Senile psychosis
Psychosis is understood as impaired mental activity, reactions of a mental nature in which they come into conflict with reality. There are several types of psychosis, one of which is senile or senile psychosis, which occurs mainly in old age against the background of cerebral atrophy. Senile psychosis manifests itself in various clinical forms: Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease and senile dementia.
Content:
- Pick's disease
- Alzheimer's disease
- Senile dementia
- Treatment of senile psychosis
Pick's disease
Pick's disease is characterized by limited pre-senile cerebral atrophy. The disease affects the frontal and temporal lobes. Personality changes are the beginning of the disease: the appearance of lethargy and apathy, lack of initiative and emotional reactions. There is a decrease in the productivity of thinking, the ability to generalize, comprehend, and abstractly think is impaired. The critical attitude to personal state, behavior, life image disappears. Some fall into euphoria, characterized by the loss of attitudes of moral and moral content.
Further, the vocabulary is limited, speech is filled with the repetition of stereotyped phrases, the ability to write is impaired (the emphasis changes, literacy suffers). Sometimes the patient does not recognize objects, does not understand their meaning. Reduced intelligence makes the patient suggestible and makes them imitate those around them in gestures, facial expressions, words.
As the disease progresses, memory is impaired more clearly, it becomes impossible to memorize new information, which affects the orientation in space. At the last stage, thinking undergoes total disintegration, absolute helplessness occurs, both physical and mental. Observations mark the onset of Pick's disease at the age of 50. It can last up to 10 years. Her prognosis is usually poor. Death comes from an infection that joins the disease.
Alzheimer's disease
A type of pre-senile dementia is Alzheimer's disease, which begins against the background of atrophy of the brain, its temporal and parietal lobes. The disease is much more common than Pick's disease, and women are more likely to be exposed to it than men. Increasing memory impairment is the onset of the disease. This change is noticed by the patients themselves, but they hide it from others. As a result, an increase in memory disorders, in some cases, lead the patient to a doctor.
Further, there is disorientation in time and place of stay, knowledge and skills are forgotten (first present, and then past), confusion occurs in the chronological chain of events, both personal and those around (the current home address is forgotten, but they remember the address where they lived in childhood and so Further). The patient ceases to recognize colors, location in space, shape, face. There comes a moment when a person does not recognize himself. His emphasis changes, he becomes erratic and asymmetric, speech is characterized by a poor vocabulary, there is no understanding of what he heard.
Over time, all life skills and habitual actions are lost: the inability to dress yourself, cook food, wipe the dust - the difficulty is observed in any action of a purposeful nature. Mood swings occur. At the last stage, gait is disturbed, convulsive seizures appear. Ultimately, the state reaches complete insanity. The cause of death is a seizure or infection.
Senile dementia
Senile dementia or blueness dementia is a disease that occurs in old age against the background of brain atrophy, which is manifested by a slow decay of mental activity, the loss of all subjective personality traits and ends with absolute dementia. The cause of the disease is currently unknown. With accuracy, we can only talk about heredity, which is confirmed by familial dementia. The disease begins to develop after 65 years of age and lasts 5 years, in some cases up to 20 years.
The disease begins with slow changes in personality characteristics, which proceed as an increase in the already existing character traits. Difficulties in thought processes are noted, the horizons are narrowed, old attachments are lost. The patient loses attitudes of moral content (shyness). The memory disorder grows even more, the late experience is forgotten first, then the early events, while the memories of childhood remain in memory. The patient is losing weight due to violations in the functions of internal organs.
The disease proceeds against the background of hallucinations (voices with threats, stories of reprisals) and delusional ideas (about poisoning, robbery, persecution) and ends with insanity. When making a diagnosis, it is necessary to exclude the presence of vascular pathologies and brain tumors. The presence of pronounced symptoms is not difficult to diagnose, and modern research methods will only confirm it.
Treatment of senile psychosis
At the moment, there are no effective methods for treating atrophic processes. In the presence of senile dementia, symptomatic remedies and appropriate care for the patient are prescribed (at the initial stage of the disease, at home, with a progressive disease - on sick leave).
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".
