Does psychotherapy help with neurosis? This is a common question. We will understand it in more detail.
Under a neurosis understand a disease of a mental nature, which is characterized by psychogenic vegetosomatic disorders. In simple terms, neurosis is a somatic and mental disorder that develops against the background of any experiences. Compared with psychosis, the patient is always aware of a neurosis, which greatly interferes with his life. That is why neurotics often believe that they are crazy, while the psyche is healthy.
Causes of the development of mental neurosis
Undoubtedly, neurosis is an ambiguous diagnosis and develops under the influence of a combination of factors. However, experts identify a number of the most probable reasons contributing to the development of neurosis:
- Stress. As a rule, the development of any mental disorder is affected by two main factors: the intensity of stress, its duration. Undoubtedly, stressful situations temper the psyche, but only if their number is moderate. If the amount of stress increases, distress can occur, projecting neuroses, and in some cases psychoses.
- Problems that a person cannot solve for a long time. So that difficult situations do not provoke the disease, psychotherapists recommend that they be perceived as simple tasks that need to be solved, in the absence of which nothing bad will happen. It is important to always believe in your strengths and abilities to find a way out even from difficult situations.
- Chronic fatigue. It occurs when a person works hard and practically does not rest. Accumulation of voltage occurs imperceptibly and for a long time. When the voltage crosses a certain bar, an ailment develops. It is worth noting that some people believe that work that is pleasing does not cause a neurosis. This opinion is erroneous - any activity of a monotonous nature can tire you, so you definitely need to relax.
Usually, specialists differentiate more reasons, but the main one is still a strong and prolonged overvoltage.
What is the origin of childhood neurosis? Psychotherapy will be discussed below.
In babies with congenital or acquired physical disabilities, pathological mental changes in personality development often occur. Also, against the background of a delay in mental development, neurotic reactions can be observed.
All this is accompanied by increased excitability of the child, an increase in internal conflicts, nervousness of character, increased demands on oneself, and the formation of self-esteem.
Pathogenesis of neurosis
The mechanism for the development of neurosis is quite simple. Negative interpretations of real events are accumulating and linking them into a single system. Over time, a person has a habit of reacting stress to any irritating factor. Mental stress increases, accumulates, a person begins to get used to it. Thus, the physiological basis of the neurosis is formed. When the last event occurs, certain symptoms are formed.
How is neurosis treated with psychotherapy, we will consider below.
Manifestations of neurosis
Neurosis can manifest itself in various ways, sometimes the disease is difficult to distinguish from a normal state. However, there are a number of signs that indicate mental health problems:
- Fatigue, which can be both a cause and a consequence of pathology.
- Overly acute reaction to stressful situations. A person begins to shyly, whiny, aggressively react even to minor events.
- Decrease in the level of mental abilities. The reasons for such violations are simple - a person begins to constantly focus on traumatic factors, as a result of which he loses the ability to solve other problems.
- Decreased self-confidence. This item is interconnected with the previous one. With an increased level of anxiety, negative thoughts are always present that do not allow the brain to act productively. As a result, self-confidence, which is already undermined by anxiety, decreases. A person begins to focus on his negative thoughts, which only worsens the situation. The danger of lowering self-confidence lies in the fact that a person abandons all attempts to solve a difficult problem, and over time begins to perceive both complex and simple tasks.
- Psychosomatics. Neurosis can lead to hypertension, diabetes mellitus, gastric ulcer. There is a decrease in the general level of immunity, a person develops a tendency to infectious diseases. Often, neuroses are manifested by phobias, obsessive thoughts, panic attacks. Scientists have proved the cause of psychosomatic manifestations - any emotion is reflected in a specific organ of the body. With excess voltage, which builds up for a long time, the disease develops.
The difference between neurosis and neurosis-like conditions
Neurosis-like conditions are understood as mental disorders that look like neurosises, but they develop under the influence of organic factors, which include various diseases, abnormal development of the fetus inside the womb. Similar conditions are provoked by disturbances in the activity of some brain areas.
Types of Neurosis
Psychotherapists distinguish the following types of neurosis:
- Neurasthenia. This disease is characterized by increased fatigue. Neurasthenia can be hypersthenic and hyposthenic type. In case of hypersthenic neurasthenia, increased irritability is observed, in case of hyposthenic neurasthenia - low emotion, lethargy, inability to long social contacts.
- Phobias. They are obsessive fears. Phobias differ from ordinary fears in that they completely occupy the brain, and a person, even if he wants to, is not able to switch to something else. Phobias are often combined with ritual actions that allow them to get rid of. In this case, we are talking about obsessive-compulsive disorders of a neurotic nature.
- Obsessive states. Neurosis of this type is close to phobias. Some experts classify phobias as obsessive states. Psychotherapy for neuroses of obsessive states helps a lot.
- Dependencies. As a rule, dependencies do not belong to neuroses, however, their neurotic nature can be quite easily tracked. With addiction, obsessive thoughts arise to use some substance that allows you to temporarily get rid of obsessive thoughts. It is important that in a stressful situation, such thoughts are amplified.
- Hysterical neurosis. It develops only in people with hysterical accentuation. The characteristic features of hysteria include emotional instability, egocentrism, demonstrativeness, and theatricality. Hysterical neurosis always occurs only in the presence of the audience.
- Neurosis transfer. It consists in the fact that a person seeks to transfer his former experience to a person who reminded him of a past situation.
Diagnosis of neurosis
Many psychological questionnaires also make it possible to determine a person’s neurotic state (obsessive thoughts, anxiety). However, all of them are integral (they study several different features of the psyche), and therefore their passage takes a lot of time. Therefore, specialists in the field of psychotherapy have developed a special method for the diagnosis of Hess and Heck neurosis, in which a person will need to answer 40 questions.
In children
Diagnosis of neurosis in childhood is a more difficult task, since in children the ailment can be expressed by other signs, and the consequences of a neurotic manifestation are much more dangerous. One of the manifestations of neurosis at an early age is considered to be a regression of mental functions, in which the child loses his acquired skills and rolls back in development. Projective techniques are used to diagnose a child’s disease.
Psychotherapy for neurosis
As a rule, psychotherapists use meditative practices and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment. Behavioral therapy allows the patient to deal with himself, his inner world, and meditative practices in psychotherapy sessions with neurosis reduce anxiety, create the foundation for instilling new beliefs for oneself. Meditations can have the most diverse character, but all their concentration on one process, thoughts unites them.
For example, the simplest meditation is to focus your attention on your own breathing, sensations. Meditation techniques also include auto-training, which involves focusing on a feeling of relaxation and warmth in the body. Affirmations also relate to meditation and allow you to focus on specific thoughts.
Any meditative techniques can be combined, which will lead to an increase in their effect. For example, one can pronounce affirmations in a state of trance, which is achieved through meditation. In such a state, criticism of oneself is reduced, new attitudes are perceived more easily.
Group psychotherapy of neurosis is very effective. Specialists gather groups according to certain criteria, for example, age, cause of the disorder and gender. A person can look at similar situations from the outside and share his problems. In class, people discuss ways to get out of these situations and support each other.
What is the psychotherapy of childhood neurosis?
Treatment consists in the diagnosis of psychological disorders in relatives and in psychotherapeutic work with a sick child and people around him. At this age, distraction therapy is mainly used to switch the child's attention to other factors.
Personality-oriented psychotherapy of neurosis
The goal of therapy is to work with a person who must learn to solve external and internal conflicts by reorganizing the system of its relations. Therefore, such psychotherapy is called reconstructive.
The doctor is trying to expand the patient’s area of ​​consciousness in order to help clarify the cause-effect relationships that led to the mental disorder, verbalize his vague experiences and clarify the relationships that the patient himself did not connect before in his mind.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The essence of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for neurosis is to form a person's optimistic outlook on life. Everyone knows that optimists are not neurotics, as they tend to consider any problem solvable. Our behavior is a combination of reactions to certain events, that is, the human brain works reflexively. All events are refracted by the prism of our thinking. If it is negative, then a neurosis forms. That is why, experts recommend looking at life easier. It is important to remember that only the person himself can influence his thinking, and the therapist only helps him in this.
The methods of psychotherapy for panic attacks are the same as for other types of neurosis - meditation and cognitive-behavioral correction, allowing a person to get rid of sudden disorders.
Thus, neuroses are complex but interesting phenomena that can and should be treated. Successful psychotherapy for neurosis will allow you to easily achieve your goals, gain calm and a stable psyche.