Mental disorders: signs and symptoms of the disease. Mental illnesses: a complete list and description of diseases

We live in times of constant stress. Therefore, hand on heart, today everyone can admit that he has some out of the ordinary states of the psyche. Who hasn't experienced a state of inexplicable anxiety? We all experience fear in childhood, and growing up, it happens, we begin to suffer from insomnia. Or some musical hit is spinning in your head for several days in a row. In fact, as episodic manifestations, such manifestations are within the normal range and pass after some time.

It is quite another matter if such conditions drag on for weeks or months and begin to affect work activities and personal life. Unfortunately, mentally ill people, for the most part, do not understand their conditions. Only a few are able to realize that something is wrong with them and ask for help. The rest believe that they are normal, but something is wrong with the outside world. Most serious diseases begin with almost imperceptible symptoms, and in order to identify the signs of a mental disorder, it is necessary, at a minimum, to imagine how they manifest themselves.

What is a mental disorder

In essence, mental illness, starting as a mental disorder, first changes the person's behavior, and then personality changes occur. At the same time, the patient's reaction goes beyond the norms of adequacy and the rules of behavior accepted in society.

Keep in mind that mental illness brings suffering, and, first of all, to the patient himself, then to his relatives and further to society. Therefore, it is completely wrong to blame or reproach a sick person for his wrong behavior. After all, you don’t scold a flu patient for a high temperature, but try to cure him as soon as possible? Yes, a mentally ill person is a trouble in the family. But the sooner symptoms are identified and treatment is started, the greater the chance of recovery. Therefore, one cannot be indifferent to what happens to a loved one. And for this, it is possible, at least in order to increase erudition, to study the signs of a mental disorder and simply be more attentive to your surroundings.

Do not sound the alarm if you notice any of the following symptoms in the behavior of your family or colleagues. It is worth to start to look closely and identify their regularity. Although this does not apply to all symptoms: for example, a sign of epilepsy - convulsions and loss of consciousness, immediately indicates that you need to urgently see a doctor.

Some signs of the onset of mental illness

It is possible to assume mental disorders in cases where the following occurs:

• a radical change in personality;
• loss of ability to carry out daily activities;
• the emergence of strange ideas;
• increased anxiety or deep apathy;
• a noticeable change in the regime of the day;
• the appearance in conversations of the topic of suicide;
• sharp mood swings - from euphoria to deep depression;
• alcohol or drug abuse;
• hostile, uncompromising behavior.

The main signs of a mental disorder include hallucinations, delusional and emotional states, which can have varying degrees of severity and compatibility.

Auditory and visual hallucinations

Hallucinations can be manifested by an external reaction in different ways. So if you notice that a person is talking to himself, this may be a symptom. When alone, people may well talk to themselves, but it is rather their own thoughts spoken out loud. Another thing is if a person speaks to himself in the presence of others, or rather not with himself, but as if with an invisible interlocutor, while showing any emotions.

If your loved one suddenly starts laughing for no apparent reason and does not invite you to laugh with him, this is also an alarming symptom, especially if this happens repeatedly. Or, on the contrary, in the process of communication, he suddenly stops abruptly, as if he has heard or is listening to something.

Another symptom is constant anxiety, due to which it is not possible to focus on the topic of conversation. This can be annoying, but if this happens often, your opponent may have a mental problem. Especially uncomfortable when you see a person in front of you who hears or sees something that you do not hear or see.

delusional states

These are the most common clinical symptoms of mental illness, which are precursors or manifestations of schizophrenia or senile psychosis. This is not the kind of nonsense that can appear in a sick person at a high temperature, although in this case, brain disorders are caused just by a critical state of the brain due to elevated temperature.

This refers to an erroneous or unrealistic judgment, presented as the ultimate truth. Most often, such a state takes the form:

• hostility towards others;
• statements of dubious content;
• panic fear in the form of fears for one's life or for the life of others and in the form of protective actions - locking windows and doors;
• suspicious attitude towards food, etc.

For example, very often it seems to such mentally ill people that some specific people - neighbors, relatives - are hostile towards them. Some suspect that they are being followed for the purpose of arrest, destruction, or robbery. Intellectually savvy people believe that they are being monitored by hidden surveillance systems or exposed to harmful radiation. Elderly people often begin to accuse all relatives of robbing them or write complaints about neighbors to various authorities.

There are crazy ideas that relate to personal health - for example, some find various diseases in themselves and, despite the fact that the examination refutes them, they continue to insist on their own, exhausting relatives and doctors. And there is the so-called love delirium, when a person believes that a certain person of the opposite sex is interested in him and sends secret signs of attention.

Suicide risk

Almost all mental disorders are fraught with thoughts of suicide. Be attentive to your loved ones, observe their behavior. The alarm is worth sounding if:

• there are frequent conversations about their uselessness and uselessness;
• a person stops making plans for the future;
• the delusional state is manifested in the certainty of the presence of an incurable disease;
• sudden calmness, which replaced the depression and anxiety already familiar to everyone, is an especially dangerous symptom if at the same time a person begins to put his affairs in order.

Where do mental illnesses come from?

Some people mistakenly believe that the change in the behavior of their loved one is due to poor parenting or falling under a "bad influence" and try to re-educate him. It may take several precious years for the possibility of a cure, until others realize that in fact there is a mental disorder.

In fact, mental illnesses are also illnesses that require treatment. Their cause may be intoxication due to the use of alcohol or drugs. There are hereditary or congenital causes, age-related changes, stress factors. But any mental illness requires attention and treatment by specialists, and should not cause complaints in the direction of a sick person.

How to deal with those who may have a mental disorder

If a person suffers from delusions or hallucinations, first of all, you should not ask him in detail and clarify the details. Arguing can also aggravate the condition, so first of all try to take it seriously, listen carefully and try to calm down. When the supposedly sick person is in a relatively calm state, try to persuade him to pay a visit to the doctor. In case of violent behavior, call psychiatric help. It is especially necessary to treat patients with suicidal ideation carefully, and try to seek professional help as soon as possible.

All over the world suffer from one or another mental illness. According to other data, one in five people in the world has a mental or behavioral disorder.

In total, there are about 200 clinically diagnosed diseases, which can be roughly divided into five types: mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and psychotic disorders, eating disorders, dementia.

Depression is the most common mental illness. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide after cardiovascular disease. Slightly less common are general anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anorexia, and eating inedible objects.

How to recognize the first signs of the disease

This is fine. But, as soon as emotions begin to spoil life, they become a problem that indicates a possible mental disorder.

Signs of mental illness are fairly easy to spot. When we feel so anxious that we can’t go to the store, call the phone, talk without panic attacks. When we are so sad that our appetite disappears, there is no desire to get out of bed, it is impossible to concentrate on the simplest tasks.

Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Lecturer at King's College London

Too long looking at yourself in the mirror, an obsession with your appearance can also talk about health problems. An equally serious signal should be changes in appetite (both an increase and a decrease), sleep patterns, and indifference to an interesting pastime. All of these can indicate depression.

The voices in your head are signs of a much more serious problem. And, of course, not everyone who suffers from a mental illness hears them. Not everyone who is depressed will cry. Symptoms are always variable and may vary by age and gender. Some people may not notice changes in themselves. But, if the changes that speak of the disease are obvious to the people around, then you should contact a psychiatrist.

What causes mental illness

The causes of mental illness combine natural and social factors. However, some illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, may appear due to a genetic predisposition.

Mental illness occurs twice as often after natural disasters and catastrophes. It is also affected by changes in the life and physical health of a person. However, the exact causes of the disorder are currently unknown.

How to make a diagnosis

Of course, you can do self-diagnosis and look for descriptions of problems on the Internet. This can be useful, but such results should be trusted with great caution. It is best to contact a specialist for qualified assistance.

Medical diagnosis can take a very long time, maybe years. Diagnosis is the beginning, not the end. Each case proceeds individually.

How to be treated

The concept of "mental illness" has changed over time. Today, electrotherapy is banned, like many other forms of treatment, so patients are trying to help with drugs and psychotherapy. However, therapy is not a panacea, and medicines are most often insufficiently studied due to low funding and the impossibility of conducting mass studies. It is impossible to treat such diseases according to the template.

Is a cure possible?

Yes. People can fully recover from acute illness and learn to overcome chronic conditions. The diagnosis can change, and life can get better. After all, the main goal of treatment is to give a person the opportunity to live the life he wants.

When observing signs of mental illness, one should pay attention to the appearance of the patient: how he is dressed, whether the style of clothing corresponds to age, gender, season, whether he takes care of his appearance, hairstyle.

If this is a woman - whether she uses cosmetics, jewelry and how she uses it - excessively or in moderation, discreetly or loudly, pretentiously. A facial expression can tell a lot - mournful, angry, enthusiastic, wary, and the expression of the eyes - dull, dull, "glowing", joyful, "sparkling". Each emotion, each state of mind has its own external expression with numerous shades and transitions, you just need to be able to discern them. It is necessary to pay attention to the posture and gait of the patient, the manner of behavior, the position in which he stands, sits and lies.

Attention should also be paid to how the mentally ill person reacts to contact with: benevolently, obsequiously, dismissively, arrogantly, aggressively, negatively. He bursts into the room, without invitation, sits down on a chair, lounging, throwing his legs over, sets the conditions for the doctor on which he agrees to be treated, or, entering the office, modestly shifts from foot to foot. Seeing the doctor, jumps out of bed and runs down the corridor to greet him, or turns to the wall during the round. Answers the doctor's questions in detail, trying not to miss the smallest detail, or answers in monosyllables, reluctantly.

There are several methods of observation. Observation in the course of a conversation with a mentally ill person. It allows you to note the features of the patient's response to the doctor's questions, his reaction to the disease, to the fact of hospitalization. Observation in an artificially created situation, for example, in a situation of “free choice of actions”, when the doctor, sitting in front of the patient, does not ask him anything, giving the patient the opportunity to ask questions, make complaints, express his thoughts, move freely around the office. Observation in a natural situation where the patient does not know that he is being observed. This type of observation is used in a psychiatric hospital, and not only a doctor, but also nurses, orderlies must own it. It is acceptable when visiting a patient at home, in the workshop of medical and labor workshops.

By observing the state of the patient and the signs of his mental illness, one can, for example, distinguish an epileptic seizure from a hysterical one, pathological intoxication from a simple one. It should be noted that in child psychiatry, observation is sometimes the only method for detecting mental pathology, since in a child, due to the rudimentary nature of mental disorders, their lack of awareness and verbalization, questioning does not always lead to obtaining the necessary information.

Observing a mental patient for a certain time, paying attention, say, to the severity of catatonic symptoms, signs of delirium, a mask of depression, the doctor can assume the nature of the dynamics of the disease state and evaluate the effectiveness of the therapy.

If a mentally ill person with a severe chronic illness, previously untidy, comes to an appointment in clean and neat clothes, then one can think that the process of social adaptation in this case is going well.

Emphasizing the importance of the method of observation for the diagnosis of mental illness, we will give brief signs of mental illness as examples.

hallucinations

The behavior of a mentally ill patient during hallucinations depends on the nature of hallucinatory experiences: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, true, false, as well as on the severity of their manifestation. With visual hallucinations, it seems that the patient is peering into something. He can point to the location of hallucinatory images, discuss with those present the details of visual deceptions, and comment on them. The presence of visual hallucinations may be indicated by the patient's attentive, intent gaze in a certain direction, where there are no real objects, as well as his lively facial expressions, permeated with surprise, curiosity. If the hallucinations are pleasant to the patient, facial expressions of pleasure are visible on his face, if they are frightening in nature - the facial expressions of horror, fear.

If a mentally ill person has auditory hallucinations, then he listens, puts his hand to his ear in order to hear better, asks those around him to speak more quietly, or, on the contrary, plugs his ears, covers his head with a blanket. He can mumble something, out of touch with the situation, utter phrases that have the character of questions, answers. He can, "hearing" the call, go to open the door or pick up the phone.

With olfactory hallucinations, the patient feels non-existent odors, plugs his nose or sniffs, makes a scandal with his neighbors, believing that they let gases into his room, or, in order to get rid of odors, exchanges an apartment.

A patient with taste hallucinations, feeling a persistent, unpleasant taste in his mouth, often spits, rinses his mouth with water, interpreting them as manifestations of a disease of the gastrointestinal tract, often turns to a therapist for help. With olfactory and gustatory hallucinations, refusal to eat is characteristic.

Skin scratching may indicate tactile hallucinations.

With true hallucinations, the mentally ill person is emotional, his behavior is largely determined by hallucinatory experiences, and he often discusses their content with others. With pseudohallucinations, the patient's behavior is more monotonous, monotonous, the facial expression is hypomimic, detached, thoughtful, the patient seems to be immersed in himself, in his thoughts, reluctantly talks about his experiences.

In acute hallucinosis, the patient is uncritical of hallucinatory experiences and, without hesitation, follows the orders of the "voices". In chronic hallucinosis, a critical attitude may appear and with it the ability to control one's actions. For example, a patient, feeling a deterioration in his condition, himself comes to an appointment.

Rave

The appearance and behavior of a mentally ill person with delusional experiences is determined by the plot of the delusion. A patient with delusions of jealousy behaves suspiciously towards the object of jealousy, watches him, clocks the time of his departure and arrival from home, arranges checks, interrogations.

A patient with delusions of invention tries to introduce his inventions, writes letters to various authorities, on which the recognition of his ideas depends, abandons his main work, does not allow the thought that his inventions are absurd or plagiarism.

The delirium of persecution makes the patient wary, suspicious. The patient hides from his "pursuers", hides, sometimes, defending himself, attacks.

Patients with hypochondriacal delusions are often encountered in the practice of internists. They persistently seek medical and surgical interventions in connection with the existing, in their opinion, incurable disease. Patients with dysmorphomania syndrome are found in the practice of dentists and, demanding to correct one or another imaginary defect in the face or eliminate the disease that is supposedly the cause of halitosis.

Manic state

Manic excitement is characterized by a desire for activity. The patient is constantly busy with something. He takes part in cleaning the premises, recites poetry, sings songs, organizes "amateur arts", helps the orderlies feed the weakened patient. His energy is inexhaustible, his mood is upbeat, joyful. He interferes in all matters, takes on any work, but does not complete it, switching to new activities.

Depression

With depression, the face and eyes acquire a characteristic expression of sadness, grief. A deep fold cuts through the forehead (Melancholic Delta), the corners of the mouth are lowered, the pupils are dilated. Head down. The patient usually sits on the edge of a chair or bed in a bent position.

Catatonic excitation

Catatonic excitation can have the character of confused-pathetic excitation with pretentiousness, mannerisms, negativism (meaningless counteraction: they give him food - he turns away; when he tries to take away food - it is enough). The movements of the patient do not constitute a complete meaningful action, but acquire the character of motor automatisms, stereotypes, become impulsive, incomprehensible to others. Often there is unmotivated laughter, echolalia, echopraxia, jactation, aimless running in a circle (manage run), monotonous jumps.

hebephrenic arousal

Hebephrenic excitement is manifested by such signs: pronounced motor restlessness with elements of euphoria and foolishness, rude clowning. Patients take unusual poses, senselessly grimacing, grimacing, mimicking others, somersaulting, naked, sometimes their movements resemble those of animals. At the height of impulsive excitement, they can show senseless rage: they scatter food, violently resist an attempt to feed them, give medicine.

catatonic stupor

Signs of a catatonic stupor - the mentally ill becomes silent (mutism), immobilized. It increases muscle tone. You can find such manifestations of catatonic stupor as symptoms of a cogwheel, proboscis, wax flexibility, embryo, air cushion. The skin becomes sebaceous.

Mental disorders are human conditions that are characterized by a change in the psyche and behavior from normal to destructive. The term is ambiguous and has different interpretations in the fields of jurisprudence, psychology and psychiatry.

A little about concepts

According to the International Classification of Diseases, mental disorders are not exactly identical with such concepts as mental illness or mental illness. This concept gives a general description of various types of disorders of the human psyche. From a psychiatric point of view, it is not always possible to identify the biological, medical and social symptoms of a personality disorder. Only in some cases, the basis of a mental disorder can be a physical disorder of the body. Based on this, the ICD-10 uses the term "mental disorder" instead of "mental illness".

Etiological factors

Any disturbances in the mental state of a person are due to changes in the structure or functions of the brain. Factors affecting this can be divided into two groups:

1. Exogenous, which include all external factors influencing the state of the human body: industrial poisons, narcotic and toxic substances, alcohol, radioactive waves, microbes, viruses, psychological trauma, traumatic brain injury, vascular diseases of the brain;
2. Endogenous - immanent causes of the manifestation of psychological exacerbation. They include chromosome disorders, gene diseases, hereditary diseases that can be inherited due to an injured gene.

But, unfortunately, at this stage in the development of science, the causes of many mental disorders remain unknown. Today, every fourth person in the world is prone to a mental disorder or a change in behavior.

The leading factors in the development of mental disorders include biological, psychological, and environmental factors. The mental syndrome can be transmitted genetically in both men and women, which leads to the frequent similarity of characters and individual specific habits of some family members. Psychological factors combine the influence of heredity and environment, which can lead to a personality disorder. Teaching children the wrong family values ​​increases their chances of developing a mental disorder in the future.

Mental disorders most often occur in people with diabetes mellitus, vascular diseases of the brain, infectious
diseases, in a state of stroke. Alcoholism can deprive a person of sanity, completely disrupt all psychophysical processes in the body. Symptoms of mental disorders are also manifested with the constant use of psychoactive substances that affect the functioning of the central nervous system. Autumn exacerbation or troubles in the personal sphere can unsettle any person, put him into a state of mild depression. Therefore, especially in the autumn-winter period, it is useful to drink a course of vitamins and medicines that have a calming effect on the nervous system.

Classification

For the convenience of diagnosis and processing of statistical data, the World Health Organization has developed a classification in which types of mental disorders are grouped according to the etiological factor and clinical picture.

Groups of mental disorders:

myths

Recently, it has become fashionable to attribute any mood swings or deliberately frilly behavior to a new kind of mental disorder. Selfies can also be included here.

Selfie - the tendency to constantly take pictures of oneself on a cell phone camera and post them on social networks. A year ago, the news flashed across the news that Chicago psychiatrists had identified the symptoms of this new addiction. In the episodic phase, a person takes pictures of himself more than 3 times a day and does not post pictures for everyone to see. The second stage is characterized by taking photos of yourself over 3 times a day and posting them on social media. In the chronic stage, a person takes their own pictures throughout the day and uploads them more than six times a day.

These data have not been confirmed by any scientific research, so we can say that this kind of news is designed to draw attention to one or another modern phenomenon.

Symptoms of a mental disorder

The symptoms of mental disorders are quite large and diverse. Here we will look at their main features:

Possible deterioration of the thought process: its acceleration, incoherence, lethargy, perseveration, thoroughness.

The patient may develop delusions (complete distortion of ideas and non-acceptance of other points of view on a given issue) or simply obsessive phenomena - an uncontrolled manifestation in patients of difficult memories, obsessive thoughts, doubts, fears.

Disorders of consciousness include: confusion, depersonalization, derealization. Mental disorders can also have memory impairments in their clinical picture: paramnesia, dysmnesia, amnesia. This also includes sleep disorders, disturbing dreams.

The patient may experience obsessions:

• Distracted: obsessive counting, memory recall of names, dates, decomposition of words into components, "futile sophistication";
• Figurative: fears, doubts, obsessive desires;
• Mastering: a person gives out wishful thinking. Often occurs after the loss of a loved one;
• Obsessive actions: more like rituals (wash hands a certain number of times, pull the locked front door). The patient is sure that this helps to prevent something terrible.

Sometimes it seems that a loved one has gone crazy.

Or starts to go. How to determine that "the roof has gone" and it didn't seem to you?

In this article, you will learn about the 10 main symptoms of mental disorders.

There is a joke among the people: "There are no mentally healthy people, there are underexamined." This means that individual signs of mental disorders can be found in the behavior of any person, and the main thing is not to fall into a manic search for the corresponding symptoms in others.

And it's not even that a person can become a danger to society or himself. Some mental disorders occur as a result of organic damage to the brain, which requires immediate treatment. Delay can cost a person not only mental health, but also life.

Some symptoms, on the contrary, are sometimes regarded by others as manifestations of bad character, promiscuity or laziness, while in fact they are manifestations of the disease.

In particular, depression is not considered by many to be a disease requiring serious treatment. "Pull yourself together! Stop whining! You're weak, you should be ashamed! Stop delving into yourself and everything will pass!” - this is how relatives and friends exhort the patient. And he needs the help of a specialist and long-term treatment, otherwise he will not get out.

The onset of senile dementia or early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can also be mistaken for age-related decline in intelligence or a bad temper, but in fact it's time to start looking for a nurse to look after the sick.

How to determine whether it is worth worrying about a relative, colleague, friend?

Signs of a mental disorder

This condition can accompany any mental disorder and many of the somatic diseases. Asthenia is expressed in weakness, low efficiency, mood swings, hypersensitivity. A person easily begins to cry, instantly irritated and loses self-control. Often, asthenia is accompanied by sleep disturbances.

obsessive states

A wide range of obsessions includes many manifestations: from constant doubts, fears that a person is not able to cope with, to an irresistible desire for cleanliness or certain actions.

Under the power of an obsessive state, a person can return home several times to check whether he turned off the iron, gas, water, whether he closed the door with a key. An obsessive fear of an accident may force the patient to perform some rituals that, according to the sufferer, can avert trouble. If you notice that your friend or relative washes his hands for hours, has become overly squeamish and is always afraid of getting infected with something - this is also an obsession. The desire not to step on cracks in the pavement, tile joints, avoidance of certain types of transport or people in clothes of a certain color or type is also an obsessive state.

Mood changes

Longing, depression, the desire for self-accusation, talk about one's own worthlessness or sinfulness, about death can also be symptoms of the disease. Pay attention to other manifestations of inadequacy:

• Unnatural frivolity, carelessness.
• Folly, not characteristic of age and character.
• Euphoric state, optimism, which has no basis.
• Fussiness, talkativeness, inability to concentrate, confused thinking.
• Heightened self-esteem.
• Projection.
• Strengthening of sexuality, extinction of natural modesty, inability to restrain sexual desires.

You have cause for concern if your loved one begins to complain about the appearance of unusual sensations in the body. They can be extremely unpleasant or just annoying. These are sensations of squeezing, burning, stirring “something inside”, “rustling in the head”. Sometimes such sensations can be the result of very real somatic diseases, but often senestopathies indicate the presence of a hypochondriacal syndrome.

Hypochondria

It is expressed in a manic concern about the state of one's own health. Examinations and test results may indicate the absence of diseases, but the patient does not believe and requires more and more examinations and serious treatment. A person speaks almost exclusively about his well-being, does not get out of clinics and demands to be treated like a patient. Hypochondria often goes hand in hand with depression.

Illusions

Do not confuse illusions and hallucinations. Illusions make a person perceive real objects and phenomena in a distorted form, while with hallucinations a person feels something that does not really exist.

Examples of illusions:

• the pattern on the wallpaper seems to be a plexus of snakes or worms;
• the dimensions of objects are perceived in a distorted form;
• the sound of raindrops on the windowsill seems to be the cautious steps of someone terrible;
• the shadows of the trees turn into terrible creatures crawling up with frightening intentions, etc.

If outsiders may not be aware of the presence of illusions, then the susceptibility to hallucinations may manifest itself more noticeably.

Hallucinations can affect all the senses, that is, they can be visual and auditory, tactile and gustatory, olfactory and general, and also be combined in any combination. To the patient, everything he sees, hears and feels seems completely real. He may not believe that others do not feel, hear, or see all this. He can perceive their bewilderment as a conspiracy, deceit, mockery, and get annoyed at the fact that they do not understand him.

With auditory hallucinations, a person hears all sorts of noise, snippets of words, or coherent phrases. "Voices" can give commands or comment on every action of the patient, laugh at him or discuss his thoughts.

Taste and olfactory hallucinations often cause a sensation of an unpleasant quality: a disgusting taste or smell.

With tactile hallucinations, it seems to the patient that someone is biting, touching, strangling him, that insects are crawling over him, that certain creatures are being introduced into his body and moving there or eating the body from the inside.

Outwardly, susceptibility to hallucinations is expressed in conversations with an invisible interlocutor, sudden laughter or constant intense listening to something. The patient may shake something off himself all the time, scream, examine himself with a preoccupied look, or ask others if they see something on his body or in the surrounding space.

Rave

Delusional states often accompany psychoses. Delusions are based on erroneous judgments, and the patient stubbornly maintains his false conviction, even if there are obvious contradictions with reality. Crazy ideas acquire supervalue, significance that determines all behavior.

Delusional disorders can be expressed in an erotic form, or in a belief in one's great mission, in descent from a noble family or aliens. It may seem to the patient that someone is trying to kill or poison him, rob him or kidnap him. Sometimes the development of a delusional state is preceded by a feeling of unreality of the surrounding world or one's own personality.

Gathering or excessive generosity

Yes, any collector can be suspect. Especially in those cases when collecting becomes an obsession, subjugates the whole life of a person. This may be expressed in the desire to drag into the house things found in garbage dumps, accumulate food without paying attention to expiration dates, or pick up stray animals in numbers that exceed the ability to provide them with normal care and proper maintenance.

The desire to give away all your property, immoderate squandering can also be regarded as a suspicious symptom. Especially in the case when a person was not previously distinguished by generosity or altruism.

There are people who are unsociable and unsociable due to their nature. This is normal and should not raise suspicions of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. But if a born merry fellow, the soul of the company, a family man and a good friend suddenly begins to destroy social ties, becomes unsociable, shows coldness towards those who were dear to him until recently, this is a reason to worry about his mental health.

A person becomes sloppy, ceases to take care of himself, in society he can begin to behave shockingly - to commit acts that are considered indecent and unacceptable.

What to do?

It is very difficult to make the right decision in the case when there are suspicions of a mental disorder in someone close. Perhaps a person is just having a difficult period in his life, and his behavior has changed for this reason. Things will get better - and everything will return to normal.

But it may turn out that the symptoms you noticed are a manifestation of a serious disease that needs to be treated. In particular, oncological diseases of the brain in most cases lead to one or another mental disorder. Delay in starting treatment can be fatal in this case.

Other diseases need to be treated in time, but the patient himself may not notice the changes taking place with him, and only relatives will be able to influence the state of affairs.

However, there is another option: the tendency to see in everyone around you potential patients of a psychiatric clinic can also turn out to be a mental disorder. Before calling psychiatric emergency for a neighbor or relative, try to analyze your own condition. Suddenly you have to start with yourself? Remember the joke about the under-examined?

"In every joke there is a share of a joke" ©