The manifestation of mental discomfort, directly related to the pathological transfer of the internal conflict to somatic soil. Characterized by motor (tremor, problems with coordination, aphonia, convulsions, paresis or paralysis), sensory (disturbance of sensitivity) and somatic disorders (disturbance of the internal organs), as well as hysterical seizures. The diagnosis is established on the basis of serious complaints that do not correspond to reality. Therapeutic measures include psycho- and occupational therapy, general health promotion and elimination of current clinical symptoms.

General information

A sharp deterioration (seizure) in hysteria is very similar to the manifestation of epilepsy. Any situation that is psychologically difficult for the patient to perceive - a quarrel, unpleasant news, the refusal of others to fulfill the desire of the patient - ends in a theatrical seizure. This may be preceded by dizziness, nausea and other signs of pseudo-deterioration.

The patient falls, bending into an arc. In this case, the patient will always fall “correctly”, trying to protect himself from injury as much as possible. Waving his arms and legs, hitting his head on the floor, violently showing his emotions with tears or laughter, the patient depicts unbearable suffering. Unlike the epileptic, the hysteric does not lose consciousness, the reaction of the pupils is preserved. Loud shouting, irrigation of the face cold water or a slap in the face will quickly bring the patient to his senses. Also, the patient is given out by the complexion: with an epileptic seizure, the face is purple-cyanotic, and with hysteria, it is red or pale.

A hysterical seizure, unlike an epileptic one, never happens in a dream. The latter always happens in public. If the public ceases to pay attention to the hysterical convulsions or retires, the fit will quickly end. After an attack, the patient may show amnesia, up to ignorance proper names and last names. However, this manifestation is also short-term, memory recovery occurs quite quickly, since it is inconvenient for the patient himself.

Hysteria is the "great simulator". The patient vividly talks about his complaints, excessively demonstrating their confirmation, but at the same time shows emotional indifference. You might think that the patient enjoys many of his "sores", while considering himself a complex nature that requires close comprehensive attention. If the patient learns about any manifestations of the disease that were previously absent from him, with a high probability these symptoms will appear.

Diagnosis of hysterical neurosis

Hysteria is the patient's translation of his psychological problems into a physical channel. The absence of organic changes against the background of serious complaints is the main symptom in the diagnosis of hysterical neurosis. Most often, patients turn to a pediatrician or therapist. However, if hysteria is suspected, the patient is referred to a neurologist. With all the variety of manifestations of hysterical neurosis, the doctor finds discrepancies between the symptoms and the real state of the body. Although the patient's nervous tension may cause some increase in tendon reflexes and tremors of the fingers, the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis" is usually not difficult.

Important! Seizures in children under 4 years old who want to achieve their desire are a primitive hysterical reaction and are also caused by psychological discomfort. Typically, affective seizures disappear on their own by the age of 5.

Instrumental studies are carried out to confirm the absence of any organic changes from the internal organs. CT scan of the spine and MRI of the spinal cord are prescribed for movement disorders. CT and MRI of the brain confirm the absence of organic pathology. Angiography of the vessels of the brain, rheoencephalography, ultrasound of the vessels of the head and neck are used to exclude vascular pathology. EEG (electroencephalography) and EMG (electromyography) can confirm the diagnosis of hysteria.

In hysteria, the data of the above studies will disprove the pathology of the structures of the brain and spinal cord. Depending on the complaints that the patient confirms with certain external manifestations, the neurologist decides to appoint a consultation with a neurosurgeon, an epileptologist and other specialists.

Treatment of hysterical neurosis

The essence of the treatment of hysteria is to correct the patient's psyche. One such technique is psychotherapy. At the same time, the doctor does not pay excessive attention to the complaints of the patient. This will only provoke an increase in hysterical seizures. However, ignoring it completely can lead to the same results. Repeated courses of psychotherapy are required to identify the true cause of the condition that has arisen. A psychologist or psychotherapist, using suggestion, will help the patient adequately assess himself and the events taking place. The importance of hysteria is given to occupational therapy. Attracting the patient to work, searching for a new hobby distracts the patient from the neurotic state.

Basically, it comes down to the appointment of general strengthening agents. With increased excitability, it is advisable to prescribe drugs based on medicinal herbs (valerian, motherwort), bromine. In some cases, the use of tranquilizers in small doses and short-term courses is justified. When establishing insomnia (prolonged insomnia), sleeping pills are prescribed.

Forecast and prevention of hysterical neurosis

The prognosis for the life of such patients is quite favorable. Longer follow-up requires patients with signs of anorexia, somnambulism and suicide attempts. Longer, and sometimes protracted treatment is required for patients of the artistic type and with hysterical phenomena that originated in childhood. A more unfavorable outcome is observed when hysterical neurosis is combined with organic lesions of the nervous system or severe somatic diseases.

Prevention of hysterical neurosis includes measures to prevent disorders of the psyche and nervous processes, as well as strengthening and preparing the nervous system for overstrain. These activities are especially important for artistic people and children.

It is necessary to somewhat limit the imagination and fantasies of the child, try to create a calm environment for him, attract him to sports and stay with peers. You should not constantly indulge whims and surround with excessive care. An important role in preventing the development of hysterical neurosis is played by the correct upbringing of the baby and the formation of a full-fledged personality. The patient himself should not ignore his psychological problems, their quick solution will eliminate the stressful situation and will not allow psychopathy to take root.

So, let's move on to the description of the fourth and last, main, form of fear - fear of the finality, necessity and limitation of our desire for freedom. If personalities with obsessions are afraid of change, freedom and risk, then in hysterical personalities we note something completely opposite. They clearly strive for change and freedom, they crave everything new and risky, all the possibilities of the future are open to them. They afraid of any restrictions, traditions, laws and order.

This means that such people live from moment to moment, without clear plans and goals, in anticipation of the new. They are seized with a thirst for new stimuli, impressions and adventures, being at the mercy of the impressions and desires prevailing at the moment, emanating from both external and internal sources. First of all, they need a sense of freedom, so they are afraid of order, laws and the inability to evade duties and attitudes .... Their striving for freedom is par excellence a striving for freedom from something, not for something.

In every life situation, hysterical personalities look for a loophole in order to be able to deviate from the generally accepted order. They cannot live according to the laws of causality, i.e., the relationship between cause and effect, which is so necessary when confronted with physical nature; for them, only what is applicable here and now is valid.

The reality of our existence is based on the already mentioned law of the relationship of cause and effect, action and effect. … Hysterical personalities do not recognize this reality and try to destroy it.. Thus, they acquire for themselves an illusory freedom, which over time becomes more and more dangerous.: they live in an illusory world where their fantasies, possibilities and desires are not limited to reality. ...However, the more they move away from reality, enjoying seeming freedom, the less they orient themselves in reality and the less they take it into account in their behavior.

Feeling that the law of causality limits their possibilities and forces them to follow a certain sequence of actions and give up their desires, hysterical individuals resort to "ostrich politics" and behave as if this law does not exist. Obsessed with momentary desires, not thinking about their consequences and not trying to check their realism, they live according to the principle “after us, even a flood.” They naively believe that the law of causality and its consequences have no influence on current events, or at least have no direct bearing on the given situation. Being dependent on their desires and momentary impressions, they neglect possible consequences and only then think about the possible results of their actions.

They are obsessed with their own desires, subject to immediate satisfaction, tend to react quickly and thoughtlessly, they are distinguished by unwillingness and inability to restrain their needs, for these people the expectation is unbearable, and what is currently being experienced is not subject to reflection. They are easily seduced as they cannot resist temptation.

Unreasonable expectations of a miracle as a way out of difficult situations are usually inherent in hysterical personalities; these people surprise with their naivety and sincerely believe that their demands and desires replace reality; they act on the principle of “what I don’t know, I don’t remember about it.”

They are not punctual, the need to plan and distribute their time causes painful feelings in them; they often regard the punctuality of other people as pettiness.

Hysterical personalities do not want to give up their attitudes, striving to be considered children without any duties for as long as possible, to retain youth and not be responsible for their behavior. Responsibility for them is an unpleasant and uncomfortable concept; it reminds them of the laws of causality and unpleasant consequences. And age! They avoid answering questions about age in every possible way.

It seems to them that by avoiding the truthful answer, they achieve the illusion of eternal youth. To maintain this illusion, they resort to any means, from youthful dressing to numerous cosmetics and even cosmetic surgeries.

Hysterical personalities have the flexibility of perceiving the world; each time they interpret their mistakes depending on the circumstances.

Logic, from their point of view, is a burdensome, tiresome reality. They are more and more distant from reality and from the solution of the problems it generates - their own logic differs from the logic of other people by the minimal content of the logical. Surrounding people see in the thinking of hysterical personalities incomprehensible leaps and gaps that are impossible to keep up with. Hysterical personalities are characterized by a gradual summation of wrong, erroneous behavior, which leads them to a hopeless situation.

These people are not aware of their fear of necessity and finality. It is replaced by their frequent fear of open streets and squares (agoraphobia) and the fear of closed spaces, covering them in elevators, compartments of passenger trains, etc. (claustrophobia). The fear of animals is also common. These fears are the transfer of the main fear to something secondary and harmless.

What can be done to successfully avoid commitment and finality? In such a safety-guaranteing way, hysterical individuals seem to live today. If yesterday mistakes were made and many stupid things were done, then today we must renounce all this, because tomorrow may not come. Overcoming temporal and causal relationships, hysterical personalities achieve an extraordinary plasticity of attitude. They reject the past as irrelevant ballast, which brings into their lives a certain dottedness, unreliability, fragmentation and iridescence; can, like chameleons, adapt to each new situation, and at the same time show so little constancy and such a lack of "continuity of the self" that these qualities are considered characteristic of them. Tantrums seem unpredictable and incomprehensible.

They can play different roles depending on the moment and their needs, focus on a partner and immediately publicly renounce their affection if this role no longer suits them. So inconsistency and instability of behavior become characterological features of hysterical personalities.

Another feature of the fear that pins tantrums against the wall is the so-called "turning the spear in the other direction" , when the blame for what happened is shifted to others. At the same time, reproaches to oneself are replaced by claims to an outsider, which reflexively leads to a reaction characteristic of children, when they automatically answer “you are a fool” to the remark “you are a fool”.

Projection onto others own feeling guilt in the form of reproaches can reach such a degree that they begin to believe in the guilt of the other person according to the “stop the thief” principle. This naturally leads to insincerity, which in various life situations eventually turns into falsehood. All this causes in hysterics an underlying sense of insecurity and vague fear, which in some cases is expressed in the search for a role that protects them from reality. Often this is a "flight into the disease", which at least gives them the opportunity to buy time and avoid responsibility.

Hysterical personalities "love love." They love everything that can increase their self-esteem - rapture, ecstasy, passion; love is perceived by them as the pinnacle of their experiences.

The love relationships of hysterical personalities are characterized by intensity, passion and exactingness. They seek in love, first of all, confirmation of their Self, they like ecstasy and intoxication with love feelings. Creating an erotic atmosphere is a matter of course for them, they resort to various methods of charm and seduction. They are equally proficient in various erotic tools - from light flirting and coquetry to the art of seduction in all its nuances.

When establishing love relationships for them, the power of desire is most important. These people take the fortress by storm, without delaying the siege, according to the principle "veni, vidi, vici"“I came, I saw, I conquered.” They easily come into contact with the opposite sex; communication for them is not boring and painful. They love love more than a partner; full of curiosity and love hunger, they gladly meet different ways and examples of love. They like splendor and luxury, holidays and celebrations, they are ready to celebrate on any occasion, while being in the spotlight with their charm, temperament, spontaneity and extravagant clothes. They consider it a deadly sin if the partner did not find love qualities in them or did not appreciate them - they endure this with difficulty and are unlikely to be able to forgive.

Tantrums of both sexes view sex more as a goal to increase self-esteem and as a test of the strength of their influence on a partner. They love variety.

Naturally, with age, attractiveness, which was predominantly external, superficial, fades away; this naturally leads to the emergence of age crises.

Their self-admiration needs constant confirmation. They easily succumb to flattery, which they willingly believe. They need a partner first of all in order to confirm their charm, beauty, value and attractiveness. Therefore, they are prone to narcissistic choice of a partner, because in a partner they hope to find their own likeness, in which they rediscover and love themselves. Often, hysterical personalities of both sexes find nondescript and inconspicuous partners for themselves in order to rise above their background and be the object of their unconditional adoration.

The main life problems of hysterics are related to their illusory expectations and ideas about life, love, marriage and, in general, about the opposite sex. Their demanding position in relation to others, not accompanied by a willingness to satisfy the partner's needs and take care of him, leads them to new disappointments.

When choosing a partner, they pay attention to his position, opportunities, title and other external attributes of his significance. And in this they remain children who are impressed by the external gloss, which, as it seems to them, is a guarantee happy life; they tend to blame their partner for their disappointments.

The deeper the disorders of hysterical personalities are expressed, the stronger their aggressiveness is manifested; self-praise and swindle can take extreme forms, and unusual impressionability and sensitivity can lead to narcissism. Often there is exorbitant boasting, a desire for wastefulness; these people push others aside to play the first fiddle and be in the foreground; every same-sex other is a potential rival, and they do their best to humiliate him and outshine him with their own brilliance.

Tantrums often strive to make an unconditional, lasting impression on others and to be in the spotlight. This desire can become dominant due to the inability of hysterics to distinguish between the apparent and the real, the imaginary and the real.

Due to the lack of self-control and self-criticism, aggression in hysterical personalities is impulsive. Hysterical aggression often takes the archaic forms of a "motor storm", which manifests itself in the need to dramatize the situation in order to impress others and amaze them.

A special form of hysterical aggression is intrigue. They are characterized by intrigues, spreading rumors that degrade the dignity of their opponents and undermine their authority, vindictiveness. This also includes sexual hatred for a sexual partner, sometimes acquiring the form of an extreme desire for revenge.

The central problem of hysterical personalities is a violation of self-identification: they either identify with the images of their childhood, or remain in a state of opposition or protest, or accept the roles imposed on them.

Helping hysterical individuals does not mean facilitating their escape from reality; it is necessary to help them to assume adequate roles, to accustom them to order, obligation and observance of laws, to provide the opportunity for self-knowledge and mature actions. This also includes a certain courage to realize reality and the ability for the necessary self-restraint, which should be inherent in all people. To do this, it is necessary to reveal to them the positive side of reality, which can satisfy their needs in one way or another.

Old age and death are ultimately an inevitable reality of our lives that we cannot put off for long. Due to the inability to perceive reality and bow their heads before it, hysterical personalities tend to turn a blind eye to it for as long as possible. They agree that old age and death are completely natural and cannot be avoided, but they refer this mainly to others, and not to themselves. Therefore, they try to maintain the illusion of eternal youth and believe that a limitless future lies ahead of them, rich in unexpected opportunities.

An attempt to determine the line of growth of hysterical symptoms - from healthy people with individual hysterical character traits to people with mild and severe disorders - gives the following gradations: cheerful-impulsive, selfish and assertive - persons with narcissistic needs for self-assertion and a desire to be in the center of attention - persons with excessive assertiveness and attraction to contacts - papa's daughters and sissies who cannot complete the "family romance" in any way - hysterical deceit - theatricality and flight from reality up to scams - "eternal teenagers" - persons who do not have clear female or male personality traits who did not accept their sexual role, often with homosexual inclinations, the so-called "castrates": women with destructive tendencies of man-hatred and men of the "Don Juan" type, whose behavior is determined by a thirst for revenge on women - persons suffering from a phobia, - persons with severe hysterical symptoms psychotic and somatic of which nature, not associated with the defeat of any organs or systems - persons with extreme manifestations of hysteria (signs of hysterical paralysis).

Healthy people with hysterical traits in their personality structure are happy to take risks, are enterprising, always ready to accept new things; they are flexible, plastic, cheerful, brilliant, captivate others with their love of life and impetuosity, ready to try everything and prone to improvisation. They are the ringleaders in companies, they never get bored, they always “lack something”, they love all undertakings and are full of optimistic expectations and ideas about life. Each beginning contains for them all the chances for success, is fraught with magic.

They take nothing seriously, except perhaps themselves, because I am the only reality in life for them. They have strong impulses of self-affirmation, and they are more capable of introducing a dynamic principle into the situation than of patiently, systematically and enduringly achieving a result.

Quoted from Fritz Riemann's The Basic Forms of Fear: research in depth psychology"

Hysteria is a mental disorder belonging to the general group of neuroses. Hysterical neurosis is considered the second most common among all existing neurotic disorders. This disease is known from antiquity, the clinical picture of which was described by the doctors of ancient Greece. And the very concept of "hysteria" has a Greek linguistic origin which means "womb" in Greek. Because in those days it was believed (and until the beginning of the twentieth century) that this disorder occurs only in women.

Hysterical neurosis is a very complex and unusual disease, over which a halo of mythicity and mystery hung for a very long time. In addition, this disorder, like no other, is not characterized by such a pronounced and diverse pathomorphism. That is, the variability of symptoms. The clinical picture of this disease often changes, and some signs disappear altogether. This is mainly due to a change in the social structure of society, global changes in values. The symptoms of modern patients are becoming less demonstrative and scene-like, and the most severe symptoms do not appear at all or are mild. However, the main features that distinguish this mental illness from the rest, remain unchanged.

Hysterical neurosis: characteristics of the disease

Hysterical neurosis is a set of neurotic states and disorders caused by a psychogenic nature. It is characterized by somatic, mental, vegetative, sensory and motor disorders. Such a diagnosis is made only on the basis that all of the above disorders that can be observed in a patient are not caused by organic disorders of the body.

This disorder is medically interesting because it often masquerades as other, very diverse neurological diseases. For which he received the metaphorical name in medical circles "the great simulator." Because the main symptom of the disease is the symptoms, which always have only a psychogenic nature.

Hysteria should not be confused with hysterical syndrome. Because it is one of the symptoms of other mental or neurological diseases and disorders.

Hysterical neurosis in women is much more common than in the opposite sex. This disease most often develops in young age. It is chronic with periodic exacerbations and relapses. With age, in female representatives, the symptoms and signs of the disease practically disappear, and in the menopause they may reappear. Also, hysteria can suffer in adolescence and youth under the influence of a pronounced traumatic factor in the form of systematic oppression of the individual or, conversely, in a situation of overprotection and spoiled child - the "family idol".

Causes of the disease

Hysterical neurosis most often occurs in individuals with a hysterical type of character, which is characterized by such manifestations as infantilism, egocentrism, selfishness, and excessive impressionability. A person with a hysterical character tends to blame others for their troubles and misfortunes, mistakes and defeats, while completely relieving himself of responsibility. A sharp change in mood, strong sadness or joy for no apparent reason, a certain theatricality and far-fetchedness of experiences, an unbridled desire to attract attention to oneself in any way, the desire for recognition are also very characteristic of the hysterical type of personality.

However, this disease can develop in almost any person, regardless of his psychotype. And the main reasons for this are an acute traumatic factor that led to a breakdown. mental mechanisms, or a situation of conflict that is of a long-term nature.

Symptoms of hysterical neurosis

This disease is characterized by a large number of symptoms that tend to change from time to time. In most cases, certain signs of the disease appear on the principle of self-hypnosis. And very often the symptoms shown reflect the patient's ideas about this disease.

Symptoms and clinical manifestations diseases are very specific and individual, because they are based on the principles of "conditional desirability". And the reasons for the appearance of certain symptoms are determined by how “profitable” and “needed” it is for the patient in specific conditions.

Symptoms of the disease can be not only mental in nature, but often somatic. With hysteria, violations can be observed:

• motor (paralysis, numbness of the limbs, mutism, astasia-abasia, and many others);
• sensory (loss of vision, hearing, auditory hallucinations);
• vegetative (arrhythmia, excessive sweating, breathing and gastrointestinal problems, sexual dysfunction).

In fact, all vegetative-somatic and other symptoms are a kind of conversion response, subordinated to the displacement of a mental conflict or trauma to a physiological level, the desire to “benefit” from one’s own illness.

Possible disorders in hysterical neurosis

Paroxysm or hysterical fit

Basically, this disorder begins to manifest itself as a hysterical seizure, which is characterized by a number of distinctive features. A seizure usually occurs as a result of experiencing an unpleasant and conflicting nature. A hysterical fit almost always begins with autonomic disorders (difficulty breathing, reddening of the skin, rapid pulse, slight tingling in the region of the heart). The patient may begin to cry sharply or cry and laugh at the same time. He falls to the floor, convulsions begin, usually tonic. Falling in a fit, the patient never bumps or bites his tongue. The face always turns red, the eyes are closed, the reaction of pupils to light is present. The seizure never begins in a state of sleep, consciousness is preserved in whole or in part. In a seizure, the patient may scream or moan, beat his head on the floor, walls. The movements are often theatrical. Sometimes the clinical picture of paroxysm is less pronounced.

A hysterical seizure differs from an epileptic one in a number of ways: the patient never bites his tongue, voluntary urination does not occur, in epileptics during an attack the face turns blue or purple, in hysterics it turns red.

Sensory (sensory) disorders

Sensory disturbances are also the most common symptoms of this disease. These include hysterical pain, hypesthesia (numbness of the limbs), anesthesia (complete or partial loss of sensitivity to pain), hyperesthesia (increased sensitivity at the level of the entire sensory system).

Most often, patients experience pain, which can be of a different nature and concentrated in different parts of the body. These pains can be mild or severe. Moreover, their causes always have a purely psychogenic basis.

This also includes visual and auditory disorders ("hysterical" blindness or deafness). At the same time, organic disorders of these organs are not observed. And even with bilateral blindness, the patient retains visual perception.

Speech disorders

Speech disorders are manifested in the form of aphonia (transition of speech to a whisper), stuttering, mutism, chanting (communication by syllables).

Hysterical mutism is manifested by the inability to pronounce not only words, but also sounds, the throat or tongue may become numb. Cough with mutism is always sonorous, and patients willingly make contact with others through writing or gestures. Mutism can be interrupted abruptly or gradually, flowing into aphonia or stuttering. Stuttering in hysteria is not accompanied by contraction of the muscles of the face or convulsive movements.

Motor disorders

Motor or motor disorders are manifested by paralysis of the face, arms or legs, the neck and tongue suffer less often. Contracture can also be observed - a violation of movements in the joint, in which it is impossible to fully bend or unbend the limbs in one or several joints at once. Other types of movement disorders include weakening of the muscles of the neck or spine, hysterical torticollis, inability to stand or walk, trembling in the body or in certain parts of it, tics and other hyper- and hypokinesis may be observed. In hysteria, all manifestations of motor disturbances disappear during sleep.

Somatic disorders

Patients with hysterical neurosis may experience symptoms of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract: lack of appetite, psychogenic vomiting, flatulence, difficulty in swallowing. Cough, hiccups, pain in the region of the heart, a sharp decrease in libido, headaches, attacks of pseudobronchial asthma may also appear.

Mental disorders

Since the hysterical nature of the personality lies at the heart of the disease, all its manifestations can be attributed to mental disorders. These are capriciousness, infantilism, excessive sensitivity, sudden mood swings, egocentrism, tearfulness, exaggeration of the importance of many insignificant events.

The behavior of patients is distinguished by pretense, "playing for the public", it seems that there is nothing natural, simple and natural in it.

It may seem that a person suffering from the manifestations of this disease is very happy about his illness. The patient almost always demonstratively emphasizes the severity of his disorder, complains of his unbearable suffering and terrible pain. And at the same time, he does not try to get rid of this condition. Since it is an opportunity for the patient psychological protection through the disease - "flight into the disease." Thus, the patient does not need to accept the problem, fight it and take responsibility for its solution.

A person suffering from this neurosis strives for recognition, the constant attention of others to his person.

All of the above symptoms may be less or more pronounced, but are always aggravated in an unfavorable situation for the patient. Behavior becomes as theatrical as possible, disposition becomes even more one-sided, the patient concentrates on himself and his own disease. Hysterical disorders can be long-term or short-term, chronic with sharp relapses. The intensity of the manifestation of symptoms depends on how quickly and how much the patient can achieve through their behavior. But in practice this does not happen. Even if it is possible to achieve the realization of momentary goals and desires, in the long term the opposite is true. Family and professional relationships inevitably collapse, and one's own life gradually turns into one continuous disease.

Anxiety hysteria (neurosis) is a psychosomatic disorder in which a person spends most of the time in a state of emotional depression and anxiety. Since most often patients turn to a neurologist (neuropathologist), when the state of anxiety becomes constant, and the state of health deteriorates sharply, doctors have to deal with the already chronic form of the disease. Periods of remission alternate with an acute form, which can last from 2-3 weeks to several years. In the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), anxiety hysteria was not separated into a separate class, but included in a generalized anxiety state (F41).

The mechanism of occurrence of psychosomatic disorder anxiety hysteria

A person can be afraid of many things - to lose love, health, money. But when you begin to consider these phobias in more detail, it turns out that their root cause is always the fear of death. In some people, after stress, due to hereditary predisposition or dysfunction of the hormonal system, the level of anxiety begins to increase. Their body is in a "suspended state". ( Such people are easy to identify - their shoulders and neck are tense, their eyes run, they avoid the crowd.) Such a state will last exactly until the moment when the subconscious mind sees a threat to life in some situation.

Now, every time a person potentially finds himself in such an environment, his brain will react to it as a real danger. How exactly? He will give the order to the vegetative nervous system prepare the body for a fight-or-flight situation. The ANS will try to quickly free the stomach and intestines from excess ballast - a person will feel nausea and the urge to go to the toilet, inject adrenaline, make the heart beat fast, and breathing shallow. For a healthy person, anxiety is a signal for action and preparation for a non-standard situation. For a patient with anxious hysteria, whose body is already latent in a state of stress, anxiety becomes the beginning of a panic attack. T.I. is a psychosomatic disease, which in itself does not cause pathologies, but functional disorders will sooner or later lead to organic ones. This is a sad fact.

Marina says. Two years ago, she moved from her parents to another city, where she had to live alone. At first there were no problems, but gradually it began to "roll" - she began to be afraid to live, walk and ride alone. It's funny to say, because of this fear, I lived with SUCH a reptile for a year, so as not to remain alone ... And then the attacks began. The pressure is 180/100, I’m lying, and all my thoughts are only that I’ll die, but no one will notice. I drank ladisan and xanax. It helped, but every little thing again drove me into depression. I realized that the edge was when I sat with a friend in the park and persuaded myself to go home. I look at the leaf fall, Dasha says that her daughter asked Aunt Marina to come to visit, but I absolutely do not care. One thought - I have to go home, but I'm alone at home, and here is a girlfriend, but my girlfriend is also not interesting to me ... And then I see that I (the second "I") gets up and leaves. The next day I made an appointment with a psychotherapist.

Symptoms of a diagnosis of anxiety hysteria

The division of symptoms occurs in groups:

• Emotional: irrational (unreasonable) anxiety about current and future events, fear, anxiety.

• Physical: muscle tension, most often in the neck and shoulders, a feeling of constant fatigue that does not go away after rest, headache, sweating, pressing pain in the chest, suffocation, psychogenic shortness of breath, pressure surges.

• Motor: nervous tic, trembling, fussiness.

In a severe form of the disease, the patient begins to avoid crowded places, is afraid not only of non-standard, but also of everyday situations. He is haunted by a sense of catastrophe, disorientation. The patient can go deep into a state where he is watching himself as if from the side. At these moments, he cannot control his behavior (depersonalization and derealization).

Psychological characteristics of people suffering from anxiety neurosis

• They cannot stand vague formulations and uncertainties.. The slightest hint that trouble can happen makes such people calculate all the options with a negative outcome. But it is impossible to calculate everything, and the more versions appear, the greater the anxiety.
• They believe that anxiety is good for them. As long as people diagnosed with anxiety hysteria believe that their fears are useful and help to live, they will not part with them.
• They waste time on future hypothetical problems, being sure in advance that they will not be coped with.
• They have a highly developed sense of responsibility. Once in the situation “I have to go to work, but on the road I will definitely be hit by a car (I will fall into a sewer manhole, a dog will bite)”, such people feel strong moral discomfort.

Diagnosis of the disease anxiety hysteria

Anxiety depression is diagnosed when:

A) bouts of depression are repeated several times a month, and they are not associated with an objective threat. Between attacks the condition is stable.

B) detailed analyzes and instrumental diagnostic methods do not show the presence of a somatic disorder. The diagnosis takes into account the fact that thyrotoxicosis, angina pectoris, hypoglycemia, withdrawal syndrome can cause elevated level anxiety.

C) the influence of drugs is excluded. Symptoms of T.I. can be caused by taking medications such as: asthma medications, vasoconstrictor drops for rhinitis, complex medicines for flu or colds, antihypertensive (lowering blood pressure) drugs.

D) the results of passing the Cattell, Zang and Shihan test show a critical level of anxiety.

Anxiety therapy treatment.

Medical therapy

• Tranquilizers - diazepam, atarax, nitrazepam, tazepam, mebicar. Reduce feelings of anxiety and internal stress have a mild sedative effect.
• Antidepressants - venlafaxine, duloxetine, imipramine. Tranquilizers are prescribed less often, as they can cause a withdrawal syndrome.
• Bromides - sodium bromide, potassium bromide, camphor bromide. They improve sleep, calm the nervous system, and have an anticonvulsant effect.
• Homeopathic remedies. It is not recommended to accept multi-component fees, the effect of which is difficult to predict. Recommended: valerian, mint, motherwort, hops, heather, passionflower, peony, hawthorn, chamomile.

Psychotherapy

• Sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy. At the session, the therapist and the patient gradually play out all the frightening situations. Together they look for ways out of them.

For example, the patient is afraid that during an attack he will lose his sense of balance and fall. Using hyperventilation, the patient artificially causes a panic attack. After the patient copes with the situation on his own, a dialogue follows:

Doctor: During the attack, did you feel like you were losing your balance?

Patient: Yes. I was 90% sure that I would fall.

Doctor: Not only did you not fall, but you were able to stand on one leg. What does it mean?

Patient: That my fear and balance are unrelated. By the end of the experiment, I was 70% sure of this.

• psychoanalysis sessions. Therapy is not aimed at relieving symptoms, but at exploring the underlying personal causes that caused them.
• Autogenic training, relaxation technique. They are methods of self-hypnosis (self-hypnosis), aimed at stabilizing the functioning of the nervous system.

Physiotherapy

• Acupuncture.
• Massage.
• Electrophoresis.
• Yoga, hardening.

It happens that neither medicines nor psychotherapy can extinguish anxiety, but the most ordinary actions help. So, some calm down stroking a soft toy or humming slow songs. A full load at work helps a lot. It has been noted that anxiety hysteria most often affects young non-working women, aged 20 to 40 years.

In general, the prognosis of the disease is favorable, but if T.I. is not treated, then the disorder can turn into prolonged depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or hypochondria. Best Results gives a combination of psychotherapy with physiotherapy. Recommended: hardening, physical education, walks in the fresh air.

Have you ever seen how a seemingly normal person in the sense of the psyche suddenly starts waving his arms, screams loudly or sobs, breaking into a screech, falls to the floor, rolls his eyes and kicks his legs?

You must have seen it more than once. In her first year at the university, there was a girl with whom this happened right in the classroom and could go on for hours if she was pitied, reassured and persuaded to pull herself together. But one day, having observed this ugly scene, the wise-haired professor, instead of sympathy, asked everyone present to go out into the corridor. And here's what's interesting: as soon as the audience was empty and the patient was left alone, the seizure immediately stopped. She got up, brushed herself off and… immediately calmed down. And the doctors they say: the character is to blame!

This is how the disease, known from ancient times, manifests itself in an original way - hysterical neurosis, simply -. By the way, its name comes from the Greek Nusepa - uterus. Healers of antiquity considered the disease to be exclusively female, and they saw its cause in ... the wandering of the uterus around the body.

Modern doctors take a different view. Although among patients hysteria absolute the majority are women, it is not the uterus that is to blame, but the features nervous system when the processes of excitation in it prevail over the processes of inhibition. In other words: a person, for the slightest reason, “starts up” with half a turn, and it is very difficult to calm down.

Prerequisites for the development of hysteria may be severe psychological trauma and stress. But more often - the hysterical character of the patient, is characterized by increased emotionality, sharp mood swings, unexpected reactions, tendency to tearfulness, inadequate responses and actions. As a rule, there are egocentrism, desires to play the first role, a tendency to extravagance, theatricality?

Hysterical fits are always situational and occur in the presence of many people. Sick seeks to ensure that the audience appreciate the full depth of his experiences, wants attention and sympathy. And for this purpose, he often artificially exaggerates grievances, tries to manipulate relatives, colleagues and even doctors. The latter, by the way, sometimes call hysteria "the monkey of all diseases."

Imitating some illness, patients strive to achieve their goals, to extract the maximum benefit for themselves. At the same time, they experience precisely those symptoms that provide the right to be considered seriously ill in the eyes of others. They may look like diseases of the heart, stomach, etc. But most often - on epilepsy.

In the special literature, cases are described when patients with hysteria play real performances, demonstrating seizures similar to epileptic ones. Moreover, it is so talented that it is difficult even for a specialist to distinguish true epilepsy from false. In fact, those suffering from hysteria do not have any serious illnesses. They come up with them, but very skillfully and realistically.

I'll tell you for now, what kind of ailment is this

So what is hysteria? Theater of one actor? Cunning bordering on insanity? Or is it still a disease that requires a serious attitude and persistent treatment?

A hysterical seizure begins with a feeling of fear or longing, a heartbeat or a lump in the throat, a feeling of suffocation. In patients, the pressure decreases (or increases), hands and legs tremble. Crying turns into sobs or laughter.

With strong emotional stress, a condition similar to an epileptic seizure develops. There are tonic convulsions with phenomena of cessation of breathing, but without biting the tongue. Consciousness during the attack is not completely disturbed. The reaction to painful stimuli is preserved, tendon and protective reflexes are evoked. Pupils react to light. Patients hear and understand the comments and remarks of others.

Tonic convulsions are replaced clonic. In the clonic phase, the patient performs purposeful, demonstrative actions, scatters his arms and legs, beats his head on the floor, screams, tears clothes, bites his lips or fingers, barks or meows, stereotypically repeats words or phrases.

In time, a hysterical seizure exceeds an epileptic one and can last from ten minutes to several hours. But the main difference is that the patient is removed from an attack of hysteria without consequences and injuries.

What can we get as a result if such a disease as hysteria is not treated?

The disease may progress to chronic form : Seizures will be more frequent and stronger. With advanced hysteria, hearing and speech are disturbed - up to complete deafness and dumbness.

Patients develop a neurosis of obsessive movements, when a person is not able to control his body and constantly repeats the same gestures (for example, jerking his head, jumping up, grabbing his hair; paralysis of the limbs or serious mental disorders, most often manic-depressive syndrome).

And the most unpleasant: the predisposition to hysterical neurosis is inherited. In children, the disease manifests itself from 2-3 years, reaches a peak in adolescence.

To defeat the insidious disease, we apply our shock method

In the arsenal traditional medicine there are means that are capable of restoring to normal the processes of excitation-inhibition in the nervous system and defeating insidious hysteria. At the first stage, soothing warm herbal baths before going to bed help well: two glasses of young pine or spruce needles, or calamus roots, or a glass of lovage roots per 1 liter of water, boil for 5-7 minutes, leave for half an hour, strain, pour into the bath.

The result will be more noticeable if you take the following plants or fees:

1. Equal parts and seeds of fennel: 2 tbsp. per half liter of water, cook for 5 minutes, filter after an hour. A glass in the morning and evening.

2. Oregano herb - 30 g, hawthorn fruit - 25 g, sweet clover grass - 20 g, valerian roots - 15 g, peppermint leaves - 10 g. 1 tablespoon per glass of boiling water, wrap overnight. We drink half a glass three times a day 1.5 hours after eating.
3. Three-leaf watch leaves - 50 g, valerian roots - 25 g, peppermint leaves - 25 g. Preparation and reception - as collection No. 3.

4. Pour 100 ml of birch tar into 1 liter of cold boiled water, stir with a stick and insist for two days in a tightly closed container. We remove the foam, carefully drain the top layer of a transparent liquid. Reception - once a day, 1 tbsp. in the morning on an empty stomach, without shaking the sediment.

5. Leaves of lemon balm (50 g) insist 10 days, pour 0.5 liters of vodka. Add to tea 1 tsp. 2-3 times a day.

6. Grass of spring primrose or common primrose with tips and roots. 1 tsp pour a glass of boiling water, leave for half an hour, filter completely chilled. Reception - half a cup twice a day after meals.

7. Star aster inflorescences - 1 tbsp. to a glass of boiling water. After an hour, we filter, drink 1-3 tbsp. 3 times a day before meals.

8. Viburnum bark - 10 g, a glass of boiling water, put in a water bath for 30 minutes, filter. We use inside 1 tbsp. 3 times a day half an hour before meals.

9. Pour boiling water over coriander seeds for an hour (1 tablespoon of seeds, two cups of boiling water). Reception - 100 ml 4 times a day 20 minutes before meals.

10. St. John's wort tea - 1 tsp. in a glass of hot water, wrap, filter after two hours. We drink in three doses during the day.
11. A mixture of equal parts of calendula flowers and blackberry leaves - 50 g per 0.5 l of vodka. Ten days later tincture is ready. Add 1 tsp. into tea.
Tea from the aerial part of wild strawberries - without any special restrictions.

Hop cones, rosemary, peppermint, St. John's wort, lemon balm, valerian roots - equally.
Heather grass, lemon balm leaves, valerian roots (1:1:1).
Veronica officinalis herb, lavender flowers, lemon balm leaves, barberry fruits, violet tricolor herb - in equal parts.
Primrose roots, lavender flowers ', 'peppermint leaves, rosemary and valerian roots - equally.

Preparation of all fees (No. 13-16): 2 tbsp. mixture, half a liter of water, bring to a boil in the evening, insist until morning, wrapped. Reception - half an hour before meals three times a day, 100 ml of infusion.

It's only until the flowers, let's press the dots

The first signs of incipient hysteria (excitement, fear, palpitations) help to stop the massage and self-massage: the rhythmic pressing of the so-called calming points with the fingers.

Point 1 is on middle line head at the point of its intersection with the line connecting the upper edges of the auricles.

Point 2 - under the nose in the upper third of the vertical furrow of the upper lip.

Point 3 - under the occipital protuberance near the occipital fossa (4 cm below the upper edge of the occipital

Points 4 are located symmetrically - 1 cm above and forward from the corners of the lower jaw, when pressed usually painful in all people with a fine mental organization and a predisposition to depression.

Points 8 - symmetrically, in the recesses behind the auricle, at the level of the openings of the external auditory canal.

The exposure time for each point in turn is 1-2 minutes.

For people prone to the development of hysterical neurosis, it is especially important to alternate work and rest, moderate physical exercise — swimming, biking, walking, jogging, water and air hardening treatments. In a word, the phrase "A healthy mind in a healthy body" should become a motto for those suffering from hysteria.