Causes, symptoms and treatment of organic psychosis
Organic psychoses are called a group of psychoses, which are mental disorders with different etiology and clinical presentation. The course of these psychoses has a psychoorganic syndrome of different depths, that is, it can be expressed as a miserable decrease in the level of personality, and bright dementia, accompanied by the decay of memory and intellect. Organic psychosis, as a rule, proceeds against the background of changes in the pathomorphological nature occurring in the brain.
Content:
- The causes of organic psychosis
- Organic psychosis symptoms
- Treatment of organic psychosis
The causes of organic psychosis
Organic psychoses include mental disorders that were caused by various lesions of the brain tissue of the head. Among such diseases, disorders with rapid and acute development are distinguished, as well as a chronic protracted version of the development of psychosis, the differences relate to both the nature of the disease and its treatment, and, accordingly, the prognosis. When diagnosing such a disease, the doctor mainly relies on the clinical picture and conducts differential diagnostics with schizophrenia and psychosis of a manic-depressive type.
The cause of organic psychosis can be an infectious disease, alcoholism or drug addiction, which lead to hallucinogenic conditions, metabolic disorders, poisoning, hormonal pathology, neurosyphilis, tumor and other diseases affecting the brain. These reasons of an organic nature provoke changes in the structure and functions of the brain, affect its blood vessels, sometimes they can resemble mental illnesses, which are based on psychological factors.
The reasons for the occurrence of organic psychosis are closely related to three factors of interaction: diseases of a somatic nature, infection, intoxication. Their action activates an already existing predisposition in the body for the formation of mental disorders. The conditions for the development of the disease are poorly understood, since the same effect causes psychoses of an acute and chronic nature. Age-related changes in the body aggravate the development of the disease.
Organic psychosis symptoms
Different causes of the disease manifest themselves in different symptoms. For example, the development of paralysis in a progressive form occurs when brain cells are damaged by syphilis. In such cases, in the absence of treatment, the patient becomes disorganized, unrestrained, his behavior has an indecent, desecrating form, which is called the "dirty old man" syndrome.
Poisoning with harmful substances (mercury, lead and others) provokes organic psychosis with the manifestation of anxiety states. In rare cases, poisoning affects the brain, then delusional states, hallucinations and the disappearance of emotional control appear. In this respect, buildings of old buildings are especially dangerous, when paints containing lead were used in the decoration, which has the ability to release lead dust into the air and has a sweet taste.
Dementia is the most popular problem in the development of organic psychosis. When it occurs against the background of poor brain function, the psyche is seriously disturbed. The characteristic symptoms of dementia are: impaired memory, thought processes, judgment, personality control and impulsivity. The presence of these symptoms makes the patient unnecessarily suspicious, apathetic to others or withdrawn. The cause of such conditions can be Alzheimer's disease, repeated strokes, impaired blood circulation.
Treatment of organic psychosis
Patients diagnosed with organic psychosis must undergo inpatient treatment in a psychiatric clinic under the supervision of a psychiatrist, a therapist, and under certain conditions - an infectious disease specialist. If the patient is not transportable (after surgery, heart attack, and so on), his treatment takes place in a general hospital, with round-the-clock supervision, which is especially necessary in case of excessive agitation, depression, when there is a likelihood of suicide.
Treatment of organic psychoses is aimed at eliminating the cause. Symptomatic psychoses in acute manifestations with dimmed consciousness and hallucinations should be treated with antipsychotics. Protracted symptomatic psychoses require the selection of drugs depending on the symptomatic picture.
An indispensable measure for psychosis of an intoxicating nature is detoxification with the help of unitiol, sodium thiosulfate. The drug is chosen depending on what the body is poisoned with. Acute poisoning is subject to gastric lavage, intravenous administration of strychnine and subcutaneous corazole.
Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist
Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".
