Aggression and depression are two problems of modern humanity

“5 steps” technique

The fight against aggression is possible using the five-step technique, which allows you to weave in negative emotions and look at the problem from a positive side. The essence of the technique is to consistently answer certain questions in writing, describe your condition and experiences. It consists, as the name suggests, of five stages:

1. Become aware of your emotions that you encountered in the conflict;
2. Become aware of your thoughts towards yourself and towards other parties;
3. Recognize the needs and interests that were affected in the conflict issue;
4. Realize all the negative aspects of the problem;
5. Realize all the positive aspects.

The answers to all these questions will help you look at the situation constructively and find ways to relieve aggression.

Prolonged stress may also be one of the causes of aggression. In this case, of course, you need to fight not the aggressive state itself, but get rid of the root cause. Read our article and find out how to get rid of stress and worries.

How to behave if your relative has senile aggression

If an elderly person grumbles irritably or criticizes a neighbor, this does not mean that he has any serious deviations. But if he has persistent symptoms of senile aggression, then his family should seek advice from a psychiatrist .

This will most likely not be easy to do due to the patient’s distrust. You can try to convince him that he should go to a neurologist for another reason - for example, to treat insomnia. If you still can’t get him to seek help, you should invite a doctor to your home.

necessary to be very careful with this kind of patient, since senile aggression is aimed at causing harm to others or to oneself. Remove sharp objects from direct access. It is better to lock the patient with a key. Protect your loved one suffering from such an illness from irreparable actions.

Every person has a need for recognition It is biological in nature. In this regard, anyone is seriously affected by the presence or absence of attention towards him. Affection and care, love and tenderness are what can make us softer and kinder. At the same time, the absence of such manifestations will lead to increased aggressiveness and isolation of the individual.

Every individual lives in society, and he strives to be accepted by his environment. The awareness of belonging to a certain group of people gives a person a feeling of satisfaction. The need for recognition is expressed in the fact that everyone wants to belong in a certain group of people. Therefore, it is so important to show concern for the elderly and to emphasize their authority and importance in every possible way. Don't forget to compliment them and approve useful thoughts and actions.

It’s not for nothing that they say: “As old as he is small.” An elderly person needs a particularly attentive and patient attitude, as he is characterized by impulsiveness and increased sensitivity. Each old man needs his own approach, but there are certain rules that must be taken into account in any case. They are based on the principles of active perception :

• In response to the manifestation of senile aggression, one should not be offended, defend oneself, and even more so, attack;
• Phrases like this: “I understand you...” can make you angry and offend; it is preferable to use phrases like: “Apparently, it was very difficult for you...”, “I understand that you are very upset”;
• Ask if it is possible to somehow improve and correct the situation in order to alleviate the elderly person’s condition and help him; if such a question again provokes an angry reaction, return to active perception;
• Be attentive to nonverbal signs: facial expression, posture, gestures that may indicate the interlocutor's insight. Give the older person time to accept and assimilate the new thought. A little later, ask: “What do you think about all this now?”

If a person suffers from senile aggression and is hostile towards you, try to carefully monitor your speech and be sure to control your intonation . Talk to the older person in a calm and friendly voice, and try to appear convincing and trustworthy. Avoid any hint of irritation or pressure, but you shouldn't be openly coddling or showing pity either. Of course, doing this can be very difficult sometimes, but when you feel that you are close to breaking down, imagine that there is a small child in front of you who needs to tell a fairy tale, or a defenseless puppy. It is important to keep your ligaments relaxed, as well as your body as a whole.

Don't tell a person that they are behaving incorrectly . Sometimes a sick person can provoke you with his immoral actions in order to check whether you really love him and are ready to tolerate them. Therefore, try not to notice “bad” behavior by conducting dialogue in a calm and even voice.

Give the irritated person a chance to talk . Senile aggression often manifests itself in verbal form. When an elderly person scolds everything around him and grumbles, you should not interrupt him. After he speaks out, try to ask what he sees as his problem . If the answer is received, ask what he specifically wants , whether he sees any way to solve the problem. And if there is a way out, what’s stopping it? Consistent and patient questions, firstly, show your affection for the ward, and secondly, force him to think logically. In addition, the search for answers to questions slows down his emotional sphere.

Read the material on the topic: Loneliness of older people

Do not neglect an effective remedy - the “stroking” method . Everyone remembers how, in childhood, their mother stroked a bruised area and blew on her burnt finger. This reflex remains with us throughout our lives. So, already in adulthood, we unconsciously stroke a sore stomach or an aching tooth. But you can iron not only in the literal sense. A person suffering from senile aggression is also sick. But it is impossible to stroke his illness directly. However, you can “stroke” him emotionally - say something kind and affectionate. If possible, it wouldn’t hurt to physically stroke him at the moment of irritation. Try to hug the old man by the shoulders, press him to you, take his hand. Touch will convey your kind and positive attitude, helping the patient to calm down. Offer him help, switch the ward’s attention to some external action that can be done together. Let him feel your friendliness and support. If the situation allows, then it would be nice to joke to defuse the situation.

To follow all the recommendations described above, you must constantly be with the ward in person or invite a nurse. Of course, older people suffering from mental disorders require enormous patience; being with them all the time is very difficult. Because, despite your attention and diligence, the patient will still see you as a source of danger, even if this is not due to objective factors, but is only a consequence of his illness.

Not everyone is capable of such a task, so many prefer to place the patient in a nursing home or boarding house , where he will be cared for by professionals trained to interact with this type of patient.
Oddly enough, a change of environment and communication with new people who do not arouse suspicion in the patient help improve his condition. In such an institution, the patient will eat appropriately, because there he will most likely have no fear of being poisoned. Relatives and friends can visit him and keep in touch through communications. In addition, you can place a patient in a boarding house during a vacation or work trip.

Breathing exercises

The process of tracking your own breathing on a certain count and other breathing techniques will help normalize your well-being and moderate aggressiveness.

How to control aggression using breathing techniques.

1. Inhale while expanding your belly. Hold the air for a count of five. Exhale slowly. Repeat the exercise for ten minutes.
2. Take a deep breath. Then hold your breath, imagine a circle and slowly “exhale” it. Do this four times. Then, instead of a circle, imagine a square, and “exhale” it twice.
3. Imagine that there are abs inside your body, approximately at chest level. Keeping this feeling in your chest, take several short, sharp breaths. Then exhale slowly and for a long time, imagining that the press with all its weight is falling down, displacing all negative sensations from the body. At the end of the exercise, you need to sharply send your abs into the ground in your imagination with all the unpleasant emotions.

Causes of aggressive behavior in old age

Three large groups can be distinguished.

Biological:

• constant physical discomfort, pain, forced posture, poor health, general malaise;
• side effect from taking certain medications;
• external stimuli to which an elderly person is sensitive: heat or cold, drafts, noise, bright light;
• decreased hearing and vision, due to which orientation in space deteriorates, the level of anxiety and tension increases;
• • thinking disorders (delusions, hallucinations), which are accompanied by aggressive self-defense from a fictitious threat;
• dementia, in which age-related changes in brain tissue occur and a person’s behavior changes.

Social:

• loneliness, insufficient amount of communication, contact with other people;
• constant inactivity, lack of activities, interests, hobbies, regular responsibilities; the elderly person feels useless, unnecessary, and may develop protest behavior accompanied by aggression;
• mistrust of a guardian, doctor, visitor, which provokes an outbreak of aggression, may be associated with an increase in suspicion in dementia;
• reluctance to inform others about your condition, emotional problems, and health problems. An elderly person does not want to become a “burden” - he uses aggressive behavior so that relatives or doctors do not interfere in his life.

Psychological:

• gradual maladjustment and associated emotions: frustration, anxiety, fear, depression; the person realizes that he cannot cope with an increasing number of tasks; this worsens his mental state and provokes aggression;
• shyness, reluctance to accept help when washing, changing clothes, going to the toilet;
• lack of self-control, gradual loss of ideas about norms of behavior;
• strengthening of negative character traits;
• feeling of vulnerability: the outside world seems unfamiliar, threatening, and can frighten the elderly if he is maladapted;
• problems in relationships with loved ones; Aggression can be provoked by indifference on the part of relatives (usually apparent) or, on the contrary, by their concern for the health of an elderly person.

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Developing a sense of humor

Managing aggression through humor and laughter. Many people are familiar with the situation when a person is angry at someone or something. But as soon as you make him laugh, the irritation subsides, although it does not disappear completely. This suggests that laughter and humor are incompatible with overt aggression.

It is important to know that it is possible to get rid of aggression and irritability with the help of gentle humor, but there is a danger of going too far . Inappropriate or harsh humor, close to sarcasm and ridicule, can work against the person who decides to use this method. Some scientists even consider humor to be a side effect of aggression. So you should be careful, tactful and not joke about provocative topics - this can only aggravate the situation.

In the form of a victim

All this contributes to the emergence in most people of a passive-sacrificial position in life, which is characterized by the inability to manage one’s own aggressiveness and cope with someone else’s, and is also accompanied by the following main symptoms:

1.

Favorite verbs are passive ones,
not
answering the questions “what to do” and “what to do.”
Just like the person who bears these forms does not
ask himself questions about life (so what should he do to achieve his goal, what should he learn, what should he change and develop in himself), he wants it to come naturally “ it happened”, “happened”, “was lucky”, “came”, “went”.

2.

Verbs in the conditional mood (
if only, if only; if only I...; or if such and such had happened or I had...
).

3.

Verbs in the neuter gender (
it didn’t work out, it was lucky, it happened
).

4.

Verbs and participles in the passive voice (
compiled, signed, constructed
), when what is happening does not depend on the will of the speaker.

5.

Favorite ways of expressing one’s desires: insults (
a passive form of expressing aggression
), demands (
an active manipulative form, as if those around such a person should a priori
), phrases like “I
want him (she) to do something for me
”, somehow “
changed
” - in my favor, of course.
Which means: “ I want the person to want...
”.
But how can you “ want a person to want
”? This is an unobtrusive manipulation with veiled violence - replacing other people's desires with your own demands.

6.

Shifting responsibility for your decisions, actions, desires and for your life in general to someone external (
people, circumstances, fate, authorities, zodiac sign, God
).

7.

A parasitic position is the desire to “get along” at someone else’s expense, both financially and emotionally (
to live, have fun at someone else’s expense and consider this the “norm”).
It is often justified by manipulation of social and gender roles (“
well, I’m a woman, a husband, your father, older, younger, sick, etc.” and therefore I have the right to demand
).

8.

Criticism and dissatisfaction with what is happening.

9.

Blaming others for all your troubles, demonization, and then a quiet, angry resentment towards them (
passive fixation of aggression
).
Or hysterics and demands ( active hysterical fixation
), but not towards yourself.

10.

Auto-aggression or hysteria is uncultivated aggression, often unconscious and suppressed.
Up to panic attacks, increased anxiety, insomnia, teeth grinding in sleep and in reality - all these are symptoms of suppressed aggression .
It often manifests itself in the form of bad habits, increased self-trauma (
frequent injuries to the head, knees, elbows, sprained legs out of the blue, cuts to the fingers
), diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and cardiovascular system. In advanced cases, it causes depression, apathy, cancer and other intractable diseases.

Photo: pbrazauskas/ Depositphotos

11.

Pathological feeling of guilt, obligation, failure to meet other people's expectations.

12.

Lying for fear of conflict.

13.

Hypertrophied fear of hitting people and being beaten. But the logical conclusion of any conflict is ultimately physical confrontation (read: manifestation of aggression)
.
14.

The inability to refuse and the habit of getting out, making excuses and reporting.

15.

Underestimating the value and importance of one’s desires, interests and goals. Prioritizing the feelings and opinions of other people over your own. The main thing is “what people will say.”

16.

That same notorious “low self-esteem” and “lack of self-confidence.” And then neurotic compensation: expensive cars, fur coats, silicone molds and other attributes of pseudo-status (to increase and maintain one’s “market value”), as well as BDSM substitutes for real dominance and power;

17.

Poor development of heartfelt and spiritual qualities: friendliness, kindness, love, tenderness, care, joy, mercy.

To illustrate the last non-obvious criterion of the connection between aggression and emotional feelings, I will give several examples.

To be kind

, you must first become strong and capable of showing aggression. Otherwise, this is not kindness, but weakness, inability to refuse and fear of fighting back and getting one’s way. A kind person forgives and is not offended. And he can punish if he wants and deems it necessary. That is, he uses his aggression for its intended purpose.

For love

, you need to become a self-sufficient, resource-rich and holistic person. Learn, achieve, earn. Only then can you give love - it is a giving feeling, it is given out of abundance, and acquired out of need. Mentally mature, whole people love, not flawed “halves.”

Feeling of joy

- this is a feeling of unity and well-being of the world, it is a unifying, filling experience. While fear of people and unfriendliness divides and weakens.

Healthy, cultivated aggression is needed even in order to have the right to one’s opinion, to express it, to defend it. After all, sooner or later it will intersect with the opinion of someone else. And maybe someone won’t like it and may interfere with it. And this will sooner or later lead to conflict, in extreme cases - to physical conflict. And this is scary for a person who is unable to control his aggression.

That’s why he prefers not to have his own opinion and not to realize his desires. Let alone realize it, not even feel it. After all, in order to admit to yourself your desires, feel and realize them, you need courage - once you know what you want, it means you now need to do it (including showing aggression and activity to achieve your goals). And following your desires may also not please others. And again conflicts... And again many give up, choose slavery and submission, fulfilling other people's desires and serving other people's goals.

This is the dramatic mechanism of a slavish (if politically correct, then “sacrificial”) position, suppressed by fears of conflicts. There is no place for happiness in it. A person can be happy only if he lives in harmony with his

true desires (not to be confused with neuroses and physiological needs, as well as with other people’s, imposed desires and manipulations).

To do this, a person needs to be able to achieve results, set and achieve his goals.

goals, defeat rivals and competitors, protect yourself and loved ones, remove obstacles to the realization of your desires.

Sport

There are a large number of sports, but are there any among them that can help prevent aggression?

It is unlikely that you should go to a football match if you want to relax and get rid of aggression. But running a couple of kilometers, playing tennis, or training with a punching bag in the gym is quite possible. This will allow you to “let off steam” and relieve excess tension and aggressiveness. A tired body is unable to maintain aggression at the proper level for its implementation in reality .

If you notice a constant increase in aggressiveness, do sports regularly. Just don't compete with anyone! Sports aggression superimposed on unsportsmanlike anger can lead to big problems . Train alone or with a good trainer who will catch you when you start to get carried away .

Exercising can also help women during the period of life when menopause begins.

Hiking

Nature and fresh air have a calming effect on the psyche. In addition, in nature there are most often no crowds of people that contribute to increased aggressiveness.

Make outings into nature regular and habitual. While walking, you should not think about what caused your anger and irritation. Focus on your surroundings, listen to the sounds of nature, and don't let negative thoughts take over your mind .

Interesting fact

Not a single animal will “finish off” a defeated opponent who admits his weakness. A strong predator controls its aggression and simply retreats, having achieved its goal, for example, in a battle for a female or for territory. This is not typical for an aggressive person.

Experts for moms

Date added: 02/21/2018, 00:00:00
The training has ended. An adult woman, a teacher, comes up to me. A competent, successful, accomplished person. Need some advice. She is confused. Her elderly father lives with her. He is over 80. And when he was a young dad, he rarely spoiled his growing daughter with warm words. Now, having lived his life and even needing its support and help, the father behaves aggressively. And, of course, how the closest person hurts an adult daughter with words. Grievances. Unfounded claims. Insults. Aggression of elderly parents - what is it? Children, even when they become adults, even with special education, life experience and knowledge, cannot understand and perceive this state of affairs. Unkindness, aggression, shouting, and insults of a parent always destroy the health, the picture of the world, and cripple the child’s life. Always. Any age. How sad it is that there are very, very many such stories. And people living next to their aging parents don’t understand what’s happening and what to do about it? And help in such stories is greatly needed by both adult children and elderly parents.

First: it is necessary to understand that age changes a person’s psyche, creates accentuations of all his qualities. In old age and old age, our brain loses most of its ability to control the emotional-volitional sphere. A kind, caring mother will remain the same in old age, but her fears, anxieties, desire to control everything will intensify, and guardianship can turn into obsession. A person who is not kind “in life”, without learning to restrain his aggression and build respectful relationships with his family, will turn into an angry, scandalous old man who insults everyone around him. What should children do? Save yourself and save your grandchildren? Fulfill your duty to your parent, “whatever it may be,” paying for your health and family well-being? It's difficult to give advice in such serious stories. Everything is very individual. It is a parent's responsibility to always work on the relationship with their children. It is the elders in the family who are responsible for this until they lose their legal capacity.

How to deal with the behavior of an old person.

The second thing you need to understand is that it is not mom and dad who are talking to you, but old age, illness and fear. This is not a reason to fall into “self-humiliation, childhood grievances or universal shame.” And, of course, there is no reason to take unconditional responsibility for everything “that happened and didn’t happen.” It is very important to control your condition and always remain in the position of an ADULT who is talking to another, often unfamiliar, person. A parent can only hurt a CHILD. To the child who lives inside you. If you maintain the position of an adult, you will be able to understand what is really happening. In response to the most aggressive, offensive, unfair words, you can calmly say: “Yes, mommy. I see that you are upset and even angry. Don't worry. We'll fix everything. I love you too". The attack of aggression will pass one way or another. In any case, you will see that your parent feels better. And five minutes later, mom or dad no longer remembers how you were insulted or what they said to you. Your condition is completely different. Is not it? But we are adults, aren’t we? All adults need to know and understand that senile attacks of anger will appear regularly, twice a week at least! This is an emotional release for a nervous system that is losing control in a state of illness (progressive dementia, dyscirculatory encephalopathy, pathological atrophic processes in brain structures.) This is a relief for an old person. This is a defensive reaction, completing the life cycle of the brain, loss of the ability to control its socially important functions. No reason is needed for this. This does not mean that your father or mother does not love you. This means that this is the only way during their lives that they have learned to transfer their parental energy to you. It's not the children's fault. And you don't need a reason for this.

Third rule: if such processes occur in the brain structures of your elderly parents, then you must be able to understand, calmly experience and never become emotionally involved, “childishly touchy” in such “outbursts”. It is necessary to show the elderly person to doctors. First of all, a psychiatrist and neurologist. Provide behavior correctors. And always remember: “if someone is feeling very bad, then someone nearby should be mature and wise.” A “child” definitely cannot cope with this situation. Patience, support from competent specialists, love and awareness to those who are in such circumstances. Good luck

Yurlova Olga Vladimirovna Candidate of Medical Sciences, neurologist, psychologist, ultrasound doctor Business trainer Member of the European Association of Children's Neurologists (EPNS), RASM, RASUDM and RUSIAM Director of MPC "Rhythm"

Exercise “counting to 10”

The simplest way to control anger and aggression is to slowly and steadily count to ten to yourself. Take a short break with a break of a couple of seconds, and count backwards, from ten to one.

More than 9,000 people have gotten rid of their psychological problems using this technique.

You can also do addition or multiplication. Try adding two arbitrary three-digit numbers, or multiplying two two-digit numbers

The mechanism of action of this exercise is that our brain is not able to perform multidirectional actions with two hemispheres of the brain at the same time . When you start counting, the left hemisphere of the brain is activated, while the right hemisphere is responsible for emotions, which include aggression. Thus, aggressiveness is simply “turned off” for a while. The more complex the mathematical operation you perform, the more difficult it will be to return aggressiveness in full.

Reasons for aggression

Long before the first manifestations of aggression, symptoms of inappropriate behavior arise:

• ordinary frugality turns into stinginess, the patient hides money, can destroy it, not trust loved ones and at the same time easily succumb to the deception of scammers;
• suspicion, the formation of obsessions and delusions;
• fear, fear of intrigue, conspiracies of others aimed at causing harm to the health and life of the patient, which is often accompanied by refusal to take medications and food (fear of poisoning);
• excessive and inappropriate sexual activity.

From a medical point of view, aggressiveness in dementia develops due to the massive death of neurons, the loss of neuronal connections, leading to a gradual change and disintegration of the personality. Individual character traits are erased, fear and negativism appear, accompanied by emotional outbursts.

The frequency of manifestation of a particular psychotic disorder often depends on the type of dementia. Atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and psychosis, for example, are considered related. One of the pathologies in which aggression occurs most often is Alzheimer's disease.

Aggression in the structure of psychotic disorders in Alzheimer's disease

Aggression in dementia can take a verbal form: swearing, cursing, threats, raising the voice up to the point of screaming, and can be expressed physically - an increased tendency to get into fights, biting, scratching, etc. With dementia, even previously calm and not prone to aggression people show aggressive behavior. The reason for this is unmet needs or unsuccessful attempts to express one’s thoughts and desires. Patients with dementia, along with healthy members of society, need emotional communication and comfort.

Aggressive dementia can occur for biological, social, and psychological reasons. The first include:

• pain syndrome;
• disease;
• physical discomfort (hunger, constipation, forced posture);
• the appearance of external sound and visual stimuli (noise, light);
• taking certain medications, side effects of therapy;
• hallucinations, delusions requiring an aggressive response;
• visual and auditory disturbances, loss of spatial orientation, when a person is unable to independently realize his desires.

The second group includes forced loneliness, cessation of social connections, inaction, attempts to hide symptoms from others, lack of trust in loved ones, and sensory deprivation.

Psychological factors that provoke aggression include ignoring the patient’s opinion, violation of his rights, incorrect assessment on the part of the patient of the actions of caregivers, the threat of invasion of personal space (help from strangers in performing hygiene procedures). Strangers and unknown environments also provoke aggression. Attacks of aggression during dementia can also appear because a person lives in his own reality: he believes that he must perform certain actions (pick up a child from kindergarten, take a walk in the park, make tea), but they try to interfere with him or do the work for him.

Dementia, depression and psychosis are also inextricably linked. Feelings of loneliness and abandonment often push the patient to act aggressively.

More rest and sleep

Rest and sleep not only improve the general condition of the body, they give strength to restrain negative emotions, preventing them from causing aggressive reactions.

A tense person is easier to offend than a relaxed one, so rest and get enough sleep. It is important to go to bed before midnight, since sleep from 10 to 12 pm is the deepest and most beneficial for the body . You need to sleep at least 7-8 hours a day

The benefits of rest and sleep are difficult to overestimate. When treating many diseases, one of the first recommendations will be exactly this - rest and get enough sleep. This advice will also be relevant during the menopausal period.

Symptoms of aggression

Senile aggression develops and manifests itself gradually. Close people usually do not notice the “first bells”, wondering what happened to the elderly person, why he became so irritable, always dissatisfied, asks a lot of questions, or, conversely, stopped communicating with his family. It is noted that the symptoms of the disease develop much faster if a person lives alone and is not busy most of the time.

Gradually, over several years, all the symptoms of the pathology appear:

• Suspicion is one of the first symptoms of a developing disease. The patient stops trusting others, believes that they are hiding something from him, wants to harm him, place him in a hospital against his will, and so on. In the most severe cases, older people begin to accuse their loved ones of trying to poison them, take money and property, and so on.
• Jealousy - patients begin to behave like children, they demand attention, are offended by any comments, constantly call their children, insist on daily meetings, and so on.
• Greed - ordinary frugality and stinginess can turn into pathological greed. People stop buying normal food, spend money even on necessities, or start collecting wrappers, bags, or even bringing home things from garbage containers.
• Sloppiness - sloppiness in food and clothing is also a characteristic sign of psychopathological conditions in older people.
• Increased appetite – loss of the feeling of fullness and constant hunger are also common in dementia.
• Loss of orientation in everyday life - a person begins to forget what is happening to him, loses self-care skills, cannot go to the store or go anywhere on his own.
• Aggression – after all the changes described above or simultaneously with them, senile aggressiveness occurs. This condition is characterized by unexpected outbursts of aggression or constant readiness for quarrels, scandals, or even fights.

RELATED MATERIALS: Dysphoria - depressed mood

In severe mental disorders, aggressive actions can be quite dangerous; such people should not be left unsupervised, as they can cause harm to themselves and others.

Find a hobby

How to resist aggression? Every person needs some kind of outlet that makes life, if not more interesting, then at least calmer. Find such an outlet for yourself - do something in your free time. This could be something familiar that you enjoy, or something completely new. Hobbies should not be overly active; it is better to choose something relaxing and calm . It is also important that you can do this activity in a calm and comfortable environment.

Treatment

Often, relatives, faced with such changes in the moral character of a loved one, do not know how to behave and what to do, but they should not give up. You need to start by visiting a therapist, who will give referrals to a neurologist or endocrinologist. Experts will determine whether aggression in old age really has a potential danger to the psyche, analyze the causes and prescribe treatment. If necessary, you will be referred to a psychiatrist for examination.

What loved ones can do

You should pay attention to the daily routine of an elderly person. You need to try to keep him active:

• walks,
• swimming,
• communication,
• race walking,
• even a gym.

Physical activity should be discussed with a therapist and selected as appropriate as possible for your well-being.

You should also pay attention to a hobby or other activity that will captivate him and help him spend his days fruitfully.

Learn to control your emotions

How to cope with negative emotions? Sometimes you have to pay dearly for a moment of weakness. It is important to control yourself in moments of anger and tension .

How this can be done:

• A suitable method from those already listed is to take a deep breath and count to ten;
• Move around if possible - physical activity neutralizes increased adrenaline;
• Visualize a favorable outcome of the situation;
• If the aggression is directed at you (for example, the boss is shouting) and you do not want to respond with aggression in return, imagine that you are putting a glass glass on top of yourself, from which the screams bounce off;
• If you feel like you can’t hold back, mentally imagine taking water into your mouth.

Aggression and auto-aggression in mental illness

Every person has encountered aggression in his life. This phenomenon occurs quite often, and there are many opinions about it. Let's figure out which of them is true and which are prejudices.

Aggression is one of the human mental states that occurs during stress. Expressed verbally (verbally), nonverbally (body language) and physically. The reasons for aggression can be anything - from an insignificant trifle like a dead cell phone to serious stress like conflicts and moral or physical violence.

As Tatiana Obodzinskaya, a psychiatrist at PKB No. 1, tells us: “The relationship between aggression and mental disorder is a common misconception, violent actions are statistically inherent in both sick and healthy people, it’s just fear and the antipsychiatric inclination of an uneducated society that forces them to be linked together.”

Aggression is divided into two types: heteroaggression, directed at the outside world, and auto-aggression, directed at oneself. Heteroaggression is quite common. Usually people with an epileptoid excitable personality type are prone to it - they are hot-tempered and “explosive” in nature, but aggression is mainly characteristic of an unstable nervous system. Pathological aggressors prefer to solve absolutely everything by force and pressure on the interlocutor, rather than giving in or coming to a compromise. Many people believe that aggression is characteristic of schizophrenics and psychotics in general, but this is far from the case. Typically, aggression is characteristic of people with drug or alcohol addiction and some types of psychopathy, since psychopathy lacks empathy and understanding of moral standards. In schizophrenia, aggression is quite rare; for specifically schizophrenic disorders, auto-aggression is more typical. Typically, the conditions in which heteroaggression manifests itself are psychoses with a large paranoid component, psychomotor agitation and hallucinations. But in these cases, aggressive behavior is the “merit” of the disease, and not the person himself. Heteroaggression in bipolar affective disorder (manic-depressive psychosis) is more common during the manic phase than during the depressive phase, where ideas of self-blame and auto-aggressive actions may be present.

“It is believed (and this is wrong) that a manic state is always a good mood, which is accompanied by good nature and is not combined with aggressive behavior at all. But manic status often has an angry overtone (that’s what is called angry mania) with an affect of anger, irritability, and impulsiveness. Within the framework of endogenous disorders, the patient’s manic-delusional status often determines his aggressive behavior, continues Tatyana. — If we consider different mental illnesses, then aggressive behavior occurs more often in “borderline” states than in endogenous states. Thus, primary aggressive behavior to some extent is characteristic of personality disorders, which is not a disease in the generally accepted sense, especially for antisocial personality disorder, so-called sociopathy. Further, aggressive behavior is characteristic of states with altered consciousness - any type of psychosis, and aggression is more characteristic of exogenous psychoses, organic, alcoholic. A neurological or somatic background also aggravates the explosive (that is, explosive) picture.”

But auto-aggression can manifest itself both explicitly - self-harm and suicidal behavior - and hidden, veiled. Self-harm is quite common among people with mental health problems, but healthy people can also be susceptible to it. Usually these are cuts, scratching the skin with nails, pulling out hair, and cigarette burns. There is also hidden auto-aggressive behavior in the form of extreme sports, riding on the roofs of electric trains (the so-called “hooking”), and risky behavior. Saving the lives of other people at the cost of one’s own life is not considered auto-aggression. I myself am prone to self-aggression - self-cutting began at the age of 12 due to constant clashes and conflicts. I consider this a serious addiction and am looking for help from specialists, but so far, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to quit.

Accompanying self-aggression are low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and a tendency to take everything to heart. This is a kind of “cry for help” - by injuring himself, a person is trying to draw attention to his problem and find a way out of the current state of affairs.

Fritz Resch, using a painting, explained how a person suffering from attacks of auto-aggression feels and sees himself

I have bursts of self-aggression quite often. I usually take a utility knife and start cutting into my left arm - the cuts vary in depth, from very small to affecting the muscles and skin arteries. At the sight of blood and the feeling of pain, calmness and tranquility sets in, and the head begins to work more soberly. I started, as I already said, at the age of 12 - then I had a fight with someone at school, went somewhere far away, unexpectedly grabbed a knife and cut my entire left arm - from the elbow to the hand. I was scared and depressed, I thought that I was the only one so strange that no one was doing this except me. But later, having met people with the same problem, I realized that I was not alone, and this made me feel a little better, I was able to get help and support from these people, and then turned to specialists.

Fritz wrote this drawing in psychosis, which was accompanied by auto-aggressive actions

“With auto-aggression, everything is much more complicated, since aggression is part of the natural behavior of a human being, aimed at protecting oneself in the first place. Auto-aggression - to put it bluntly, these are actions against nature and the instinct of self-preservation. The disorders depend on the aspect of suicidality - suicidal auto-aggressive actions, of course, are a companion to endogenous depression, the goal of actions in such a state is suicide. Non-suicidal auto-aggressive actions are extremely diverse; they can occur both in a psychopath (demonstrative blackmail actions) and in an endogenous patient (auto-aggression as a way of protection from voices or on the orders of voices); sometimes auto-aggression occurs within the framework of obsessions (biting nails, biting lips and etc.),” the doctor also says.

I remembered one incident from my life. I have had enough situations of this kind, but this one was especially vivid in my memory. One day I was sitting at home, and my uncle came home with a bottle of cognac. He poured cognac into the glasses and said, “If you’re a man, drink it!” Well, I drank, then my uncle got drunk and came close to me, starting to say something strange, I stood on the defensive, my uncle put a knife in my hand and began shouting that I should kill him. I said that if you stuck this knife in his neck, there would be a lot of blood. Then a fight broke out, my uncle started throwing burning paper at me (portraits of my political idols were burning), then my best drawing at that time flew to the floor, I couldn’t stand it and punched my uncle in the face, because at that moment I was so angry that words cannot describe. I was very aggressive. Then we started strangling each other, my whole neck was covered in red stripes, then I hit my uncle on the top of his head and hit him in the liver, then something very cloudy happened, as a result of which I pushed my uncle into the door, he broke the glass with his hand and tore a tendon in your hand. After that, I was kicked out of the house, and my uncle went to the emergency room. After this incident, I developed post-traumatic stress disorder, which is expressed in fear of fire, fear and aggression towards my uncle, and nightmares that have not stopped for more than four years.

Thus, aggression and auto-aggression are symptoms that are inherent in a wide spectrum, and based on their presence, diagnosing the disease is extremely unproductive. Aggressive behavior in mental disorders remains poorly understood, which is of great importance in criminology and psychiatry. In any case, when assessing a patient, it is worth paying attention not only to his medical history and biological factors, but also to his character and personality traits.

Information taken from the textbook “Psychology and Psychoanalysis of Character” edited by D. Ya. Raigorodsky. - BahraKh-M, 2009. - 703 p.

Expert - psychiatrist of PKB No. 1 Tatyana Obodzinskaya.

Practice mindfulness

Correction of aggressive behavior through meditative practices of increasing awareness includes:

• Breathing practices. It is necessary to concentrate on the breathing process without interfering with it. Observation only;
• Focusing on the taste of the food you eat;
• The ability to focus on one's own feelings;
• Conscious perception of your thoughts and emotions, including negative ones.

Sometimes a person experiences unpleasant feelings that one must be able to cope with. It could be anger, hatred, aggression, jealousy. In one of our articles, you can learn how to get rid of hatred.

Causes

Ischemic processes in the brain are one of the causes of abnormal behavior in old age.
Factors that provoke the development of aggression in old age can be endogenous (changes in the functioning of organs or physiological processes) and exogenous, i.e. external (related to the environment, everyday life, communication with people, etc.).

Main reasons:

• dementia (dementia), which causes a decrease in intellectual abilities and other cognitive abnormalities;
• depressive states, emotional overload;
• abnormalities in the functioning of the endocrine system, for example, thyrotoxicosis, diabetes and others;
• improper metabolism, excess weight;
• mental disorders: sociopathy, schizophrenia and others;
• traumatic brain injuries;
• heredity or somatic diseases;
• poor quality food and poor social living conditions;
• brain tumors;
• changes in cranial hemocirculation;
• refusal to accept changes in the surrounding situation, progress, and other social conditions;
• loneliness, loss of friends, narrowing of social circles;
• lack of attention from relatives;
• depression, an opinion about a uselessly lived life, failure to complete plans, and so on.

Note. Aggressive behavior may be a sign of the development of certain diseases, for example, Pick, Alzheimer's, marasmus, or indicate the initial stages of depression.

The older a person gets, the lower the rate of metabolic processes. Against this background, many diseases develop, and the central nervous system becomes more vulnerable to stress and emotional upheaval.

As a rule, older people suffer from ischemic processes, for example, from the consequences of atherosclerosis, which causes oxygen starvation of brain cells, death of neurons and glial cells. This explains the behavior of old people. They may get upset, cry, and not follow generally accepted norms.

Pensioners are quite painfully aware of their age. They convince themselves of their uselessness, primitiveness, and weakness.

They are very worried about the inability to lead a full life in the same rhythm. This causes powerful emotional shocks that aggravate the overall situation. Aggression in this case should be considered as an outburst of accumulated fears and experiences.

Don't let passions get too intense

You should not push yourself and those around you to the emotional limit, which is followed only by aggressiveness. Stop the argument promptly. Take a break. Honestly tell your opponent that he is annoying you and offer to talk later.

Play out the conflict situation at home, in front of the mirror. Tell the mirror, as your opponent, everything you think about him and his behavior. After the anger passes, try to step into his shoes and truly understand his motivations.

What is senile aggression and why does it occur?

Senile or senile aggression is an age-related psychopathological disease that can occur in any older person. Neither he himself nor his loved ones are to blame for this - this is the most important thing that everyone who is faced with such a problem needs to understand. Having understood and accepted that the patient’s behavior is explained by illness, it will be much easier for his relatives to continue communication, provide care and deal with manifestations of aggression.

Aggression in older people can occur due to age-related changes, vascular lesions of the brain and some mental illnesses characteristic of this age period: dementia, Alzheimer's or Pick's disease.