Such a disease as involutional psychosis affects people in old age. This disease includes depression, melancholy, mental disorders. The reasons for the appearance of involutional psychosis are also unclear. But, as a rule, this disease is provoked by endocrine disorders of the body and external factors that cause psychological trauma.
What are the signs of illness?
The concept of "involutional psychosis" appeared at the beginning of the last century. E. Krepelin introduced it. Involutional psychosis is understood as a complex of human mental disorders that occurs at the age of 45-60 years. In patients suffering from this disease, persecution mania is observed. They also begin to think that they are being harmed in some way.
These obsessive thoughts are accompanied by depressive states and delusions. Involutional psychosis occurs in two forms. The first type is melancholy. The second type is the involutional paranoid. Now let's deal with each type separately.
Melancholy
Involutional melancholy develops slowly. Although there are exceptions. Usually they occur in those people who have experienced a mental trauma associated with externalfactors. In this case, the disease will progress rapidly. This condition is of two types: ordinary age-related melancholia and malignant depression. The latter is called as Kraepelin's disease. Involutional psychosis is a human condition associated with normal age-related melancholy, accompanied by anxiety.
Experiences can arise for any reason, for example, concern for yourself, loved ones, about money or he alth, and so on. As the disease progresses, anxiety turns into depression. A feature of the state is the absence of any one reason for experiencing. That is, a person begins to worry about everything and for nothing in particular. Moreover, these experiences are vague. The state of anxiety and depression intensifies in the evening and at night. There are factors that can trigger an exacerbation. For example, cleaning or the desire of relatives to get rid of unnecessary things. Or the arrival of a new stranger in the house. These factors can cause anxiety and worries for an elderly person.
Kraepelin's disease, or involutional paranoid
Emil Kraepelin is the founder of the classification of human mental illness. His entire medical activity was directed towards the study and ordering of such disorders. Kraepelin tried to combine the mental illnesses of a person according to certain signs. So that it is easier to understand them. Microbiology has made it possible to understand the causes of certain mental disorders. Kraepelin was engagedresearch and observation of patients with disorders.
He kept his own card index, wrote down and studied the history of people's diseases. Analyzing the symptoms and course of diseases, he classified them into groups. His works have been published and published. In them, Kraepelin divided the mental changes of people into groups to make it easier to understand the causes and development of diseases. For example, he singled out psychoses with a cyclic and periodic course, as well as progressive dementia and affective psychoses. Despite the fact that his works were first published at the end of the 19th century, scientists and physicians still use them in their work.
Signs of illness
What are the signs of psychosis? Kraepelin's disease is a condition of a person with incessant states of anxiety. At the same time, the patient has problems with sleep, speech is disturbed and absent-mindedness occurs, concentration of attention worsens. This disease is not very common. People over the age of 65 are at risk. This age period is characterized by a decrease in the efficiency of neurons in the brain. This property of the body leads to the susceptibility of various anxiety states and the appearance of depression.
Brain training is an excellent prevention of mental illness
In order to avoid this situation, older people are advised to train their brains. Give him a load. It is necessary to do this, because as a result of such training, new neural connections will be formed that will providethe normal functioning of the human body without any disturbances and the occurrence of depressive conditions. The signs of psychosis will also go away. A great way to improve performance are various crosswords or scanwords. Unraveling them makes the brain work, which is excellent therapy. Also, a positive effect is achieved when studying poems.
Age paranoid
This disease is due to the fact that an aged person begins to show aggression and inadequate mood towards close relatives or just acquaintances. Often this condition is accompanied by delirium and chaotic thoughts of the patient.
Age-related psychosis. Paranoid symptoms and treatment
The main symptom of this condition is that a person does not leave the thought of causing him any harm. Namely, it seems that relatives want to enter his house or apartment in order to take possession of any personal belongings. These conditions usually occur in people over 60 years of age. They are called presenile psychoses. People who suffer from such a disease can convince strangers that they are right and find allies for themselves. Indeed, from the outside it may seem that relatives have an interest in the property of an elderly person. Relatives in this situation are advised not to leave everything as it is. Often close people attribute everything to age and do not pay attention to the behavior of the patient. In fact, presenile psychosis can be cured. Therefore, if such symptoms are found in a close relative, it is necessary to consult a specialist. It should be said that if timely medical care is not provided to a person suffering from this ailment, then his condition may be aggravated by hallucinations.
The patient may begin to think that someone is walking around his apartment, or that the neighbors are plotting some kind of action against him, he may even begin to hear their conversations behind the wall. There are also cases when an elderly person is sure that he is given poisoned food or drinks. It must be remembered that involutional and senile psychoses are mental in nature. That is, physically a person can be absolutely he althy. If such a disorder arose at the age of 60-65 years, then the patient can still lead a quite active lifestyle, take care of himself. But at the same time, his mental state needs treatment. There are external signs of a person's inner feelings about harming him. Namely, the patient may lose weight, his hair may begin to fall out, and problems with sleep may appear. If these symptoms are noticed, it means that the man (or woman) is unwell and needs help.
If an elderly person complains that they want to poison him or take possession of his property, but in reality no one is making such attempts, you should carefully consider him and provide medical assistance. If you take all the necessary measures to treat this disease at an early stage, then there is a high probability of a complete recovery.
How should this type of psychosis be treated?
First of all, you need to trust a specialist. It is necessary to explain in the correct form to an elderly person that he should see a doctor. The psychotherapist will assess the general condition of the patient and prescribe the necessary treatment, taking into account age characteristics. You should know that when a person is at a respectable age, not all medicines are shown to him.
Perhaps he will have to refuse to take any medications and drink only those that will not harm the work of other organs and body systems. The basis of the treatment of involutional psychosis is the use of certain drugs. Their dosage is determined by the doctor, taking into account the age of the patient. The doctor also prescribes antidepressants. They are needed in order to remove the state of anxiety in a person. Antidepressants can also be replaced with antipsychotics. They also help to eliminate the state of anxiety in the patient. If the patient's condition is accompanied by delirium, then he is prescribed neuroleptic drugs with a psychotropic effect.
The purpose of these drugs is to make a person have clarity of consciousness. Together with taking medications, conversations between the doctor and the patient have a positive effect. This type of therapy helps the patient to establish normal communication skills and return to society in a he althy state.
Prevention
Prophylactic means for the development of this disease are measures aimed at improving the body. You don't have to give yourself a lot of timerelaxation, should lead a he althy lifestyle. Namely, follow the regime, eat right, give up bad habits, and so on.
Older age is accompanied by the narrowing of the social circle. This is due to the fact that people retire, children are busy with their lives, friends also stop maintaining relationships for various reasons. Despite the above factors, you should not withdraw into yourself and be alone with your thoughts. Man is so arranged that he needs to communicate and develop. Therefore, people who are elderly and limited in communication are advised to expand their circle of interests. To do what you have long dreamed of, but did not have enough time. For example, register on social networks, walk, meet and discover something new.
Conclusion
Now you know what psychosis is. Symptoms and treatment are two important topics that we have covered in detail in the article. We hope that the information was useful to you. We wish you good he alth and long life!
