Message to the district methodological association: “EMOTIONAL AND PERSONAL DISORDERS IN PRESCHOOL AGE AND THEIR CORRECTION.”

If a patient is diagnosed with an emotional disorder, it is often accompanied by the development of mental illnesses: neuroses, at various stages of schizophrenia. Since psychiatry, as well as psychologists, study this category of disorders, it is important to consider all possible aspects of the disease.

Emotional and behavioral disorders (psychiatry)

Disorders of emotions and behavior can act as an independent, primary disease, or become a side symptom as a result of neurosis, depression, or severe nervous shock.

Disorders of behavior and emotions in a child

In a child, the disorder manifests itself as the inability to independently plan one’s own time, control emotional manifestations and reactions, and organize behavior in accordance with generally accepted norms.

The main symptoms include the following:

1. Aggressiveness
2. Refusal to obey adults
3. Excessive cruelty
4. Disobedience
5. Pugnacity.

The reasons why a child may develop a behavioral disorder can be divided into several categories:

1. Physiological. Manifests itself in hormonal changes and disturbances in metabolic processes. As a result of the development of cerebral palsy, epilepsy, schizophrenia, as well as increased irritability.
2. Psychological. Occurs as a result of the child's emotional instability. He may develop an unrealistic self-esteem, a depressed emotional background, and constant self-blame may prevail.
3. Family relationships. As a rule, the disorder occurs as a result of constant conflicts between parents. Most often they exhibit immoral behavior, use drugs or alcohol, and often have mental disorders.

Before starting treatment for a pathology, the treating specialist tries to establish the cause of the disorder, as well as organize testing for the child to find out how much it is progressing.

Classification of emotion disorders

Emotional disorders, or pathological emotional reactions, are considered in several aspects: by the general style and characteristics of manifestation; from the point of view of the dynamics of emotional reaction; depending on the characteristics of the situation.

According to the general style and characteristics of manifestation , regardless of the reasons that caused them, five types of emotional disorders are distinguished:

• catathymic type - a style of accumulation of tension and rapid response, for example in reactive psychoses;
• parathymic type - characterized by dissociation of the structure of behavior (dissociation of perception, awareness, emotional response); occurs in schizophrenia;
• explosive type - alternating inertia and paroxysmal (explosive) emotional response (explosion), characteristic of epileptics;
• the dementia type occurs with dementia and is manifested by the triumph of lower drives against the background of complacency or apathy;
• holothymic type - a style of alternating polar states, for example in manic-depressive psychosis.

From the point of view of the dynamics (speed) of the unfolding of an emotional reaction, emotional lability, rigidity and weakness are distinguished.

• Emotional lability is an easy and rapid change in the polarity of emotions, often without an external reason (the patient either laughs or cries).
• Rigidity (stiffness or inertia) means procrastination, getting stuck on one emotional note, the reason for which has already disappeared.
• Weakness is the inability to consciously control or restrain the release of one’s emotions in any way (even tears).

Depending on the characteristics of the situation, emotional response disorders can be divided into two groups:

• conditioned by the personal characteristics of the individual (violations manifest themselves either in ordinary, “regular” situations, or unusually);
• caused by external circumstances (violations are mainly caused by a situation unusual for the individual).

Disorders of emotional response caused by the personal characteristics of the individual

This group includes five forms: strengthening, weakening, accentuation, distortion of emotional response, as well as its special pathological forms.

An increase in emotional response implies a surge in the expression of emotions, often positive; the extreme expression is ecstasy. This subgroup includes:

• euphoria (Greek euphoria - state of pleasure) - a state of feeling happiness; accompanied by a vision of the surrounding reality through rose-colored glasses (a certain fantasy separation from the existing harsh reality), increased liveliness, and a desire for activity;
• complacency - a state of contentment with an element of carelessness, reluctance to work particularly hard;
• ecstasy - a state of extreme feeling of happiness up to complete separation from reality; found in shamanic practices and religious mystical rites, under the influence of psychotropic drugs (see special states of consciousness).

Weakening the emotional response means narrowing the palette of emotions and the degree of their manifestation; the extreme expression is emotional dullness. With emotional dullness, the individual seems generally unable to express any feelings and experience them inside.

The emphasis of the emotional response is expressed in the predominance of one or another emotional coloring, for example, depressive notes.

Depression in the narrow sense is characterized by sadness and decreased activity. Life stops being enjoyable (anhedonia). The leading striking symptom of depression is aimlessness and meaninglessness of existence. Feelings are painful and pessimistic, up to suicidal desires (why live?).

Mania in the narrow sense implies inappropriately elevated mood (or excessive irritability). Emotional disturbances are accompanied by mental and behavioral disorders (see manic syndrome). Patients talk a lot, make “projects”, promise a lot, easily jumping from one topic of conversation to another. Mania is accompanied by vigorous but unproductive activity. Mild manifestations of mania are called hypomania. This condition implies the mild presence of all the symptoms of mania. Manifestations are tolerable for others; one might say that individuals remain in acceptable contact with reality.

It is possible to alternate periods of depression and mania; this combination is called bipolar (cycloid, or manic-depressive) syndrome (see below).

Pathological forms of emotional response include emotional inadequacy, anhedonia, ambivalence, feelings of numbness, anxiety disorders, and anankastic disorders (obsessive-compulsive and phobias).

Emotional inadequacy is manifested by unnatural (perverted) emotions for a given situation. For example, an individual may experience tears at the sight of an ordinary object; an ordinary greeting causes violent indignation, and rudeness is welcomed as a matter of course.

Anhedonia is a state of inability to experience joy, pleasure both from simple familiar things and entertainment (cinema, reading, music, etc.), and from situations that are always pleasantly colored, for example, sex. It occurs as a result of difficult experiences, but can also be a basic sign of mental illness (schizophrenia).

Ambivalence involves the simultaneous experience of contradictory, polar desires and emotions. For example, an individual feels (and expresses) simultaneously love and hate, joy and anger, laughter and tears (“torn with feelings”).

Feeling of numbness is a psychopathological disorder that is characterized by a subjective impression of one’s own inner emptiness, loss of feelings (there is a feeling that there are no more feelings). For example, patients complain that they no longer feel love for their children, spouses, and there are no sensations from either pleasant or unpleasant situations. The awareness of the absence of feelings in itself gives rise to painful emotions. Similar manifestations are typical of endogenous depression, neuroses, schizophrenia and other psychoses.

Anxiety disorder is experienced as a debilitating apprehension, tension, accompanied by a rapid heartbeat. There are no symptoms of obsession.

Anankasic (obsessive-compulsive) disorders represent a group of obsessive-compulsive disorders. In cases where the ideational component (obsessive thoughts, ideas) prevails, they speak of obsessions; in cases of predominance of the motor component (actions) - about compulsions. Phobias are identified separately in this group.

Phobias (Greek phobos - fear) mean obsessively occurring states of fear of individual objects or situations. The emotion of fear is accompanied by strong internal arousal, the meaning of which is to prepare the body for fight or flight in a situation of extreme danger. With anxiety disorders and phobias, a similar state occurs in the absence of a real threat at the time the reaction occurs. In fact, a trace idea of ​​the danger that was once experienced is projected onto the existing (hypothetically threatening) reality.

Phobias can be isolated (single) or multiple, and can be combined with other obsessions, such as compulsions (see below). Phobias are involved in the development of psychoses, neuroses and psychopathy. They mainly affect women, probably as the weaker sex.

More than 300 individual types of phobias have been described, in particular:

• agoraphobia, fear of open space, forces the patient to spend most of his time indoors;
• claustrophobia, fear of closed spaces;
• cancerophobia, fear of cancer;
• fear of heights (acrophobia);
• fear of fire (pyrophobia);
• thanatophobia, fear of death, etc.

Often the cause of phobias is the so-called. irrational thoughts. Based on the definition, such thoughts do not have proper logical justification. The mechanism of their formation is based on iteration (an endlessly repeated reference to itself). The formula is simple. For example, “I have to because I have to,” or “I can’t because I can’t,” or “I’m afraid because I’m afraid.” Rational psychocorrection of such thoughts is meaningless.

The mechanism of formation of anxiety disorders and phobias involves a trace, phantom reaction to a once traumatic event. These disorders always involve some trigger mechanism, which directly turns on the pathological reaction. In the current reality, such a trigger can be any of its elements (objects, situations, seemingly insignificant events, just small “touches”). They are somehow, sometimes incomprehensibly associated (“anchored”) in a particular individual with the image of the experienced traumatic situation stored in his memory. For the most part, people suffering from anxiety disorders and phobias are quite critical of their fears, aware of their irrational nature, but are unable to help themselves because they cannot control their feelings (emotions dominate reason). These disorders are always accompanied by a desire to avoid a phobic situation.

Symptoms of anxiety disorders and phobias occur in neurotic disorders, mental illnesses, and many somatic diseases, such as heart and kidney diseases. To diagnose a purely psychological disorder, somatic pathology must first be rejected.

Panic disorder. The maximum expression of anxiety disorders and phobias is panic disorder. It is expressed in repeated sudden attacks of fear with partial or even complete loss of self-control. Severe feelings of anxiety and fear, even fear of death, are accompanied by natural somatic symptoms. Trembling, palpitations, shortness of breath, suffocation, etc. are present. There is a phenomenon of focusing on symptoms and overthinking oneself. Individuals prone to panic provoke the disorder by false exaggeration (catastrophic interpretation) of their feelings. For example, when the heart rate increases, fear about possible negative consequences (in the absence of real objective factors) sharply aggravates existing disorders. Subconsciously, patients affirm the correctness of their own prophetic fears.

Disorders of emotional response caused by situations unusual for the individual

This group includes conditions characteristic of crisis and frustration. Their peak manifestation is affect - the extreme expression of a surge of emotions.

Affect (lat. affectus - emotional excitement, passion) is a violent, pronounced, usually short-term emotional reaction. It occurs in critical conditions with the inability to find a reasonable, satisfactory way out of a tense situation. Affect can be seen as the equivalent of such an outlet, as a form of frustration in the form of uncontrollable despair (emotions spill out). Usually the affect is accompanied by a strong motor discharge (agitation, see below).

In the case of affect, overexcitation and sudden disorganization of the psyche initially occur. As a result, there is a loss of control over oneself. As F. Nietzsche subtly noted, in affect there is no person, there is only affect. Certain mental processes are disrupted, such as perception and thinking. After emotional release, a sharp decline in strength occurs, including mental tone and activity. Based on the experienced affects, a trace affective behavioral reaction is formed in memory. Subsequently, when a person finds himself in even remotely similar situations, the subconscious can again autonomously reproduce the same affect; This happens almost unconsciously and uncontrollably.

In pathology, there are cases of forced inhibition of a potentially affective reaction for some time with the subsequent development of affect. Initially, there is a gradual accumulation (cumulation) of negative emotions. The subject feels increasing tension and anxiety for quite a long time. This state is called affective stagnation. At some point, for no apparent reason, or rather, for a completely insignificant reason, a violent emotional explosion occurs. The described phenomenon in forensic pathopsychology is called cumulative affect.

Agitation (Latin agitare - to excite) is uncontrolled chaotic movements (motor restlessness) that occurs during affective stress. Agitation can be considered as a consequence of subjective stress, the transformation of emotions into a motor reaction. The subject feels a vital need to move. In agitated behavior, what comes to the fore is not emotional reactions, as with “pure” affect, but certain motor manifestations. Agitation occurs in many mental illnesses.

Mixed emotion and behavior disorder

It is characterized by a disorder of emotions and behavior equally, where a person exhibits excessive aggressiveness, suffers from a persistent depressive state, and increased anxiety.

Emotional disorder in children

A child, compared to an adult, perceives all events more acutely, and therefore reacts much more emotionally. Accordingly, when an emotional disorder occurs, the symptoms manifest themselves much more intensely.

In order to prevent pathological development of the situation in the future, it is recommended to use play therapy. This will help avoid underdevelopment at the psychic and mental levels. Also, game simulators that replicate life conditions will help the child adapt better and realistically perceive the surrounding aspects.

Psychodynamic work is also often used, which is accompanied by a psychologist. Psychoanalysis involves identifying the causes of the formation of emotional disorders.

Seasonal affective disorder

A form of depression that occurs strictly at certain times of the year. Most people suffering from this disease feel depressed and lethargic in winter, while in summer their mood is normal and even joyful. As a rule, depression occurs in October-November and ends in March-April.

Some people suffer from seasonal affective disorder during other months of the year. Accompanied by a loss of strength, fatigue, the need to sleep more, increased appetite, inability to concentrate on work and do anything around the house after work, the mood is dominated by depression, anxiety, avoidance of communication, and increased irritability.

Emotions and emotional disorders

A physiological state of the body, characterized by subjective coloring, which is expressed in types of experiences, ranging from positive to sharply negative manifestations.

Regarding emotional disorders, this is a whole complex of manifesting symptoms, which are often characterized by irritability, aggression, sudden changes in mood, a tendency to deviant behavior, as well as the inability to control one’s own actions.

Mixed behavioral and emotional disorder in children

Mixed behavioral and emotional disorder in children has similar symptoms as in adult patients. Behavior is often deviant in nature, deviating from social norms. As a result, the child becomes more aggressive, signs of depression are often observed, as well as increased anxiety.

Before starting treatment, you first need to be tested by a psychologist and psychotherapist. If a primary neurotic or mental illness is diagnosed, against which a mixed disorder develops, physiotherapy, complex work of psychotherapists and psychologists, and auxiliary medications are most often used.

Emotional disorders

Emotions are different. They characterize people’s relationships to the world around them and to themselves. There are many emotional disorders, but some of them are considered an urgent reason to visit a specialist. Among them:

• depressed, melancholy mood, of a recurring, protracted nature;
• constant change of emotions, without serious reasons;
• uncontrollable emotional states, affects;
• chronic anxiety;
• stiffness, uncertainty, timidity;
• high emotional sensitivity;
• phobias.

Emotional disorders include the following pathological deviations:

1. Apathy is similar to emotional paralysis. The person is completely indifferent to everything around him. This is accompanied by inactivity.
2. Hypotymia , in which the mood decreases, and the person feels depressed, melancholy, hopeless, and therefore fixes his attention only on negative events.
3. Depression is characterized by a triad of hypothymia, slow thinking, and motor retardation . At the same time, the patient has a melancholic mood, he feels deep sadness, heaviness in his heart and whole body. Early in the morning the state of health worsens significantly. During this period, there is a high probability of suicide.
4. In the case of dysphoria , the mood is also low, but it has a tense and angry character. This deviation is short-term. As a rule, it occurs in people suffering from epilepsy.
5. Dysthymia is also not prolonged . It goes away in a relatively short period of time. This condition is characterized by a mood disorder. A person feels despondency, anxiety, anger.
6. The opposite of the above deviations is hyperthymia , in which a person is overly cheerful, he is happy and cheerful, energetic and overestimates his own capabilities.
7. A person in a state of euphoria is complacent and carefree, but at the same time is characterized by passivity. This often occurs in cases of organic brain disease.
8. During ecstasy , the patient plunges into himself, he experiences delight, extraordinary happiness. Sometimes this condition is associated with a visual hallucination of positive content.

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The role of emotions in human life

The term "emotion" comes from the Latin name emovere, which means movement, excitement and excitement. The key functional component of emotions is the motivation for activity; as a result, the emotional sphere is also called the emotional-volitional sphere.

At the moment, emotions play a significant role in ensuring the interaction between the body and the environment.

Emotions are mainly the result of reflecting human needs and assessing the likelihood of their satisfaction, which are based on personal and genetic experience.

How pronounced a person’s emotional state is depends on the significance of the needs and the lack of necessary information.

Negative emotions are manifested as a result of a lack of necessary information that is required to satisfy a number of needs, and positive emotions are characterized by the complete presence of all necessary information.

Today, emotions are divided into 3 main parts:

1. Affect, characterized by acute experience of a certain event, emotional tension and excitement;
2. Cognition (awareness of one’s state, its verbal designation and assessment of further prospects for meeting needs);
3. Expression that is characterized by external bodily motor activity or behavior.

A relatively stable emotional state of a person is called mood. The sphere of human needs includes social ones, which arise on the basis of cultural needs, which later became known as feelings.

There are 2 emotional groups:

1. Primary (anger, sadness, anxiety, shame, surprise);
2. Secondary, which includes processed primary emotions. For example, pride is joy.