Anxious-phobic neurosis is a condition characterized by the appearance of obsessive thoughts, fears and memories. These phenomena, which are called obsessions, bring discomfort and discomfort to patients, but they are not able to get rid of them on their own.
It is worth noting that anxious-phobic, obsessive-phobic, obsession neurosis - all these are different names for the same pathology. Why does she appear and how to recognize her? You will find answers to these questions below.
Who has the disorder?
A predisposition to the emergence of such a mental disorder is transmitted at the genetic level.
Some character traits may favor the development of phobic neurosis. These include: excessive suspiciousness, responsibility, anxiety, pedantry, excessive caution. People with such personal qualities prefer to live with reason rather than simple emotions, they are accustomed to weigh each step well and think through all the actions in detail. Usually they are too demanding of themselves and tend to engage in regular self-analysis.
Almost never, neurosis is not found in people who can easily transfer responsibility for any actions to others, are prone to aggression, achieve their goals at all costs.
At a certain age, the risk of developing phobic neurosis is significantly increased. This is mainly the teenage period, the stage of early maturity (25-35 years) and premenopausal time.
As for gender, it is worth noting that such a neurosis is diagnosed with equal frequency in both women and men.
Reasons for the appearance
Phobic disorder, like any other neurosis, occurs most often against the background of mental trauma in combination with too intense activity and a strong lack of rest, constant lack of sleep. In addition, a variety of infections, endocrine pathologies, unhealthy diets, addictions, and alcohol abuse act as factors contributing to this phenomenon. All these conditions entail a significant weakening of the whole organism, and this, in turn, can lead to the development of neurosis.
Often such a disorder appears against the background of another disease: psychasthenia, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder.
How is it developing?
Neurosis can occur in humans in two cases.
- If in the past he has gained bad experience in relation to any particular subject, place, action or other persons. For example, after sudden contact with a hot iron, an obsessive fear of hot things may appear in the future.
- If an object is associated with a person with some negative memories or thoughts. For example, once during a telephone conversation a fire occurred or someone close was injured.
Common symptoms
The main symptoms of anxiety-phobic neurosis are:
- agoraphobia;
- hypochondria phobias;
- panic attacks;
- social phobias.
Common symptoms of the disease include:
- migraine;
- Depression
- insomnia
- excessive emotional tension;
- panic attacks;
- general malaise, weakness;
- shortness of breath and other abnormalities in the work of the respiratory system;
- problems in the work of the heart.
All these symptoms can be easily detected when a patient comes in contact with a phobia.
Panic attacks
This is one of the main symptoms of phobic neurosis. It manifests itself in the form of extremely intense fear and a sensation of impending death. At the same time, vegetative signs can be observed, for example, dizziness, tachycardia, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, a feeling of lack of air. Such an attack can last from a couple of minutes to an hour. In a panic attack, there is often a fear of losing your mind or losing control of your actions.
Usually, seizures appear suddenly, but sometimes their development can be caused by sudden changes in weather, lack of sleep, excessive sexual activity, stress, alcohol abuse or physical stress.
The cause of the first panic attacks can be certain pathologies of the internal organs, for example, heart defects, malfunctions of the thyroid gland, pancreatitis, gastritis, osteochondrosis.
Agoraphobia
What it is? Agoraphobia is a pronounced fear of open space, as well as a fear of crowded places, crowds. Persons exposed to this condition are wary of exits to the street.
Usually the first symptoms of phobic neurosis are precisely panic attacks, and already after them agoraphobia occurs. In this condition, the patient’s fear appears not only in specific cases, but even when he simply remembers any events related to his anxiety, or presents them.
Characteristic for the occurrence of neurosis is the expansion of situations that provoke fear. So, with transport phobia, at first a slight fear of being in the subway develops. Then the fear of any public transport joins. People who suffer from phobic neurosis do not fear the metro or, for example, the bus, but situations that can happen in these places. For example, the fear that the train due to the large distance between the stations will not provide the necessary assistance to a person at the time of a panic attack.
Hypochondria phobias
This is a fear of some serious disease. In another way, this phenomenon is often called nosophobia.
The most common are speedophobia, cardiophobia, carcinophobia (fear of cancer), stroke, syphilophobia. Such conditions may also be a consequence of hypochondriacal depression.
People with such phobias do everything possible to avoid all sorts of situations that provoke the appearance of fear. So, for fear of transport, they do not use the elevator and move only on their own. Those who are afraid of oncological malformations systematically undergo appropriate examinations. But even after receiving good test results, such people can not calm down for a long time.
Social phobias
Phobic neurosis can be accompanied by a huge number of such fears.
Social phobias imply a fear of being in the spotlight, as well as criticism. People experiencing such fear try to avoid public places.
The first symptoms of social phobias usually appear even in adolescence or youth. Often the emergence of these fears is caused by negative psychological or social factors. At first, the fear of being in the center of universal attention concerns only certain situations or communicating with specific people. But contact with relatives and family members does not cause discomfort.
Gradually, social phobia begins to manifest itself in the form of some kind of restrictions regarding social activities. At the same time, a person, getting into undesirable situations, suffers from internal stiffness, shyness, sweating and trembling.
In some people, social phobia progresses to a generalized form. Such persons avoid public places at all, thinking that they seem ridiculous and ridiculous.
Phobic neurosis can also manifest itself in the form of specific phobias - obsessive fears concerning only certain situations. These include the fear of heights, animals, dentists and other doctors.
Phobic Neurosis Treatment
Symptoms and causes of panic fear of a particular subject are key to prescribing appropriate therapy. But be that as it may, the treatment of this condition should be comprehensive, including not only psychotherapy, but also the use of certain medications.
To stop panic attacks, the most commonly used antidepressant is Anafranil. In addition, other drugs with a similar effect help to cope with this symptom of a phobic disorder:
- Sertraline;
- Fluvoxamine;
- "Fluoxetine."
Moclobemide is commonly used to treat social phobias.
In addition to antidepressants, tranquilizers - "Hydroxysin" and "Meprobamat" help to combat the manifestations of phobic disorders. These medications have a small number of side effects, their prolonged use does not lead to the emergence of drug dependence.
In acute forms of phobic neurosis, the most effective are benzodiazepine tranquilizers - Clonazepam and Alprazolam. In addition, Elenium and Diazepam may be administered in the form of droppers or intramuscularly. But these medicines can only be used for a short time to prevent addiction.
In case of phobias accompanied by complex systems of defensive reactions (for example, obsessive counting or word decomposition) and delusional states, antipsychotics - Haloperidol or Triftazin - can be prescribed.
Psychotherapy for the treatment of phobic neurosis
This stage of treatment is necessary to eliminate excessive anxiety and correct inappropriate behavior. In addition, during the sessions, doctors teach patients a relaxation culture, which is very important for any form of neurosis. Phobic disorder can be treated both in group and in individual lessons.
If phobias play a more significant role during the illness, the patient needs psycho-emotional supportive therapy, which will help improve overall well-being. Hypnosis and a behavioral technique allow you to get rid of obsessive fears. During the sessions, patients are taught to properly resist the object that provokes the appearance of fear, as well as to resort to various methods of relaxation.
In addition, rational psychotherapy techniques can be used in the treatment of phobic neurosis. In this case, the essence of the pathology is described and explained in detail to the patient, due to which an adequate understanding of the symptoms of the disease is created by the person. Due to such work, people, for example, begin to realize that the slightest deviations in the functioning of internal organs are not dangerous and do not at all indicate the presence of a serious illness.