Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive Obsessive Syndrome

Neurosis obsessive states can be described as mental disorder, which manifests itself in the form of involuntary thoughts, panic, fear, anxiety and apprehension, as well as obsessions. This disease is considered in psychiatry as obsessive-compulsive neurosis. This name is due to the fact that the patient has intrusive thoughts– “obsessions”, obsessive states (actions) – “compulsions”. A person can be visited by the most unusual desires, for example, an irresistible desire to constantly check whether the door is closed. Or a person constantly feels the need to clean the apartment, although its cleanliness has been brought to a sterile state.

Various obsessive thoughts come into a person’s head, which he diligently tries to suppress.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects 1 to 3% of people, but most of them do not seek help from a specialist, not considering it a disorder.

Every day thousands of different thoughts flash through our heads, some of them are serious, some are quickly forgotten and replaced by other thoughts. But in people suffering from obsessive compulsive neurosis, obsessive thoughts do not leave their heads, they are not filtered by the brain.

Obsessive states fill daily life the patient is not given the opportunity to concentrate on something else, to escape from feelings of anxiety and fear. At the same time, psychological stress increases and obsessive-compulsive neurosis develops. Typical behavior with OCD:

fears or even phobias associated with worries about the lives of loved ones;
ideas that are erotic and even asocial in nature;
obsessive thoughts about the repetition of some negative events in life that have left a mark.

Neurosis of obsessive actions is expressed in the following form:

constant need to count objects (this could be poles on the way home, trees in the yard, the number of birds sitting on a branch, etc.);
excessive hygiene (frequent hand washing, wearing gloves in public for fear of catching an infection, etc.);
performing the same actions or repeating words that help to avoid troubles (according to the patient, these words/actions carry magical protection);
increased control over environment person (checking turned off electrical appliances, closed doors, extinguished lights and much more).

Such actions are often aggressive, so obsessive states require attention and timely treatment. This disease can appear unexpectedly and occur in both an adult and a child. According to statistics average age neurosis 10 – 30 years.

Causes

Obsessive neurosis occurs in overly sensitive people who constantly worry and worry, and perceive all events with anxiety. There are several groups of obsessive-compulsive disorder syndrome, the symptoms of which are different: psychological and biological.

Psychological reasons. In this case, obsessive-compulsive neurosis can be triggered by any shock experienced in a person’s life. The impetus for it may be stress, psychological trauma of a person, chronic fatigue, prolonged depression. This all causes confusion, panic and distraction. IN childhood Obsessive neurosis can be provoked by frequent unpleasant punishments of the child, reproaches in his direction. The reason may be fear of public speaking, being misunderstood, or being rejected. Or a life shock, such as parental divorce, will become a trigger for the onset of psychological problems.

The biological reasons still cause controversy among scientists, but it is reliably known that the basis of this type of deviation is a violation of hormone metabolism. In particular, the matter concerns the hormone serotonin, which is responsible for the level of anxiety, and narodrenaline – the adequacy of thought processes.

In half of every 100 cases, obsessive-compulsive disorder is due to genetic mutations.

Diseases can also be provocateurs of obsession:

infectious anthropogenic diseases;
head injury;
chronic diseases;
weakened immunity.

Symptoms

Neurosis of obsessive thoughts can provoke a wide variety of obsessive states in the patient. All these provocateurs do not allow a person to exist normally.

In the case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, symptoms and treatment are selected absolutely individually. Manifestations can be divided into several groups, each of which has its own characteristic feature or several features:

obsession;
compulsion;
phobias;
comorbidity.

Obsessions are obsessive thoughts, associations, mental images that fill a person’s head and consciousness. It seems to others that all these fears and worries are meaningless and have no reason. But a person suffering from the disorder paranoidly performs some actions to relieve internal anxiety and anxiety. However, after performing these actions, obsessive states recur again.

Obsessions can be vague or clear-cut. In the first case, a person is haunted by tension and confusion, but he is fully aware that his life cannot become normal given the imbalance. In the second case, these states increase. People with neurosis become uncontrollable in their desires: they suffer from hoarding and collect unnecessary things. During exacerbations, they panic about the lives of loved ones; it seems to them that the family is in danger of death or misfortune. In this case, the person is fully aware of what is happening to him, that his thoughts are at odds with his actions, but he cannot change his desires and continues to act as before.

Symptoms of compulsion are characterized by a constant feeling that you need to perform some ritual to relieve anxiety, fear and worry. The mental voice tells the person that in order to feel safe, certain actions need to be taken. During this period, patients may bite their lips, bite their nails, or count nearby objects. They can wash their hands hourly, check repeatedly to make sure the iron is turned off or the door is closed. People realize that by doing these things the relief will only be momentary. But he cannot always cope with this attraction. The patient usually tries to lead a normal life and most often suppresses these desires, experiencing them inside, fighting them and avoiding the circumstances in which they occur.

Another characteristic sign of obsession is fears, phobias and apprehensions. There is a whole list of phobias that can arise against the background of such disorders. These include:

simple phobias are unmotivated fears of certain actions, objects, creatures, etc. For example, fear of any animals, fear of the dark or small space, panic at the sight of fire or water, etc.;
social phobias are the fear of public speaking, awkwardness when being in a society where there are a lot of people, fear of the attention of others.

Comorbidity is the presence of additional symptoms. In addition to all the listed symptoms, the clinical picture of the disease may change and have other manifestations. These patients often experience depression and anxiety. Anorexia, bulimia or Tourette's syndrome may appear. Such people can be drawn into its network by alcohol or even drug addiction, because drinking alcohol or drugs gives a person relief. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder who are not treated may suffer from chronic depression and lack of sleep.

Diagnostics

It would seem that it could be easier to diagnose such a disorder, because a person himself is aware of all the symptoms, but cannot cope with them without the help of a specialist? But a professional in his field knows that this is completeness and clarity clinical picture not limited. It is imperative that before an obsessive state occurs, it is necessary to carry out differential diagnosis. It will help rule out the presence of other disorders with similar symptoms and select an effective treatment package to save the person from the terrible consequences. Basic diagnostic methods:

Anamnesis. It is necessary to interview all relatives of the victim, study the conditions of his existence, analyze records in medical book patient about chronic diseases, recent illnesses, etc.
Inspection. In order to quickly identify problems and treat the patient as soon as possible, an examination is necessary. It will help identify external signs disorders: dilated blood vessels, etc.
Collection of analyses. It is necessary to conduct a general and detailed blood test and urine test.

Treatment

There are several approaches to treating obsessive disorders:

psychotropic – drug treatment;
psychotherapeutic;
biological approach.

In order to undergo drug therapy, you need strict medical supervision, which is only possible in a hospital setting. To overcome the depressive conditions that patients experience, treatment begins with antidepressants. The drug that is especially effective in this case is a serotonin inhibitor. Tranquilizers will help suppress anxiety, but they can cause inhibition of perception and action.

The psychotherapeutic method is suitable for all patients with psychogenic disorders. It is used based on the symptoms and condition of the patient. Each program is effective for each individual case. There is no single treatment plan for all patients. This method consists of using various techniques influences: individual or group. Psychotherapeutic techniques, including support for the patient, self-hypnosis sessions, etc., are good for getting rid of OCD.
The biological method is aimed at combating the most severe forms of the disease, which entail Negative consequences in the form of complete social disadaptation of the individual. In this case, a powerful medicinal arsenal is used: antipsychotic drugs, sedatives, suppressing the activity of the nervous system.

Any form of neurosis can become somatized and then patients may experience problems with cardiovascular system, stomach, respiratory organs, although in fact these diseases are simply absent.

Similar secondary disorders resulting from anxiety states And constant feeling fear may be the cause of the development of another type of neurosis. In such cases, the only correct solution will be a biological treatment method.

This neurotic disease is chronic, although there are cases of complete recovery. But in most cases, treatment does not provide 100% relief from the disease, but only helps to cope with some symptoms and learn to live with this feature.

Folk remedies in the treatment of neuroses of this kind will not give any results, because in most cases this is a psychotherapeutic problem and the emphasis should be placed on psychology. All herbs, gymnastics and massotherapy will only contribute to the emotional stabilization of the patient’s condition.

Treatment during pregnancy

During pregnancy, the same treatment regimen is used as for a normal patient. However, if drug treatment cannot be avoided, it is necessary to weigh all the risks and the real benefits of its use. Based on this, make a decision. And the remaining procedures will help overcome fears and anxiety without harm to the fetus:

motherhood trainings, special courses, psychoprophylactic conversations;
group gymnastics classes for pregnant women, yoga;
lectures on a comfortable pregnancy, soft childbirth and physiological characteristics newborns.

Obsessive states, the symptoms of which will be described in our article, are absurd or inadequate thoughts, impulses or subjective fears that appear against the will of the patient and regardless of the fact that most people susceptible to this syndrome clearly understand their painful nature and try in every possible way to avoid get rid of them.

Obsessive thoughts neurosis

Such pathology manifests itself in completely absurd, but ineradicable thoughts: why, for example, a cat has stripes, or how old is the oncoming passerby. These thoughts are perceived by the patient as unnecessary, but he cannot get rid of them.

Obsessive counting

This obsessive state is manifested by an irresistible desire to count everything that catches the eye: pillars by the road, pebbles underfoot, letters on, etc. And sometimes the actions become more complicated: there is a need to add numbers in a telephone number, an oncoming car, or find out at the time of reading the total number of letters in a word, etc.

Obsessive state

As a rule, this phenomenon is accompanied constant anxiety about whether this or that thing has been done. For example, a completely exhausting doubt whether the door is locked or whether the iron is turned off haunts us, forcing a person to return home again and again. And although the patient will repeatedly check all the devices and the door when leaving the apartment, after a couple of minutes he will again be painfully thinking and doubting.

Phobias

The obsessive state also manifests itself in various logically inexplicable fears. This is a fear of spiders, heights, open spaces, closed premises etc. Often added to them is the fear of doing something criminal, illegal (killing a spouse, screaming loudly where silence is observed, or taking someone else’s thing).

Obsessive drive neurosis

These are especially pronounced pathological desires. The patient can barely restrain himself from the urge to jump out of a moving car, pinch the person walking in front, or pull a girl’s hair, etc.

True, usually these desires are never put into action, but they cause a lot of suffering to a person who has such an obsessive state.

Contrasting obsessions

These deviations manifest themselves, as a rule, in relation to someone whom the patient loves especially dearly: for example, a son who adores his mother will persistently think about how unclean she is, although he knows for sure that this is not the case. A husband who loves his wife will think about how he will stab her with a knife.

Just like obsessive desires, it does not turn into action, but exhausts the patient, who is aware of the absurdity of such thoughts.

Rituals

To alleviate the state of anxiety and a kind of “protection” from constant stress, a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder creates a series of “rituals” that are supposed to help him with this. For example, to get rid of thoughts about the TV not being turned off, such a person will touch the wall next to the socket ten times or, if he is afraid of some kind of disease, will wash his hands, accompanying this with a loud count, and if he gets confused, he will start all over again.

conditions: treatment

The syndrome under discussion is quite difficult to treat. It includes both drug therapy, as well as the psychological impact on the patient’s consciousness. The main thing is to create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation with the patient, to provide him with assistance in social adaptation.

An obsessive state (synonyms: obsessive-compulsive disorder; obsession; obsessiveness syndrome; obsessional neurosis) is a disease caused by psychological trauma, and also often occurs in people with certain personality accentuations. Obsessive states manifest themselves in the form of images, thoughts, feelings or actions that involuntarily invade the consciousness, the groundlessness of which the patient understands and with which the patient struggles, but cannot overcome them on their own.

Variants of the course of the obsessive state

A one-time attack of illness.
Alternating exacerbations and remissions.
Continuous course with periodic intensification of symptoms.

Lack of sleep, alcohol and somatic diseases provoke exacerbation.

What causes obsessive behavior?

The cause of the obsessive state is psychotrauma. It could be:

One-time severe psychological trauma (death) loved one, separation, with parents serious illness their child, etc.).
Intrapsychic conflict is a conflict between duty and responsibility.
Long-term mild psychotrauma.
Constantly being in a psychologically traumatic situation (irritable management in the team, poor material and living conditions, living in the same apartment with the mother-in-law in the absence of mutual understanding, etc.).
Behavioral reason(certain traumatic events occurred in a certain place, and in the future it is in this place that symptoms of obsessive disorder arise).

How does obsessiveness manifest itself?

Clinical manifestations obsessive state depend on the area in which the obsession itself takes place, and are also characterized general features and the properties of obsession as such (obsession syndrome).

Obsessive state: obsession syndrome

Obsession syndrome is characterized by:

A feeling of alienness of the content of thinking and its painfulness. A person feels discomfort due to an obsessive state, it bothers him, interferes with his life full life. There is also a clear understanding that this obsession does not correspond to conscious processes this person, which is why she is perceived as alien (sometimes frightening).
The presence of criticism. The person realizes that the obsessive state is not normal.
Fighting your obsessive state. A person tries to hide his obsessive state from others, control it, study it, adapt to it, but still cannot get rid of it on his own. That is why such people more often than others turn to psychologists, psychotherapists and even psychiatrists (despite the social fear of contacting a specialist of this kind) in order to receive appropriate help.

These three signs of an obsessive state distinguish it from diseases related to the so-called major psychiatry (for example, such as).

Obsessive state: areas of obsession

According to the areas of obsession, various obsessive states are distinguished:

Intelligent.
Emotional.
Motor.

Intellectual obsessions.

Intellectual compulsions are also called obsessions or obsessions. The most common intellectual obsessions include:

“Mental chewing gum” - doubts and reflections on any occasion or without it.
Obsessive doubts - characterized by poor recording of events (“Did I turn off the iron?”, etc.).
Obsessive counting (arrhythmomania) is an obsessive state of counting objects, phenomena, people, etc. (for example, obsessive counting of passing cars, etc.).
Obsessive ideas.
Obsessive reproduction of names, dates, phone numbers, titles in memory.
Intrusive memories are most often of indecent content.
Obsessive fears - most often relate to the possible failure to fulfill any function (professional, sexual, etc.).
Contrasting obsessive state - processes that sharply contrast with the moral and ethical attitudes of the individual (for example, blasphemous thoughts in church, thoughts of a good daughter about the possible violent death of her parents, etc.).

Emotional obsessions

Emotional obsessions are specific obsessive fears (phobias). For example, a mother's fear that she may harm her child and even kill him. This type of obsessive states also includes everyday (cultural) obsessions - fear of black cats, fear of the number “13”, etc.

Motor obsessive states

Motor obsessive states are also called compulsions. These include:

Obsessive tapping, shaking, clicking.
Obsessive hand washing.
Obsessive desire to arrange objects in a certain order.
Tics are stereotypically repeated involuntary twitching of facial muscles.

Obsessive disorders: associated disorders

Obsessive states, especially those that have existed for a long time and were subject to a long and unsuccessful internal struggle, can also be accompanied by:

depression;
asthenia;
arrhythmias;
insomnia;
vague pain in the heart area;
irritability;
change in character.

Obsessive states: what is their danger and how to diagnose the disease

Why is obsessive behavior dangerous?

An obsessive state, as a rule, does not lead to dangerous consequences. Thus, a mother who is afraid to kill her child will never do so. But a person who insists on pedantic order in the house is capable of neuroticizing the rest of the family, which can even lead to the breakup of the family. In addition, people suffering from obsessive disorders have limited opportunities to achieve success in society. Therefore, of course, obsessive states should, if possible, be prevented and, if necessary, treated.

How to diagnose obsessive-compulsive disorder

The diagnosis of an obsessive state is quite easy to make, since the patient is critical and is himself interested in getting rid of the obsessive state. Therefore, he easily talks about his condition, but on one condition - trust in the psychologist or psychotherapist, because every patient considers his obsessive state to be the most intimate and painful.

How to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Treatment of obsessive states using psychotherapy and psychocorrection methods

In the treatment of obsessive states, the first place is given to psychocorrection and psychotherapy, which allows the patient to feel liberation from the obsessive state, freedom of action and choice of the future.

The following have proven to be some of the most effective methods:

Regressive hypnosis.
NLP (neurolinguistic programming).
Self-hypnosis.
Ericksonian hypnosis.

Psychotherapy and psychocorrection can be carried out without medication cover, since the patient is critical, and the occurrence of secondary disorders, although provoked by an obsessive state, usually does not interfere with treatment. Often it regresses on its own as the obsessive condition is cured.

Medication support in the treatment of obsessive disorders

Drug treatment is used if there is accompanying symptoms, which is like residual effects, may continue to bother the patient:

For irritability, prescribe valerian extract 1-2 tablets 3 times a day, Corvalol, tincture of valerian, motherwort, peony root - 20-30 drops 2-4 times a day for 3-4 weeks, Fitosed, Novopasid.
For depression - fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft, Zolox), paroxetine (Seroxat, Paxil), citalopram (Cipramil, Cipralex). The dose is selected only individually.

Prevention of obsessive behavior.

Life is designed in such a way that traumatic situations can await us at every step. It is almost impossible to avoid them. For this reason, there is always the opportunity to get rid of an obsessive state without delay by contacting a psychologist or psychotherapist. And this is the responsibility of the person himself for his psychological health.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disease characterized by the sudden appearance of burdened thoughts or ideas that motivate a person to action and are perceived as unpleasant and alien. Such phenomena have been known for a long time. Initially, obsessions were attributed to the structure of melancholia. The Middle Ages classified people with such manifestations as possessed.

Obsessive states causes

The main causes of this condition: overwork, lack of sleep, some mental illnesses, previous head injuries, infectious diseases, chronic intoxication of the body, asthenia.

Obsessive states, to make it clear and not cause confusion in understanding what they are, are referred to as obsessions or compulsions, which are understood as involuntary thoughts, doubts, memories, phobias, actions, aspirations, accompanied by awareness of their painfulness and a burdened feeling of irresistibility. Simply put, a person is overwhelmed by thoughts, desires, actions that he is not able to keep under control, therefore, despite his little resistance, painful thoughts burden him even more, creep into his consciousness, and rituals are performed in the absence of lack of will.

For psychiatrists, in terms of studying personality, those suffering from this disease are the most favorite patients to study, because they are very difficult to treat, they are always polite, and despite all the seemingly visually favorable contact, they remain in their condition. American specialists have a very interesting approach to such patients. They try to explain to patients that obsessive thoughts are just thoughts, and they need to be separated from themselves, since they (the patients), as individuals, exist separately from them.

Often, obsessive states include inadequate or even absurd, as well as subjectively painful thoughts. The ambivalence (duality) of patients' judgments swings from one extreme to another, confusing the attending physician. It cannot be categorically stated that if you have unstable obsessive states, then you are sick. This is also inherent healthy people. It is possible that this happened during a period of mental weakening or after overwork. Everyone, at least once in their life, has noticed this repetition of actions and related worries.

Obsessive Obsessive Syndrome

In 1868, this concept was first introduced into medicine by the German psychiatrist R. Krafft-Ebing. To the common man, not a professional, it’s very difficult to immediately figure out how to true reasons disease, diagnosis, and during the course of the disease.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is based on mental content and is not controlled by the individual at all. Reproduction of obsessive states provokes disruption of his usual activities.

Obsessive Obsessive Disorder manifests itself as persistent memories from the past (mostly unpleasant moments), thoughts, desires, doubts, external actions. They are often accompanied by painful experiences and are characteristic of insecure individuals.

Types of obsessive states are abstract obsessions and figurative obsessions.

Distracted obsessions include obsessive counting, obsessive thoughts, intrusive memories of unnecessary old events, details, and obsessive actions. Figurative ones are accompanied by emotional experiences, including anxiety, fear, and emotional stress.

Obsessive symptoms symptoms

A painful feeling of compulsion torments the patient because he is critical of his condition. Nausea, tics, hand tremors, and the urge to urinate may occur.

Obsessive states and their symptoms: with obsessive fear, a person enters a stupor, he turns pale or red, sweats, breathing and heartbeat quicken, autonomic disorders occur, dizziness, weakness in the legs, pain in the heart.

Obsessive counting manifests itself in an irresistible desire to count everything that catches your eye. Cars, windows in houses, passers-by, passengers at a bus stop, buttons on a neighbor's coat. This kind of calculation can also affect more complex arithmetic operations: adding numbers in the mind, multiplying them; adding the numbers that make up a phone number; multiplying the digits of car license plates, counting the total number of letters on a book page.

Obsessive actions are marked by the involuntary performance of movements that occur automatically: scribbling on paper, twisting an object in the hands, breaking matches, twirling a strand of hair around a finger. A person senselessly rearranges objects on the table, bites his nails, and constantly pulls his ear. The same signs include automatic sniffing, biting lips, snapping fingers, tugging at outerwear, and rubbing hands. All these movements are carried out automatically; they are simply not noticed. However, a person, through an effort of will, is able to delay them, and not commit them at all. But as soon as he gets distracted, he will repeat the involuntary movements again.

Obsessive doubts are accompanied by unpleasant, painful experiences and feelings, which are expressed in the presence of constant doubts about the correctness of an action, action and its completion. For example, a doctor doubts the correct dosage prescribed for a patient in a prescription; the typist has doubts about the literacy of what he has written, or doubts that visit a person about the lights, gas, or closed door being turned off. Because of these worries, the person returns home and checks everything.

Intrusive memories are marked by the involuntary emergence of vivid, unpleasant memories that one would like to forget. For example, I remember a painful conversation, fateful events, details of an absurd story.

An obsessive state of fear refers to a phobia, which is very painful for a person. This fear is caused by a variety of objects and phenomena. For example, fear of heights or wide squares, as well as narrow streets, fear of committing something criminal, indecent, or unlawful. Fears may include fear of being struck by lightning or drowning, fear of getting hit by a car or crashing on a plane, fear of underground passages, fear of going down a subway escalator, fear of blushing among people, fear of pollution, fear of piercing, sharp and cutting objects.

A special group is represented by nosophobia, which includes obsessive fears of the possibility of getting sick (syphilophobia, cardiophobia, cancerophobia), fear of death - thanatophobia. There are also phobophobias, when a person, after an attack of fear, then experiences fear of a new attack of fear.

Obsessive drives or obsessive desires, expressed in the emergence of unpleasant desires for a person (spit at a person, push a passerby, jump out of a car at speed). For phobias, as for obsessive drives, this is typical emotional disorder like fear.

The patient perfectly understands the pain, as well as the absurdity of his desires. A characteristic feature of such attractions is that they do not turn into actions and are very unpleasant and painful for a person.

Contrasting obsessions, which are expressed in obsessive blasphemous thoughts, fears and feelings, are also painful for people. All these obsessions offend the moral, ethical essence of man.

For example, a teenager who loves his mother can imagine her physical uncleanliness, as well as possible depraved behavior, but he is convinced that this cannot be. For a mother, the sight of sharp objects can cause obsessive ideas about their penetration into her only child. Obsessive, contrasting desires and attractions are never realized.

Obsessive states in children are noted in the form of fears, fear of infection and pollution. Small children are afraid of closed spaces and sharp objects. Adolescents are prone to fear of death or illness. There are fears associated with appearance and behavior (fear of speaking in people who stutter). These conditions manifest themselves in the form of repetitive movements, burdened thoughts, and tics. This is expressed in sucking a finger or a strand of hair, twirling hair on a finger, strange movements of the hands, etc. The causes of the disease are mental trauma, as well as situations (life) that adults underestimated. These conditions and the provoked experiences negatively affect the psyche of children.

Obsessive states treatment

Treatment must be started if a person cannot cope with his condition on his own and the quality of life suffers significantly. All therapy is carried out under the supervision of doctors.

How to get rid of obsessive states?

Effective methods of treating obsessive-compulsive disorders are behavioral and drug psychotherapy. Very rarely, if severe forms of the disease occur, they resort to psychosurgery.

Behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder involves a combination of obsessive provocations as well as ritual prevention. The patient is specifically provoked to do what he is afraid of, while reducing the time allotted for rituals. Not all patients agree to behavioral therapy due to severe anxiety. Those who completed a course of such therapy noticed that the severity of obsessions, as well as the time of the ritual, decreased. If you adhere only to drug treatment, then often a relapse occurs after it.

Drug treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder includes antidepressants (Clomipramine, Fluoxetine); Paroxetine and Sertraline are also effective. Sometimes there is a good effect from other drugs (Trazodone, Lithium, Tryptophan, Fenfluramine, Buspirone, Tryptophan).

In case of complications, as well as ineffectiveness of monotherapy, two drugs are indicated simultaneously (Buspirone and Fluoxetine, or Lithium and Clomipramine). If only drug treatment is carried out, then its cancellation almost always causes a relapse of this condition.

Drug treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders in the absence of side effect should be carried out until the effect of therapy occurs. Only after this the drug is discontinued.

Hello! Help me please! I feel like I'm going crazy! I constantly think about mine own death, I can’t sleep at night because these thoughts come to me at night! And these thoughts bring me mental suffering, which makes my chest hurt and makes me feel nauseous! For some reason I think I’m going to die of cancer! What is wrong with me???

Hello. My son is 4.5 years old. He was hysterical, they couldn’t calm him down, they called an ambulance. After that, for the first time I noticed obsessive hand movements in him - he couldn’t calm his fingers, he rubbed them or fiddled with the edge of a scarf/napkin. Fear of being left empty-handed - you definitely need to hold something. We saw a psychiatrist and prescribed tenoten for children for 2 months. I read that this drug is ineffective. She also recommended maximum peace for the child - not to study, not to worry, not to demand anything from him, not to pay attention to obsessive movements, not to raise his voice, to avoid vivid impressions. Will this be effective, or do I need to get a second opinion?

Hello, Galina. Your child has been prescribed adequate treatment. Homeopathic medicine Tenoten fully complies with all safety standards adopted in pediatrics and is officially approved for use in children. Follow all the doctor’s recommendations and all your baby’s disturbing symptoms will gradually disappear.

Hello. I'm 20. I constantly need symmetry in my actions. For example, if I scratch left hand, then I need to do the same with the right one. Often this loops and repeats itself over and over again until I stop myself. It is just as tedious to list all the other rituals as it is to perform them. Whether there is a good way get rid of this on your own without medications and psychotherapists?

Hello Anna. In your case, volitional effort, which is understood as a specific process of mobilizing the individual to achieve an elusive goal, or auto-training - a specific psychotechnics based on the techniques of self-hypnosis - can help.

Hello! 2 months ago I took care of a distant relative. He is 78 years old, after the death of his wife he was left alone. I found him in a terrible state; he didn’t eat, didn’t understand where he was, didn’t recognize anyone. I didn't know what to do with it. But normal care did its job. He turned out to be a literate and intelligent person, but with a “crazy head.” The reason for this is his death in 1989. 19 year old son. This tragedy did not allow him and his wife to live normally in all subsequent years (her head was also not in order).
Today, the main problem is that this former aircraft designer, in connection with the construction of a new cosmodrome, seeks to go to former job with some brilliant idea, communicate with colleagues, find out in the trade union committee about the site, etc. and so on. He retired in 1997, and my belief is that his company has not existed since 2008. and no one is waiting for him - empty. We discuss this topic many times every day, and from scratch. He demands that I give him my passport, which I confiscated back when he was insane. I’m not ready to give my passport, because he will either lose it, or take it away (with consequences), or hide it and forget it. Or he will really go somewhere and get lost in the middle of Moscow. He doesn’t understand that he won’t make it, he’s been sitting at home for 20 years. Neighbors say that his wife plied him with vodka and diphenhydramine, and they know him as a drinking madman. I’m ready to take him to work myself so that he runs into security, but I suspect that the next day he will forget about it, and the topic will arise again (he forgets what happened five minutes ago, but remembers what happened a long time ago). By the way, he constantly turns over the entire apartment, shifts all things from place to place, without even understanding how to boil an egg, what year it is, or who the president of the country is.
Please tell me how I should behave in this situation, is it possible to get rid of the obsession of returning my passport and going to work from my head? He will not go to see a doctor because... considers himself quite normal. I tried to distract him with other things and thoughts, but we come back to the same place. I don’t want to swear, I feel sorry for him, and it’s useless.

Hello, Alexander. In your case, your relative definitely needs a psychiatrist, invite him to your home and introduce him to the relative as an employee from his former company.

Hello. I encountered the same problem. Several years ago I was expelled from the institute, the whole period I tried to prevent this from happening, I was very worried, I always studied well both at school and at the institute, the only thing that was not good for me was physical education, I flew out of the university with it, I could not come to an agreement, at that time relations with MCH were divided. As a result, I earned myself simply unbearable torture, I became afraid that I would not be able to live my life correctly, that something bad would happen tomorrow, or something bad again. Now I have a good family and job, this feeling is gone. I tried to return to the institute and once again finding myself within these walls, faced with the problems of paperwork, I again began to feel the old fear, it squeezes me chest, I can’t sleep for a long time, I have nightmares. It seems to me that something bad is going to happen, something is wrong. And I’m already afraid that these thoughts will come again in the evening. I create problems for myself in my mind that don’t exist, or they aren’t that significant, I understand that this is nonsense, but I can’t calm myself down. I am so tired of this psychologically that I have no strength. Help, I don't know what to do. That’s why I left the institute. And I'm afraid to admit this to my family.

Hello, Marina. In psychology there is such a thing as life programming or self-programming behavior. What is it for? This practice is necessary for introducing useful skills directly into the subconscious, as well as for getting rid of unnecessary and old programs. After all, all skills are recorded in the subconscious and determine our lives.
When a person develops, he removes some old and interfering programs from the subconscious, and introduces new programs, reflexes, and skills there.
The program in the subconscious is an unconscious skill that works uncontrollably and automatically 24 hours a day or in certain situations (reflex). If a person configures these skills the way he wants, then he acts in life easily and with minimal effort. A person changes programs in the subconscious throughout his life, and this process is called learning.
This program works and is identical to “achieving success.” So, the most important thing is to understand that a person is what he thinks about. Thoughts come into your head, both positive and negative, but you should immediately say stop to all negative ones, before they try to arise, and you should work only with positive ones.
Initially, a positive thought should arise.
The thought must completely capture the person, the person must imagine how he has already received what he thinks about, that everything has worked out for him and his desire is already an accomplished fact.
A person’s mood lifts mentally from what they want, the hope for success completely covers the mind, and somehow everything turns out as the person intended.
“I left the institute. And I’m afraid to admit this to my family.” Fear arises because there will be condemnation from your family and misunderstanding due to the fact that you did not live up to other people’s expectations. But this is your life and your experience, so prepare yourself for the fact that you will endure criticism addressed to you with dignity.
You need to imagine your parents in a calm environment and go through the speech in your head: “I have to tell you something important, but I hope that you will calmly accept this information: I stopped studying at the institute, but this did not affect my standard of living and I have a good job "
We recommend that you read the article on the website:

Stupid, but still exciting question. I listened to Eric.hypnosis feminization for men. I understood everything that was suggested to me during a trance. For example, I have to shave my body and hair - it will irritate me. Now I have an obsessive fear that hypnosis has worked and I will do it. I began to pay attention to my vegetation. Can hypnosis make me do this or is it just a phobia? I have everything panic attacks happened. Very suspicious.

Alexander, hypnosis can do everything and its possibilities are unlimited. But auto-training can act as a counterbalance to hypnosis, so with an effort of will, force yourself to think about what you need, and immediately mentally say stop to unwanted thoughts. For example, “I am absolutely calm about my hair on my body and get along well with it.”
We recommend that you read the article on the website:

Hello. I don’t know if this is my diagnosis, but from time to time some thought or idea comes to me. For example, I want to buy a plot and until its owner has given an answer about the sale, I am already starting to plan it: I choose a fence, where to buy thuja, what flowers, where to plant and how to grow seedlings, what building materials are needed, etc. I can do this day and night, even in my dreams. Then they don’t give me a positive answer on the site and I find a new one and everything starts all over again. This applies not only to the site. For example, shopping for clothes, toys, etc. until this idea comes to fruition. Should I see a doctor or is this a personality trait?

Hello, Daria. You are a very enthusiastic person, giving yourself completely to your ideas. This is your character trait, which can be used throughout life to achieve your goals.

Hello! I have VSD, I often have obsessive thoughts of doing something to myself and, accordingly, are accompanied by fear of these thoughts, constant tension, poor concentration, everything is somehow not interesting, I’m constantly in my thoughts, I can’t concentrate normally to communicate or the feeling that I’m communicating somehow on autopilot. Please tell me who to contact or what I can read to fix this. Sometimes it all goes away, but I would like to completely get rid of it.

I need your help. The thing is that I am overcome by endless fears. Fear of losing my job because I’m paying the mortgage, fear of doing something wrong at work (buying the wrong material, I’m a supplier, or giving the wrong numbers) and because of my mistake I’ll have to pay a large sum of money to my bosses to justify the mistake. When is it heard phone call and the director calls and pours boiling water over me. Fear of losing my parents, constant thoughts of whether I’m living this way, whether I chose the right person, and what if I’m left without a livelihood, if I’m left alone. And probably the most important fear is making a mistake at work, for which you will have to pay...thoughts about this do not let me sleep and I constantly spin them in my head. I can't relax, I'm always stressed. I can fall into hysterics in a quarrel with my husband. It’s time for me to give birth, but I don’t want to, in case my son or daughter turns out to be a freak, a drug addict, or worse, or I won’t be able to feed them. I quit smoking, began to abuse alcohol, because alcohol makes me happy, because I calm down and look at all problems with optimism and thoughts do not attack my head.

Hello, much of what is written here applies to me. I don’t know what to do, these rituals and thoughts are so interfering with my life... I’m 17, I don’t want to tell my loved ones about my problem, is it possible to somehow get rid of OCD myself??? I'm tired …

Hello Alexa. You can maintain complete anonymity of the fact of treatment if you seek help from a private psychiatric clinic. OCD is successfully treated with behavioral psychotherapy. Self-treatment medication often leads to relapse.

I am 28 years old, there are rituals that I have been repeating since childhood (as long as I can remember), they change over time. I count everything I see, terrible thoughts accompany me.
How long do I need to be treated by a psychiatrist?

Well, everything is individual and depends on the severity of the disease, as well as the characteristics of your body. Hypnosis (10 sessions) in combination with psychotherapy is quite effective in young patients; after it, patients begin to feel relief from obsessions. But it happens that it is very difficult to achieve complete recovery from obsessions and psychotherapy is delayed.

My mother suffers from obsessive disorders. He rewrites meter readings when leaving home, and compares them when he arrives. She believes that in her absence someone is using her apartment. How can I convince her that she needs treatment?

Hope, it is necessary to convince your mother of the need for treatment when she is not agitated by her problem and feels well. The main thing is not to overdo it in your beliefs, to be tolerant in order to maintain a trusting relationship. On those days when she feels good, offer to compare meter readings together and refute her obsession.

Hello, I suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder or, as it is also called OCD, is it possible to pass it on to my offspring?

Hello David. Obsessive-compulsive disorder can be inherited.

Main symptoms:

Desire for perfect cleanliness
Intrusive memories
Intrusive thoughts and images
Obsessive counting
Diffidence
Concerns
Increased physical activity
The emergence of phobias
Sexual obsession
Doubts
Fear
Anxiety
Phobias
Frequently repeated rituals
Feelings of inferiority

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (in other words, obsessive-compulsive disorder) is a mental disorder that is accompanied by constant obsessive images, fears, memories and doubts, often resulting in meaningless ritual actions. This type of neurosis in varying degrees suffer from 1 to 5% of the world's population, regardless of gender.

Description of the disease

“The disease of doubt” is what the 19th century French psychiatrist Jean-Etienne Dominique Esquirol called this illness. Anxious thoughts periodically arise in each of us: a speech in front of an audience, an iron not turned off, an important meeting force us to replay an exciting situation in our heads again and again. But if such moments happen every day, and it becomes more and more difficult to get rid of obsessive thoughts, we can talk about the beginning of neurosis.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually occurs in one of three types:

One continuous attack mental illness which lasts from two weeks to several years.
The classic course of the disease with relapses and periods of complete remission.
Constant neurosis with periodic intensification of symptoms.

Causes

Obsessive-compulsive neurosis usually develops in intellectuals, thinking, sensitive people who tend to take everything that happens in life to heart.

There are two main groups of reasons that can provoke obsessive-compulsive neurosis: biological and psychological.

Scientists are still arguing about the exact biological reason this illness. The official point of view is: basically mental disorder there is a violation of the exchange of hormones - serotonin, which is responsible for the level of anxiety in the body, and norepinephrine, which ensures the adequate flow of thought processes.

In 50% of cases the reason obsessive neurosis both in children and adults - genetic mutations. Various diseases can also provoke the appearance of painful anxious thoughts:

traumatic brain injuries;
streptococcal infections;
chronic diseases;
immunological response to a strong pathogen.

Psychological reasons are rather a reason for the development of neurosis, the preconditions of which are biologically determined. Severe stress, chronic fatigue, and psychological trauma can be a kind of trigger for obsessive syndrome and panic thoughts. Frequent punishments in childhood, fear of public speaking at school, and parental divorce can cause neurosis in children.

Symptoms

Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive neurosis can be very diverse and range from vague general thoughts to vivid and powerful images, doubts and phobias, which the patient himself cannot get rid of. Traditionally, there are 4 large groups of symptoms of obsessive syndrome:

obsessions (obsessive thoughts, memories, images, doubts, fears);
phobias (all kinds of fears);
compulsions (meaningless, monotonous rituals);
comorbidity (additional mental illnesses).

Obsessions

Obsessions can be either vague or extremely specific. Fuzzy anxious thoughts make a person constantly feel anxious, worried, and an understanding of a certain imbalance comes, because of which life cannot be familiar and calm.

Specific obsessions give rise to attacks of anxiety and self-doubt, exhaust the patient and gradually destroy the personality. This is a constant replay in the memory of events from the past, pathological anxiety for family and friends, thoughts about various misfortunes that could happen to the patient or his family, etc. Sexual obsession is often encountered: the patient imagines sexual contact with friends, colleagues, even animals , suffers from the awareness of his own inferiority.

Phobias

Popular phobias, which are known today even to people far from psychiatry, are a classic sign of obsessive neurosis. The most common:

Simple phobias are unmotivated fears of a specific situation or phenomenon. These are hydrophobia - fear of water, arachnophobia - fear of spiders, ochlophobia - a feeling of panic in front of a crowd of people, bacillophobia - fear of germs and diseases, etc.
Agoraphobia is the fear of open space. One of the most dangerous types of obsessive syndrome, it is extremely difficult to get rid of this symptom.
Claustrophobia is the fear of closed spaces. Typical manifestations are panic attacks in a closed room, elevator, train compartment, or airplane.
Various social phobias – fear of public speaking, inability to work in someone else’s presence, etc.

Compulsions

Obsessive-compulsive neurosis can be distinguished from other mental pathologies by characteristic feature. The patient understands that something abnormal is happening to him, realizes the danger of his thoughts and the illogicality of his fears, and tries to fight it. Helps to get rid of doubts at first various actions and rituals that also lose all meaning over time.

Vivid examples of compulsions are washing hands every 5 minutes for fear of catching an infection, endlessly checking all turned off electrical appliances for fear of a fire, arranging things in a strict order so as not to be considered a slob, etc. The patient believes that all these actions will help prevent terrible disaster or return a feeling of peace and regularity, but usually he is well aware that this will not completely get rid of disturbing thoughts.

Comorbidity

In addition to the classic symptoms, obsessive-compulsive disorder may be accompanied by other serious mental disorders:

Anorexia and bulimia nervosa(especially in children and adolescents);
Anxiety disorder – social and generalized;
Tourette's syndrome (tic disorder in children).

In addition, drug addicts and alcoholics often suffer from obsessive syndrome: taking drugs and alcohol can become a compulsion for a neurotic person. Neurosis often develops in combination with depression and insomnia: disturbing thoughts and memories that cannot be gotten rid of inevitably lead to a depressive state.

Symptoms in children

Obsessive neurosis in children is reversible: the child perceives reality quite adequately, and parents often do not notice the symptoms of the disease, mistaking them for developmental features.

Children may exhibit all the main signs of mental pathology, but most often these are phobias and obsessive movements. IN preschool age and in elementary grades, neurosis most often manifests itself as follows: the child bites his nails, twists buttons, smacks his lips, snaps his fingers, etc. At an older age, children develop phobias: fear of death, public speaking, closed space, etc.

Diagnostics

Typically, diagnosing obsessive-compulsive neurosis is not difficult: obsessions, compulsions or obvious phobias, which the patient cannot get rid of without the help of a specialist. However, an experienced psychiatrist must carry out a differential diagnosis in order to distinguish the disease from other disorders with similar symptoms (psychopathy, brain tumor, early stage schizophrenia) and select individual complex treatment obsessive-compulsive neurosis.

The main diagnostic methods for such neurosis:

Collecting anamnesis (all information about living conditions, first symptoms, previous diseases, exacerbations, etc.).
Examination of the patient (vegetative-vascular disorders, finger trembling, etc. may indicate illness).
Conversation with the patient's family and friends.

Treatment

If a patient is diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, treatment must be comprehensive: medication and psychotherapy.

Therapy is carried out in a hospital setting under the constant supervision of a doctor. The most effective drugs with this diagnosis - antidepressants (Sertraline, Fluoxetine, Clomipramine, etc.), tranquilizers (Clonazepam, etc.), for severe chronic forms - atypical psychotropic drugs.

Psychotherapeutic methods include working with a psychotherapist, cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis, etc. Treatment of obsessive-compulsive neurosis in young children is effective using fairy tale therapy, play techniques, it is also important to maintain a special daily routine and strengthen the child’s immunity.

Getting rid of obsessive neurosis completely is quite difficult: cases of complete recovery usually occur in men under 40 years of age and in women. However, long full treatment gives an extremely favorable prognosis and allows you to reduce the number of relapses even with such neurosis to a minimum.

Is everything correct in the article? medical point vision?

Answer only if you have proven medical knowledge