticing their shortcomings and learning from them. own mistakes. Often such people have no sense of humor, they take life too seriously and are easily angered.

As a rule, the above signs are easy to detect because often they are not a temporary phenomenon, but become something like character traits. Besides this, there are others obvious symptoms mental disorders:

problems concentrating while working or communicating;
laughter for no reason;
alienation and hostility towards loved ones;
auditory or visual hallucinations - from the outside it looks like conversations with oneself, answers to questions from an invisible interlocutor;
confused speech, difficult to understand, containing absurd or delusional phrases.

Also, mental imbalance can be accompanied by insomnia and headaches, eating disorders, problems in intimate life, alcohol abuse and neglected appearance.

How to deal with a mentally unstable person

When dealing with a mentally unbalanced person, you should be careful not to provoke a conflict with your phrases and actions. The best thing you can do is to distance yourself as much as possible, control your emotions and remain calm and polite.

Don’t allow yourself to argue, swear, or raise your voice - let the unbalanced person rage to his heart’s content, and you just listen to him in silence. Remember that most often unbalanced people behave this way because deep down they feel extremely insecure, confused and afraid. A breakdown should be perceived as an attempt to make up for the lack of attention from others. Therefore, you should treat such a person kindly, demonstrate to him that everything is fine, the situation is under control.

Help him feel exceptional

Mentally unbalanced people are often helpless and suffer from it. To convince them otherwise, you will need a few simple tricks:

Focus on the fact that you care about this person. After all, if he notices that communication with him is unpleasant for you, this may further reduce his self-esteem;
Value his views and respect his opinions. When talking, do not be distracted by other things, pay attention to him. Praise for the thoughts expressed, even if you do not agree with his point of view;
Take care of comfort and pay attention to the needs of the person. Even simply offering a glass of water or a warm blanket can significantly improve his well-being and attitude towards you.

Show that you trust him

People with psychological problems They lose trust not only in others, but in themselves and their own considerations. Therefore, it is important to demonstrate your faith in such a person in order for him to regain his sense of self-worth and worth. To do this, try turning to him for advice or consultation on an issue that he really understands. Even a simple request for help will distract his attention from his own problems and help him perceive the world around him more adequately.

Help him become independent

Sometimes trying to help a mentally unstable person can make him feel helpless and worthless. Therefore, it is important to give him some freedom of action. Let him be responsible for himself - you shouldn’t nip any stressful situation, give him the opportunity to learn to deal with stress factors himself. Sometimes ask him to carry out some assignment and give him complete freedom of action from beginning to end.

However, one should not allow an unbalanced person to do whatever he wants. Freedom of action is good in moderation, for this you should establish certain rules and frames. Otherwise, you risk finding yourself in the position of a punching bag or they will simply start wiping their feet on you. Therefore, as soon as you notice that your friend begins to take liberties with you, gently but persistently put him in his place. Don't lose your composure and learn to stand up for yourself when necessary.

One of the main mistakes of people with problematic mental health

This mistake is trying to completely eliminate stress from your life. Sometimes people with unstable psyche They move away from the world around them - they quit their jobs, limit their social circle, and begin to rarely leave the house. But such a distance from reality makes the psyche even more unstable; a person cut off from life begins to see the world only in black and white, thinking loses flexibility and ultimately a prolonged depression and loss of desire to live sets in. If you begin to notice similar behavior in yourself or loved ones, you should immediately take action to prevent sad consequences.

If a person believes, for example, that he is Napoleon or has superpowers, or he experiences sudden mood swings for no reason, or begins to feel melancholy or falls into despair because of the most trivial everyday problems, then we can assume that he is exhibiting signs of mental illness. diseases. There may also be perverted attractions or his actions will be clearly different from normal. Manifestations of painful mental states are very different. But what will be common is that, first of all, a person’s personality and his perception of the world will undergo change.

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

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

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

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

Factors provoking the emergence and development of mental illness:

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

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

Where and when does the “abnormality” begin?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Somatization symptoms caused by anxiety

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

Somatization symptoms caused by depression

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

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

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

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

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

Signs of mental health:

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

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

Mental disorders most common in women:

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

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