Lecture
The currently accepted view of neuroses is that they are psychogenic disorders of the personality (Karvasarsky B. D., 1980).
The psychogenic nature of neurosis means that it is caused by the action of mental (psychological) factors significant to the person and expressed in the form of experiences that are essential to them.
These can be described as an inner or neurotic conflict.
The connection between neurosis and a psychotraumatic situation allows it to be considered, in principle, a reversible condition
In the emergence of neuroses, what matters is not only the psychotraumatic situations themselves, but also the patient's attitude toward these circumstances.
The mechanisms of a person's psychological self-regulation prove unable to ensure adaptation to a severe life situation within normal limits when neurosis is present.
Pronounced neurotic fear or depression appears, along with somatovegetative disturbances, a painful vicious circle linking the intensity of experiences with the severity of somatovegetative disturbances, and neurotic egocentrism with a sharply expanded scope of experiences and a search for support and comfort from others.
Neurosis is a psychogenic illness without organic pathology of the brain.
A reversible disorder of mental activity caused by the effects of psychotraumatic factors, proceeding with the patient's awareness of the fact of their illness and without impairment of the reflection of the real world.
What is the difference between neurosis and psychological problems (the "norm")?
In order to speak of a disorder or illness, a somatic (vegetative) component becomes obligatory, indicating a transition from the psychological level of response (within the bounds of the norm) to a deeper, psychovegetative level.
On traumas.
V.N. Myasishchev divided psychic traumas into objectively significant and conditionally pathogenic.
objectively significant ones matter for almost everyone (death of a loved one, divorce, dismissal),
conditionally pathogenic ones become such due to the particular hierarchy of values of the given person.
Psychic trauma varies in: intensity, meaning, significance and relevance, pathogenicity, acuteness of manifestation (suddenness), duration, recurrence, and connection with premorbid personality traits.
G.K. Ushakov also noted the need to distinguish
massive (catastrophic), unexpected, shocking
a) super-relevant for the personality;
b) not relevant (public catastrophes)
situational acute, unexpected, involving the personality in many ways (loss of social prestige);
prolonged situational traumas that transform life conditions (a situation of deprivation):
a) recognized and surmountable,
b) unrecognized and insurmountable;
prolonged situational traumas leading to persistent mental overstrain (exhausting):
a) by the situation itself,
b) by an excessive level of personal aspiration in the absence of objective opportunities.
The main cause of neuroses is psychic trauma, but such a direct link is observed comparatively rarely.
The emergence of neurosis is often caused not by a direct and immediate reaction of the personality to an unfavorable situation, but by a more or less prolonged processing of the situation by the personality and an inability to adapt to new conditions.
The greater the personal predisposition, the smaller the psychic trauma sufficient for the development of neurosis.
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