Differences between neurosis and schizophrenia. Pseudoneurotic (neurosis-like) schizophrenia Is it possible to get schizophrenia from neurosis

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neuroses. Always has a starting point (cause) that led to disruption of the central nervous system. It manifests itself as anxiety, obsessive ideas that force a person to perform certain actions repeatedly, not paying attention to the fact that he is going beyond normal behavior.

Neurosis and schizophrenia

OCD and schizophrenia are not the same thing, but two completely different diseases. Neurosis begins with an acute, traumatic process for the psyche:

physical, emotional exhaustion;
loss of a loved one or pet;
childhood fears;
a serious illness that makes you rethink reality;
constant stress.

Obsession is combined with phobic disorders and certain actions that are repeated regularly. This type of deviation is divided into 2 types.

Relatively safe.
Leading to irrational fear, causing severe anxiety.

The first includes deviations characterized by a relatively calm course that does not cause harm to patients. The desire to talk about your memories to everyone.

The second is characterized by constant introspection, which often leads to attempts to withdraw from society, refusal certain type activities.

In schizophrenia, it is impossible to determine the cause. This disease is transmitted genetically and has chronic form currents.

It can occur continuously or appear in paroxysms, followed by remission. The above-described provoking factors of OCD cannot be the cause of schizophrenia, but only aggravate its course. Accordingly, neurosis cannot develop into schizophrenia, but can be an accompanying symptom.

Main differences

Schizophrenia is very different from OCD. Neurotics retain common sense, are able to critically evaluate their actions and condition. They are aware that such a condition is not the norm, and they try to actively solve the problem on their own or by contacting a specialist.

The main difference between schizophrenia and OCD is the inability of patients to indicate their location, time, and self.

In patients, everything is split mental functions. Even after emerging from a state of psychosis, the patient remains uncritical, behaves strangely, and his statements cause bewilderment among others. Schizophrenics are burdened by an incomprehensible condition, but they do not rush to see a doctor, but try to hide their problem, not only from others, but also from themselves.

In contrast of schizophrenia OCD lies in the state of patients at the time of the appearance of hallucinations. They occur in many disorders. Thus, a neurotic sees a short-term phenomenon in which there is a meaning that connects the pathological state with the starting point: dark circles, melodies, visual images. Hallucinations appear more often before sleep, when the brain is practically turned off, and at the moment of awakening, while brain activity still weak.

In schizophrenics, hallucinations are violent.

They hear voices that often criticize the behavior of those around them or those around them and try to persuade them to take certain actions or rituals. This process instills fear in the patient, he tries to hide. Patients are sure that these voices are messages from above. Delusions occur in schizophrenic disorders. Abnormal ideas transport a schizophrenic to a completely different reality, replacing real concepts. If the patient begins to be dissuaded in his views, he reacts aggressively and refuses to communicate.

In the ICD-10 classification, this condition is reflected as pseudoneurotic schizophrenia (not to be confused with real schizophrenia). This condition can last 10-30 years without causing much discomfort to the patient. A person suffers more from neurosis and unreasonable fear. The personality defect does not progress; there are no hallucinations or delusions.

The main symptoms of OCD in schizophrenia:

strange behavior;
emotional instability;
desire to explore areas of philosophy, teachings related to the occult sciences, theories of abstractionism;
reluctance to take care of one’s appearance, complete apathy in this regard; decreased productivity, reluctance to work;
unreasonable fears;
the emergence of ideas that become extremely important in the individual’s perception. Patients feel that their aspirations are underestimated.

An individual usually maintains connections with society. His work does not satisfy him, he tries to find a place where he can avoid problems and earn money without putting in much effort. Patients of this type very rarely start families, because they have problems communicating with the opposite sex or have too high demands. Existing fears progress, reaching the point of absurdity.

Depersonalization and OCD

Depersonalization is considered separate disease, but it can accompany some mental disorders. It has been proven that this condition can occur in any person at different points in the life cycle.

Depersonalization in OCD is defensive in nature. The body tries to adapt to certain life difficulties, the brain tries to distance itself from painful memories. The patient is fully aware of the delusional state, but cannot cope with it, perceiving himself completely differently. There is a strong desire to free yourself from obsessive thoughts and feel relief.

Schizophrenics take depersonalization for granted, losing their own “I”, turning into a completely different personality.

Reasons that provoke the appearance of depersonalization syndrome:

severe shock;
long-term sluggish clinical depression;
trauma leading to a change in psychological status;
schizophrenia, OCD, manic syndrome, autism;
drug addiction, alcoholism.

In neurotics, depersonalization often becomes a consequence of self-examination, when patients begin to think about what they have achieved in their years, try to recall events that they cannot correct, and reproach themselves for this. In schizophrenia, depersonalization can lead to a state close to coma.

The problem does not require special treatment for neurotics. Usually of a short-term nature. It manifests itself as loss, inability to sensibly assess the situation, and fear of going crazy. Patients do not feel hungry and may refuse to relieve their natural needs. because they feel as if they are in someone else’s body.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics will help determine whether a patient has OCD or schizophrenia.

With compulsive disorder, patients suffer from depression, weakness, and may fall into depersonalization, but personal qualities and individuality are preserved. Neurosis is reversible. A course of psychotherapy returns patients to normal condition. They are able to cope well with conflict situations, without going to extremes, and not paying attention to the difficulties that arise in the process of work or relationships with the opposite sex. OCD cannot turn into schizophrenia. These are two different disorders. The first refers to psychological, the second to psychiatric, is chronic.

A schizophrenic is a ticking time bomb. Apatoabulic syndrome increases over time. A personality defect appears. Emotional aspects of life become inaccessible. Voices appear, indicating what to do, how. One's own personality is lost, the individual becomes uninitiative. Painful fantasies touch the most hidden corners of the soul, upsetting the balance between awareness of reality and fiction. Schizophrenics do not realize that they are sick. Attempts to hint at this cause a wave of aggression, patients pull away. Often the state of apathy progresses into a phase when the individual becomes helpless, unable to take care of himself. Install accurate diagnosis The test for neurosis helps.

Therapy

Treatment for OCD comes down to psychotherapy. During classes with patients, prevention of social maladjustment is carried out. The main goal of the sessions is to determine the starting point. By eliminating the cause, patients can return to normal life. Relief of symptoms is carried out only in selected cases. Lightweight may be prescribed sedatives, for severe psychosis, antidepressants are used. After treatment, patients are advised to avoid severe shocks and visit a doctor at least once a year.

Schizophrenia is treated with medications. The drugs can be prescribed for life.

Psychotherapy is appropriate only for patients who maintain common sense and have a combination of OCD and schizophrenia.

Conclusion

OCD is characterized by intrusive thoughts. The patient cannot control the process, but tries with all his might to get out of this state, realizing the problem. Schizophrenia is inherited and is chronic. The disease may not manifest itself until a certain age. But deviations can be combined. In such cases, they talk about the diagnosis of pseudoschizophrenia. This condition is characterized by the preservation of personality, which distinguishes it from true schizophrenia.

Mental disorders are unhealthy states of mental activity - a phenomenon that occurs in Lately often. Due to emotional instability, adolescents are mainly susceptible to such diseases: every fourth minor in Europe has a disability. Among adults, the statistics are a little more comforting: according to WHO, 15% of the population of the Old World are diagnosed with various mental disorders.

Frequent causes of deviations in mental health are severe shocks or constant stress against the background of chronic fatigue and other concomitant diseases. If we consider schizophrenia specifically, the development of the disease can be traced quite clearly: in 33% of cases, the disease appears in adolescence. As a rule, the first symptoms of serious illness are ignored, trying to lead a normal lifestyle. At the same time, neurosis-like schizophrenia in some cases leads to suicide.

What is neurosis-like schizophrenia?

As already mentioned, this disease is quite common and often occurs hidden. Neurosis-like schizophrenia (a subtype of sluggish) is a form of mental illness. The disease, due to persistent remissions, is considered the most favorable among the many types of schizophrenia. In the absence of such periods of calm, patients often experience other mental defects that change a person’s consciousness even with appropriate therapy.

In addition, this subtype of sluggish schizophrenia transforms into other, much more severe forms of pathology, in very rare cases. The symptoms are largely similar to but the development of paranoia and other forms of schizophrenia in patients with this disease is not observed.

At the same time, recognizing neurosis-like schizophrenia is associated with some difficulties. Manifestations of the disease are often confused with neurosis, hysteria or psychasthenia, and the symptoms are not always clearly expressed and are observed constantly. Remissions in this type of schizotypal disorder are very stable and long-lasting. Such periods can last for several months or even years. The problem of diagnosis, in general, does exist, so the main thing is to recognize the disease correctly in order to provide timely treatment.

The essence of the disease is as follows: the patient is constantly worried about the shortcomings of his own body, complexes are formed, from which the person changes radically. Patients stubbornly insist on own imperfection and become fixated on this issue. In addition, hallucinogenic sensations often arise - a person thinks that there are voices in his head.

Most often, as mentioned above, the disease appears, which is facilitated by emotional instability senior schoolchildren. In adulthood, sluggish neurosis-like schizophrenia equally affects both the stronger sex and women. Behavior in this case varies greatly: women apply aggressive makeup and dress vulgarly, trying to compensate for imaginary shortcomings with a bright appearance, while men exhibit gloomy isolation and a certain set of oddities, such as constantly twisting a ballpoint pen in their hands.

Neurosis and schizophrenia: similarities and differences

What is the most important difference in data? mental disorders It should be noted that patients suffering from neurosis turn to doctors and independently strive to find help. And people who develop neurosis-like schizophrenia either simply do not notice such a large-scale problem, or do not realize the seriousness of the possible consequences, leaving this burden on the shoulders of their relatives.

Early symptoms of the disease are practically indistinguishable, which is why diagnostic difficulties arise. Taking into account the age of the main risk group, when a teenager, growing up, changes before our eyes, other difficulties are added. Teenagers themselves are prone to both impressionability and exaggeration, so it is very difficult to accurately identify any mental disorder (including due to the frequent simulation of symptoms).

In addition, neurosis does not arise without cause. Usually it is preceded by some kind of strong shock or a long series of routine stresses. Sometimes a pathological condition develops as a consequence of chronic fatigue and constant overexertion (for example, during hard work without alternating with rest). Sluggish neurosis-like schizophrenia develops quite differently: the difference from neurosis is precisely that sluggish schizotypal disorder can appear simply due to a genetic predisposition. No other factors influencing the occurrence of this disease have been identified.

In the early stages, the symptoms of both diseases are similar, but later obvious differences begin to appear, and the clinical picture is clearly differentiated. Neurosis does not deform the patient’s personal characteristics, but the neurosis-like form of schizophrenia, even with all its mildness, still leaves its mark on the patient’s personal qualities. Schizophrenia is characterized by indifference, self-isolation, apathy and avoidance of society, sometimes it comes to the point that a person is assigned a disability - the patient simply cannot take care of himself.

Another difference between these pathologies is the fact that neurosis can be overcome relatively quickly and without problems, which cannot be said about neurosis-like schizophrenia. If treatment is not started in time, the personality deformation will continue permanently. And even if symptoms are suppressed with medications, it is almost impossible to completely rid a person of a mental disorder. At best, long-term remissions will be observed.

Causes of neurosis-like schizophrenia

To date, the causes of the development of neurosis-like schizophrenia are precisely unknown. The fundamental factor is considered to be unfavorable genetic inheritance, but at the same time there are others possible reasons influencing the appearance of this form of schizotypal disorder:

psychological trauma from childhood;
developmental disorders in the perinatal period;
conflicts with others (especially long-term, sluggish ones);
unfavorable environment in the family, at school or at work;
taking narcotic drugs;
regular emotional overload, stressful situations.

Children conceived by their parents after reaching the age of thirty-five are also at risk. such a pregnancy may be complicated various problems, therefore for timely diagnosis possible illness Special attention should be shown to children from such families.

Those with neurosis-like disorders are prone to acquiring other diseases. One of frequent violations, accompanying neurosis-like schizophrenia, is anorexia, which affects mainly young girls. Dysmorphophobia (obsession with the thought of one's own ugliness) often leads patients to dystrophy. In addition, many of the sick blame others for their own imaginary shortcomings. Differentiation is disrupted, neurosis-like schizophrenia deprives a person of the opportunity to have normal contact with people around him.

It is clearly visible how much more severe neurosis-like schizophrenia is (difference from neurosis). In the first case, there is a complete denial of the existence of a problem and the need for therapy, while in the second, the patient tries to contact others in order to attract attention and achieve help.

Symptoms of neurosis-like schizophrenia and neurosis

As mentioned above, the similarities between schizophrenia and neurosis at an early stage are very great. There is an obvious difference, for example, in the publicity of the worries of a patient suffering pathological changes psyche. With neurosis, a person desperately hides his experiences, does not make contact in matters of feelings and carefully protects his personal space. In this case, most often the patient seeks to find a specialist who can help cope with apathy. Neurosis-like schizophrenia, in turn, is characterized by the opposite behavior: the patient behaves demonstratively, flaunting grievances, experiences and anxieties, which is especially noticeable in adolescence.

Other symptoms of sluggish neurosis-like schizophrenia are as follows:

constant complaints of anxiety towards oneself and one’s loved ones, fear of the future;
conversations about sexual relationships are not at all supported by the patient and lead him into a stupor;
observed complete absence interest in the opposite sex;
a person observes some rituals in almost all everyday activities (for example, before eating an apple, the patient completely peels it and cuts it into 8 slices, repeating this every time);
constantly fiddling with a pen, clothing belt or any other objects in your hands.

For the most part, the patient’s relatives and friends do not pay any attention to such actions (especially if they are subtle). Such people are simply called eccentric, accepting everything as it is. Patients, as a rule, do not go to the doctor and do not take medications.

The danger with such a disease as neurosis-like is also that a person fixated on an imaginary ugliness can do something terrible to himself. Patients with schizophrenia and neurosis-like disorders often find themselves under the knife of a plastic surgeon because of the desire to change their appearance and hide imaginary shortcomings. Many such people literally kill themselves with strict diets, take “quick beauty” injections and exercise until exhaustion.

The absurdity of the actions performed by the patient is in most cases obvious to others. Sometimes even such a person shows aggression, forcing relatives and friends to also observe certain rituals. In addition, symptoms of the disease include bad dream, withdrawal (by the way, this is the most common sign of schizophrenia in general) and emotional detachment.

Who can help in this situation?

First on the list of people who can solve the problem of both neurosis and neurosis-like schizophrenia are doctors. In particular, this is a therapist and a psychiatrist, in addition, sometimes a consultation with a narcologist is required.

If the cause of a mental disorder was drug use, then only a narcologist will be able to draw a correct picture of the disease and determine a treatment regimen. During the first visit to a specialist, the patient will need to answer several questions. The conversation will concern the use of drugs and alcohol, the situation in the family, at work or at school. The data (subsequently analyzed by a psychiatrist) will help confirm or refute the presence of the disease and detect the cause if mental pathology does occur. In addition, during the consultation the patient will be asked to undergo psychological tests and examination using special devices. Only after final processing of the results will it be possible to prescribe treatment.

The group of “helpers” includes relatives and friends of a person suffering from mental disorders. Sincere support will help you quickly achieve a period of stable remission and return to a more or less normal life. This is especially important if the patient is a teenager. Teenagers are much more impulsive than adults, so being overexcited can trigger suicide. Relatives must constantly monitor the behavior of a person with neurosis-like schizophrenia, if only because of such a serious risk. Love and support are the best way to help stabilize the patient’s condition, help him leave his closed world and establish contact with others.

It is important to understand that pseudoneurotic (neurosis-like) schizophrenia is just as dangerous as the “classic” form of schizotypal disorder. The presence of hallucinations and “voices in the head” can provoke the patient to cause harm to himself or others.

The clinical picture that develops during a mental disorder

The majority of patients are teenagers and young adults, whose age ranges from 13 to 20 years. The syndromes of dysmorphomania and dysmorphophobia are pronounced in those suffering from pathology: the patient convinces himself and others of his own ugliness, and usually a specific part of the body is highlighted (arm, leg, nose, ear). The defect detected by the patient is usually imaginary, but in rare cases there may actually be a small flaw that is completely unnoticeable.

Another feature of patients with neurosis-like schizophrenia is that such people can get into philosophy and think for hours on the same topics. Frequently asked questions that people suffering from mental disorders like to discuss are the reasons for the existence of man on Earth, the meaning of life specific person and all humanity.

Thoughts “about the eternal”, as a rule, remain just a set of proposals that do not imply specific actions. The patient does not pay any attention to outside criticism, preferring to delve deeper into reflection and write down ideas in a diary. It is usually impossible to understand a single line of what such a person writes.

Excessive anxiety, which is manic in nature, is another quirk of people diagnosed with neurosis-like schizophrenia (symptoms may be characteristic of other mental disorders). natural fear for their life and health is characteristic of them in a perverted form; sometimes patients are afraid of even the most ordinary things. In order to somehow protect themselves, people suffering from schizophrenia perform small strange rituals. For example, they go to bed wearing different socks and a hat.

In addition, such people are often visited by hypochondria. This condition is characterized by a constant search for symptoms of a serious and incurable disease that no one has ever had before. The patient convinces himself that he is very sick, usually with a disease unknown to science, and will soon die. This behavior may also be typical for children with attention deficit disorder.

Treatment methods for neurosis-like schizophrenia

Since the disease is not considered a severe deviation and does not pose a direct threat to the life and health of both the person himself and those around him, the treatment of neurosis-like schizophrenia does not provide an extensive list of special medications. Most often, mild tranquilizers and antipsychotics are prescribed, which do not have a strong effect on processes throughout the body and in the brain in particular, but effectively relieve phobias and obsessive thoughts.

If the disease begins to pass into a latent form, then antidepressants are prescribed to get rid of the surging depression. But alone, even with the use of appropriate medications, it is very difficult to get out of this state, so psychotherapists use group and individual techniques for working with such cases of illness.

Before starting work (especially group work) with a patient, the doctor must be able to establish contact with him. There were cases when a sick person claimed that he was completely healthy and categorically denied the presence of schizophrenia, and a week later the patient was brought back. Therapy may take a long time, but over time, most patients re-adapt to society.

Disease prognosis

Mental disorder (neurosis-like schizophrenia) has a positive prognosis in almost 100% of cases. There is, of course, the option of the disease transitioning to another form, but such a scenario is unlikely.

Suicide appears in the medical history of a fairly impressive number of patients, but completed attempts do not exceed 2% of the total number of patients. Sad incidents are very rare due to careful monitoring of patients with an already established diagnosis.

Disability is rarely assigned to people with neurosis-like schizophrenia. After completing a course of treatment and entering a period of remission, a person remains a full-fledged member of society and can independently take care of himself at the everyday level.

Case history example

To form a clear idea of the nature of the course of the disease, it is worth familiarizing yourself with documented information about patients who have suffered attacks of schizotypal disorder (neurosis-like schizophrenia). Medical history of a patient with this disease (conditional, of course, for better understanding topics) is given below.

The reception was attended by a quite attractive woman, whose appearance could suggest the presence of some kind of mental disorder: excess makeup, frequent interruptions of the conversation to look in the mirror, neat but tasteless clothes. A monotonous voice, spare facial expressions and gestures, and later anamnesis only confirmed the diagnosis.

A survey about the situation at home gave the following data: the father is a very strict person, the mother is a kind but demanding woman, the older sister is on a psychiatric register, the grandmother was mentally ill. Thus, unfavorable heredity was revealed.

The patient spoke about her early infatuation with the male sex, including the fact that after obvious symptoms of schizophrenia appeared, young people stopped paying attention to her. Next, the woman talked about the voices in her head that appeared after limiting communication with others. The voices were male, at first they spoke mostly compliments, and then they began to give orders and encourage action. Sensations in neurosis-like schizophrenia are clearly identified.

The patient stopped hiding her “communication” with voices from others, and was soon admitted to the hospital. After some time she was discharged. Over the next two years, the woman suffered several exacerbations, after which her condition became relatively stable.

The patient was given a course of individual interviews using some psychological techniques, and sedatives were prescribed. Each stage of therapy lasted on average one and a half to two months. After the onset of a period of stable remission, the woman retained her legal capacity, and the hallucinations and delusions stopped.

Finally

It is quite difficult to prevent hereditary diseases, but diagnosis and therapy in the early stages make it possible to prevent the development of all kinds negative consequences. You should be more attentive to loved ones who are at risk, and not leave teenagers without support. If there are any characteristic symptoms You should immediately consult a doctor without waiting for your suspicions to be confirmed.

Pseudoneurotic (neurosis-like) schizophrenia is a subtype of schizotypal disorder. The main symptoms may be various phobias, hypochondria, depersonalization, obsessions, subdepression. Since this is a schizotypal disorder, it is not schizophrenia, although at the end of the 20th century it was classified as latent schizophrenia. In the CIS countries, if the CIS still exists, an adapted version of ICD-10 is used, so latent schizophrenia is sometimes understood as “sluggish” schizophrenia, the presence of which is denied by psychiatrists around the world. Therefore, the term itself and its interpretations sometimes give rise to confusion.

Neurosis-like schizophrenia is one of the subtypes of schizotypal disorder

Pseudoneurotic schizophrenia is most often associated with the occurrence of obsessions, and they are associated with dysmorphophobia or hypochondria. Many patients suffer from asthenia, but it is difficult to distinguish from apathy. One of the key features is the lack of logic in explaining the cause of a complaint about one’s health. Sometimes this is compensated by the creation of delusional ideas, but without the presence of obvious delusion. Illogicality is a feature of the obsessions themselves in pseudoneurotic schizophrenia. In general, behavioral traits may be similar to those of all hypochondriacs. The difference is that the average hypochondriac is convinced that he has some kind of somatic disease, and doctors don’t find him because they sabotage and are negligent in their duties. The same disorder as pseudoneurotic (neurosis-like) schizophrenia generates strangeness already at the level obsessive fears. Patients are afraid that their eyes will leak out on their own, that their organs will become liquid and mix with blood, and turn over. One of the patients believed that his limbs might “come apart at the joints.”

Schizotypal disorder can be classified as an intermediate state. It can only be intermediate only between neurosis and psychosis, and not between healthy condition and the sick. Neurosis- this is a concept that denotes the entire group of reversible disorders, the cause of which is traumatic factors to the psyche, including the presence of internal conflict.

Neuroses go away if you take a person out of a psychologically aggressive environment, if he himself stops “treating” his soul with vodka, psychotherapy sessions are held with him, or he himself finds some way of mental correction. With psychosis, everything is somewhat more complicated. If the unfortunate person is sure that he will die because his teeth fall out and he swallows them, then this will happen to him in the hut and the palace equally.

And yet the plot here is more complicated than it might seem. No one will think about whether it is neurosis or schizophrenia, if we are talking about a paranoid form, because such a form must have such a powerful symptom complex that it can only be confused with something that also has a powerful symptom complex, but not with neurosis .

Schizotypal disorders balance somewhere at the intersection of neuroses, personality pathologies with elements of psychosis. Since in the USSR there was also the term “sluggish schizophrenia,” this results in a motley set of criteria. It is clear that nothing is clear. Therefore, in thematic articles you will read everything that the author deems necessary. The result is the following picture. There may be relatively adequate descriptions of what needs to be followed in order to understand how to answer the question of whether schizophrenia is sluggish or neurosis. But they all suffer from averageness and are guided by some general indicators. When diagnosing a specific patient, such information may be useless...

Obsessive fears of illnesses and somatic problems that do not exist or are unlikely are illogical. This is all clear, but this also includes the so-called “metaphysical intoxication.” These are ordinary thoughts about the meaning of being or the nature of thinking. Some supposedly unproductive mental activity that replaces activity. Ideas become extremely valuable. They say that patients can spend hours writing down their thoughts in a notebook, but hardly anyone will be able to understand the essence of what is stated there.

Schizotypal disorders balance somewhere at the intersection of neuroses, personality pathologies with elements of psychosis

The question immediately arises: why are they even trying to understand? It is difficult to call a psychologist someone who says that the writings of patients are meaningless. The text has a completely different functionality, and the patient is not required to write or speak in a way that is understandable to everyone. He controls the flow of thinking as it turns out in a given situation. He fulfills his desire to see himself as a thinker or philosopher. He is intolerant of criticism, but this does not mean that it was actually necessary and constructive.

Let's take delusional disorders. The person is delusional and he himself understands that these ideas bring him suffering. But he complains, for example, about a neighbor who is gassing him, and not about the fact that he has senile paranoia. He was prescribed antipsychotics and the gas disappeared. If the patient believes that his condition has improved, then great. Very good... But why try to dissuade him from something? The neighbor is a gas poisoner - everything is clear with him. We also analyze the border area from a moral and ethical aspect.

Dysmorphophobia in the structure of pseudoneurotic schizophrenia

Let's assume that the patient, let it be a woman, suffers because of her dysmorphophobia. She thinks she has a terrible nose and terrible ears. Progression is observed. She already caught herself wanting to take a knife and cut off her ugly nose. She went to plastic surgeons, and they changed her nose and the shape of her ears. But they didn’t do anything with the psyche. And so the patient looks in the mirror and again sees a freak there. She screams that things have gotten worse.

Before the operation, she was an obvious freak, and now she is also an obvious freak with a crippled nose. Without a doubt, the intervention of psychiatrists is necessary. Try to lure her somehow. This requires the real art of diplomacy and persuasion. It’s not that the nose is normal, which cannot be mentioned, but that she needs the help not of a surgeon, but of a psychotherapist. You need to convince her that she has overloaded her psyche with these terrible problems, and a psychotherapist will help relieve stress.

Let’s hit the “failure” in the head with mantras

Please note that help is needed here. She's suffering! And, most likely, the main therapy is drugs. Such a case is also known. The patient believed that people, not he personally, but everyone in general, do not think for themselves, but already receive consciousness ready-made ideas. The task of consciousness is only to interpret them, to transform them into something that corresponds to a specific situation. To himself, he thought that some kind of “failure” had occurred, so sometimes he could not interpret them adequately. As a result, fears arose in him that at some point he might not understand anything and would find himself in a helpless state. This led to agoraphobia and, from the point of view of outsiders, rather ridiculous attempts to activate thinking.

What can I say? If we recall the hypothesis of the collective unconscious, it will make some aspects of this doctrine more similar to attempts to interpret it. Although the patient himself did not use such a term. In addition, he clearly saw that a glitch existed. He also wrote down a lot, and the notes also seemed meaningless. The terms from the records and stories “Receiver”, “Distributor”, “Filter” were considered ridiculous and eccentric. With these words he characterized the constructive elements of the psyche. As a result, they considered all this to be ordinary delirium of influence. Maybe so, but most often, in the overwhelming majority of cases, psychological automatisms are interpreted by patients in an extremely primitive way. And the plot is primitive. Aliens put thoughts, intelligence agencies read, others hear. However, in practice, what happened to him was not similar to Kandinsky-Clerambault syndrome.

Common neurosis and schizophrenia have many common symptoms

Why is the case mentioned in the article about neurosis-like schizophrenia, the symptoms of which should be milder. In essence, of all the serious and negative things, the patient experienced only agoraphobia due to the emergence of an obsessive fear that thinking would turn off somewhere on the street, in some institution. Fear began to have a chilling effect. In the very literally. If he had to leave the house, he felt his head constricted. Walking down the street, I felt something unpleasant, as if my thoughts were confused, and my thinking proceeded with great difficulty, sometimes it seemed to become uncontrollable. He was walking down the street and suddenly thought about one thing, then remembered another. This is quite natural when there is all sorts of rubbish in the mind. On the contrary, no one thinks about how they walk along the road, ride in a taxi. Thoughts always fly somewhere else. And this is precisely what seemed strange to him and spoke of a “failure.” And this forced him to lock himself within the walls of his home. What to do?

We tried this approach. We decided to forget about this agoraphobia or pseudoagoraphobia of his. Not the topic!.. What's the problem? Not in self-isolation, but in the fear that madness will take hold somewhere on the street. What is it connected with? With thoughts jumping from one to another. Who doesn't have them jumping? Yogis, Buddhists, meditators. Or rather, they also jump, but still Buddhists or followers of tantra can treat these jumps calmly, and their minds are more collected. What do such people do? There are many practices. One of them is reading mantras. This is what the man did. The mantra we chose was the first one we liked from the well-known ones. Then new ones appeared. He read them out loud, in a whisper, in his mind. Trained the mind. Then I began to learn to read the mantra in my mind while walking, then during a variety of everyday activities. Methods of reacting to the feeling of an approaching “failure” have also been developed. Breathing practice helped.

One caveat is needed here. If he were psychologically closer to Christianity, then prayer would be suggested, and if he was an absolute atheist, then they would come up with something closer to:

affirmations;
auto-training;
suggestion.

And a second caveat is needed. There is nothing wrong with the author, and he does not suggest treating schizophrenia with mantras, while guaranteeing 100% remission. Our topic is “neurosis-like schizophrenia,” and its symptoms are on the patch between neuroses and psychoses. Someone will say that this is schizophrenia, but then what does it do in the block of schizotypal disorders? By definition, its symptoms should not reach block F20. This intermediate position makes psychotherapy methods quite appropriate. And this is real psychotherapy.

Objections. It is enough to talk about this approach, and the loss of enthusiasm in many listeners is immediately visible. They usually say that this is illegal, since patients strive to compensate for their fears and other complexes with some kind of eccentric rituals.

Firstly, not strange and eccentric, but perceived as such by others.
Secondly, the norm is sometimes quite a hateful thing. And also, from time to time, one can be surprised by the standards of normality. They don’t read mantras, don’t pray, don’t do anything.

Well, is this life?

Neurosis is generated by internal or external conflicts

Neurosis-like schizophrenia: symptoms, diagnosis and problems around them

Let's continue the topic of diagnosis. Differential diagnosis of neurosis from schizotypal disorder is an extremely thankless task. It must be distinguished from paranoid schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizoid personality disorder. The point is that differentiation could be based on conflicts that give rise to neurosis. However, in the case of neuroses, they can be not only external, but also internal. Internal conflict is certainly associated with psychosis. And here the circle closes, and all bookish ideas about the smoothness of separation show themselves to be divorced from reality.

Personality degradation in neurosis-like “sluggish” schizophrenia is not an absolute indicator either. It should be recalled once again that by “sluggish” everyone understands something different. Some people mean low progression, while others mean poverty of symptoms and the mildness of their expression. But the main thing here is that nothing new may happen to the individual at all. And in general, the question of how to distinguish neurosis from schizotypal disorder may be relevant mainly due to social reasons. Tell the patient’s relatives that the person has a neurosis - they somehow calm down, but if you mention something that begins with the four letters “schizo”, they see this as a great grief. And they do it right. Discussions about the stigmatizing factors of this terminology are not happening out of nowhere.

The terminology of psychiatry often misleads and confuses ordinary people. People believe that if something is called something, then that something exists clearly, clearly, like a brick. Not so. It is impossible to say how to distinguish neurosis from “sluggish” schizophrenia, since the latter simply does not exist or is sought out in its own adapted editions of the ICD for the CIS. It does not exist, because there are no sane, and not just adequate, diagnostic criteria. And the understanding itself is based on the principle of famous musicians “ I sing about what I see" Only vision is exclusively subjective.

Neurosis-like schizophrenia may well develop into a more severe form

One of the reasons why treatment of neurosis-like schizophrenia is considered necessary is the obvious or far-fetched risk that it will “develop” into some more severe form. Everything has a prodrome, and schizophrenia too. If we completely abstract from everything and focus only on the problem of latent, sluggish, low-progressing and all such soft form- This initial stage real schizophrenia, then the situation will be ambiguous. There are no delusions, hallucinations, no clear symptom complex, but this is a prodrome. How did you determine? What kind of magic and what clairvoyance could reveal this? Long-term observation of the patient’s condition and identification of the development of the defect. At the same time, the patient receives medications, and many of them reduce affect and hinder activity. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to drug treatment when there are obvious factors for the disorder already now.

Sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether a person has neurosis or schizophrenia, since the symptoms may be similar. But these are different mental disorders - they differ in causes, prognosis and treatment.

How to distinguish neurosis from schizophrenia

Neurosis develops against a background of stress and can appear due to any situation that has become a psychological trauma for a person. Schizophrenia is a disease whose causes are not fully understood, but it certainly does not occur in response to an external event. Environmental factors can trigger the disorder, but are not its cause. Scientists agree that the disease appears due to a person’s genetic predisposition and personal characteristics, and the social environment can contribute to the development of pathology.

For various reasons due to differences in the prognosis of diseases. People with a neurotic disorder have a favorable prognosis: working with a psychotherapist allows them to eliminate symptoms and teach the patient new models of perception and behavior. As a result, the person returns to the life he had before the traumatic situation. In rare cases, a neurotic disorder may even go away on its own if the stress factors no longer act.

If a person is diagnosed with schizophrenia, treatment most often continues for the rest of their life. It happens that it is possible to achieve a long-term remission, but it cannot be ruled out that a new exacerbation will occur.

The most similar to neurosis is the sluggish form of schizophrenia, or schizotypal disorder. It has a neurosis-like form, which manifests itself as phobias, obsessions and compulsions. This behavior is characteristic of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or neurosis. obsessive states.

In people suffering from neurotic and mental disorders, differences in symptoms can be found - symptoms of schizophrenia can manifest as delusions and hallucinations. Hallucinations are violent: the patient often hears voices that force him to do certain things. At the same time, he experiences torment and wants to get rid of it. With neurosis, a person does not lose touch with reality; illusions may be present, but they appear before sleep or at the moment of awakening.

Schizophrenics lack a critical attitude towards themselves: they often do not understand that something is wrong with them and their behavior is different from normal. They are not aware of their problems and do not go to doctors on their own, unlike neurotics.

Can neurosis turn into schizophrenia?

This various diseases, and one cannot cause the other. Symptoms of neurosis disappear after treatment medical care, and schizophrenia is chronic.

Sometimes the correct diagnosis may not be made immediately, and what at first seemed like a neurosis turns out to be sluggish schizophrenia. But this situation does not mean that the neurotic disorder developed into schizophrenia; its symptoms simply appeared gradually and at the first stage of the disease resembled neurosis.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder may be present in schizophrenia, but other symptoms will also be observed, based on which doctors will make a diagnosis.

Schizophrenia, even if remission has been achieved, changes the patient’s character traits. As the disease progresses, the disintegration of the personality progresses: the person gradually moves away from others, becomes apathetic, and does not show emotions. Sometimes this leads to disability.

This does not happen with neurosis: character and personal characteristics people don't change. Neuroses are not characterized by relapses, but the risk of a recurrent disorder cannot be excluded if a person’s life is accompanied by constant stress.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis of a mental disorder cannot be made on the basis of any tests; for this, a survey and psychological testing are used.

With symptoms that may indicate both disorders, special attention is paid to whether the deterioration of the condition was preceded by a traumatic situation. If yes, then it is more likely that the person is faced with neurosis. They will also find out whether the patient has a history of psychosis. Their presence is an argument in favor of schizophrenia.

With neurosis-like schizophrenia, symptoms can increase gradually over many years, which at the first stage increases the risk of being diagnosed with a neurotic disorder.

When treating neurosis, psychotherapy is used; in addition, anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants may be prescribed. Schizophrenics need the help of a psychiatrist; drug treatment is mandatory.

Since this is a schizotypal disorder, it is not schizophrenia, although at the end of the 20th century it was classified as latent schizophrenia. In the CIS countries, if the CIS still exists, an adapted version of ICD-10 is used, so latent schizophrenia is sometimes understood as “sluggish” schizophrenia, the presence of which is denied by psychiatrists around the world. Therefore, the term itself and its interpretations sometimes give rise to confusion.

Pseudoneurotic schizophrenia: symptoms

Pseudoneurotic schizophrenia is most often associated with the occurrence of obsessions, and they are associated with dysmorphophobia or hypochondria. Many patients suffer from asthenia, but it is difficult to distinguish from apathy. One of the key features is the lack of logic in explaining the cause of a complaint about one’s health. Sometimes this is compensated by the creation of delusional ideas, but without the presence of obvious delusion. Illogicality is a feature of the obsessions themselves in pseudoneurotic schizophrenia. In general, behavioral traits may be similar to those of all hypochondriacs. The difference is that an ordinary hypochondriac is convinced that he has some kind of somatic disease, but doctors do not find it because they sabotage and are negligent in their duties. The same disorder as pseudoneurotic (neurosis-like) schizophrenia generates strangeness already at the level of obsessive fears. Patients are afraid that their eyes will leak out on their own, that their organs will become liquid and mix with blood, and turn over. One of the patients believed that his limbs might “come apart at the joints.”

Schizotypal disorder can be classified as an intermediate state. It can only be intermediate only between neurosis and psychosis, and not between a healthy state and a sick one. Neurosis is a concept that refers to the entire group of reversible disorders caused by factors that are traumatic to the psyche, including the presence of internal conflict.

Neuroses go away if you take a person out of a psychologically aggressive environment, if he himself stops “treating” his soul with vodka, psychotherapy sessions are held with him, or he himself finds some way of mental correction. With psychosis, everything is somewhat more complicated. If the unfortunate person is sure that he will die because his teeth fall out and he swallows them, then this will happen to him in the hut and the palace equally.

Dysmorphophobia in the structure of pseudoneurotic schizophrenia

Let’s hit the “failure” in the head with mantras

Please note that help is needed here. She's suffering! And, most likely, the main therapy is drugs. Such a case is also known. The patient believed that people, not he personally, but everyone in general, do not think for themselves, but receive ready-made ideas into their consciousness. The task of consciousness is only to interpret them, to transform them into something that corresponds to a specific situation. To himself, he thought that some kind of “failure” had occurred, so sometimes he could not interpret them adequately. As a result, fears arose in him that at some point he might not understand anything and would find himself in a helpless state. This led to agoraphobia and, from the point of view of outsiders, rather ridiculous attempts to activate thinking.

Why is the case mentioned in the article about neurosis-like schizophrenia, the symptoms of which should be milder. In essence, of all the serious and negative things, the patient experienced only agoraphobia due to the emergence of an obsessive fear that thinking would turn off somewhere on the street, in some institution. Fear began to have a chilling effect. In the most literal sense. If he had to leave the house, he felt his head constricted. Walking down the street, I felt something unpleasant, as if my thoughts were confused, and my thinking proceeded with great difficulty, sometimes it seemed to become uncontrollable. He was walking down the street and suddenly thought about one thing, then remembered another. This is quite natural when there is all sorts of rubbish in the mind. On the contrary, no one thinks about how they walk along the road, ride in a taxi. Thoughts always fly somewhere else. And this is precisely what seemed strange to him and spoke of a “failure.” And this forced him to lock himself within the walls of his home. What to do?

We tried this approach. We decided to forget about this agoraphobia or pseudoagoraphobia of his. Not a topic. What is the problem? Not in self-isolation, but in the fear that madness will take hold somewhere on the street. What is it connected with? With thoughts jumping from one to another. Who doesn't have them jumping? Yogis, Buddhists, meditators. Or rather, they also jump, but still Buddhists or followers of tantra can treat these jumps calmly, and their minds are more collected. What do such people do? There are many practices. One of them is reading mantras. This is what the man did. The mantra we chose was the first one we liked from the well-known ones. Then new ones appeared. He read them out loud, in a whisper, in his mind. Trained the mind. Then I began to learn to read the mantra in my mind while walking, then during a variety of everyday activities. Methods of reacting to the feeling of an approaching “failure” have also been developed. Breathing practice helped.

One caveat is needed here. If he were psychologically closer to Christianity, then prayer would be suggested, and if he was an absolute atheist, then they would come up with something closer to:

Objections. It is enough to talk about this approach, and the loss of enthusiasm in many listeners is immediately visible. They usually say that this is illegal, since patients strive to compensate for their fears and other complexes with some kind of eccentric rituals.

Firstly, not strange and eccentric, but perceived as such by others.
Secondly, the norm is sometimes quite a hateful thing. And also, from time to time, one can be surprised by the standards of normality. They don’t read mantras, don’t pray, don’t do anything.

Well, is this life?

Neurosis-like schizophrenia: symptoms, diagnosis and problems around them

The terminology of psychiatry often misleads and confuses ordinary people. People believe that if something is called something, then that something exists clearly, clearly, like a brick. Not so. It is impossible to say how to distinguish neurosis from “sluggish” schizophrenia, since the latter simply does not exist or is sought out in its own adapted editions of the ICD for the CIS. It does not exist, because there are no sane, and not just adequate, diagnostic criteria. And the understanding itself is based on the principle of famous musicians “what I see, I sing about.” Only vision is exclusively subjective.

One of the reasons why treatment of neurosis-like schizophrenia is considered necessary is the obvious or far-fetched risk that it will “develop” into some more severe form. Everything has a prodrome, and schizophrenia too. If we completely abstract from everything and focus only on the problem that latent, sluggish, low-progressive and any such mild form is the initial stage of real schizophrenia, then the situation will turn out to be ambiguous. There are no delusions, hallucinations, no clear symptom complex, but this is a prodrome. How did you determine? What kind of magic and what clairvoyance could reveal this? Long-term observation of the patient’s condition and identification of the development of the defect. At the same time, the patient receives medications, and many of them reduce affect and hinder activity. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to drug treatment when there are obvious factors for the disorder already now.

Schizophrenia VS neurosis or how to distinguish one from the other

Neurosis and endogenous mental illness, including sluggish schizophrenia, are considered directly opposite concepts in psychiatry. The first condition is dealt with by a psychotherapist, the second by a psychiatrist. Neurosis always has a beginning, a starting point, i.e. there was once some kind of long-term or acute psychotraumatic situation: overwork, loss, stress, fear, serious disease etc. In schizophrenia, it is impossible to identify such a cause; this disease is genetically determined and chronic, and occurs either continuously or in the form of attacks. Even alcoholism, stress and childbirth only provoke the manifestation of the disease, but are not its cause.

Accordingly, the fear that neurosis may develop into schizophrenia is unfounded.

Fundamental differences between states

A neurotic, unlike a schizophrenic, maintains a critical attitude towards his condition. He realizes that he has problems, he is overcome by fear that something bad might happen to him. As a result, the neurotic person actively tries to understand his condition, he goes to doctors and undergoes examinations. Having failed to find objective confirmation of the patient’s complaints, doctors refer him to a psychotherapist.

In psychosis, completely different behavior is observed. While in this state, the patient is unable to name the current date, clarify his location, perhaps he even identifies himself with another person. The patient's basic mental functions are split - thinking, will, emotions. Even after emerging from psychosis, one cannot definitely talk about the norm: the person is somewhat uncritical of the world around him and himself, he is detached, his behavior is strange, his statements are ridiculous, and his manner of expressing emotions is puzzling. The patient is burdened by misunderstanding of himself, loss of will and emotions. But he is in no hurry to see doctors, and tries to hide his problems.

Hallucinations

Deceptions of perception - hallucinations and delusions - often overtake schizophrenics in a state of psychosis. Neurotics also have such disorders. But for them they are simple in content and short-term, and appear more often when falling asleep or upon awakening. For neurotics, these are more likely repetitive thoughts or melodies, parts of heard remarks. It can also be a visual image - a spot of light or dots, patterns or pictures.

In schizophrenia, hallucinations are violent. The voices argue, criticize the “owner,” instilling fear in him. The patient feels someone's influence on him, as if someone is forcing him to do something, say something, or interfere with his body. The patient may be “exposed” to the action of certain rays or devices.

Delusional ideas are the exclusive prerogative of schizophrenics; neurasthenics do not have this disorder. It is impossible to convince the patient of the absurdity of such beliefs: he will withdraw or respond with aggression. In schizophrenics, delusions are systemic in nature, completely replacing the real perception of the environment.

Diagnostics

The fundamental difference between neurosis and schizophrenia is the preservation of the personality of the neurotic.

The patient feels weak and has Bad mood, but his personal qualities such as individuality, emotionality and determination remained. Neurosis is a reversible disorder. After a course of psychotherapy, the patient is able to return to normal life, he is able to react in a new way - correctly - to conflict situations, to the difficulties that arise.

Over the years, a schizophrenic person develops apatho-abulsic syndrome, when a personality defect manifests itself - and grows over the years. He becomes lethargic, his ability to express emotions is narrowed. Fear, voices, delirium and other related symptoms increase over time. The patient is uninitiative and moves further and further away from the real world, plunging deeper into the world of his own painful fantasies. This condition leads to disability, even to the point where a person is unable to care for himself independently.

To overcome the fear of making a fatal diagnosis, it is worth taking a test for neurosis. The online versions are quite informative and simple, but you must first read the instructions. A doctor can also perform the appropriate test.

Neurosis-like schizophrenia

Pseudoneurotic schizophrenia is one of the forms of schizotypal disorder, i.e. it does not apply to schizophrenia in the classical sense of the term, as reflected in the ICD-10 classification.

In this state, a person is able to live more or less comfortably. During this period, manifestations of psychopathic, neurosis-like, erased affective, depersonalization and paranoid disorders are possible, i.e. the patient is more tormented by fear and neurosis. In such a patient, the personality defect does not progress, there are no hallucinatory-delusional symptoms, the following is observed:

strange character;
emotional lability;
an unreasonable craving for the study of philosophy, mystical teachings, abstract theories;
loss of interest in one's own appearance;
the emergence of highly valuable ideas;
fear, apprehension;
decline in life productivity.

People remain socially active, although their education is rarely complete. The patient can work, but not constantly. He tries to find a workplace where there are no special problems and no effort required. The patient rarely starts his own family. The existing fear progresses. For example, if a patient was afraid to ride a tram, then over time he will stop using any means of transport. He will be tormented by fear, perhaps taken to the point of absurdity. With neurosis, a person tries to overcome these sensations - he performs certain manipulations to calm down, utters some phrases.

Therapy in this case is psychotherapeutic work (both in a group and individually) and assistance in social adaptation, sometimes the doctor prescribes mild sedatives.

According to WHO statistics, the prevalence of overt forms of schizophrenia is 0.8%, and low-grade forms of schizophrenia are 2-3%. However, you need to understand that one state cannot change to another. These are different diseases.

Therapy

In case of neurosis, psychotherapy helps first of all; in rare cases, they resort to the help of psychotropic drugs. They are prescribed for a short period of time and used as maintenance therapy.

Schizophrenia is treated primarily with medication. The drugs are prescribed in long - sometimes even lifelong - courses. Specific psychotherapy is used for intact patients.

Schizophrenia or neurosis? What are the differences?

IN modern world It often happens that a person has to deal with neurotic and mental disorders. This is due to the fast pace of life, constant stress and problems, and an unstable emotional state.

Difference between neurosis-like schizophrenia and neurosis.

Neurosis-like schizophrenia is called light form schizotypal personality disorder, which is similar to neurotic in some symptoms. This disease is quite rare, not more than 0.5% of all cases. As a rule, it is easily treatable and does not require isolating the sick person from society, but it is not completely curable and requires monitoring by specialists for the rest of his life.

Yes, these two diseases have similarities, such as:

hypochondria;
depression;
obsessive states;
the presence of fears in a person.

Many people believe that neurosis can develop into a schizotypal disorder, but this is not the case. Neuroses arise as a consequence of previous psychological trauma, as well as complex internal and external conflict, due to severe stress, chronic fatigue, and after childbirth.

Such a pathology, most likely, will not be chronic continuously and will remind itself of itself with infrequent exacerbations. People around may not notice that a person is experiencing neurotic disorders. The patient remains critical of both himself and the circumstances around him. He notices changes in himself, worries about this, turns to specialists and experiences hypochondria, thoroughly studying the symptoms various diseases and trying them on himself, just like a schizophrenic.

A person with pseudoneurotic schizophrenia can live without noticing serious changes in himself for quite a long time, up to three decades. However, during the course of the disease, all kinds of neurotic and mental personality disorders progress. People with this disease rarely complete their education, work in the same place for a short time, and it often happens that they cannot start a family. The disease forces you to take medications for a very long time. for a long time, and sometimes throughout life.

The patient has no desire to take care of himself, he looks unkempt, as a rule, everyday life does not bring productivity, a person experiences various fears absolutely unfounded, sometimes there is a craving for studying subjects that are boring for other people, for example, philosophy. Often a patient’s phobias become simply absurd and progress; if, for example, a person is afraid of buses for some reason, then soon he will stop using this type altogether public transport.

Schizotypal disorder, unlike neurosis, occurs in a person regardless of whether he has experienced any stress that traumatized his psyche and regardless of his character. Patients may become confused about time and location, or confuse themselves with another person. Even when the period of psychosis ends, one cannot say with certainty that the person is absolutely normal.

So, what are the differences?

Occurs after severe stress experienced that affected the patient’s mental state
Occurs regardless of the circumstances and character of the person, may occur due to genetic predisposition
The life values and character of a neurasthenic do not change
The disease radically changes a person’s personality
The patient remains critical of himself and the circumstances surrounding him, and worries about his mental health
A schizophrenic does not understand that he is sick, the ability to criticize is lost
A person turns to specialists and wants to be cured
The patient will not go to the doctor on his own, this happens at the insistence of people close to him
A neurasthenic person in any serious situation is able to pull himself together and pull himself together
A schizophrenic, even in a life-threatening situation, will not pull himself together
May continue to remain social person, communicate with others, work, engage in education and build a family
Antisocial, apathetic, avoids society, does not stay in the same job for long, is unable to build relationships
A complete cure is possible
A person is almost always doomed to lifelong medication and medical supervision

Sluggish schizophrenia is different from neurosis.

This disease has three types:

It is considered a transitional form, since the symptoms of the disease are superficial. While classic look leads to rapid degradation of the personality, then the sluggish person changes his personality slowly, affecting his behavior, manners and socialization, as described above. The differences between sluggish schizophrenia and neurasthenia are the same as mentioned above. It's absolutely two various ailments, similar only in some symptoms.

Therapy.

Schizotypal disorders, as a rule, do not pose a threat to life and health, both for the patient and for the people around him, therefore the use large quantity potent drugs are excluded. Often the patient is prescribed antipsychotics or simple tranquilizers.

If the disease becomes latent, the doctor prescribes antidepressants to the patient to suppress the surging depression. During treatment, psychotherapists use individual and group techniques to achieve healing. To achieve positive dynamics, the support of family and their constant presence is important.

During treatment neurotic disorders They also use various sedatives, tranquilizers and antidepressants. There are many different non-drug methods that are used depending on the nature and course of the disease. The following methods exist:

Hypnagogic hallucinations in neurosis

Hypnagogic hallucinations are hallucinations that occur before going to bed. The causes of such phenomena are stressful situations, depression, anxiety states, excessive emotionality, as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

Auditory hallucinations before sleep often accompany neurotics, but they have nothing to do with the various visions that arise in schizotypal, manic states and psychoses.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are different from pseudohallucinations and visual illusions. Hypnagogic hallucinations occur only in a state of drowsiness; many experts claim that every person sees and hears them, but simply does not remember them, because afterwards they fall asleep. But pseudohallucinations are familiar to schizophrenics and people with acute psychosis.

You should not be afraid or worry too much about hearing voices before bed; for people suffering from neurasthenic disorders, this is considered normal. You should consult a psychotherapist in order to get rid of the neurosis, along with which the hallucinations will disappear.

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How to distinguish neurosis from schizophrenia?

Neuroses, as well as many other endogenous mental pathologies, which can also include low-grade schizophrenia, are called diametrically opposed diseases by psychiatrists. They have their similarities, but there are also differences. The treatment of neuroses is carried out by a psychotherapist, without the help of a psychiatrist, while the treatment of endogenous mental pathologies is the prerogative of psychiatrists. Determining neurosis or schizophrenia is not always very simple, since patients can deliberately imitate the clinical picture of the disease.

It should be noted that what distinguishes schizophrenia is that this disease does not have a so-called starting point or cause. This is a chronic genetic pathology, which in extremely rare cases can develop against the background of prolonged stress, alcohol abuse, after childbirth, and these are considered only trigger factors.

Neurosis is often caused by some situation that has affected the human psyche. It could be severe stress or fear, fatigue. It is important to understand that such a pathology is unlikely to be chronic and continuous with rare attacks of exacerbation. It is also necessary to understand that the fear of transformation of one disease into another has no basis.

Fundamental difference

The main difference between neurosis and schizophrenia is that the first condition remains critical of itself. A person may realize that he has problems and fear. As a result, the patient tries to understand what is happening to him, can seek help from specialists, and undergo diagnostics. If there are no signs of somatic pathology, which should correspond to the complaints, the best decision would be to refer you for treatment to a psychotherapist.

Psychoses are characterized by completely different behavioral signs. Patients can hardly name today's date or day of the week, are confused about their location, and can sometimes call themselves another person or identify with them. Healthy mental functions familiar to all people, such as thinking, emotions and will, are significantly split. Even when the period of psychosis ends, it is difficult to say that this patient is normal. This is due to the fact that he has a significantly reduced criticism of the events around him, of himself, he can say ridiculous phrases and sentences, and the manner in which his emotions manifest healthy person will only cause confusion. It is worth noting that not understanding oneself becomes painful. At the same time, such a patient will not go to a doctor for help, trying to hide the problems he has encountered from others.

Hallucinations

One of the most reliable signs that distinguish neurosis and schizophrenia is hallucinations. At its core, this is a deception of perception, which can be delusional in nature. They usually occur during the onset of psychosis in people suffering from schizophrenia. They can occur extremely rarely in neuroses, but their distinctive feature is their short duration, simplicity, and also the fact that they have close connection with sleep, that is, they occur during falling asleep or waking up. In neurotics, they can occur as repeatedly repeated thoughts, images, such as spots, pictures.

In patients with schizophrenia, hallucinations are often of a different nature, which may not even have an image, but be in the form of voices. They argue, swear, criticize the patient, make him afraid, thereby provoking feelings of influence on the person. That is, someone invisible forces him to perform some action. Sometimes schizophrenics say that they are subject to some kind of influence, for example, hardware influence. A distinctive feature of such hallucinations is the fact that voices or devices are visible only to the patient who is 100% sure of it.

Delusional ideas

This symptom develops exclusively in schizophrenics. It never occurs in patients with neuroses. It is important to note that there is no way to convince a person that his idea is ridiculous or crazy, and the response will be aggression or withdrawal. Delusional ideas are systemic in nature, and the perception of the world is significantly distorted.

How to diagnose

Schizophrenia differs from neurosis in that neurotics retain their personality. In other words, all the personal qualities that characterized a person before the disease - determination, emotionality - remain with the development of neuroses. It is also important to note that neurosis is reversible. The patient receives a course of treatment from a psychotherapist, after which he simply returns to his normal, familiar life, only he already acquires some new skills of self-control and reaction to various stimuli, which led him to neurosis.

Schizophrenia eventually leads to the development of apatoabulic syndrome. It is a condition in which a personality defect develops over the years. Patients are very lethargic, apathetic, emotions are manifested very weakly due to a decrease in the ability to do so. And the clinical picture is growing, the voices are getting louder, crazy ideas. You shouldn’t expect any initiative from such a person; he closes himself off in himself, his world, and is less and less interested in reality. This provokes disability; there are cases where patients have lost the ability to independently take care of themselves and care for themselves.

You can distinguish neurosis from schizophrenia without outside help using online tests for neurosis, which are available in free access on the Internet. It is important to read the instructions carefully to avoid misinterpretation of the results. If you cannot do this yourself, then you need to consult a doctor who knows exactly how to distinguish between these two diseases.

Neurosis-like schizophrenia

One form of schizophrenia is pseudoneurotic schizophrenia. It is not considered classical, which can be seen in all classifications of diseases. This is a state that can be quite comfortable for a person’s life, since he can remain in it for a very long period of time - up to 30 years.

At this time, psychopathic-like, neurosis-like and other disorders that occur in schizophrenia may develop. But most of all the patient suffers from fear and neurotic attacks. The difference is that there is no progression of the personality defect, and there are no hallucinations or delusions. Other manifestations of this disease may include:

Unfounded fears;
Emotional lability;
A craving for studying subjects that are boring for an ordinary person - philosophy, mysticism;
Decreased productivity in daily life;
A person stops taking care of his appearance.

Such people remain socially active, but they rarely complete their education. Sometimes such patients even work, but this work is very unstable, since they give preference to those places of work where they do not need to be active, experience stress, or strain. They rarely have a family, which is due to constant fear with a tendency towards progress, as well as pathological lability of emotions. For example, if a person is afraid of any public transport, then over time he will simply completely stop using it. Sometimes these fears reach the point of absurdity.

Treatment

Treatment of neurosis-like schizophrenia consists of psychotherapy sessions, sometimes it is possible to prescribe mild tranquilizers or sedatives.

Typical neurosis can also be treated by visiting psychotherapists; the need for psychotropics rarely arises. Usually these are short-term courses.

Schizophrenia requires constant, sometimes even lifelong, use of medications.

Schizophrenia and neurosis are two diseases that can often be very similar in their external signs. Carry it out correctly differential diagnosis an experienced doctor can do it, but primary screening can also be done at home through online testing.

The difference between neurosis and schizophrenia

Neurosis is a mental state that is borderline. This is a whole group of diseases in which mental disorders are not very pronounced. At the same time, their course, as well as decompensation and compensation, are determined by the existing psychogenic factors. As experts explain, the presence of a neurotic breakdown is possible in any person. At the same time, the difference between neurosis and schizophrenia should be taken into account. The fact is that neurosis, its form and character in each case has a close connection with personality characteristics, individual predisposition and development nervous system patient. It is important that neurosis is characterized by a reduced quality of life, and painful sensations are often noted with this disease.

Neurosis is considered a reversible mental disorder, which cannot be said about schizophrenia. Moreover, neuroses are treatable, and their duration does not matter. Their occurrence is psychogenic; the clinical picture is dominated by somatovegetative and emotional disorders. Irritable weakness, excessive fatigue, and strength are restored slowly. Neurosis differs from schizophrenia in that this disorder does not have acute psychotic symptoms. If we differentiate between schizophrenia and neurosis, it is necessary to take into account some features. For example, with neurosis, personality disorders maintain a critical attitude towards the disease, the patient is able to independently adapt to environmental conditions.

In schizophrenia, the entire personality suffers, and the patient has no criticism of his condition. At the same time, the person denies that he has obvious problems, he shifts the blame to others, and adaptation in society is disrupted. With neurosis, a person is greatly influenced by the environment, and this influence is more significant than with schizophrenia or other mental diseases. Basically, the emergence of neuroses occurs under the influence of psychological trauma, and there is a fairly definite beginning. For the most part, they are clearly defined, and, moreover, are well treated when using complex effects. That is, there are clear boundaries denoting the disease, the period of development of this disorder and the period of recovery are determined.

The importance of correct diagnosis

Correct diagnosis is of paramount importance; neurosis must be correctly differentiated from various mental illness, and in particular, from schizophrenia. It is known that patients suffering from schizophrenia have neurosis-like symptoms, the difference is that the course of the disease is continuous and constant. First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between neuroses and sluggish schizophrenia, since it is quite often mistaken for neurosis, and vice versa. Schizotypal disorders and schizophrenia differ in their characteristics regarding personality changes. They are typical for patients with schizophrenia, and are not typical for those people who suffer from neuroses.

The prevalence of neuroses has recently increased, and this is confirmed by medical statistics. In Israel, the difference between neurosis and schizophrenia is based on high-quality diagnosis of diseases. Experienced specialists can easily distinguish between these conditions, despite their apparent similarity in certain symptoms. Currently, doctors distinguish neurosis into three main forms. This is hysterical neurosis, neurasthenia, as well as obsessive-compulsive neurosis. In addition, there are mixed forms neuroses. Doctors note that the number of neuroses characterized by vegetative-visceral disorders of particular complexity is increasing. These are impaired cardiac activity, breathing problems, gastrointestinal disorders, and poor nutrition. This includes sexual dysfunction, occupational dyskinesia, and headaches.

The origin of neuroses is assessed taking into account an integrated approach. Psychological factors are taken into account, such as personality traits and various traumatic situations. Their duration and degree of relevance play an important role. Social factors include education, parental family, methods of education, structure of society, and much more. A genetic predisposition has been identified for the occurrence of neuroses, as well as for schizophrenia. Women experience more severe course illness, and quite often the process ends in disability. There are certain mental characteristics related to personality development, for example, character accentuation. This condition is often a favorable basis for the development of neurosis if there is an unfavorable psychological situation.

Treatment

An integrated approach is currently being used to treat neuroses of all types, and first of all, it is important to make a correct diagnosis. The difference between neurosis and schizophrenia in Israel is always unmistakable, and that is why the treatment results are the highest. An individual decision regarding the choice of therapy always pays off. The patient's personal characteristics are taken into account. As a rule, the initial stages of exposure consist of drug therapy. At the same time, psychotherapy is never excluded. It is known that the main method is still considered psychotherapy, which can be either individual or group, although its formation is invariably carried out according to an individual scheme.

Although the symptoms of neurosis and schizophrenia have certain similarities, it is not difficult for experienced doctors to distinguish between these diseases and prescribe adequate treatment. In addition, with regard to neuroses, eighty percent of the responsibility for the treatment lies directly with the patient. The patient must strictly follow the doctor's instructions. This includes coming to psychotherapeutic sessions, not violating the prescribed regimen, and sticking to a diet.

Neurosis or schizophrenia how to distinguish and treat in Moscow

Neurotic disorders and endogenous mental illnesses are two opposing directions in psychiatry. Schizophrenia is dealt with by a psychiatrist, and neuroses are treated by a psychotherapist.

Treatment of neuroses is primarily psychotherapy.

Only in rare cases are they prescribed psychotropic drugs, for a short period of time, as an additional treatment. In the treatment of schizophrenia, everything is exactly the opposite: medications are prescribed first and taken for a long time and even for life, while psychotherapy is indicated for more intact patients and has its own specific characteristics.

Due to the disease: neurosis is always preceded by an acute or long-term psychotraumatic situation: severe stress, loss, overwork, serious illness, overload, and others. Schizophrenia has no visible external cause; it arises as a result of genetic factors. Alcoholism, childbirth and stress only provoke an exacerbation of the disease.

The difference between neurosis and schizophrenia

Neurosis differs from schizophrenia and other endogenous mental illnesses by completely retaining criticism of one’s condition. A neurotic person seeks help, tries to understand his experiences, wants to understand the causes of his disorders by being examined by various specialists. Usually such trips to doctors end in nothing. Doctors do not find any significant pathology that explains the discomfort and suffering, and in the end they refer the patient to a psychotherapist’s office.

A person in a state of psychosis does not understand where he is, cannot correctly name the day, and sometimes even the month and the current season, sometimes he associates himself with another person - usually a famous person. Even having returned to his normal state, he remains not fully critical of what is happening, is detached from those around him, is eccentric in his behavior and reasoning, and is absurd in his displays of emotions. But despite the fact that he suffers from a lack of understanding of himself and a loss of will and emotions, he is in no hurry to see doctors, and in general tries to hide his experiences from prying eyes.

Delusions and hallucinations are frequent companions of psychosis in schizophrenia. Deceptions of perception are partially found in neuroses, but they are fragmentary in nature and simple in content. Most often they appear when falling asleep or waking up. Usually these are repetitive thoughts, intrusive melodies and fragments of heard phrases. Sometimes - simple visual images, in the form of light spots, dots or connecting pictures from patterns on the floor or carpet.

Hallucinations in schizophrenia are violent; voices inside the head argue with each other, discussing the person’s actions and criticizing him. The patient feels someone's influence on him, as if someone is forcing him to utter certain phrases, introducing mechanisms into his body, he may be influenced by rays and complex devices. It seems to a schizophrenic that these voices are intended only for him and only he hears them.

Delusional ideas occur in schizophrenia and are completely absent among neurotic disorders. It is impossible to convince such a person of the absurdity of his statements and the illogicality of his beliefs. At best, he will close himself off from you, at worst, he will show aggression. Delusions in schizophrenia are systemic in nature, completely replacing the real idea of the objective world.

How to distinguish neurosis from schizophrenia

The main difference between neurosis and schizophrenia is the complete preservation of personality. Although a person experiences weakness and decreased mood, he retains his individuality, determination and breadth of emotions. In schizophrenia, over the years, a personality defect increases, which manifests itself as apatho-abulic syndrome. The patient becomes lethargic and lacking initiative, his emotional reactions become impoverished, he increasingly moves away from people and goes into the world of his painful fantasies. Often this leads a person to disability, when he cannot not only work, but also take care of himself.

Neurosis is always an acute and completely reversible disorder. The sooner the patient contacts a psychotherapist and begins psychological work above yourself, the faster all the disturbing unpleasant symptoms. Neurotic reactions are associated with a person’s incorrect reaction to life difficulties and conflicts. Learning new constructive strategies completely returns a person to normal life.

The personality defect in schizophrenia increases over time and can manifest itself to varying degrees. This reduces a person's ability to understand objective reality and remain involved in life.

Neurosis-like schizophrenia

Pseudoneurotic schizophrenia refers to one of the forms of schizotypal disorder. At its core, this mental disorder is not related to schizophrenia. There are no hallucinatory-delusional symptoms and the formation of a personality defect does not occur. There is an eccentricity of character, emotional lability, an unreasonable passion for philosophy, mystical sciences and abstract theories, neglect of appearance, the formation of overvalued ideas and a decrease in life productivity.

Although the social activity of such patients remains, they rarely reach the end of their education, work inconsistently and in benign conditions, and do not strive to start a family.

Therapy for patients with neurosis-like schizophrenia consists of individual and group psychotherapeutic work and assistance in their social adaptation. Typically, psychiatrists in state psychiatric institutions can give such patients little, prescribing weak sedatives. Therefore, you need to look for a private psychiatric clinic that has specially developed therapeutic programs for psychological assistance and experience in managing this category of patients.

About the Transfiguration clinic

The Transfiguration Clinic has great experience management of patients with schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder. Experts have developed a special therapeutic program to help such people. Methods of psychological assistance are actively used both for the patients themselves and for their relatives. If necessary, modern and safest medications are prescribed.

You can learn more about the methods of treating the mental disorder you are interested in, as well as the conditions of stay, by calling in Moscow: , .

How does neurosis differ from schizophrenia?

Neurosis-like schizophrenia is a mild form of schizotypal personality disorder, with symptoms similar to neuroses. It occurs very rarely - in only 0.3% of cases of schizophrenia. In most cases, it does not lead to isolation of a person from society and is treatable. However, it is not completely cured, but only leads to a stable remission. Monitoring of the diseased person throughout life is necessary.

Similarities and differences between schizophrenia and neurosis

It is a mistake to believe that neurosis can develop into schizophrenia; these are fundamentally different diseases. The only thing they have in common is some external manifestations. For example, the presence of phobias, hypochondria, depression, obsessions. However, there are much more differences. Thus, a study of the patients’ brains showed the presence of organic changes in schizophrenia and their absence in neurosis.

14% of patients with neurosis-like schizophrenia receive group 2 disability.

But the main difference between neurosis and schizophrenia lies in the causes of the disease: neurosis always occurs as a result of psychological trauma or severe internal/external conflict. And friends and colleagues may have no idea about the suffering of a person with neurosis.

Schizophrenia, on the other hand, is an endogenous disorder and manifests itself without connection with a traumatic situation or character traits. The cause of psychoneurotic schizophrenia is a genetic predisposition. The disease begins abruptly, with a gradual increase in symptoms. Manifestations cannot be hidden from others, and besides, the patient does not pursue such a goal.

Pseudoneurotic schizophrenia also differs from neurosis in the absence of a critical view of one’s condition and behavior. A person is so immersed in phobias and manias that he considers them reality. While a neurotic person realizes that his fears are just fears that interfere with a normal life. Typically, patients with pseudoneurotic schizophrenia seek treatment at the insistence of their loved ones, while neurotics come to the doctor on their own initiative.

Neurosis, although it complicates a person’s life, does not change his character and life values. Although in advanced cases phobias can interfere with communication and work, in a serious situation a neurotic person is able to pull himself together and overcome himself. Automotive training, behavioral therapy and other forms of psychotherapy are effective in treatment. Schizophrenia is much more complex - symptoms change a person’s personality, persistent avoidance of people, apathy, indifference to ordinary life and isolation appear. Even in a life-threatening situation, a person cannot concentrate and overcome his fears.

Symptoms and course

The disease usually begins in adolescence, and in the early stages is almost indistinguishable from neurosis. In addition, teenagers themselves often become fixated on appearance, suffer due to changes in their body, and show irritability and aggressiveness. This is why it is so difficult to recognize the onset of schizophrenia, and treatment begins at an older age, when the disease has already progressed and it has become impossible not to notice its symptoms.

Unlike neurosis, neurosis-like schizophrenia prevents a person from working, communicating, leading full life. I am tormented by obsessive thoughts, very vivid phobias, and there is no criticism of my condition and behavior. Typical signs are dysmorphophobia, which turns into dysmorphomania: a person is painfully fixated on the shortcomings of his appearance, grotesquely exaggerating them.

Also typical for the disease is immersion in philosophical issues, the study of global topics that have nothing to do with the patient’s life, and a fascination with ideas, for example, about the existence of other civilizations or the fate of humanity. The patient can constantly study relevant books and websites, and fill numerous pages with his thoughts. But if you look at his notes, they look more delusional than brilliant. The patient himself is immersed in his research headlong, and perceives criticism as proof of his chosenness and high intelligence.

There are hysterical manifestations: patients like to attract attention to themselves by dressing loudly and talking loudly. At the same time, the patient’s appearance is not just shocking, but ridiculously awkward: he may dress inappropriately, inappropriately for the weather, and even indecently. Phobias are very pronounced - a person has obsessive fears of objects, animals, people or places in the house with ridiculous rituals that frighten other people that help him overcome fear.

About more severe forms Many films have been made against schizophrenia - “Shutter Island”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “The Color of Night”, and many others. However, sluggish neurosis-like schizophrenia itself does not have a romantic connotation, and the patient’s life can hardly be called bright and full of events.

Another striking manifestation of neurosis-like schizophrenia is severe hypochondria. Moreover, if in a patient with neurosis it is expressed in an inquisitive study of symptoms and trying them on himself, then in a person suffering from schizophrenia, in addition to the obsessive fear of being sick, there are irrational delusional fears. The patient may wonder if his blood will clot in his veins, fear that his brain will explode, or that his teeth will sink into his gums.

Treatment

Neurosis-like schizophrenia is considered the mildest of the schizotypal disorders; the prognosis is quite favorable: about 37% of patients achieve stable remission, 23% of patients reach a stable state. However, without treatment, the disease progresses and can lead to disability and complete loss of a person from social life. Despite some similarities with neuroses, it is impossible to independently diagnose and cure this disease, if only because patients do not have the opportunity to objectively assess their condition.

Treatment is mostly medicinal, prescriptions are made only by a psychiatrist, who also conducts diagnostics, monitors the dynamics and, if necessary, adjusts the dosage of medications. Typically, so-called low-grade schizophrenia is treated symptomatically with the following groups of medications:

Thymoleptics (also known as antidepressants - drugs that normalize mood).
Neuroleptics ( antipsychotic drugs, eliminating delusions, hallucinations, agitation).
Tranquilizers (anxiolytics that relieve fear, tension, anxiety).

Sessions with a psychotherapist are required - individual and group. With proper treatment, pseudoneurotic schizophrenia does not lead to irreversible personality deformations; patients are able to study, work, and live in society. But the supervision and care of loved ones is necessary, otherwise there is a danger of missing the return of the disease. Life in nature is favorable, relaxation in beautiful places, sanatoriums. Communication, friendly support and love from relatives are very helpful in treating the disease.

Thus, neurosis-like schizophrenia is difficult to diagnose, but in most cases it is treatable. It is impossible to diagnose or even cure it on your own. The epithet “neurosis-like” should not confuse the patient’s loved ones: neurosis and schizophrenia have fundamental differences and are treated differently.

Psychologist Veronika Stepanova talks about how to find out whether a person has neurosis or schizophrenia. There are differences in behavior, character, speech, and even at an organic level.