Manic depression In our time, mental illness occurs more and more often. This is due to the fact that a person every day faces stress and other strains that harm our psychological state. Sometimes an ordinary psychological disorder can develop into a manic depression.


Causes and development of manic depression

Manic-depressive syndrome is a violation of the psyche, which occurs against the background of wavy psychoemotional states: depressive and manic. Between these phases, mental disorders can completely disappear. Scientists have established that manic-depressive psychosis is a genetic disease. It can be inherited, but even if one of your relatives has suffered from this disease, this does not mean that it will manifest itself in you. Everything will depend on external factors: the conditions in which you grew up, the environment, the level of mental stress, and so on.

Most often the disease makes itself felt in adulthood. And the disease does not immediately manifest itself in an acute form. After some time, family and friends begin to notice that the disease is progressing. First of all, the psychoemotional background changes. A person can be too depressed, or vice versa, too gay. These phases succeed each other, and the depression lasts longer than the joy.

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This condition can last very long - from several months to several years. Therefore, if you do not immediately identify an ailment and do not provide medical assistance, the harbingers of the disease will go directly to the disease itself - manic-depressive psychosis.

Depressive phase of the disease

As mentioned above, the disease mainly occurs in the depressive phase. This phase has three main features:

  • Bad mood;
  • Appearance of physical and speech retardation;
  • Appearance of brightly expressed intellectual retardation.

The thoughts of the patient are too negative. He has a baseless sense of guilt, self-flagellation and self-destruction. In this state, people often decide on suicide.

Depression can be bodily and spiritual. With mental depression, a person experiences a depressed psychoemotional state. With a bodily form of depression, a problem with the cardiovascular system is added to the depressed psychoemotional state.

If a person does not start treatment when these symptoms appear, the person may become stupefied. He can be absolutely still and silent. A person stops eating, going to the toilet, responding to calls to him. In addition, the physiological state of the patient also changes: the heart rhythm is broken, tachycardia, arrhythmia, bradycardia appear, the pupils dilate.

Manic phase of the disease

The depressive phase is replaced by a manic one. This phase includes:

  • Pathological mood elevation - manic effect;
  • Excessive motor and speech excitement;
  • Temporary performance enhancement;

This phase has many specific features. It often does not occur in a pronounced form, so it can only be determined by an experienced physician. But as the disease progresses, the manic phase becomes more pronounced.

The mood of a person is too optimistic, but he starts to assess reality too positively. Delusional ideas may appear in the patient. In addition, increased motor and speech activity.

Features of the course of manic depression

Most often, doctors face the classic form of the disease, but there are exceptions. In such cases, it is very difficult to detect the disease in time and begin treatment.

For example, there is a mixed form of manic depression - when psychosis makes itself felt otherwise. When mixed, some symptoms of one phase are replaced by certain symptoms of another phase. For example, a depressive state can be accompanied by excessive nervous excitability, while the inhibition may be completely absent.

The manic stage can be expressed by an emotional upsurge with a pronounced intellectual and mental retardation. The behavior of the patient in this case is difficult to predict: it can be inadequate or completely normal.

Also sometimes doctors face eroded forms of manic-depressive syndrome. The most common form is cyclothymia. With this form all symptoms of the disease are very much blurred. Therefore, a person can maintain full working capacity. And his friends and relatives may not even know about the presence of the disease.

Sometimes the disease with a lubricated form proceeds with an open form of depression. But it is also almost impossible to detect, because even a sick person can not suspect the reasons for his bad mood. The danger of hidden forms of manic depression is that they can go unnoticed. As a result, a person may resort to suicide.

Symptoms of the classic manic-depressive syndrome

The patient begins to experience a strong sense of anxiety. And the alarm is absolutely groundless. Most often, patients are worried about their future or their relatives. As a rule, the doctor immediately distinguishes a similar state from ordinary melancholy. After all, these people have anxiety reflected on the face: not blinking eyes and tense face. Yes, and in a conversation such people are not too frank.

In case of incorrect contact with a patient, a person may simply close in himself. Therefore, the relatives of the patient must know the basic rules of behavior and how to establish contact correctly. It is very important to start the conversation correctly - you need to sustain a pause.

If a person is simply depressed, then after a pause he can remain silent for a very long time. A person suffering from manic depression will not take a long pause and begin a conversation. During the conversation, it is worth observing the patient's behavior. The look at such a person will be running and restless, he will be constantly pulling something in his hands: clothes, a button, a sheet. Such people find it difficult to stay in the same position for a long time, so they get up and walk around the room. In severe cases, patients lose control over themselves. A person can fall into complete numbness or start feverishly rushing around the room, while he can cry or cry. The patient's appetite disappears.

In especially severe forms of the disease, patients are placed in special medical institutions, where they receive the full necessary assistance. Without the provision of professional assistance, the condition will only worsen.

The patient is prescribed special medications that are selected by the doctor individually. When inhibited, drugs are prescribed that stimulate activity. With increased excitability, sedatives are prescribed.

With proper and timely treatment, the predictions for recovery are favorable. The patient may return to a full-fledged lifestyle after a while. Therefore, when the first symptoms of the disease appear, it is better to be reinsured and consult a doctor for diagnosis.