At what stage of alcoholism does delusion of jealousy develop?
Right here, right away, I’m attaching to you a screenshot from one of the psychiatrists’ forums, because I know you won’t believe it.
As you can see, in order to end up in a psychiatric hospital with delusions of jealousy, it is not at all necessary to drink a lot or very much.
It is enough to be an alcoholic in the first stage for your moral value systems, self-criticism and analytical thinking to go to hell. If you still don’t believe and think that the opponent of the psychiatrist Sigachin is perhaps more right, since he speaks of the 2nd stage, then do not delude yourself.
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Open a psychiatry textbook and you will find there confirmation that psychiatrist Gorelov is an ordinary loser, since, indeed, delirium of jealousy begins long before the onset of the second stage of alcoholism (marked by hangover syndrome).
Roots of psychosis
The main factor for the development of the syndrome is prolonged abuse of alcoholic beverages. Drinking alcohol in large quantities leads to disorders of the nervous system and, accordingly, can provoke mental disorders.
Paranoid character
People with a paranoid character are most susceptible to the disease, and the addition of alcohol further intensifies the course of the disease. Even before the first manifestations of the syndrome, such patients tend to regulate and control the lives of those around them. They are very demanding and do not accept refusal to follow the rules they set.
Many patients with this disease abuse alcohol for ten years or more. In some cases, the patient experiences personality degradation. When studying a patient's medical record, one can see diseases such as delirium tremens.
How delirium of jealousy occurs and what it threatens in family life
If you think that the delirium of jealousy is certainly a scuffle and surveillance, then no. It all starts much more harmlessly and, at first glance, completely unnoticed. Neither for the jealous person himself, nor for his spouse.
The most important beacon of the delusion of jealousy is the iron-clad conviction of the “victim of deception” that his wife or husband is an extremely flighty creature and ready for debauchery. Yes Yes exactly.
If we take healthy jealousy as an example, then, first of all, there are thoughts that their partner has stopped loving them. But with phantom jealousy, such thoughts are practically not present. Alcoholics stand their ground and say that their spouse is a libertine by nature, a frivolous person. When it comes to men with this syndrome, they often say that their wife is simply “weak at the front.”
At the same time, the wife does not need to be the first beauty and behave frivolously. She may be the most ordinary woman, busy only with home and work, but her husband will consider her “prominent” and in every word and sneeze, literally, see a mockery, a hint of her “secret life” and suffer from the fact that she is constantly “plotting.” "escape to the whores."
It is interesting that people who are naturally gentle and intelligent often suffer from delusions of jealousy. By the way, I used the word “suffer” for a reason, and in the next subparagraph of the article you will understand what the patient himself has to endure.
I must also say this: delusions of jealousy are not a separate disease. This is a syndrome that develops against the background of many mental illnesses. But the most common disease in our country is alcoholism.
Therefore, if you are jealous of someone who drinks like everyone else on Fridays, you don’t even have to doubt it. “Fridays” are the reason for his sick jealousy.
So, what does delusion of jealousy look like in life? At first, this is very touching for the spouses. Jealous means he loves, right? And then it starts to get a little depressing.
After all, a jealous person behaves quite persistently and aggressively. He constantly checks his phone, he intrusively asks why his husband didn’t pick up, and no amount of assurance that the sound was accidentally turned off does not calm Sherlock Holmes.
Accordingly, against the background of these regular showdowns, both the jealous man and his wife have a restless state of mind and hidden grievances, which result in quarrels on domestic grounds.
A suffering and self-confident alcoholic cannot always directly express his suspicions, due to the fact that there are no facts, but his aggression and pain results in bile and discontent in other areas.
And the wife cooks incorrectly, and the husband earns little, and the house is not cleaned or the knives are not sharpened... These squabbles leave a constant feeling of bitterness in the soul.
And this is all - it reassures the patient even more and more that his husband is burdened by family life and is angry that she has to live in “captivity.”
In general, no matter what happens, no matter what reaction his wife gives him (I write this because 80% of such patients are men), the alcoholic will perceive this as proof of his delusional theory.
If a wife laughs and does not take it seriously, she is flighty and scoffs; if she is offended and cries, she is an actress and thus looks away... No, there is absolutely no line of behavior or the right words to convince a jealous person. He doesn't need facts of treason. It is quite enough for him that he “anticipates”.
For example, here is a case from the medical history of an alcoholic with whom his wife suffered for 20 years, and in the end he killed her. Stabbed. And it was like this.
The man was sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea, and then through the window he saw a car drive up to the entrance and his wife getting out. As he later explained to the police, at that moment he felt that she was having sex in the elevator, because he understood it from her gait. When the wife got out of the elevator, her husband was already waiting for her with a knife. He didn’t figure it out for a long time, he just started throwing blows, from which his wife died.
Delirium tremens: characteristics and symptoms
This condition with alcohol dependence is quite rare. Male people suffer from it preferentially. They are the ones who most often subject their wives to physical and psychological violence. There are very few known cases in which women were affected by this disease. There are no age restrictions for alcoholic delusions of jealousy, but more often it is diagnosed in people of the mature generation, especially after forty years. The basis for the development of the disease is an existing mental disorder. Therefore, the risk group is mentally ill people.
Alcohol abuse is recognized as a disease in itself. Already at the second stage of alcohol dependence, alcoholic delusions of jealousy may appear. Of course, this condition is primarily typical for those people who suffer from jealousy even before the development of addiction. The disease is diagnosed in only three percent of people with alcohol dependence.
Many people are convinced that only binge alcoholics are susceptible to delirium tremens. This is a correct opinion, because an attack, as a rule, occurs after prolonged drinking bouts. Acute manifestations of psychosis occur 4–5 days after leaving the binge. By some signs you can predict the approach of an attack even before its onset:
- A person's behavior changes greatly. There is agitation, agitation, and excessive activity that is unusual for normal behavior.
- Coordination of movements is impaired, the person gets lost in space.
- The patient has difficulty maintaining a conversation.
- There is tremor of the limbs.
- Body temperature rises.
- Blood pressure rises.
- I'm worried about insomnia.
- General health is gradually deteriorating.
Hallucinations
- Complete confusion of consciousness.
- The patient seems to be in another world, and during the day he can still be returned to reality, but in the evening he is lost again.
- A person begins to forget his relatives and does not recognize the people around him.
- Vivid hallucinations appear. Non-existent living organisms, more reminiscent of horror movie characters, can become bizarre. It seems to the patient that these creatures pose a danger to him and want to destroy the planet. He can start talking to them.
- Frequent manifestations of tactile hallucinations. In this case, a person not only allegedly sees unprecedented, terrible creatures, but also feels their touch. At the same time, he makes grimaces, a state of horror, fear, and panic appears on his face. The patient begins to feel as if insects are getting into his throat and preventing him from breathing, causing attacks of suffocation.
- Another type of hallucination is voices. A person in a fit allegedly hears someone making fun of him, mocking him and intimidating him.
- The most dangerous thing is that victims of seizures can harm themselves. They are not aware of what is happening, they are frightened by visions, sensations, sounds. They try to get rid of it and may jump out of the window when stressed. In another case, they can harm the person who is nearby, since they will see in him all the emanating danger. In this state, people are capable of murder.
- The state of an acute attack may leave the patient for several days, during which he will sleep soundly. But after a break, psychosis returns and can manifest itself to a greater extent.
Many people perceive the phrase delirium tremens as a reason for jokes and laughter. But few people think about the danger this disease poses. In such a situation, the patient requires urgent qualified assistance. Otherwise, the seizure is unlikely to occur without serious consequences.
For the formation of delusions of jealousy, real relationships in the family that need strengthening can serve. But the disease occurs without any reason. The disease has different degrees of complexity.
Because the initial claims are based on a real family situation, all accusations may initially appear plausible. Bad relationships, scandals, quarrels can lead to the fact that an innocent family member begins to feel remorse about his behavior.
A difficult situation arises when the disease begins to progress. Then claims against the spouse lose all connection with the reality of what is happening. The patient himself begins to draw up a picture of systematic betrayal, drawing details and details in his imagination. You can understand his unbalanced state by the ironic and sarcastic hints he throws at his wife.
The patient's obsessions become serious. Now he must prove her infidelity and therefore will pursue Dena everywhere. He may even deliberately create ambiguous situations in order to later unleash angry accusations on his wife. About twenty years ago, such husbands specifically turned to trade unions so that they could help save the family. As a result, an innocent person was often punished by being fired from his job.
The last stage of the disease is accompanied by so-called false memories
In the modern world, they are such pathological jealous people that they begin to turn to their spouse’s immediate superiors, demanding that they keep order in their enterprise. A woman in such a situation experiences a strong feeling of shame, which in itself can push her to think about divorce. But her husband will definitely think that she has decided to leave him for another lover.
The last stage of the disease is accompanied by so-called false memories. Even after living together for fifteen years, the patient suddenly begins to feel that during all this time his wife did not stop cheating on him. In the worst case scenario, he decides to check the blood tests to prove that the children he has been raising all this time are also born from another man.
Naturally, this affects the general attitude towards children, because now the sick person is sure that they have nothing to do with him. That is, he is not obliged to give them affection, love, clothes, shoes and feed them. The main feature of this behavior is that the patient remains silent about what he has done to his rival. After all, according to him, he became a direct witness to the betrayal.
There are times when the strength of paranoia is doubled by accompanying delusional ideas. It seems to the patient that his wife not only does not remain faithful, but also wants to poison him, kill him, and put him in prison. The difficulty in communicating with such a patient becomes unpredictable aggression, which turns into sadism.
Such patients may not be diagnosed for a long time. This happens because in some cases sick people keep all the grievances inside their minds and do not make any complaints. But when alcoholic paranoia is fully formed, all the symptoms become obvious. This course of the disease carries the greatest danger.
Diagnosing the disease is difficult because patients do not tell medical personnel about their addiction to alcohol, much less reveal their suspicions. Only a thorough examination, testing, and communication with a psychotherapist can give a conclusion about the patient’s mental disorder.
Manifestations of the disease are very pronounced and may not be taken to heart by family members at first. Symptoms with regular or episodic manifestations should be the first warning sign.
Signs of the disease: a person is accompanied by a delusional idea of treason, searching for and presenting facts, stalking, searching personal belongings, eavesdropping on telephone conversations, taboos on a certain type of clothing, makeup, use of perfume, collecting information about pastimes from colleagues, acquaintances, relatives, searching for hidden meaning in every gesture or word, causing bodily harm, isolation in the house, claiming that children were born from another man, aggression for any reason. If symptoms occur, make an appointment with a psychiatrist or narcologist.
Diagnostics
The examination of the patient will directly depend on the psychological state and will be based on first-hand information.
For a comprehensive assessment of the condition of organs and to identify the presence of pathologies, a medical examination of the entire body, as well as laboratory tests, is necessary.
Is it dangerous to live with a jealous alcoholic?
Don’t think that only complete alcoholics, at the third stage, commit murders. Or, people are naturally cruel. Yours is not like that, he is kind, good and can in no way bring harm.
Yes, he grumbles, yes, he gets angry, but he doesn’t let go, so you can put up with such a quirk. But, you are wrong.
The delusion of jealousy always progresses. He doesn't stand still. And aggression is a natural result when the patient’s cup of suffering overflows. And I tell you again, it doesn’t matter at all whether you cheat or not. He still suffers.
Seizure prevention
The main and main method of preventing delusions of jealousy is to reduce alcohol consumption. This is especially important for people who are aggressive when intoxicated.
In personal relationships between partners, principles of trust should be built. Jealousy is a natural feeling that almost every person is susceptible to. You should not provoke your partner or deliberately cause attacks of jealousy. In a couple, partners should not behave provocatively, flirt with the opposite sex, or lead a secretive lifestyle.
How does the jealous person feel?
You can’t envy him and it’s not funny at all. There is a misconception among people that mental illness is a good thing. They say that people are in some kind of their own world and they are happy.
But don’t forget that their worlds are different. But for a jealous person it’s just hell. Have you ever been jealous? Remember that creepy feeling.
And imagine that a sick person constantly feels this pain and despair. Day and night, his soul hurts. He is anxious, offended, scared... And no matter how you treat him, it will not make him feel better. But in life it happens that his wife, tormented by his nagging, no longer feels tenderness for him, but only irritation, which further convinces him of his infidelity. Vicious circle.
These people definitely need to be treated. But more on this in the last part of the article.
Other causes of this psychosis
Traumatic brain injuries
- dysfunctions of the central nervous system;
- traumatic brain injury;
- severe infectious disease;
- drug intoxication of the body.
Acute psychosis poses a danger not only for the patient, but also for his loved ones:
- destruction of social ties;
- disagreements in the family;
- loss of friends;
- loss of loved ones;
- lack of communication with children;
- disappointed, heartbroken parents.
The patient himself does not understand the pain and disappointment he brings to his relatives and loved ones. The mind of such a person is in a state of darkness. It is no longer possible to call him a full-fledged member of society.
The patient has problems at work. Alcoholic delirium of jealousy leads a person to the point that he is ready to rush at anyone around him and cause him pain and harm his health.
Receiving injuries from a husband with this disease is a common occurrence in such families. Hallucinations and systematic thoughts of suicide appear. The person begins to be haunted by the desire to get rid of this condition and it seems to him that the only way to end this is through suicide. This is the main reason why it is so often heard that a person jumped out of a window while intoxicated.
In such a situation, a person needs timely treatment. Otherwise, such psychoses can lead to death.
If a person has been abusing alcohol for about five years, he may already feel the onset of psychosis. This can also happen with sudden withdrawal.
dysfunction of the central nervous system;
traumatic brain injuries;
infectious diseases;
poisoning with toxins.
misunderstandings and disagreements in the family;
friends abandoning an alcoholic;
loss of loved ones;
lack of communication with children;
parents' disappointment.
The mind of an alcoholic in a state of psychosis is clouded. He does not understand the damage he causes to loved ones.
Naturally, the main cause of this syndrome is long-term alcohol consumption. Alcohol in large doses disrupts the nervous system and triggers mental disorders.
In addition, alcoholic delusions of jealousy occur in people prone to paranoia. Alcohol exacerbates this tendency.
Even before the onset of psychosis, such people try to control the lives of loved ones. They demand unquestioning compliance with their rules.
What to do if your spouse drinks and plagues you with suspicion?
Here you definitely need to take him to a psychiatrist. First, you need to convince him of his alcoholism, and then treat the accompanying disorder.
Delusions of jealousy are treated with antipsychotics and antidepressants. And, of course, rational psychotherapy as an additional step. One of two things won’t work, don’t think so. Alcoholism can be removed with rational therapy alone, but delusions of jealousy can only be removed in combination with medications.
Do not be afraid, most importantly, of the patient’s resistance. Of course, he will resist, since he lacks self-criticism, like any mentally ill person. Therefore, don’t bother him, don’t convince him that you are innocent, but it seems to him, just for starters, at least convince him of alcoholism and force him to get treatment.
Believe me, this will only help him. After all, he suffers, day and night, his soul is one big wound, this is no joke.
Causes
Modern research in the field of psychiatry does not identify specific factors that may contribute to the development of such pathology. Nevertheless, there are a number of the most common reasons, the presence of which can naturally lead people to disorders.
In psychiatric practice, it is customary to separate the factors causing the syndrome based on gender.
Common reasons that can have a direct impact on development:
- chronic alcoholism;
- heredity;
- stressful conditions;
- depression;
- mental illness;
- pathology of cerebral vessels.
A special role in the development of the syndrome is assigned to chronic alcoholism. The disease begins to develop in a state of intoxication, then attacks of pathological jealousy move to a sober consciousness, but with a distorted reality.
It is also customary to include the following for men:
- problems with potency;
- physical disabilities (height, obesity, etc.);
- small size of the genital organ;
- financial insolvency;
- low social status.
Causes of the disease in women:
- hormonal disorders;
- diffidence;
- fullness, age.
According to Freud's theory, a man is a potential jealous person due to latent homosexuality.
The opponent evokes strong negative emotions in him, which are explained by unconscious attraction. This version has not been proven by scientific research.
There is also Bowlby's theory, according to which people acquire Othello syndrome if there was psychological trauma in childhood. The basis is the relationship with parents. For example, the mother had to fight for a long time for the attention, or upbringing was often based on the expressions “here’s another boy/another girl.” From childhood, such an attitude forms rivalry in a person, the feeling that at any moment someone can become better, steal and take away what you love. In the future, if there is a predisposition to disturbances of consciousness, such a state may become fertile ground for the development of delusions of jealousy.
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