Among the many personality disorders a special place occupies emotional lability syndrome.
At first glance, this is not a disease, patients do not look crazy.
Ambient perceive them as simple very emotional people. However, this psycho-emotional disorder is a serious problem both for the patient himself and for his relatives.
Concept definition
Emotionally labile - what does it mean?
By emotional lability understand psychopathic condition in which the patient has increased emotional reactions to a weak stimulus.
The word "labile" means "unstable", "mobile".
In medicine, they are denoted by reaction rate in nerve cellsarising in response to external stimuli.
From the point of view of psychology and psychiatry, high lability is a syndrome in which the patient reacts inadequately to familiar things.
Such patients are characterized by: tearfulness, irritability, manifestations of aggression, depression, joy. At the peak of emotions, a person ceases to control himself.
The disease occurs in 2-4% of people.Most of them are children and elderly. The disease may be primary, that is, a manifestation of personality disorder, and secondary, arising from endocrine disorders, pathology of brain vessels, heart disease.
Kinds
From the point of view of the root causes of the following types of disorders:
Organic type
Pathology develops after severe somatic diseases. For example:
- neuroinfection (meningitis, encephalitis);
- head injuries;
- brain tumors;
- severe pregnancy and childbirth;
- epilepsy;
- stroke;
- chemical poisoning.
The main reason - organic changes in the brain. A focus of excitation is formed there, in which a kind of flash occurs. A person has symptoms such as:
- uncontrollable emotions, sometimes for no apparent reason;
- emotions are mostly negative (anger, anger, irritability).
- in addition to an increased emotional reaction, the patient also has physical manifestations:
- headache, dizziness;
- tinnitus, nausea;
- high blood pressure;
- sensitivity to light and sounds;
- inadequate pain response to touching the skin.
This indicates organic brain damage.
Asthenic type
This disorder can develop due to both organic brain damage and on the background of mental disorders.
Asthenic syndrome is manifested in mental depletion.
A person loses the ability to withstand the usual physical and emotional stress. If the disease has developed due to prolonged stress, then it is called "neurasthenia."
This condition is necessary distinguish from ordinary tiredness or weakness after illness. With normal weakness, the body recovers as it recovers, strength returns, and the patient’s condition improves.
When asthenic syndrome does not operate any familiar methods in the form of rest, sleep, good nutrition. The patient feels equally bad at any time of the day.
The main manifestations are:
- the constant feeling of fatigue that occurs immediately after waking up;
- the inability to perform normal work for 2-3 hours;
- irritability, depression;
- sleeplessness at night and sleepiness by day;
- headaches and muscle aches;
- tachycardia, pressure surges.
Asthenic disorder is of two types: hyposthenic and hypersthenic.
In the first case, symptoms of fatigue, depression, and retardation prevail.
In the second, the patient is constantly in emotional arousal, he reacts aggressively to those around him, shows anger, screams.
Characteristics of labile personality type
Psychiatrists distinguish the following diagnostic criteriaby which you can identify an emotionally labile person:
- Stay in a state of negative, irritability, which often translate into bouts of aggression.
- Intransigence, revenge, rancor.
- The inability to work for a long time in one team due to constant conflicts with colleagues.
- The desire for leadership in the absence of relevant abilities.
- Conflict in the family, the use of violence.
- Often such people become addicted to alcohol, drugs, commit crimes.
- Children and adolescents do not study well at school, although their intellectual abilities are age appropriate.
- Permanent life changes in personal life: from stormy passionate relationships to ugly partings.
- Small children are constantly being hysterical in society, fighting, not responding to comments.
The reasons
The main cause of increased emotional lability in children and adults, doctors call imbalance between the processes of excitation and inhibition in the nervous system.
The transmission of nerve impulses is accelerated in the brain, which causes an inadequate emotional response.
The content of the experiences correspond to the situation. For example, the child reacts to the usual remark. uncontrollable tantrum.
Provocative factors for the development of the disease are:
- Psychotraumatic situations. So the psyche reacts to an unexpected event in life, for example, to the death of a loved one, divorce, etc.
- Prolonged stress. The body loses the ability to self-regulation, so there is a mobility of the psyche.
This is usually preceded by: lack of sleep, conflicts, excessive exercise.
- Pathology of the endocrine system. The lack of one and the excess of other hormones affect the areas of the brain that regulate the processes of inhibition and arousal. Often the disease occurs during puberty, during pregnancy, menopause, thyroid disease, and diabetes.
- Cardiovascular diseases: atherosclerosis, hypertension, VVD. In these diseases, the blood supply to the brain is impaired.
- Neurological pathologies: NMP, tumors, neuroinfection, epilepsy. Organic brain damage occurs.
- Diseases of the psyche. Emotional lability is associated with such diseases as: schizophrenia, psychopathy, dementia, Alzheimer's disease.
- Complicated pregnancy, childbirth. Children suffering from hypoxia or premature babies are particularly affected.
Symptoms
The main clinical manifestation of lability is mood swings. They are expressed in the following symptoms:
- Sharp change of emotions from violent joy to depression.
- Crying, apathy, hypochondria.
- Unreasonable flashes of aggression, anger, until the manifestation of physical strength.
- The inability to control the behavior, the lack of perception of the surrounding reality at the time of the attack.
- Poor perception of criticism, suspiciousness, suspicion.
- Performing actions under the influence of momentary emotions: divorce, job change.
- Exposure to addictions: alcohol, gambling, drugs.
- Rapid fatigue, poor working ability, restlessness.
- Unreasonable headaches, muscle aches, dizziness, insomnia.
Patients reside in state of increased emotional stressConflict with others.
Often they are left alone due to the fact that they can not establish interpersonal relationships. Subsequently, these people have thoughts of suicide.
Against the background of chronic fatigue, heart and vascular diseases develop, hormonal disorders can begin. Such patients are not aware of their problems., blame anyone for all troubles, but not themselves.
If they are not helped in time, then mental disorders can begin to develop.
Coping methods
Before starting treatment it is important to accurately establish the diagnosis. The patient will need a consultation with a psychotherapist, an endocrinologist, a cardiologist and a neurologist. The psychologist conducts a conversation with the patient, uses special tests.
If the root cause of lability is a somatic disease, then it is necessary to start treatment with it. Usually the condition of patients improves. Special treatments include drug and psychotherapy.
Drug therapy involves the appointment of the following groups of drugs:
- Neuroleptics in small doses (Haloperidol, Neuleptil). They remove excessive irritability, tearfulness, aggression.
- Antidepressants (fluoxetine, fluvoxamine). They reduce anxiety, normalize mood, improve sleep.
- Sedatives (carbamazepine) are used to correct emotional instability.
- Nootorope (Cinnarizine, Mexidol). They improve cerebral circulation, reduce the manifestations of hypoxia.
Psychotherapy includes individual and group classes. On an individual patient performs tasks aimed at getting rid of internal fears, learns to control his body and reactions. Apply art therapy, relaxation sessions.
In group classes, patients learn to interact with others, to conduct a dialogue adequately, to perceive criticism correctly.
It is necessary to learn how to get out of conflict situations, to acquire the skills of self-relaxation.
The psychotherapist also talks with the relatives of the patient, talks about the causes of the disease, advises how to respond to his stormy manifestations.
Since emotional lability is associated with stress, the patient needs rest. It is recommended to take a vacation, go to the resort, do your favorite thing. It is important to create a favorable psychological environment around the person.
Subject to all recommendations of the doctor succeeds improve the patient's condition even in very severe cases.
Prophylaxis pathology is the normalization of work and rest, the avoidance of stressful situations, maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Be sure to alternate mental load with moderate physical activity. Useful walks in the fresh air, meeting with friends, changing the situation. Equally important is normal long sleep, good nutrition.
The syndrome of emotional lability is much more common than it seems. Simply, he often remains without treatment, as others believe that a person is simply a bad temper and there is no upbringing.
However, it is a rather dangerous disease that cannot be ignored. Even if the person himself is not aware of his problem, relatives should convince him to consult a specialist.
About emotional lability in this video:
