What is a personality disorder? Personality disorder - types of personality disorders Personality disorders

personality and behavior, which, unlike neurotic disorders, are not painful for a person, do not cause any autonomic disorders and are accepted as their own characteristics.

Specific personality disorders

Psychopathy(from the Greek psyche - soul and pathos - suffering) - a congenital or developed in the early years an anomaly of the personality, causing the mental inferiority of the individual.

Each person has some personality accentuations (character traits, etc.), and this is normal. But when these features cause a violation of adaptation to a wide range of personal and social situations - this is a pathology.

A characteristic feature of a psychopathic personality is the disharmony of its emotional-volitional sphere with the relative preservation of intelligence. Psychopathic personality traits complicate social adaptation, and under traumatic circumstances lead to maladaptive behavioral acts.

Psychopaths do not have irreversible personality defects. Under favorable environmental conditions, their mental anomalies are smoothed out. However, in all mentally difficult conditions for them, a breakdown reaction and behavioral disadaptation are inevitable. Among persons who commit violent crimes, psychopaths occupy a leading place. Psychopaths are characterized by mental immaturity, manifested in increased suggestibility, a tendency to exaggerate, and unfounded suspiciousness.

Paranoid personality disorder

1) Increased self-esteem (grandiosity);
2) Suspicion;
3) Tendency to form overvalued ideas, fanaticism;
4) Excessive sensitivity to failures and refusals;
5) The tendency to constantly be dissatisfied with someone;
6) Constantly attributing what is happening to one’s own account;
7) A militantly scrupulous attitude towards issues related to individual rights, which does not correspond to the actual situation;
8) Grudge;
9) Deceit.

Schizoid personality disorder

1) Reticence, autism, preference for solitary activities;
2) Emotional coldness, alienated or flattened affectivity;
3) Increased preoccupation with fantasy and introspection;
4) Absorption in intellectual processes, passion for the computer.

Dissocial personality disorder

1) Indifference to the feelings of others;
2) Neglect of social rules and responsibilities;
3) Inability to maintain relationships;
4) Lack of attachment even to close people;
5) Tendency to alcoholism, drug addiction, theft, etc.;
6) Constant irritability, low threshold for aggression.

Emotionally unstable personality disorder (explosive, excitable, aggressive)

There are two types: impulsive type, borderline type. The boundaries between them are erased.
1) Impulsivity in behavior. Planning ability is minimal;
2) Emotional instability;
3) Lack of self-control;
4) Outbursts of cruelty and threatening behavior in response to condemnation by others;
5) Intentions and internal preferences (including sexual ones) are often unclear or violated. Chronic feeling of emptiness.

Histrionic personality disorder (histrionic)

1) The desire to be in the center of attention, recognition from others;
2) Theatrical behavior, exaggerated expression of emotions;
3) Superficiality and lability of emotionality;
4) Suggestibility, susceptibility to the influence of others, tendency to imitate;
5) Inappropriate seductiveness in appearance and behavior;
6) Excessive preoccupation with physical attractiveness associated with the desire to attract attention.

Anancastic personality disorder (obsessive-compulsive)

1) Excessive tendency to doubt and caution;
2) Preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules;
3) Excessive absorption in work, conscientiousness, scrupulousness;
4) Increased pedantry, perfectionism and adherence to social conventions;
5) Conservatism in matters of morality and ethics;
6) Inability to relax, avoidance of entertainment;
7) Rigidity and stubbornness;
8) The appearance of persistent and unwanted thoughts and attractions;
9) Lack of emotionality.

Anxious personality disorder (avoidant, avoidant)

1) Constant anxiety;
2) Tendency to doubt oneself;
3) Low self-esteem. Ideas about one’s social inability, personal unattractiveness;
4) Avoidance of interpersonal contacts due to fear of criticism, disapproval or rejection;
5) Limited lifestyle due to the need for physical safety;
6) Increased caring towards loved ones.

Dependent personality disorder (asthenic, passive)

1) Tendency to shift responsibility to others;
2) Subordinating one's needs to the needs of other people on whom the individual depends;
3) Difficulty in expressing independent views;
4) Fear of loneliness Inability to live independently;
5) Difficulty in making day-to-day decisions based on the advice of others.

Disorders of habits and desires

Behavioral disorders characterized by repeated behavior without clear rationalization of motivation, which are generally contrary to the interests of the patient himself and other people. The person reports that this behavior is caused by urges that cannot be controlled. The causes of these conditions are unclear.

Pathological attraction to gambling (gambling)

This disorder consists of frequent, repeated episodes of gambling that dominate the subject's life and lead to a decrease in social, professional, material and family values.

Pathological attraction to arson (pyromania)

This disorder is characterized by multiple acts or attempts to set fire to property or other objects without obvious motive, as well as ruminations about objects related to fire and combustion. There may be an abnormal interest in fire fighting vehicles and equipment, other items related to fire and calling the fire brigade.

Pathological attraction to theft (kleptomania)

In this case, a person periodically experiences an urge to steal objects, which is not associated with personal need for them or material gain. Items may be discarded, thrown away, or kept in stock.

Trichotillomania

Inclination to pull out hair and noticeable loss of hair. Hair pulling is usually preceded by increasing tension and is followed by a feeling of relief and satisfaction.

Gender identity disorders

Transsexualism

Feeling of belonging to the opposite sex. A desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually combined with feelings of inadequacy or discomfort with one's anatomical sex and a desire to receive hormonal and surgical treatments to make one's body as consistent as possible with one's chosen sex.

Transvestism

Wearing clothing of the opposite sex as part of a lifestyle with the purpose of obtaining pleasure from the temporary feeling of belonging to the opposite sex, but without the slightest desire for a more permanent gender change or associated surgical correction. Crossdressing is not accompanied by sexual arousal, which distinguishes this disorder from fetishistic transvestism.

Sexual preference disorders

Homosexuality

Sexual preference for members of the same sex.

Fetishism

Using an inanimate object as a stimulus for sexual arousal and sexual gratification.

Fetishistic transvestism

Wearing clothing of the opposite sex primarily to achieve sexual arousal.

Exhibitionism

An occasional or persistent tendency to expose one's genitals to strangers (usually members of the opposite sex) or in public places, without the suggestion or intention of closer contact. Typically, but not always, sexual arousal occurs during demonstration, often accompanied by masturbation. This tendency may only occur during periods of emotional stress or crisis, interspersed with long periods without such behavior.

Voyeurism

An occasional or constant tendency to watch people having sex or "intimate activities" such as undressing. This usually leads to sexual arousal and masturbation and is carried out secretly from the observed person.

Pedophilia

Sexual preference for children is usually prenatal or early puberty. Some pedophiles are only attracted to girls, others only to boys, and still others are interested in children of both sexes.

Sadomasochism

Preference for sexual activity that involves causing pain or humiliation. If an individual chooses to be exposed to this kind of stimulation, it is called masochism; if he prefers to be its source - sadism. Often the individual obtains sexual satisfaction from both sadistic and masochistic activities.

Abuse of non-addictive substances

We can talk about a wide variety of medicines, patented drugs and folk remedies. Although the drug may be prescribed or recommended by a healthcare professional for the first time, it is then taken over an extended period of time, unnecessarily and often in higher dosages, which is made easier by the availability of the substance without a prescription. Although it is usually clear that the patient is strongly motivated to take the substance, dependence or withdrawal symptoms do not develop, which distinguishes these cases from substance use.

The most common abuse is of antidepressants, analgesics, antacids, herbs and traditional medicine, steroids or other hormones, vitamins, and laxatives.

Personality disorders are a range of mental disorders that involve disturbances in consciousness, feelings, thoughts and actions. Previously, this deviation was called constitutional psychopathy.

general information

A person with a personality disorder completely changes their behavior. In social circles, behavior may differ from what is generally accepted and “normal.” This type of psychopathy is accompanied by destruction of consciousness. Each person experiences the disorder differently. More "light" forms only distort the idea of ​​the world and people, and the severe course of psychopathy leads to antisocial behavior and uncontrollability of one's actions. The symptoms of the disorder are as follows:

Causes

Personality disorder most often manifests itself in adolescents. In this case, the disease progresses and worsens the condition of a person at a more mature age.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization, marking F60-F69), every 20th person suffers from constitutional psychopathy.

As a rule, chronic and severe forms appear quite rarely.

The following aspects influence the development of the disorder:

Are personality disorders treatable?

It is impossible to answer this question unambiguously. To do this, you need to study 3 types of personality disorders. Their treatment is prescribed individually, based on the degree and type of disease:

A personality disorder is treated if the mental disorder is detected at an early stage. As a rule, many are embarrassed or afraid to visit a psychotherapist who would help fight internal "demons".

In 80% of cases, psychopathy ends with serious complications, which are accompanied by inappropriate behavior, communication problems. It all depends on the type and type of disorder. If there is a genetic predisposition, then the treatment will be difficult, long and ineffective. If psychopathy is acquired, then with the help of regular psychological assistance, attendance at trainings and the use of medications, a person will be able to lead a full-fledged lifestyle.

What is avoidant personality disorder?

In clinical psychology, this type of psychopathy is called anxious or avoidant. It most often occurs in adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 25 years. The reason is indifference, aggression, violence from parents, guardians and peers.

Manifestation of anxiety disorder:

This type of psychopathy is a serious disorder that is rarely tested and treated. Deviation can only be detected in a clinical setting.

Diagnosis of psychopathy

Only a psychiatrist can make a clinical diagnosis and prescribe treatment. If the cause of a personality disorder is a head injury or neoplasm on soft tissues, then the patient is referred to a neurologist and surgeon, as well as to take an anamnesis: X-ray examination, MRI and CT.

The cases in which diagnostics are needed are listed below:

Before making a diagnosis, a psychiatrist conducts dozens of tests and observes the patient. At this point, it is very important to be open and open about your past, especially if the issues involve relationships with parents and peers.

Treatment of personality disorder

Two techniques are used to treat personality disorder. Treatment methods consist of medications and psychotherapy.

Treatment with medications is prescribed if psychological assistance does not help. Indications for use: depression, anxiety and paranoia. As a rule, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI labeling), anticonvulsants and sedatives are used. For example, the most effective antidepressant is Amitriptyline. It not only reduces anxiety, but also acts on the central nervous system as an antiserotonin drug. Antipsychotics include Haloperidol, Aminazine, Olanzapine and Rispolept.

Antipsychotics are psychotropic drugs that help with hallucinatory, paranoid, and delusional disorders. Neuroleptics are prescribed for the treatment of severe forms of personality disorder, which are accompanied by depression and manic agitation. The most powerful drugs are determined by the amount of chlorpromazine and its antipsychotic effect. The weakest ones are estimated at 1.0 coefficient, the strongest ones reach 75.0.

It is a proven fact that medications do not cure the root cause, but only muffle and calm the emotional state.

Also, medications are intended to relieve painful symptoms (anxiety, apathy, anger). The job of a psychiatrist is to analyze the patient and create an overall picture.

In order for treatment to be effective, rules are introduced. For example, control aggression or anger, change your thinking and attitude towards life. With a personality disorder, individual therapy is recommended first so that the specialist gains confidence in the patient. Then group classes are introduced. On average, psychotherapy takes 2-4 years.

If mental health problems are ignored, it can lead to the development of new mental illnesses. Against the background of constitutional psychopathy, schizophrenia appears, paranoid, expansive and fanatical personalities develop, as well as psychosis, delusional disorder and Asperger's syndrome. It is important to remember that if you have a personality disorder, you should not self-medicate, ignore warning signs and avoid the help of specialists.

Nowadays, mental disorders occur in hardly every second person. The disease does not always have clear clinical manifestations. However, some deviations cannot be neglected. The concept of the norm has a wide range, but inaction, with obvious signs of illness, only exacerbates the situation.

Mental illnesses in adults, children: list and description

Sometimes different ailments have the same symptoms, but in most cases, diseases can be divided and classified. Major mental illnesses - a list and description of deviations may attract the attention of loved ones, but only an experienced psychiatrist can establish the final diagnosis. He will also prescribe treatment based on the symptoms, coupled with clinical studies. The sooner the patient seeks help, the greater the chance of successful treatment. You need to discard stereotypes and not be afraid to face the truth. Now mental illness is not a sentence, and most of them are successfully treated if the patient turns to the doctors for help in time. Most often, the patient himself is not aware of his condition, and this mission should be taken on by his relatives. The list and description of mental illnesses is created for informational purposes only. Perhaps your knowledge will save the lives of those you care about, or dispel your worries.

Agoraphobia with panic disorder

Agoraphobia, in one way or another, accounts for about 50% of all anxiety disorders. If initially the disorder meant only the fear of open space, now the fear of fear has been added to this. That’s right, a panic attack occurs in a situation where there is a high probability of falling, getting lost, getting lost, etc., and fear cannot cope with this. Agoraphobia expresses nonspecific symptoms, that is, increased heart rate and sweating can also occur with other disorders. All symptoms of agoraphobia are exclusively subjective, experienced by the patient himself.

Alcoholic dementia

Ethyl alcohol, when consumed regularly, acts as a toxin that destroys the brain functions responsible for human behavior and emotions. Unfortunately, only alcoholic dementia can be monitored and its symptoms identified, but treatment will not restore lost brain functions. You can slow down alcohol-induced dementia, but not completely cure the person. Symptoms of alcohol-induced dementia include slurred speech, memory loss, sensory loss, and lack of logic.

Allotriophagy

Some people are surprised when children or pregnant women combine incompatible foods, or, in general, eat something inedible. Most often, this is how a lack of certain microelements and vitamins in the body is expressed. This is not a disease, and is usually “treated” by taking a vitamin complex. With allotriophagy, people eat something that is basically not edible: glass, dirt, hair, iron, and this is a mental disorder, the causes of which are not only a lack of vitamins. Most often this is shock, plus vitamin deficiency, and, as a rule, treatment also needs to be approached comprehensively.

Anorexia

In our time of gloss craze, the mortality rate from anorexia is 20%. The obsessive fear of getting fat makes you refuse to eat, even to the point of complete exhaustion. If you recognize the first signs of anorexia, a difficult situation can be avoided and measures can be taken in time. The first symptoms of anorexia:

Setting the table turns into a ritual, with counting calories, fine cutting, and arranging/spreading food on a plate. My entire life and interests focus only on food, calories, and weighing myself five times a day.

Autism

Autism – what is this disease, and how treatable is it? Only half of children diagnosed with autism have functional brain disorders. Children with autism think differently than normal children. They understand everything, but cannot express their emotions due to impaired social interaction. Ordinary children grow up and copy the behavior of adults, their gestures, facial expressions, and thus learn to communicate, but with autism, non-verbal communication is impossible. Children with autism do not strive for loneliness; they simply do not know how to establish contact themselves. With due attention and special training, this can be somewhat corrected.

Delirium tremens

Delirium tremens refers to psychosis caused by prolonged drinking. Signs of delirium tremens are represented by a very wide range of symptoms. Hallucinations - visual, tactile and auditory, delusions, rapid mood swings from blissful to aggressive. To date, the mechanism of brain damage has not been fully understood, and there is no complete cure for this disorder.

Alzheimer's disease

Many types of mental disorders are incurable, and Alzheimer's disease is one of them. The first signs of Alzheimer's disease in men are nonspecific and are not immediately obvious. After all, all men forget birthdays and important dates, and this does not surprise anyone. In Alzheimer's disease, short-term memory is the first to suffer, and the person literally forgets the day. Aggression and irritability appear, and this is also attributed to a manifestation of character, thereby missing the moment when it was possible to slow down the course of the disease and prevent too rapid dementia.

Pick's disease

Niemann-Pick disease in children is exclusively hereditary, and is divided according to severity into several categories, based on mutations in a certain pair of chromosomes. Classic category “A” is a death sentence for a child, and death occurs by the age of five. Symptoms of Niemann Pick disease appear in the first two weeks of a child's life. Lack of appetite, vomiting, clouding of the cornea and enlarged internal organs, which causes the child’s belly to become disproportionately large. Damage to the central nervous system and metabolism leads to death. Categories “B”, “C”, and “D” are not so dangerous, since the central nervous system is not affected so quickly, this process can be slowed down.

Bulimia

What kind of disease is bulimia, and does it need to be treated? In fact, bulimia is not a simple mental disorder. A person does not control his feeling of hunger and eats literally everything. At the same time, the feeling of guilt forces the patient to take a lot of laxatives, emetics and miracle drugs for weight loss. Obsessing over your weight is just the tip of the iceberg. Bulimia occurs due to functional disorders of the central nervous system, pituitary disorders, brain tumors, the initial stage of diabetes, and bulimia is only a symptom of these diseases.

Hallucinosis

The causes of hallucinosis syndrome occur against the background of encephalitis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, hemorrhage or tumors. With complete clear consciousness, the patient may experience visual, auditory, tactile or olfactory hallucinations. A person can see the world around him in a somewhat distorted form, and the faces of his interlocutors can be presented as cartoon characters or geometric shapes. The acute form of hallucinosis can last up to two weeks, but you should not relax if the hallucinations have passed. Without identifying the causes of hallucinations and appropriate treatment, the disease may return.

Dementia

Stuttering is a violation of the tempo-rhythmic organization of speech, expressed by spasms of the speech apparatus. As a rule, stuttering occurs in physically and psychologically weak people who are too dependent on the opinions of others. The area of ​​the brain responsible for speech is adjacent to the area responsible for emotions. Violations that occur in one area inevitably affect another.

gambling addiction

This psychological disorder refers to a desire disorder. The exact nature has not been studied, however, it has been noted that kleptomania is a comorbidity with other psychopathic disorders. Sometimes kleptomania manifests itself as a result of pregnancy or in adolescents, during hormonal changes in the body. The desire to steal with kleptomania does not have the goal of getting rich. The patient seeks only the thrill of the very fact of committing an illegal act.

Cretinism

Types of cretinism are divided into endemic and sporadic. As a rule, sporadic cretinism is caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormones during embryonic development. Endemic cretinism is caused by a lack of iodine and selenium in the mother's diet during pregnancy. In the case of cretinism, early treatment is of great importance. If, for congenital cretinism, therapy is started at 2–4 weeks of a child’s life, the degree of his development will not lag behind the level of his peers.

"Culture shock

Many do not take culture shock and its consequences seriously, however, the state of a person with culture shock should be of concern. People often experience culture shock when moving to another country. At first a person is happy, he likes different food, different songs, but soon he encounters the deepest differences in deeper layers. Everything that he used to consider normal and ordinary goes against his worldview in a new country. Depending on the characteristics of the person and the motives for moving, there are three ways to resolve the conflict:

1. Assimilation. Complete acceptance of a foreign culture and dissolution in it, sometimes in an exaggerated form. One’s own culture is belittled and criticized, and the new one is considered more developed and ideal.

2. Ghettoization. That is, creating your own world inside a foreign country. This is isolated living and limited external contact with the local population.

3. Moderate assimilation. In this case, the individual will retain in his home everything that was customary in his homeland, but at work and in society he tries to acquire a different culture and observes the customs generally accepted in this society.

Persecution mania

Persecution mania - in one word, a real disorder can be characterized as spy mania or stalking. Persecution mania can develop against the background of schizophrenia, and manifests itself in excessive suspicion. The patient is convinced that he is the object of surveillance by the special services, and suspects everyone, even his loved ones, of espionage. This schizophrenic disorder is difficult to treat, since it is impossible to convince the patient that the doctor is not an intelligence officer, and the pill is a medicine.

Misanthropy

A form of personality disorder characterized by dislike of people, even hatred. , and how to recognize a misanthrope? The misanthrope opposes himself to society, its weaknesses and imperfections. To justify his hatred, a misanthrope often elevates his philosophy into a kind of cult. A stereotype has been created that a misanthrope is an absolutely closed hermit, but this is not always the case. The misanthrope carefully selects who to let into his personal space and who, perhaps, is his equal. In severe form, the misanthrope hates all of humanity as a whole and can call for mass murders and wars.

Monomania

Monomania is a psychosis, expressed in focusing on one thought, with full preservation of reason. In today's psychiatry, the term "monomania" is considered obsolete, and too general. Currently, they distinguish “pyromania”, “kleptomania” and so on. Each of these psychoses has its own roots, and treatment is prescribed based on the severity of the disorder.

Obsessive states

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, is characterized by the inability to get rid of intrusive thoughts or actions. As a rule, individuals with a high level of intelligence and a high level of social responsibility suffer from OCD. Obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests itself in endless thinking about unnecessary things. How many checks are on the jacket of a fellow traveler, how old is the tree, why does the bus have round headlights, etc.

The second variant of the disorder is obsessive actions or double-checking of actions. The most common impact is related to cleanliness and order. The patient endlessly washes everything, folds it and washes it again, to the point of exhaustion. The syndrome of persistent states is difficult to treat, even with the use of complex therapy.

Narcissistic personality disorder

The signs of narcissistic personality disorder are not difficult to recognize. prone to inflated self-esteem, confident in their own ideality and perceive any criticism as envy. This is a behavioral personality disorder, and it is not as harmless as it may seem. Narcissistic individuals are confident in their own permissiveness and have the right to something more than everyone else. Without a twinge of conscience, they can destroy other people’s dreams and plans, because it doesn’t matter to them.

Neurosis

Is obsessive-compulsive disorder a mental illness or not, and how difficult is it to diagnose the disorder? Most often, the disease is diagnosed based on patient complaints, psychological testing, MRI and CT scans of the brain. Neuroses are often a symptom of a brain tumor, aneurysm, or previous infections.

Mental retardation

Negative twin delusion syndrome is also called Capgras syndrome. In psychiatry, they have not decided whether to consider this an independent disease or a symptom. A patient with the negative twin syndrome is sure that one of his relatives, or himself, has been replaced. All negative actions (crashed the car, stole a candy bar in the supermarket), all this is attributed to the double. Of the possible causes of this syndrome, the destruction of the connection between visual perception and emotional is called, due to defects in the fusiform gyrus.

Irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome with constipation is expressed in bloating, flatulence, and impaired defecation. The most common cause of IBS is stress. Approximately 2/3 of all TCS sufferers are women, and more than half of them suffer from mental disorders. Treatment for IBS is systemic and includes medication to relieve constipation, flatulence, or diarrhea, and antidepressants to relieve anxiety or depression.

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Taphophilia manifests itself in an attraction to cemeteries and funeral rituals. The reasons for tapophilia mainly lie in the cultural and aesthetic interest in monuments, in rites and rituals. Some old necropolises are more like museums, and the atmosphere of the cemetery pacifies and reconciles with life. Taphophiles are not interested in dead bodies or thoughts about death, and only have a cultural and historical interest. As a rule, taphophilia does not require treatment unless visiting cemeteries develops into obsessive OCD behavior.

Anxiety

Anxiety in psychology is unmotivated fear or fear for minor reasons. In a person’s life, there is “useful anxiety”, which is a defense mechanism. Anxiety is the result of an analysis of the situation and a forecast of the consequences, how real the danger is. In the case of neurotic anxiety, a person cannot explain the reasons for his fear.

Trichotillomania

What is trichotillomania, and is it a mental disorder? Of course, trichotillomania belongs to the group of OCD and is aimed at tearing out one’s hair. Sometimes hair is pulled out unconsciously, and the patient may eat personal hair, which leads to gastrointestinal problems. Typically, trichotillomania is a reaction to stress. The patient feels a burning sensation in the hair follicle on the head, face, body and after pulling it out, the patient feels peace. Sometimes patients with trichotillomania become recluses because they are embarrassed by their appearance and ashamed of their behavior. Recent studies have revealed that patients with trichotillomania have damage in a certain gene. If these studies are confirmed, treatment for trichotillomania will be more successful.

Hikikomori

It is quite difficult to fully study the phenomenon of hikikomori. Basically, hikikomori deliberately isolate themselves from the outside world, and even from their family members. They do not work and do not leave their room unless absolutely necessary. They maintain contact with the world via the Internet, and can even work remotely, but they exclude communication and meetings in real life. Often hikikomori suffer from mental disorders of the autism spectrum, social phobia, and anxiety personality disorder. In countries with undeveloped economies, hikikomori practically does not occur.

Phobia

Phobia in psychiatry is fear, or excessive anxiety. As a rule, phobias are classified as mental disorders that do not require clinical research, and psychocorrection will cope better. The exception is already ingrained phobias that go beyond a person’s control, disrupting his normal functioning.

Schizoid personality disorder

The diagnosis of schizoid personality disorder is made on the basis of symptoms characteristic of this disorder. With schizoid personality disorder, the individual is characterized by emotional coldness, indifference, reluctance to socialize and a tendency to solitude.

Such people prefer to contemplate their inner world and do not share their experiences with loved ones, and are also indifferent to their appearance and how society reacts to it.

Schizophrenia

Sometimes parents ask the question: “Encopresis - what is it, and is it a mental disorder?” With encopresis, the child cannot control his stool. He can “big-time” shit his pants and not even understand what’s wrong. If this phenomenon occurs more than once a month and lasts at least six months, the child needs a comprehensive examination, including from a psychiatrist. When potty training a child, parents expect the child to get used to it the first time, and scold the child when he forgets about it. Then the child develops a fear of both the potty and defecation, which can result in mental encopresis and a host of gastrointestinal diseases.

Enuresis

As a rule, it goes away by the age of five, and no special treatment is required. You just need to follow a daily routine, don’t drink a lot of fluids at night, and be sure to empty your bladder before going to bed. Enuresis can also be caused by neurosis due to stressful situations, and traumatic factors for the child should be excluded.

Bedwetting is a major concern in adolescents and adults. Sometimes in such cases there is an anomaly in the development of the bladder, and, alas, there is no treatment for this, except for the use of an enuresis alarm.

Often mental disorders are perceived as a person’s character and they are blamed for things of which, in fact, they are innocent. The inability to live in society, the inability to adapt to everyone is condemned, and the person turns out to be alone with his misfortune. The list of the most common ailments does not cover even a hundredth part of mental disorders, and in each specific case, symptoms and behavior may vary. If you are worried about the condition of a loved one, you should not let the situation take its course. If a problem interferes with your life, then it needs to be solved together with a specialist.

Organic personality disorder is a permanent disorder of brain function caused by disease or damage that causes a significant change in the patient's behavior. This condition is marked by mental exhaustion and decreased mental functions. Disorders are detected in childhood and can persist throughout life. The course of the disease depends on age and critical periods are considered dangerous: puberty and menopause. Under favorable conditions, stable compensation of the individual can occur with saving ability to work, and if negative influences occur (organic disorders, infectious diseases, emotional stress), there is a high probability of decompensation with pronounced psychopathic manifestations.

In general, the disease has a chronic course, and in some cases it progresses and leads to social maladjustment. By providing appropriate treatment, the patient's condition may improve. Often patients avoid treatment without recognizing the fact of the disease.

Organic disorders due to a huge number of traumatic factors are very common. The main causes of disorders include:

- injuries (craniocerebral and injuries to the frontal or temporal lobe of the head;

— brain diseases (tumor, multiple sclerosis);

- infectious brain lesions;

— encephalitis in combination with somatic disorders (parkinsonism);

- cerebral palsy;

- chronic manganese poisoning;

- use of psychoactive substances (stimulants, alcohol, hallucinogens, steroids).

In patients suffering from epilepsy for more than ten years, an organic personality disorder is formed. It is hypothesized that there is a relationship between the degree of impairment and the frequency of seizures. Despite the fact that organic disorders have been studied since the end of the century before last, the features of the development and formation of symptoms of the disease have not been fully identified. There is no reliable information about the influence of social and biological factors on this process. The pathogenetic link is based on brain lesions of exogenous origin, which lead to disturbances in inhibition and the correct balance of excitation processes in the brain. Currently, the most accurate approach is considered to be an integrative approach in detecting the pathogenesis of mental disorders.

The integrative approach assumes the influence of the following factors: socio-psychological, genetic, organic.

Symptoms of organic personality disorder

The symptoms are characterized by characterological changes, expressed in the appearance of viscosity, bradyphrenia, torpidity, and sharpening of premorbid features. The emotional state is marked by either dysphoria or unproductive euphoria; the later stages are characterized by apathy and emotional lability. The threshold of affect in such patients is low, and an insignificant stimulus can provoke an outbreak of aggressiveness. In general, the patient loses control over impulses and impulses. A person is not able to predict his own behavior in relation to others; he is characterized by paranoia and suspicion. All his statements are stereotypical and are marked by characteristic flat and monotonous jokes.

At later stages, organic personality disorder is characterized by dysmnesia, which can progress and transform into dementia.

Organic personality and behavior disorders

All organic behavioral disorders occur after a head injury, infection (encephalitis) or as a result of a brain disease (multiple sclerosis). There are significant changes in human behavior. Often the emotional sphere is affected, and the person’s ability to control impulsiveness in behavior decreases. The attention of forensic psychiatrists to the organic disorder of human behavior is caused by the lack of control mechanisms, increased self-centeredness, as well as the loss of socially normal sensitivity.

Unexpectedly for everyone, previously benevolent individuals begin to commit crimes that do not fit into their character. Over time, these people develop an organic cerebral condition. This picture is often observed in patients with trauma to the anterior lobe of the brain.

Organic personality disorder is taken into account by the court as a mental illness. This illness is accepted as a mitigating circumstance and is the basis for referral for treatment. Often problems arise in antisocial individuals with brain injuries that exacerbate their behavior. Such a patient, due to an antisocial, stable attitude towards situations and people, indifference to consequences and increased impulsiveness, can appear very difficult for psychiatric hospitals. The matter can also be complicated by depression and anger of the subject, which are associated with the fact of the disease.

In the 70s of the 20th century, researchers proposed the term “episodic loss of control syndrome.” It has been suggested that there are individuals who do not suffer from brain damage, epilepsy, or psychosis, but who are aggressive due to a deep organic personality disorder. At the same time, aggressiveness is the only symptom of this disorder. The majority of people with this diagnosis are men. They have long-term aggressive manifestations that go back to childhood, with an unfavorable family background. The only evidence in favor of such a syndrome is EEG abnormalities, especially in the temple area.

It has also been suggested that there is an abnormality in the functional nervous system leading to increased aggressiveness. Doctors have suggested that severe forms of this condition are due to brain damage, and they can persist into adulthood and also manifest themselves in disorders associated with irritability, impulsivity, lability, violence and explosiveness. According to statistics, a third of this category had an antisocial disorder in childhood, and in adulthood most of them became criminals.

Diagnosis of organic personality disorder

Diagnosis of the disease is based on identifying characterological, typical emotional, as well as cognitive changes in personality.

To diagnose organic personality disorder, the following methods are used: MRI, EEG, psychological methods (Rorschach test, MMPI, thematic apperception test).

Organic disorders of brain structures (trauma, disease or brain dysfunction), the absence of memory and consciousness disorders, and manifestations of typical changes in the nature of behavior and speech are determined.

However, for the reliability of the diagnosis, long-term observation of the patient, at least six months, is important. During this period, the patient must show at least two signs of an organic personality disorder.

The diagnosis of organic personality disorder is established in accordance with the requirements of ICD-10 if two of the following criteria are present:

- a significant decrease in the ability to carry out purposeful activities that require a long time and do not lead to success so quickly;

- altered emotional behavior, which is characterized by emotional lability, unjustified fun (euphoria, easily turning into dysphoria with short-term attacks of aggression and anger, in some cases a manifestation of apathy);

- drives and needs that arise without taking into account social conventions and consequences (antisocial orientation - theft, intimate claims, gluttony, failure to comply with personal hygiene rules);

- paranoid ideas, as well as suspicion, excessive preoccupation with an abstract topic, often religion;

- change in tempo in speech, hypergraphia, over-inclusion (inclusion of side associations);

- changes in sexual behavior, including decreased sexual activity.

Organic personality disorder must be differentiated from dementia, in which personality disorders are often combined with memory impairment, with the exception of dementia in Pick's disease. The disease is more accurately diagnosed on the basis of neurological data, neuropsychological examination, CT and EEG.

The effectiveness of treatment for organic personality disorder depends on an integrated approach. What is important in treatment is a combination of medication and psychotherapeutic effects, which, when used correctly, enhance each other’s effects.

Drug therapy is based on the use of several types of drugs:

- anti-anxiety drugs (Diazepam, Phenazepam, Elenium, Oxazepam);

- antidepressants (Clomipramine, Amitriptyline) are used in the development of depression, as well as exacerbation of obsessive-compulsive disorder;

- neuroleptics (Triftazine, Levomepromazine, Haloperidol, Eglonil) are used for aggressive behavior, as well as during the period of exacerbation of paranoid disorder and psychomotor agitation;

- nootropics (Phenibut, Nootropil, Aminalon);

— Lithium, hormones, anticonvulsants.

Often, medications only affect the symptoms of the disease, and after stopping the drug, the disease progresses again.

The main goal in the use of psychotherapeutic methods is to weaken the patient’s psychological state, help in overcoming intimate problems, depression, obsessive states and fears, and learn new patterns of behavior.

Help is provided for both physical and mental problems in the form of a series of exercises or conversations. Psychotherapeutic influence using individual, group, and family therapy will allow the patient to build competent relationships with family members, which will provide him with emotional support from relatives. Placing a patient in a psychiatric hospital is not always necessary, but only in cases where he poses a danger to himself or to others.

Prevention of organic disorders includes adequate obstetric care and rehabilitation in the postnatal period. Proper upbringing in the family and at school is of great importance.

Personality disorder, the army's reaction to this deviation

Every young man is familiar with spring and autumn conscription and the associated hassle, including a medical examination, where not only his physical, but also mental health is assessed. The military registration and enlistment office provides a deferment or exemption from conscription to those diagnosed. The army involves quite harsh conditions for the psyche, which can be dangerous for an already unhealthy person.

Personality disorder

Pathological state of mind

Personality disorder, or psychopathy, is a pathological state of the psyche that is manifested by inappropriate behavior that causes both the patient and the people around him to suffer. People suffering from a personality disorder do not experience delusions or hallucinations, but they do have a fairly specific set of symptoms that are characteristic of each type of psychopathy.

There are several types of personality disorders in the army:

• Schizoid. It is distinguished by extremely stingy emotions, the difficulty of establishing emotional contact with others up to its complete impossibility (but there may be a strong attachment to animals). Moreover, such patients are often distinguished by their extraordinary intelligence.
• Paranoid. Patients are distinguished by unreasonable suspicion and suspiciousness, they constantly suspect others of wanting to harm them. They are unable to forgive insults and show tolerance.
• Hysterical. Attention is drawn to excessive expressiveness, theatricality of behavior, simulated emotions. The patient experiences a constant need for attention, and feels discomfort in its absence.
• Emotionally unstable (excitable psychopathy). In such patients, the ability to control their emotions is weakened or completely absent. Reactions of discontent or anger are violent and destructive, which is why relationships with loved ones are sharply conflicted.
• Dissocial (antisocial). It assumes the patient’s rejection of social norms, aggressive behavior, and complete indifference to his own safety and the safety of others. Patients are irresponsible in their responsibilities and do not feel regret about this.
• Anankastnoe (obsessive-compulsive). Unlike the previous one, the patient is overly conscientious and responsible. Planning your activities takes a lot of time and effort, so the result may not be achieved. Such patients have no flexibility in matters of morality, they are constantly unsure of themselves.
• Anxious (evasive). Extreme self-doubt and sensitivity to criticism, which is why patients avoid any responsibility and rarely achieve authority.
• Dependent personality disorder. It is similar to the previous type in that patients avoid responsibility, but at the same time they are not self-sufficient, in relations with others they take a leading position, and are often humiliated in order to be accepted.
• Narcissistic. Such patients are convinced of their uniqueness, importance and influence, and demand undeserved admiration from others for their imaginary achievements. They are often unable to show empathy because they are convinced that others are jealous of them.

Personality disorders in the military

Personality disorders in the army are very diverse and make significant adjustments to the life of the patient and his loved ones.

Article 18: exemption from conscription

A profound personality disorder may be a reason for exemption from military conscription. When a conscript undergoes a medical examination, specialists carefully study his personal file, reviews from places of study and work, and then come to the conclusion about his mental adequacy.

If a young man turns out to be unfit or partially fit for military service due to mental inadequacy, this is indicated on his military ID. Article 18, which denotes personality disorder and, as a consequence, exemption from conscription, has two sections.

Article 18a indicates that the recruit has severe mental illness, in which he is not able to control his behavior. Such a conscript cannot adapt in society, his pathological reactions are dangerous for himself and those around him, so military service is completely impossible for him.

Article 18b implies that the young person has less serious disorders:

• Personality disorders
• Violation of sexual preferences
• Disorders of hobbies and habits
• Recurrent affective breakdowns and transient behavioral disturbances

  Personality disorder can be dangerous

  These disorders may not cause any noticeable inconvenience most of the time, but they are dangerous due to unpredictable breakdowns. Intentional demonstration of symptoms of a personality disorder is not considered a disease and does not give rise to a deferment from the army.

  The presence of Article 18 in a military ID means that the conscript is unfit or partially fit for conscription, but this same article can become an obstacle to obtaining a driver’s license or working in government and financial organizations.

  Personality and behavior disorders: types, treatment

  Every fifteenth person on our planet suffers from a personality disorder. Moreover, he himself hardly perceives his condition as a disease that requires turning to specialists. He will justify all his actions and consider his behavior normal. He denies treatment, and the consequences are unpredictable.

  Personality disorder: adaptation difficulties

  A personality disorder is a disruptive pattern of behavior caused by a persistent mental disorder that is not associated with a somatic or neurological disease. This pathology is difficult to correct because the patient does not believe that he needs treatment. There is no motivation, which is a catalyst for positive changes. The individual himself does not strive to get rid of the disorder and does not communicate well with psychotherapists.

  Late access to specialists leads to the fact that the patient gets an appointment with a psychiatrist already at the stage of deep neglect of the disease. Relieving symptoms and curing can be difficult.

  The first signs of the disease actively appear in adolescence. Before this period, individual episodes are possible, but only after puberty can we talk about the problem. Individuals who have cognitive personality disorder do not understand why others talk about any of their problems. After all, they believe that behavior and actions are normal.

  People with personality disorders are poorly accepted in society. They often have difficulties in personal communication. But at the same time, patients do not feel the pangs of remorse and have no sympathy for others. After a certain time, their relationship with the world is built not on the principle of personal adaptation to society, but according to the pattern when society is forced to accept or not accept a problematic personality. Lack of motivation and desire to undergo treatment aggravates the problem, since not every doctor can find an approach to such a patient, relieve the symptoms of exacerbation and help get rid of the problem.

  Specific personality disorders

  In Soviet times, overly emotional individuals were often called psychopaths. Such a characteristic and classification was not inherent in Western psychiatry. Psychopathy is a serious violation of a behavioral nature, in which, against the background of the underdevelopment of a number of personality traits, one clearly dominates. This includes a number of deviations.

• Paranoid - the patient is dominated by overvalued ideas. He attributes special significance to his personality. But he treats others with hostility, suspecting them of evil intentions. A person with a pathology does not recognize its presence. When relatives or friends pay attention to cognitive deviation and try to take him to a specialist, he will assure that everything is fine with him and deny the existence of a problem. Very sensitive to criticism.
• Schizoid - this diagnosis is characterized by introversion, isolation, a decrease in interest in life's things. The patient does not perceive accepted norms of social behavior and often behaves eccentrically. Schizoid personality disorders are associated with a great passion for some kind of activity in which the individual succeeds. For example, he may be pathologically addicted to various health systems, to the point of attracting other people to his interests. Experts believe that in this way a certain asociality is replaced. Also, such patients may have problems with alcohol, drugs or other types of addiction.
• Dissocial - a characteristic feature of this personality disorder is the patient’s challenging cognitive behavior in order to get what he wants. With all this, such patients are able to win over people, including doctors. This type is especially pronounced in late adolescence.
• Hysterical - the main goal of such patients is to attract attention to their person in any way, including defiant behavior. The diagnosis is more typical for women. Atypical moodiness, inconstancy of desires, extravagance, and deceit are observed. In order to attract attention, the patient invents non-existent diseases, the symptoms of which can be produced by the autonomic system and are difficult to remove.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder - patients with this type of personality disorder pathologically strive for order and perfection. They lack a sense of humor and try to be perfect in everything. When the ideal goals set are not achieved, they may fall into depression.
• Anxious - such a personality disorder is characterized by the cultivation of a personal inferiority complex. Patients are in a state of eternal anxiety and uncertainty. From childhood, such patients are shy and timid. They often suspect others of hostility. They have a tendency to depression.
• Narcissistic - a deviation in which a person, from childhood, manifests narcissism, a desire to be constantly admired. Such a patient does not accept criticism: he reacts to it either with offense or aggression. Indifferent to the feelings of other people, prone to exploiting them to achieve his own goals.

Different forms of psychopathy require an individual approach to treatment. Personality disorders should not be confused with character accentuation. In the latter case, the person also has behavioral characteristics, but they lie within the upper limit of the norm. In addition, it is adapted to social conditions. The classification of classical psychopathy is inappropriate here. Diagnosis and types are different.

Causes of personality and behavior disorders

All specific personality disorders are usually divided into three clusters. Their classification:

• types of psychopathy of cluster A: paranoid and schizoid;
• Cluster B psychopathy: hysterical, asocial, narcissistic;
• types of psychopathy of cluster B: obsessive-compulsive, depressive.

The causes of cluster A psychopathy are considered to be genetic and hereditary. The fact is that among the relatives of patients who are diagnosed with a personality disorder, as a rule, there is at least one with schizophrenia.

A hereditary predisposition to pathologies can also be traced in psychopathy of clusters B and C. The first option can also be aggravated by problems with alcohol: in families of people who drink, children are more likely to develop disorders.

There is a version that cognitive specific personality disorders may be associated with hormonal disorders in the body. If a person has increased levels of testosterone, estrone and estradiol, the consequences of this manifest themselves in the form of aggression. In addition, he produces insufficient endorphins, which, in turn, leads to depressive disorders.

The social factor also plays an important role in the formation of a psychotype. Space is important for active children. If they are forced to grow up in a confined space, small areas, this leads to the appearance of hyperactivity. Babies who are born anxious can become balanced if they are raised by emotionally stable parents. A calm mother can help a child become confident, and an anxious one can not remove, but increase his personal anxiety state.

Character traits become noticeable already in early childhood. In adolescence, they can develop as a personality disorder. Cognitive impairment is manifested in a decrease in memory, increased fatigue. Pathologies of the nervous system are observed more often in people with an asocial temperament.

Mixed personality disorder

This type of psychopathy has been studied less than others. The classification has no special criteria. The patient manifests forms of one or the other type of disorders that are not persistent. Therefore, this type of disorder is also called mosaic psychopathy. But it is also difficult for a person with a mixed type of disorder to get along in society because of the peculiarities of their behavior.

Character instability is often the basis that contributes to the development of various types of addiction. Mixed personality disorder may be accompanied by alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling addiction.

Mosaic psychopathy can combine symptoms of schizoid and paranoid types. Such people do not know how to build social contacts in society and are obsessed with overvalued ideas. When paranoid symptoms predominate, patients suffer from increased suspicion. They are prone to scandals, threats, and love to write angry complaints about everyone and everything.

Specialists are alarmed if signs (classification) of several disorders coexist in one patient: schizoid, hysterical, asthenic, excitable. In this case, there is a high risk of developing schizophrenia.

Mosaic types of pathology can result from brain injuries or complications from a number of diseases. This mixed personality disorder is considered acquired. If we consider the situation in detail, it will look like this: a person already has a congenital tendency towards mosaic psychopathy, which, due to certain circumstances, is superimposed on organic pathology.

Mosaic disorder requires specific treatment only when symptoms worsen or when there is a layering of organic origin. Then the specialist may prescribe antipsychotics, tranquilizers, and vitamins.

Infantile personality disorder

With this type of psychopathy, signs of social immaturity are clearly expressed. A person is not able to withstand stressful situations and relieve tension. In difficult circumstances, he does not control his emotions in the same way as children do. Infantile personality disorders for the first time clearly declare themselves in adolescence. Hormonal storms that occur at this time with a person cause changes in the psycho-emotional sphere. As you get older, the diagnosis can only progress. It is possible to finally talk about the presence of the disease only after reaching 16-17 years. In stressful circumstances, the patient manifests himself immature, poorly controls aggression, anxiety, fear. Such a person is not hired for military service, they are denied employment in law enforcement agencies. Permits to carry weapons or obtain a driver's license are decided on a limited and strictly case-by-case basis, according to an assessment of signs and condition.

Transient personality disorder

This diagnosis refers to borderline conditions, when the symptoms of deviation are difficult to attribute to any type of personality disorder. The main causes of psychopathy are prolonged stressful situations.

Transient personality disorder has its own symptoms:

• disorientation;
• hallucinations;
• rave;
• inhibition of verbal and motor functions.

Even one of the symptoms may already signal a disorder. This diagnosis is special in that the disease does not last too long: sometimes only a day, and sometimes a month. It suddenly appears and goes away just like that. Sometimes a person can go to sleep with a disturbance, and get up in a normal emotional state with residual effects in the form of increased anxiety or sleep disturbances. With each new stress, a spontaneous return of the pathology is possible.

Such a diagnosis does not pass without a trace. In the event that there are signs of delirium or hallucinations, such a person requires special treatment, because his condition can also threaten those around him. In the period between exacerbations, the patient experiences emotional burnout, in which nerve cells are also destroyed. Therefore, even for preventive purposes, it is recommended to take vitamins and herbal remedies.

As examples from history show, partial transient personality disorder is not a harmless condition. Many of the famous serial killers and maniacs had this diagnosis. They led a normal life, had families, jobs, but during periods of exacerbation they committed crimes. When Western experts studied the brains of executed criminals, they did not find significant changes in them. All of its areas corresponded to the norm of a healthy person. And only stressful conditions could lead to the appearance of signs of a personality disorder, which entailed antisocial behavior. Perhaps, if during the period when the first signs of the disease appeared there was a person nearby who noticed this and helped to contact a specialist, such consequences could have been avoided. Finding myself face to face with continuous stressful situations, my psyche simply could not stand it. The mechanism for the development of the disease was launched.

Treatment of personality disorders

When a person is diagnosed with psychopathy, he rarely agrees with it. The peculiarity of this disease is that the patient does not see problems in himself, but looks for them in others. Treatment in this case is always difficult. According to statistics, only every fifth of them agrees to accept help.

Treatment of psychopathy is carried out individually. It includes sessions of psychotherapy and, if necessary, the use of drugs. In difficult cases, when the antisocial behavior of the patient poses a threat to others, treatment can be carried out in a hospital.

The treatment of borderline conditions causes controversy among experts. Some believe that the patient needs help only during exacerbations, while others insist on constant support. In any case, treatment of psychopathy continues for many years. With the patient's tendency to impulsive acts that can threaten life and health, psychotropic drugs are connected.

Organic personality disorder in humans

The consequence of a violation of brain activity due to illness or due to brain damage is a significant change in human behavior. This disease is called an organic personality disorder in humans and is accompanied by exhaustion of the psyche, a decrease in the function of thinking. Most often, the disease is detected in adolescence and can repeatedly remind itself throughout life.

The most dangerous periods for the progression of the disorder are considered to be puberty and menopause. Conditions favorable to this contribute to the formation of a stable, compensated personality that maintains ability to work.

If there are certain circumstances aggravating the course of the disease: organic disorders, frequent emotional stress, then decompensation is possible, with subsequent clear manifestations of psychopathy.

Most often, the disease is chronic, periodically progressing, and sometimes leading to the inability of the individual to adapt to his social environment.

There are a number of main causes of organic personality disorder, including, in particular, a large number of traumatic factors:

• Damage due to traumatic brain injury.
• Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis.
• Infectious lesion of the human brain.
• Diseases of the vascular system.
• Encephalitis combined with disorders of the internal systems of the body.
• Varieties of cerebral palsy.
• Use of psychoactive substances: steroids, hallucinogens.

Patients who have suffered from epileptic seizures for over 10 years may feel the influence of an organic personality disorder in a person. There is a hypothesis that fixes the relationship between the number of seizures and the severity of the personality disorder.

The distinctive features of the development of symptoms of the disease have not been definitively identified. There is no definitive information about the impact of biological and social factors on the development of symptoms.

The most prominent symptoms of an organic personality disorder include: inhibition of mental processes (bradyphrenia), difficulty in a consistent flow of thoughts (torpidity), and emphasis on premorbid personality traits. At the level of the emotional state, there is a gloomy hostility towards others, accompanied by irritability (dysphoria), or a vacuously elated mood.

The later stages of the disease are marked by apathy and instability of the emotional state. Usually, a minor stimulus is enough for the patient to fall into a state of passion, or to cause an explosion of aggressiveness.

A person loses control over his own intentions, he cannot predict personal behavior in relation to the people around him, and shows unmotivated suspicion towards them. In terms of statements, their uniformity is observed with a predominance of flat jokes.

The later stages of the course of this disorder are characterized by a decrease in the ability to remember information (dysmnesia), which can develop into a degradation of mental ability (dementia).

The diagnosis of the disorder is preceded by the identification of personality changes at the level of cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, and psychopathic disorders. As a method of diagnosing an organic personality disorder, methods based on the use of MRI - magnetic resonance imaging, EEG - electroencephalogram of the brain, psychological methods: Rorschach test, thematic apperceptive test are used.

In the process of research, organic lesions of brain structures, the absence or presence of damage to the memory function, typical changes in behavioral signs and speech disorders are identified and recorded.

The diagnosis can be established in accordance with the international classifier of diseases (ICD-10), if at least two of the following signs are observed simultaneously:

• a radical decrease in the real ability to carry out purposeful activities;
• distortion of emotional behavior, resulting in emotional inconstancy, characterized by mood swings from unmotivated fun to equally unmotivated aggression, sometimes alternating with complete apathy;
• the emergence of antisocial needs associated with sexual intemperance, a tendency to steal, non-compliance with personal hygiene;
• the presence of delusional ideas, suspiciousness and suspicion;
• reduced rate of speech, writing style accompanied by excessive verbosity (hypergraphia).

  A clear differentiation must be made between organic personality disorder and dementia, since the latter has a memory impairment, except for Pick's disease. Neuropsychological research contributes to the final diagnosis of the disease.

  Methodology for treating organic disorder

  A clear methodology for treating an organic disorder is quite important. A flexible combination of psychotherapeutic treatment and drug exposure is needed. When the body is cross-stimulated, the actions of these channels are enhanced.

  Various types of drugs are used as drug therapy, these include:

• medications that reduce the threshold of anxiety;
• drugs used in the treatment of depression;
• psychotropic drugs aimed at the treatment of psychotic disorders (neuroleptics) associated with aggressive behavior;
• drugs that improve memory, learning ability, and activate brain activity - nootropics;
• hormonal medications.

However, often the medications used only remove the manifestations of the disease, which, after their withdrawal, begins to progress again. That is, the role of drugs actually comes down to weakening the symptoms and alleviating the patient’s painful condition, offering him new models of behavior for their assimilation and practice.

The patient should be provided with psychotherapeutic assistance to build balanced relationships with members of his own family, so that they can provide support, and he can perceive it at the proper level. It is not always indicated to place a patient in a hospital - a psychiatric clinic, but only if he is dangerous both to himself and to others.

What is organic personality disorder? Main symptoms and treatment

An organic personality disorder is a pronounced change in the patient's usual behavior, the cause of which is a disease with changes in the structure of the brain. Organic personality disorder can manifest itself as disturbances in the emotional sphere, changes in life needs and priorities. Often this pathology is accompanied by a decrease in the ability to think and learn, and sexual disorders.

Diseases that are caused by any obvious structural changes in the brain (or other organ) are considered organic. These changes can usually be detected using imaging methods (x-rays, CT and MRI, ultrasound).

In the case of congenital organic changes in the brain, signs of the disease are detected in early childhood and persist throughout life. The course of organic brain pathology is variable, asymptomatic periods and exacerbations are possible. Exacerbations occur especially often during strong hormonal changes - in adolescence and during menopause.

In the absence of concomitant pathology and favorable living conditions, long-term (from several years to decades) compensation with sufficient social adaptation and ability to work can occur. However, with any negative influences (infections, injuries, stress), a severe relapse with psychopathological manifestations and subsequent deterioration of the condition may occur.

Organic personality and behavior disorder in most cases is stable. Cases of continuous progression followed by maladjustment and pronounced personality defect have been described. Constant treatment contributes to long-term stabilization and even some improvement in the condition. A number of patients may refuse treatment, denying the presence of the disease.

Causes of organic personality disorder

The causes of organic personality disorders are extremely varied. Among the main ones:

• traumatic brain injuries of any location,
• tumors and cysts,
• epilepsy,
• degenerative brain diseases (multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, etc.),
• infectious diseases of the brain,
• encephalitis,
• cerebral palsy,
• poisoning with neurotoxic substances, in particular manganese,
• pathology of cerebral vessels,
• Substance abuse.

Long-term epilepsy (more than ten years) with frequent seizures leads to the appearance of an organic personality disorder. There are a number of studies proving the connection between the frequency of attacks and the severity of mental pathology.

Organic personality disorders have been known and studied for more than a century. However, there is still no accurate information about their pathogenesis and development. The impact of social factors and characteristics of the premorbid state on the course of this class of disorders has not been fully studied. The main mechanism for the development of the disease is considered to be a violation of the normal ratio and mechanics of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the brain due to its damage.

Recently, an integrative approach to the pathogenesis of this class of diseases has been gaining popularity, which, in addition to organic factors, takes into account the genetic characteristics of the patient and his social environment.

According to ICD-10, the following symptoms are identified with organic personality disorder.

First of all, it is necessary to have general criteria for a psychiatric illness due to brain damage:

• confirmed data on the presence of a disease or brain injury,
• preserved consciousness and memory,
• absence of other mental disorders.
• Emotional disorders, which can manifest as euphoria, irritability, anger, apathy, the appearance of flat or inappropriate witticisms in speech, attacks of aggression, frequent fluctuations in emotions, their instability and changeability.
• Cognitive disorders. More than others, organic personality disorder is characterized by the presence of paranoid ideas or excessive suspicion, a tendency to categorize people as “good” and “bad,” and pathological preoccupation with one activity.
• Changes in speech, in particular viscosity, slowness, excessive detail, a tendency to use colorful adjectives.
• Decreased ability for long-term, purposeful activities, including professional ones. This is especially noticeable in relation to activities that require a lot of time, the results of which do not appear immediately.
• Sexual disturbances - changes in preferences or increased libido.
• Disinhibition of drives, including those of an antisocial nature - the patient may develop hypersexuality, aversion to personal hygiene, a tendency to gluttony, and may participate in illegal acts.

Depending on the prevailing combination of symptoms, the following types of organic personality disorder are distinguished:

Diagnosis of organic personality disorder

To establish a diagnosis of “organic personality disorder,” it is necessary to identify a combination of emotional, cognitive and characterological changes with organic brain damage.

Diagnostics is carried out using the following methods:

• neurological examination,
• psychological research (testing and conversation with a psychologist),
• functional study of the brain (electroencephalography),
• visualization of brain structures (CT and MRI).

During the examination, a search is made for brain damage and dysfunction, changes in behavior and drives, speech disorders, memory integrity and level of consciousness are checked.

For final confirmation of the diagnosis, a long-term observation of the patient by a specialist - a neurologist or psychiatrist - is necessary for at least six months. During this period, the presence of three or more diagnostic signs of organic personality disorder is confirmed according to the ICD-10 criteria described above.

Treatment of organic personality disorder

Treatment of personality disorders of an organic nature is necessarily comprehensive. It includes the prescription of medications and psychotherapy methods. In the right combination, these agents enhance each other's effects.

For the drug treatment of organic personality disorders, the following groups of drugs are used:

• antidepressants to correct emotional state or in the presence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms;
• tranquilizers to eliminate psychomotor agitation;
• neuroleptics of different groups - to reduce the degree of aggression, with motor agitation, to reduce paranoid symptoms;
• nootropics and antihypoxants are indicated for organic personality disorders of any etiology in order to slow the progression of symptoms;
• anticonvulsants if necessary;
• lithium preparations as long-term maintenance therapy.

Most medications require lifelong use, since when they are discontinued, the symptoms of the disease reappear.

Goals of psychotherapeutic treatment:

• increasing the patient’s subjective psychological comfort,
• improving quality of life,
• fight against depression,
• elimination of sexual disorders,
• treatment of obsessive-compulsive conditions,
• teaching the patient socially acceptable behavior patterns.

Psychotherapy is carried out in the form of a series of personal conversations with a psychiatrist, followed by exercises aimed at learning new behavior patterns. Family, group and individual psychotherapy is used. Working with the patient’s family is especially effective, as a result of which it is possible to improve relationships with relatives and ensure their support for the patient.

Hospitalization of a patient in a specialized institution is carried out when there is a threat of suicide or the patient is highly aggressive and poses a danger to others.

There is no complete prevention of organic personality disorders. It is important to pay great attention to the prevention of injuries during childbirth, industrial and domestic injuries, medical examination of the population in order to timely detect pathology for early treatment. After identifying the disease, it is necessary to create conditions for stabilizing the condition and work with the patient’s environment.

In most cases, it is difficult to communicate with such people; they often like to argue over trifles and are very stubborn. A person with a personality disorder perceives reality in a distorted form, and these symptoms manifest themselves in any situation.

This diagnosis is not made before the age of 18. However, to make a diagnosis, symptoms must have been continuously present for the previous five years. There are several main types of personality disorders: antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, histrionic, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, dependent and avoidant. There are several other varieties, but they are beyond the scope of our discussion.

Here are 10 signs that suggest a person has a personality disorder:

1. He constantly has mutual misunderstandings with others. He often hears in the words of others what they did not actually say. The narcissist feels that he is being idealized, although he is far from ideal, and those suffering from avoidant personality disorder hear contempt and anger in the words of others, which in fact are not there. In fact, such a person hears in the words of others the content of his own internal dialogue (insecurity or feelings of superiority).

2. He perceives reality incorrectly. By incorrectly interpreting the words of others, such people often have false ideas about what kind of relationship they have with others and what status they occupy in society. For example, hysterical individuals quickly begin to consider themselves the best friends of a person they have just met, not realizing that their new acquaintance does not think so.

3. They often spoil others' fun. For example, they tell how the film will end, come up with unlikely reasons why someone’s plans might fail, spoil others’ mood by causing scenes over trifles. They do all this to be the center of attention, to prove to others that they are smart and right - a typical manifestation of obsessive-compulsive and narcissistic traits.

4. They don't understand that "no" means no. The tendency to violate the personal boundaries of others is a typical symptom. Sufferers of these disorders do not recognize the right of others to set boundaries and easily violate any boundaries they do not like. People with antisocial and borderline personality disorders violate other people's boundaries for other reasons - the former get pleasure from it, and the latter often do not even realize that they are violating something.

5. They try to make themselves look like victims. To avoid responsibility, people with personality disorders tend to portray themselves as victims, for example by talking about their difficult childhoods and long-standing psychological traumas. But it's one thing for someone with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to suffer from painful flashbacks, but it's another thing entirely for a person to manipulate others or avoid responsibility by portraying themselves as victims and talking about a difficult past. Paranoid, dependent or antisocial individuals are especially prone to this.

6. They have an imbalance in their personal relationships. Some disorders (borderline, hysterical and dependent) are characterized by too close and emotional relationships, while other people (with narcissistic, avoidant, schizoid, schizotypal, obsessive-compulsive or antisocial disorder), on the contrary, have almost no access to emotional intimacy. In any case, relationships are built unbalanced - either too close, or cold and distant.

7. It is very difficult for them to change themselves. Growth and development are almost impossible for such people. They are capable of changing, but extremely slowly. Disorders usually cannot be completely cured, with the exception of borderline disorder, which research shows responds well to certain types of psychotherapy.

8. They shift the blame to others. If a person comes to a psychotherapist with a partner, he often tries to show himself as perfection, and his partner as almost crazy. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder often bring a paper to the therapist listing all their partner's shortcomings. When their mistakes and shortcomings are pointed out to them, they try to blame them on someone else.

9. They are prone to outright lies. It's one thing to tell a white lie to avoid hurting someone's feelings (something people with personality disorders usually don't care about), but it's another thing to outright lie to protect oneself. Such individuals cannot admit that they are the problem and resort to deception. And if they do admit it, they usually do it as dramatically as possible, trying to win over their interlocutor. The most dangerous thing is the lie of a person with antisocial personality disorder; it often threatens others with real mental trauma.

10. They have a distorted view of reality. Schizoid and schizotypal individuals have a distorted idea of ​​life and their place in it. They seem to look at the world through glasses through which everything is seen a little differently than it really is. Their view of the world is in many ways based more on fantasy than reality.

These 10 signs may be a reason to suspect a person has a personality disorder, but remember that only a specialist can make a final diagnosis, so you should not make hasty conclusions.

about the author

Psychologist-consultant with 15 years of experience. Her website.