The widespread occurrence of mental diseases takes this group of pathologies to a new level in the study of clinical features. Because of this, an evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment of patients with mental illnesses is currently underway.
If we talk about specific diseases of human mental activity, then one of the most interesting and colorful (in terms of symptoms and clinical picture) are dissociative disorders (or conversion).
Such disorders are manifested by both somatic and mental symptoms. Somatic often resemble the manifestations of neurological diseases (there is an imitation of paresis, paralysis or loss of function of other organs).
Dissociative disorders occur, as a rule, after a psycho-emotional conflict. As a result of excitation of the nervous system, conversion occurs (substitution of some diseases for others) and dissociation.
Medical specialists in several countries divide dissociative disorders into conversion (manifested by somatic symptoms) and dissociative (which is characterized by mental symptoms). However, according to the ICD of the tenth revision, these two groups are combined into one.
The main feature that distinguishes dissociative disorders from other diseases of mental activity is that the etiology of this group of diseases is not any somatic or neurological diseases. This feature is used as a diagnostic criterion for dissociative disorders.
However, there are some difficulties in the diagnosis. Firstly, difficulties arise at the initial stage of differentiation of mental illness and true somatic illness. The second obstacle - in the correct diagnosis - clarification of the "consciousness" of the symptoms. That is, are these symptoms true (unconscious) or are they simulated (conscious).
It turns out that truly dissociative symptoms are not intentional and intentional, but these symptoms appear according to the ideas that the patient has about this disease.
There are the following types of dissociative disorders: motor, sensory and mental disorders. All of them have their own clinical features and their own treatment features.
The concept of "dissociative personality disorder" is somewhat similar to the above. Disorders of this kind are primarily characterized by mental symptoms, somatic manifestations are either not detected or are detected to a small extent.
The term “dissociation” itself speaks of the dissociation of something single. Dissociative personality disorders - a condition in which the patient’s consciousness is as if divided into several separately existing forms. That is, the patient acts as a person with a multiplicity of personality. This disease manifests itself during the “personality change”. So, when changing personality, there is a change in mood, speech, movements, character (often the opposite). Watching several personalities of such a person from the side, we can say that these are completely different people.
Dissociative identity disorder is a form of mental dissociation. This disease is characterized by depersonalization and derealization. Depersonalization is the process of disturbing the perception of one’s own reality by the person himself (it seems to the patient that he perceives himself distorted). For derealization, a distorted perception of everyone around is characteristic. It is difficult for such a patient to understand that the people around him really exist.
Dissociative disorders in psychiatry are extremely serious diseases that are difficult to treat. Even with successful treatment, mental activity is rarely fully restored.