Emotionally volitional syndrome. Symptoms of the disease are disturbances in the emotional-volitional sphere. Possible disturbances in the emotional sphere of personality

Will is a conscious, purposeful mental activity. THEM. Sechenov, in his work “Reflexes of the Brain” (1866), pointed out that the mechanism of voluntary movements is of a reflex nature, which is based on nervous excitation. In the process of socio-historical development, humans have developed more complex and precise forms of adaptive reactions, expressed by highly differentiated conditioned reflex reactions. The volitional sphere is closely related to instincts (innate reflexes) and drives.

Instincts are innate reflexes inherited by a person from his ancestors. Instincts include: food, defensive, sexual, parental. A person can regulate his instincts and suppress them. If several conflicting desires arise simultaneously, then a struggle of motives occurs. Motive is an act of reflection, that is, a critical attitude towards desire in accordance with real possibilities. As a result of the struggle of motives, a person makes a certain decision. Will, volitional action - this is one of the aspects of the psyche, which, like any mental activity, is causally determined, subject to laws existing world. Volitional activity is an action aimed at realizing a consciously set goal, purposeful mental activity.

Volitional actions may manifest themselves in accordance with the laws of this environment and then they talk about proper education and human behavior. In disorders of the volitional sphere, one can distinguish between an increase or decrease in mental activity, and a perversion of volitional actions.

Volitional processes may be disrupted in various types and be characterized by a variety of manifestations.

In patients with manic-depressive syndrome, there is an increase in volitional activity, manifested in increased activity, tirelessness, verbosity, increased good mood. A decrease in volitional activity is accompanied by inactivity, apathy, a sharp decrease in motor activity and is observed in some mental disorders (reactive and endogenous psychoses).

Emotional-volitional and motor-volitional actions are formed in the process of life, their deviations can manifest themselves at a certain age and in some neuropsychiatric disorders.

Weakening of volitional activity, and with them the manifestation of drives, is often found in a psychiatric clinic.

Drives are phylogenetically old, inherited, complex unconditional reflex (instinctive) vital reactions aimed at preserving the race and prolonging the species. They are characteristic of humans and animals. Human drives, unlike animals, are subordinated to social and labor activities. Training and education contribute to the inhibition of drives. With some lesions of the cerebral cortex, impairment, drives may be disinhibited.

Disorders of instincts and drives may manifest themselves in their intensification, decrease, disappearance or qualitative distortion.

Violation food instinct. Cravings for food are observed in the form of increased food instinct (gluttony, greed). Such conditions are observed in patients who have had encephalitis and are called bulimia. Most often you have to deal with the suppression of food cravings. Persistent refusal to eat food ( anorexia) leads to exhaustion of the patient. Persistent refusal to eat may be associated with delusional mood ( crazy ideas poisoning, etc.) or the belief that food is made from low-quality products. Peak symptom- eating inedible objects. Coprophagia- eating feces. Refusal to eat may occur when various forms stupor, in states of depression, in hysteria. In some cases, anorexia is a protective physiological mechanism, with the help of which the body adapts to new conditions of the external and internal environment.

In the first hours after birth, the food reflex, which is innate, manifests itself. A normally born baby with good weight smacks his lips and looks for the nipple, sucks sufficient quantity milk. Children born weak, with low weight, or who have suffered a birth traumatic brain injury are distinguished by a weak food reflex, eat little and poorly, regurgitate, and often experience dyspeptic symptoms (dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract). Subsequently, they eat little, selectively. They often show polydipsia(increased fluid intake). In terms of physical development, these children are undernourished, often get sick, and they easily manifest various neurotic reactions.

When the food reflex is strengthened, children from an early age draw attention to themselves increased appetite, good fat nutrition. As they age, they eat a lot, especially flour and carbohydrate foods. Mothers often complain that children take out forbidden food from under lock and key and eat it all. They quickly gain height and weight and attract attention due to their increased fat content ( endocrinopathy). Children say they have incredible food cravings ( bulimia), they are hungry all the time, they eat a lot ( polyphagia)and can't get enough ( akoria), although they are fed quite well.

Along with a weakening or strengthening of the food reflex, a perversion of drives may be observed in certain conditions: pregnancy, in patients who have suffered concussions, and certain psychoses. A perversion of the food reflex is manifested in the desire to eat one food or refuse another. Sometimes patients eat inedible food due to a lack of certain substances in the body, for example, chalk during pregnancy or excrement during idiocy.

WITH defensive reflex related methods of education. Parents and educators teach children to treat well and help a friend, and forbid fighting. Some children learn this principle and behave correctly in a group, while others exhibit various deviations.

In children who are easily excitable, who have suffered a birth-related traumatic brain injury or lifetime trauma to the skull, affective outbursts are often observed and they easily enter into conflict. In adolescents, these conditions are aggravated under the influence of alcohol, drugs, and antisocial conditions.

In physically weakened children defensive reflex not formed. They are touchy, whiny, everyone offends them, they cannot defend themselves. Teachers of preschool and school institutions should be especially attentive to physically weakened children and avoid conflict situations.

This group of pathologies includes self-preservation disorder, which may appear in the form exacerbation drive for self-preservation (distrust of everything new, changes, unfamiliar objects, adherence to a stereotypical order), weakening drive for self-preservation (lack of defensive reactions, indifferent attitude towards others), perversions drive for self-preservation (auto-aggression).

Fear takes on a pathological form of the drive for self-preservation. This is a deep life experience, completely meaningless, usually unmotivated and extremely intense. Its manifestation varies: with stupor (numbness) or violent motor restlessness (hysterical reactions).

Attraction to suicide ( suicide about mania) is usually associated with mental disorders and is observed in adolescents and young adults with reactive psychoses, drug addiction, and alcoholism. Mentally ill people often show great ingenuity and persistence in carrying out their suicidal intentions. Close to the desire to take one's own life is the desire to self-mutilate, often carried out impulsively. This often occurs against the background of delusional and hallucinatory experiences.

In a psychiatric clinic, disorders occupy a prominent place sexual desire: increased or decreased sexual excitability, sexual perversions, which can be observed in various mental illnesses and conditions.

Increased sexual excitability – hypersexuality, expressed in adolescents in the form of frequent and prolonged erections, erotic fantasies, masturbation. Such conditions are observed with a sharp increase in androgen secretion due to accelerated pubertal development, under the influence of endocrine disorders or organic lesions of the hypothalamolimbic region.

Hyposexuality– decreased sexual desire, manifested in adolescents by a lack of interest in opposite sex. These disorders occur when psychosexual development is delayed.

The most common form of sexual desire disorder is homosexuality(attraction to people of the same sex). The history of homosexuals often reveals features of desire disturbances from childhood, most clearly manifested in adolescence and at a young age(interest in certain games, jewelry, girls’ clothes and vice versa). In the mental state of homosexuals, there are features associated with the pathology of their desires, often a feeling of social rejection, isolation, and often difficult experiences associated with the consciousness of their inferiority.

Other forms of violation include transvetism, pathological attraction to dressing in clothes of the opposite sex, as well as interest in things of the opposite sex.

Small children can also be objects of sexual desire ( pedophilia), sexual intercourse with animals ( bestiality), attraction to statues ( Pygmalion)and others. Such deviations as sadism and masochism have long been known. Sadism – characterized by the desire to cause pain to another person in order to achieve sexual satisfaction. Masochism– obtaining sexual satisfaction or pleasure from pain or humiliation delivered by a partner.

The opposite condition is a decrease in sexual activity, caused by temperament, the ability to volitionally control one’s instincts, the moral level of the individual, and stress experienced. Often falls potency in chronic alcoholics.

Considering that the sexual instinct is formed in childhood, the task of parents and educators is to instill in children correct understanding relationships between boys and girls, respect for them.

A grandmother asked for advice about her 6-year-old grandson. Coming home from kindergarten the boy spends a lot of time near the mirror, puts on his mother’s shoes and dress, her jewelry, paints his lips and transforms into a woman. This interest in women's clothing worries my grandmother. Question to the grandmother: what do the boy’s parents do at home? Grandmother's answer: Dad reads the newspaper and watches TV, Mom looks at her new fashionable things or talks with friends about updates. Nobody takes care of the child, he is left to his own devices and lives in a circle of constant conversations about things, toilets, women's jewelry, fashion. Naturally, he develops feminine interests. In this regard, advice to parents: the child’s father should do men’s housework and physical culture together with his son and accustom the child to work. Otherwise, the child will develop various pathological personality traits.

Parental instinct is formed from childhood. The girl often picks up the doll, rocks it, bathes it and dresses it, imitating her mother. Throughout her life, the girl finds herself closer to the dolls, and then to the child. The boy prefers outdoor games: war, football, or playing with cars, construction toys, and soldiers. Nowadays, both boys and girls are interested in computer games. Parental instinct is formed in the process life together relationship between a child and his parents, caring for them and is expressed in the healthy, proper upbringing of his child. But various deviations in the form of over-care or hypo-care can be observed, which manifests itself in strengthening or weakening of the parental instinct.

At overprotection loving parents try to do everything for their child: he grows up unadapted to housework and the need to help his parents. Most often, overprotection comes from the mother, she dresses and shoes the child, advises him with whom to sit at the table, with whom to be friends and what to say. In these cases, the child does nothing on his own and does not solve his problems. This situation (suppression of initiative) persists both in school and in adolescence. The child develops a certain personality type, which is defined as psychasthenia. In difficult everyday conditions, these people find themselves unprepared for independent decision any tasks and in difficult cases exhibit a severe stress reaction.

In cases hypoprotection, when parents pay little attention to their children for various reasons: they work a lot, abuse alcohol and spend free time in entertainment. Children grow up under the influence of the upbringing of strangers, who are not always prosperous. In these cases, children leave home, engage in vagrancy and theft. Depending on their age, many of them end up in boarding schools, orphanages, or when committing a crime they end up in prison.

In a number of cases, mothers immediately after childbirth experience indifference, even disgust towards their children. It could be early sign mental illness ( symptomatic postpartum psychoses, exacerbation of the schizophrenic process).

Attractions are formed on the basis of instincts. However, attraction is a broader concept that not only implies certain forms of behavior, but also denotes the experience of a certain biological need. Thus, drive is a state that encourages us to seek or avoid those vital situations in which it could be resolved by an instinctive movement. Attractions are formed during life, but can change under the influence of the environment. Attractions periodically arise and disappear, their intensity changes. The forms of manifestation of drives are different and often depend on their satisfaction or volitional action.

In psychiatry, a large number of impulsive drives: urge to wander ( dromomania), arson ( pyromania), theft ( kleptomania). Most impulsive drives are complex formations both genetically and structurally. Unlike obsessive states impulsive drives are acutely arising impulses and aspirations that subjugate the entire consciousness and behavior of the patient. Impulsive actions occur when the disorder is deeper mental activity compared to impulsive drives. They are characterized by meaninglessness and arise without any reason. The patient may impulsively commit an aggressive act or cause harm to himself, even committing suicide (A.A. Portnov). Such conditions are observed in schizophrenia and psychopathy.

Pathophysiological mechanisms of emotional- volitional disorders are diverse and have genetic and social roots, observed in many mental and neurotic painful conditions. In these cases, children and adolescents need a kind, attentive and caring attitude, and involvement in educational and work activities.

Disorders of effector functions (motor-volitional)

Along with emotional-volitional disorders, motor-volitional disorders are also described in psychiatric clinics.

The mechanism of occurrence of motor-volitional disorders is based on the factor of predominance of excitatory or inhibitory processes in the cerebral cortex. In these cases, volitional activity is weakened or increased.

Motor-volitional disorders with a predominance of the excitatory process include hyperbulia– increased volitional activity associated with increased drives. May appear in the form:

Manic excitement in which the patient is constantly in activity: without finishing one job, he starts another, while talking a lot, the mood is cheerful, the appetite is increased. Such patients may experience hypersexuality, aggression, and behavioral disinhibition. A person in this state does not feel tired and can work up to 20 hours a day, leaving several hours for sleep.

This state of manic excitement is observed for two to three weeks, then gradually calms down until the next attack or passes into its opposite state - inhibition. The disease of manic-depressive psychosis (MDP) occurs in separate cycles.

catatonic excitement, which, unlike manic excitement, is not purposeful and is expressed by stereotypical movements, randomness, and pretentiousness. Patients are in constant motion, impulsively jump out of bed and walk aimlessly from corner to corner, shouting individual words. This condition is characterized by echolalia (repetition of words), echopraxia (repetition of movements), echomia (repetition of facial expressions). These changes in the patient's behavior are characteristic of schizophrenia.

Hebephrenic excitement, which is characterized by mannerisms, foolish behavior, an abundance of ridiculous poses, leaps, leaps, and antics. In adolescence, symptoms are complemented by disinhibition of lower drives. Patients talk a lot, philosophize (sterile philosophical philosophizing, reasoning). These conditions are observed in schizophrenia.

Hysterical excitement occurring after a fright. A person runs without looking back and cannot stop for a long time to understand what happened. A form of hysterical excitement also includes a hysterical attack.

Motor-volitional disorders with a predominance of the inhibitory process include all forms characterized by a weakening of volitional activity ( hypobulia)or stopping the action - stupor:

Depressive stupor in which the patient remains in the same position for a long time, speaks quietly, finds words with difficulty, his movements are slow and performed with difficulty. A constant sign Depressive stupor is a depressed state, a predominance of feelings of melancholy, fear, and anxiety. This is characterized by a suffering, frozen facial expression. Such conditions can be observed in manic-depressive psychosis in the depression phase, and in senile depression.

Catatonic stupor characterized by immobility and mutism (refusal to talk, silence). A state of waxy flexibility is observed ( catalepsy) – the patient can be given any position and he does not change it for a long time, for example, he does not lower his raised hand until it lowers itself. Such conditions are observed in schizophrenia.

Hebephrenic stupor characterized by duality (splitting) of activity, negativism, expressed in the fact that patients perform actions opposite to those that they are asked to do. These conditions are observed in schizophrenia.

Hysterical or psychogenic stupor occurs after mental trauma: with fear, sudden grief, natural disaster. The external manifestation is general inhibition up to complete numbness. Sometimes a person freezes and cannot move from his place, cannot utter a word ( mutism). In these cases, widespread protective inhibition occurs in the cerebral cortex.

Such conditions can occur in children and adults. After a fright accompanied by symptoms of mutism, children may develop neurotic stuttering.

Reviewed by us various symptoms psychopathological disorders show a variety of variants of painful conditions that can be observed in childhood and adolescence. What is important is the need early detection volitional disorders in children and adolescents, study of the causes that cause them, proper organization pedagogical work, adherence to mental and physical activity, involving children in physical education, creativity, education of moral qualities and artistic and aesthetic taste. Deviations in the emotional-volitional sphere against the background of mental illness necessitate medical, psychological, and pedagogical counseling.

Questions for independent work:

1. What are emotions? How are they different from feelings?

2. What are the features of the formation of the emotional sphere?

3. Describe the types of emotional disorders.

4. How is the emotional-volitional sphere formed in childhood?

5. What is attraction? What types of pathology of desire do you know?

6. What types of disorders of the motor-volitional sphere do you know?

7. What features of emotional disorders can be observed in childhood?

8. How do you imagine “negativism” and its significance in the educational process?

9. Name the differences between hypobulia and stupor.

10. What are sadism and masochism?

11. Features of the work of educators and teachers with children suffering from affective and effector disorders.

Emotional-volitional disorders can manifest themselves in different ways:

1. Increased excitability. Children of this type are restless, fussy, irritable, and prone to unmotivated aggression. They are characterized by sudden mood swings: they are either overly cheerful, or suddenly begin to be capricious, seem tired and irritable.

Affective arousal can occur even under the influence of ordinary tactile, visual and auditory stimuli, especially intensifying in an environment that is unusual for the child.

2. Passivity, lack of initiative, excessive shyness. Any situation of choice puts them at a dead end. Their actions are characterized by lethargy and slowness. Such children have great difficulty adapting to new conditions and have difficulty making contact with strangers. This syndrome, as well as a joyful, elated mood with a decrease in criticism (euphoria), is noted with lesions frontal lobes brain

Phobic syndrome, or fear syndrome, is characteristic of many children with cerebral palsy. Increased impressionability, combined with emotional excitability and affective inertia, creates a favorable background for the emergence of fear neurosis. Fear can arise even under the influence of minor psychogenic factors - an unfamiliar situation, short-term separation from loved ones, the appearance of new faces and even new toys, loud sounds etc. In some children it manifests itself as motor agitation, screaming, in others – physical inactivity, general lethargy and in both cases is accompanied by pronounced vegetative-vascular reactions – paleness or redness of the skin, hyperhidrosis, increased heart rate and breathing, sometimes chills, increased temperature . When fear arises in a child, salivation and motor disturbances (spasticity, hyperkinesis, ataxia) increase. Psychogenically caused obsessive phobias in the form of fear of loneliness, heights, and movement are possible; in adolescence - fear of illness and death.

Fears that arise spontaneously, without connection with any psychogenic factors, are called neurosis-like; they are caused by organic brain damage. These include undifferentiated night terrors that appear sporadically during sleep and are accompanied by screaming, crying, general agitation, autonomic disorders. They are typical for children with hypertensive-hydrocephalic syndrome and often occur against the background of hyperthermia. If fears appear suddenly, against the background of somatic well-being, at a certain time of night sleep, at regular intervals, and are accompanied by motor automatisms, they should be distinguished from paroxysms of epileptic origin, which can also be observed in cerebral palsy.

3. But there are a number of qualities characteristic of both types of development. In particular, sleep disorders can often be observed in children suffering from musculoskeletal disorders. They are tormented by nightmares, they sleep anxiously, and have difficulty falling asleep.

4. Increased impressionability. In part, this can be explained by the compensation effect: the child’s motor activity is limited, and against the background of this, the senses, on the contrary, receive high development. Thanks to this, they are sensitive to the behavior of others and are able to detect even minor changes in their mood. However, this impressionability is often painful; Completely neutral situations and innocent statements can cause a negative reaction in them.

5. Increased fatigue– another distinctive feature characteristic of almost all children with cerebral palsy. In the process of correction and academic work, even with high interest in the task, the child quickly gets tired, becomes whiny, irritable, and refuses to work. Some children become restless as a result of fatigue: the rate of speech accelerates, and it becomes less intelligible; there is an increase in hyperkinesis; manifests itself aggressive behavior– the child may throw nearby objects and toys.

6. Another area in which parents may encounter serious problems is the child’s volitional activity. Any activity that requires composure, organization and purposefulness causes him difficulties. Mental infantilism, characteristic of most children with cerebral palsy, leaves a significant imprint on the child’s behavior. For example, if the proposed task has lost its attractiveness for him, it is very difficult for him to make an effort and finish the work he has begun.

Children suffering from cerebral palsy more often experience negative emotions, such as fear, anger, shame, suffering, etc., than children without of this disease. The dominance of negative emotions over positive ones leads to frequent experiences of states of sadness, sadness with frequent overstrain of all body systems.

Few adults think about the role of emotions in life. But when a married couple has children and suddenly it turns out that the baby cannot control his feelings, the parents begin to panic. In fact, a violation of the emotional-volitional sphere is not so serious problem, if detected immediately. This disorder can be cured either independently or with the help of qualified doctor.

Causes

What influences the formation of a person’s will and emotions? There are two main reasons that can cause a violation. One of them is heredity, and the other is social circle. The causes of disturbances in the emotional-volitional sphere are discussed in more detail below.

Impression. If a child does not receive enough impressions and sits at home most of his life, then his development is very slow. In order for the psyche to develop normally, parents should walk with the child in the yard, show him other children, study trees, and give him the opportunity to play with sand. Impressions form a normal nervous system and help the child learn to experience and then control his emotions.
Another reason for the disturbance of the emotional volitional sphere is the lack of movement. A child whose parents do not bother themselves much with their child’s development may begin to walk late. Similar inhibition of normal physical development leads to inhibited emotional reactions. And some parents tend to realize over time that their child does not walk, but the neighbor’s children are already running. Parents begin to catch up, and the child suffers not only physically, but also psychologically.
The child may suffer greatly due to the absence mother's love. If a woman does not take her child in her arms, stroke the baby, rock him and sing lullabies to him, the baby will quickly lose contact with his mother. Such a child will grow up inferior, as people say - unloved.

Volitional act

Spheres occurs in early age. To understand where the failure occurred, you need to know how the will functions. normal person. The sequence of decision-making for all people is as follows:

The emergence of an impulse. A person has an urge to do something.
Motivation. The person considers what he will receive when the action is completed. Most often, a person receives emotional satisfaction from his action.
Instrument of activity. It’s not always possible to do an imagined action without additional equipment. Before starting work you have to find everything necessary equipment.
Decision-making. The person once again thinks about whether he should carry out his plan or not.
Performing an action. The person carries out his idea.

This process occurs in the head of every person before he takes any action. You should not think that children, due to their undeveloped intelligence, do not carry out such work in their heads. Even our primitive ancestors - monkeys, make volitional efforts in order to perform this or that act.

How is emotional-volitional disorder diagnosed? The spheres of application of human will are varied. A person must move to take something or to eat. If a child is apathetic and doesn’t want anything, it means he has some kind of deviation. The same goes for overly active children who take actions without having time to think about the consequences of their decisions.

Main problems

Depending on the degree of disturbance of the emotional-volitional sphere, the child becomes irritable, lethargic or generative. Parents should notice their child's problems as soon as they appear. Any disease, before settling in the body, manifests itself in symptoms. At this stage, it is necessary to determine the extent of the child’s problems and prescribe treatment. What is the classification of persons with disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere?

Aggressiveness. Persons behave inappropriately, bully others and take pleasure in tears and humiliation of a weaker opponent. Even children who behave aggressively will never bully someone who is stronger than them. They will logically reason that a harmless creature will not be able to fight back, and therefore can be humiliated.
Slow reaction. Children cannot immediately understand what the problem is. For example, they may feel hungry, but will not make any effort to ask for food or to get food themselves.
Disinhibited reaction. The second point in the classification of persons with disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere are people who cannot control their emotions. If they cry, they cry too loudly; if they laugh, they do so for an unnaturally long time.
Excessive anxiety. Downtrodden children of overactive parents become quiet. They are afraid to talk about their desires and problems. They fail to attract attention due to their weakness of character.

Groups of violations

Classification of disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere is necessary in order to correctly assign therapeutic measures. All children are different, and their problems may not be the same. Even children who grow up in the same family can suffer from various ailments. The main groups of disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere:

Mood disorder. Violation of the emotional-volitional sphere in children often manifests itself in uncontrollable emotions. The child cannot control himself, and therefore his feelings are always on edge. If a baby is happy about something, then soon his state reaches euphoria. If a child is sad, he can easily become depressed. And often one state after an hour turns into another, polar to the original one.
Unusual behavior. When considering children, one cannot fail to mention deviations from the norm of behavior. Guys can be either too calm or overly active. The first case is dangerous because the child is lacking initiative, and the second situation threatens because the child has problems with attention.
Psychomotor problems. The child suffers from strange surges of feelings that overwhelm him for no reason. For example, a child may complain that he is too scared, although in reality the child is not in danger. Anxiety, impressionability and imaginary behavior are well known to children with a violation of the emotional-volitional sphere and behavior that differs from the generally accepted norm.

External manifestation

Violations can be determined by the baby's behavior.

Strong dependence on parents. A child who, at five years old, cannot trust the people around him causes a strange reaction. The baby hides behind his mother’s skirt all the time and tries to close himself off from the world. Normal childhood embarrassment is one thing. And something completely different - distrust, unsociability and intractability.
A child who is neglected in the family will feel lonely. The child will not be able to form relationships normally, since the parents will convince the child that he is stupid, crooked and unworthy of love. The loneliness that such a child will exude will be strongly felt.
Aggression. Children who lack attention or who want to relieve tension may not withdraw into themselves, but, on the contrary, behave too relaxed. Such children will not restrain their emotions and will try with all their might to attract attention to their person.

Methods

Emotional-volitional disturbances in the personality sphere can be subject to correction. What methods do specialists resort to to correct what parents have wrongly instilled in their child?

Play therapy. With the help of the game, the rules of adequate behavior in the group are explained to the child. The child develops new neural connections that help transform what he sees in the game and transfer examples to life situations.
Art therapy. With the help of a drawing you can learn a lot about a child’s personality. A creative work will show the specialist how the baby feels in the garden, in the family and in this world. Drawing helps you relax and feel confident. Other types of art work the same way: modeling, embroidery, design.
Psychoanalysis. An experienced psychotherapist can help a child reconsider his views on familiar things. The doctor will tell the baby what is good and what is bad. The specialist will act in two ways: suggestion and persuasion.
Trainings. This method of influence involves working with a group of children with common problem. The guys will jointly review their habits and form new ones based on old ones.

Psychoanalytic therapy

Correction of disturbances in the emotional-volitional sphere occurs various methods. One of them is psychoanalytic therapy. Such therapy can be carried out either individually or in a group. If the child studies alone, the psychotherapist talks to the child about feelings in the form of a game. He asks to portray anger, joy, love, etc. in turn. This is done so that the baby learns to distinguish between his feelings and understand at what moment and what exactly he should feel. Also individual consultations help the child understand his significance and importance, and what is very necessary in most cases is to feel loved and welcome in the doctor’s office.

In group therapy, the specialist does not have time to play with each child. Therefore, the procedure for restoring the emotional-volitional sphere goes through drawing. Children express their emotions, and then tell why they feel anger, joy, etc. By telling themselves and listening to others, the children begin to realize in what cases what they need to feel and how to correctly express their emotions.

Behavioral therapy

This type of therapy takes place in the form of a game. The child is offered a simulated situation, and he must show how he will behave in it. The game is aimed at developing in the baby those feelings that any normal individual should experience in a given situation. After conducting a game situation to reinforce the material, the presenter must once again explain what exactly was being modeled and how the patient should behave in such a situation. You should definitely get it from your child feedback. The child must explain the material he has learned. Moreover, you need to get the child not only to tell you how to behave in a situation, but also to explain why such behavior will be considered acceptable.

Such therapies should be carried out once a week. And for the remaining 7 days, the child must consolidate the material received in class. Since the child will have little interest in own development, parents should monitor the baby’s behavior. And if the child does something differently from the training, mom or dad must repeat the recently completed lesson with their child.

Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy

Persons with emotional-volitional disorders who have reached adulthood also need help, just like children. But it will be difficult to change a teenager with the help of a game. Therefore, you should use What is its essence?

A person is given a situation and several ways to develop it. The teenager must tell what awaits the person who has gone through each of the fictional paths. In a similar way the person will better master the situation and understand the essence of the consequences of this or that behavior. In a similar way, you can instill responsibility in teenagers and explain the price with your promise. The formation of new behavioral habits will not happen immediately. It’s one thing to theoretically lose a situation, and quite another to change your character.

The older a person is, the less likely he is to make internal changes. Therefore, the specialist who conducts classes with a teenager must positively reinforce the patient’s successes and focus on any positive changes. People who suffer from a disorder of the emotional-volitional sphere are subject to self-criticism and it is very important for them to hear approving words from adults and respected people.

Gestalt therapy

Such therapy allows the child to expand his feelings, or rather develop them. The specialist’s task is to transform the child’s inadequate reactions into ones that will be acceptable to society. How does the transformation process work? The specialist identifies a problem, such as excessive aggression, which the child expresses by beating his opponent. The doctor should tell the child that his way of solving the problem is ineffective, and in return offer more civilized methods of expressing emotions. For example, a verbal form of expressing your dissatisfaction. Then you need to play out the situation with the child. After your child loses his temper, you should remind him of the recent conversation and ask him to express his feelings in words.

The child's anger should decrease over time as the task will seem too difficult at first. Over time, the baby should get used to new strategy expressions of aggression. And in order for the learned material to be better understood, the child needs to be constantly reminded of the lesson completed. And it is advisable for the child to see similar methods in adults. For example, when mom and dad quarrel, they should not shout at each other, but calmly and measuredly express dissatisfaction with one or another offense of their spouse.

Human emotions act as a special class mental states, which are reflected as positive or negative attitude to the world around us, to other people and, above all, to ourselves. Emotional experiences are determined by the corresponding properties and qualities formed in objects and phenomena of reality, as well as by certain needs and needs of a person.

The term "emotion" comes from 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 is it emotional condition person, depends on the significance of the needs and the lack of necessary information.

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

Today, emotions are divided into 3 main parts:

Affect, characterized by acute experience of a certain event, emotional tension and excitement;
Cognition (awareness of one’s state, its verbal designation and assessment of further prospects for meeting needs);
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:

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

Clinical picture of emotional-volitional disorders

The main external manifestations of a violation of the emotional-volitional sphere include:

Emotional stress. With increased emotional tension, disorganization of mental activity and decreased activity occur.
Swift mental fatigue(The child has). It is expressed by the fact that the child is unable to concentrate, and is also characterized by a sharp negative reaction to certain situations where a demonstration of his mental qualities is necessary.
A state of anxiety, which is expressed by the fact that a person avoids in every possible way any contact with other people and does not strive to communicate with them.
Increased aggressiveness. Most often it occurs in childhood, when a child defiantly disobeys adults and experiences constant physical and verbal aggression. Such aggression can be expressed not only towards others, but also towards oneself, thereby causing harm to one’s own health.
Lack of ability to feel and comprehend the emotions of other people, to empathize. This symptom is usually accompanied by increased anxiety and is the cause of mental disorder and mental retardation.
Lack of desire to overcome life's difficulties. In this case, the child is in a constantly lethargic state, he has no desire to communicate with adults. Extreme manifestations of this disorder are expressed in complete ignorance of parents and other adults.
Lack of motivation to succeed. The main factor of low motivation is the desire to avoid possible failures, as a result of which a person refuses to take on new tasks and tries to avoid situations where even the slightest doubt arises about final success.
Expressed distrust of other people. Often accompanied by such symptoms as hostility towards others.
Increased impulsivity in childhood. It is expressed by such signs as a lack of self-control and awareness of one’s actions.

Classification of disorders in the emotional-volitional sphere

Disorders of the emotional sphere in adult patients are distinguished by such features as:

Hypobulia or decreased willpower. Patients with this disorder lack any need to communicate with other people, experience irritability in the presence of strangers, and lack the ability or desire to carry on a conversation.
Hyperbulia. It is characterized by increased desire in all areas of life, often expressed in increased appetite and the need for constant communication and attention.
Abulia. It is distinguished by the fact that a person’s volitional drives sharply decrease.
Compulsive attraction is an irresistible need for something or someone. This disorder is often compared to animal instinct, when a person’s ability to be aware of their actions is significantly suppressed.
Obsessive desire is a manifestation of obsessive desires that the patient is not able to independently control. Failure to satisfy such desires leads to depression and deep suffering for the patient, and his thoughts are filled with the idea of their realization.

Syndromes of emotional-volitional disorders

The most common forms of emotional disorders are depressive and manic syndromes.

Depressive syndrome

The clinical picture of depressive syndrome is described by its 3 main signs, such as:

Hypotomia, characterized by decreased mood;
Associative inhibition (mental inhibition);
Motor retardation.

It is worth noting that the first point listed above is the key feature depressive state. Hypotomia can be expressed in the fact that a person is constantly sad, feels depressed and sad. Unlike the established reaction, when sadness arises as a result of experiencing a sad event, with depression a person loses connection with the environment. That is, in this case the patient does not show a reaction to joyful and other events.

Depending on the severity of the condition, hypotomy can occur with varying intensity.

Mental retardation in its mild manifestations is expressed in the form of slowing down monosyllabic speech and taking a long time to think about the answer. A severe course is characterized by an inability to comprehend questions asked and solving a number of simple logical problems.

Motor retardation manifests itself in the form of stiffness and slowness of movements. At severe course depression there is a risk of depressive stupor (a state of complete depression).

Manic syndrome

Often, manic syndrome manifests itself within the framework of affective bipolar disorder. In this case, the course of this syndrome is characterized by paroxysmal episodes, in the form of individual episodes with certain stages of development. Symptomatic picture, which stands out in the structure of a manic episode, is characterized by variability within one patient depending on the stage of development of the pathology.

This pathological condition Manic syndrome, as well as depressive syndrome, is distinguished by 3 main features:

Elevated mood due to hyperthymia;
Mental excitability in the form of accelerated thought processes and speech (tachypsia);
Motor excitement;

An abnormal increase in mood is characterized by the fact that the patient does not feel such manifestations as melancholy, anxiety and a number of other signs characteristic of depressive syndrome.

Mental excitability with an accelerated thinking process occurs up to a race of ideas, that is, in this case, the patient’s speech becomes incoherent due to excessive distractibility, although the patient himself is aware of the logic of his words. It also stands out because the patient has ideas of his own greatness and denial of the guilt and responsibility of other people.

Increased motor activity in this syndrome is characterized by disinhibition of this activity in order to obtain pleasure. Consequently, with manic syndrome, patients tend to consume large amounts of alcohol and drugs.

For manic syndrome such emotional disturbances How:

Strengthening instincts (increased appetite, sexuality);
Increased distractibility;
Reassessment of personal qualities.

Methods for correcting emotional disorders

Features of the correction of emotional disorders in children and adults are based on the use of a number of effective techniques, capable of almost completely normalizing their emotional state. As a rule, emotional correction for children involves the use of play therapy.

Often in childhood, emotional disorders are caused by a lack of gameplay, which significantly inhibits mental and mental development.

The systematic motor and speech factor of the game allows you to reveal the child’s capabilities and feel positive emotions from the game process. Working through various real-life situations in play therapy allows the child to adapt to real life conditions much faster.

There is another therapeutic approach, namely psychodynamic, which is based on the method of psychoanalysis aimed at resolving the patient’s internal conflict, awareness of his needs and life experiences.

The psychodynamic method also includes:

Art therapy;
Indirect play therapy;
Fairytale therapy.

These specific effects have proven themselves not only for children, but also for adults. They allow patients to relax, show creative imagination and present emotional disorders as a certain image. The psychodynamic approach is also distinguished by its ease and ease of implementation.

Also common methods include ethnofunctional psychotherapy, which allows you to artificially create a duality of the subject, in order to understand your personal and emotional problems, as if focusing your view from the outside. IN in this case the help of a psychotherapist allows patients to transfer their emotional problems to an ethnic projection, work through them, realize them and let them pass through themselves in order to finally get rid of them.

Prevention of emotional disorders

The main goal of preventing disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere is the formation of dynamic balance and a certain margin of safety of the central nervous system. This condition is determined by the absence of internal conflicts and a stable optimistic attitude.

Sustained optimistic motivation makes it possible to move towards the intended goal, overcoming various difficulties. As a result, a person learns to make informed decisions based on large quantities information, which reduces the likelihood of error. That is, the key to an emotionally stable nervous system is a person’s movement along the path of development.

Emotions are one of the most important mechanisms of mental activity. It is emotions that produce sensually colored total score incoming information from inside and outside. In other words, we evaluate the external situation and our own internal state. Emotions should be assessed along two axes: strong-weak and negative-positive.

Emotion is a feeling, an internally subjective experience that is inaccessible to direct observation. But even this deeply subjective form of manifestation can have disturbances called emotional-volitional disorders.

Emotional-volitional disorders

The peculiarity of these disorders is that they combine two psychological mechanisms: emotions and will.

Emotions have external expression: facial expressions, gestures, intonation, etc. By external manifestation emotions, doctors judge a person’s internal state. A long-term emotional state is characterized by the term “mood.” A person’s mood is quite flexible and depends on several factors:

external: luck, defeat, obstacles, conflicts, etc.;
internal: health, activity.

Will is a mechanism for regulating behavior that allows you to plan activities, satisfy needs, and overcome difficulties. The needs that contribute to adaptation are usually called “drive”. Attraction is special condition human needs in certain conditions. Conscious attractions are usually called desires. A person always has several pressing and competing needs. If a person does not have the opportunity to fulfill his needs, then unpleasant condition called frustration.

Emotional disorders are an excessive manifestation of natural emotions:

Disorders of will and desires

IN clinical practice Disorders of will and desires are manifested by behavioral disorders:

Emotional-volitional disorders require treatment. It is often effective drug therapy in combination with psychotherapy. For effective treatment, the choice of specialist plays a decisive role. Trust only real professionals.