Hysteria (hysterical psychopathy): symptoms, nervous illness, seizures

In the life of every parent, sooner or later there comes a time when he is faced with hysterics in a child. For some parents, this becomes a real problem: they do not understand what is the root cause of this child’s behavior and how to deal with it.

In this article we will try to understand the possible causes of children's tantrums, their symptoms, and also consider options for parental behavior in which the risk of children's hysterics can be reduced or even eliminated.

Causes of hysteria

Hysteria is a condition during which a person is unable to adequately behave and respond to external stimuli.
This behavior is demonstrative, more often reminiscent of protest and a sharp reaction to some action of another person. The main causes of hysteria:

Features of human development. It happens that a child is raised in difficult conditions or is overly spoiled. Then, hearing his parents contradict his desire, he falls into a state of severe hysteria.
Behavioral features. People with increased emotionality suffer from hysterical attacks. They do not know how to control their emotions, so it is easier for them to yell at someone than to adequately solve the problem.
Physical overexertion. It happens that a person has overworked, is mentally and physically tired and wants to rest, but others are putting pressure on him. He sleeps little (3–4 hours a day), eats irregularly, eats unhealthy foods, and refuses to exercise. Then he may not be able to stand it, and there will be an outburst of negative emotions.
Moral exhaustion. Hysteria can be the result of emotional burnout, nervous breakdown, or professional deformation. It often appears in women during PMS or menstrual periods, dieting or lack of self-esteem. The beginning may be a conflict, which soon develops into a serious scandal. Then a person really gives in to emotions and can start crying at one moment and be happy at another.

In addition, hysteria may be the initial stage of mental illness. This symptom often manifests itself in people with manic tendencies, panic attacks or vegetative-vascular neurosis.

Symptoms

Hysteria manifests itself in people during moments of emotional stress, nervous shock, general mental fatigue, as well as other traumatic situations. The characteristic features of this disorder are:

a penchant for dramatization and theatricality;
hyper-emotionality;
attracting attention to oneself (this also includes extreme preoccupation with appearance), which is associated with easy suggestibility from the environment.

Hysterics are extremely dependent on others, for the sake of whose attention they are ready to even the most eccentric actions. Their thinking is built around their Ego, which is unstable. Hence the vulnerability, the constant desire to be recognized by someone. Hysterics have learned to use their weaknesses to their advantage: for example, theatricality allows them to manipulate people.

Hysterical attacks begin with hysterical paroxysm, which follows an unpleasant experience, a quarrel, or indifference on the part of loved ones. A seizure begins with the corresponding symptoms:

Crying, laughing, screaming
Pain in the heart area
Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat)
Feeling short of air
Hysterical ball (feeling of a lump rolling up to the throat)
The patient falls, convulsions may occur
Hyperemia of the skin of the face, neck, chest
Eyes are closed (when trying to open, the patient closes them again)
Sometimes patients tear their clothes, hair, and hit their heads

Hysteria is diagnosed by doctors if at least three signs are present:

Labile and superficial emotionality.
Self-dramatism, exaggeration of the situation.
Inappropriate seductiveness.
Preoccupation with external attractiveness.
Suggestibility and susceptibility to the influence of others.
Excitement, desire to be recognized and to be the center of attention.
Tendency to be touchy.
Egocentrism.
Pretense.
The desire to manipulate others to satisfy personal desires.
Shallow and superficial emotions.
Provocative behavior.
Variability of speech.

Treatment options

It is important to learn to recognize hysteria and be able to stop it yourself. The methods are universal and consist of the following:

Don't persuade. Any persuasion or requests to calm down only aggravates the situation and irritates the patient. The actions of such a person are not always thought out; logic does not work.
Leave the premises. This is especially true for situations with children. The presence of strangers makes you want to continue the hysteria. It is better to go outside, talk to the patient and give him time to come to his senses.
Splashes of water. An excellent way to bring a person in a seizure to his senses. You need to splash a small amount of water on your face or pat your cheeks, lightly press on the painful point, etc. The main thing is to do this carefully and without much effort so as not to cause harm.
Talk calmly. In this case, it is important not to blame the person for his bad behavior and negative character traits. It is necessary to explain that since such situations happen often, you should seek help from a doctor. It is important to do this without aggression or anger, but gently and calmly.
Give me some water to drink. You can also give ammonia to smell.

If you need to stop hysterics in children aged 2–3 years, a method that will help is when the parent begins to talk to the child as if he were an adult. Explains to him why he cannot fulfill the request. Often parents say that this situation also depresses them and makes them sad, after which they present an alternative way to solve the problem. As a result, the child forgets about the offense and agrees to the proposal.

You can try to distract the baby. Ask to look out the window, show or draw something.

The easiest method is to simply hug the baby. To say that he is loved in any case, but with excessive whims he upsets his parents and makes them experience negative emotions.

Ordinary hysteria cannot be cured. This is only temporary and demonstrative behavior, so you need to fight the reasons that cause it. Psychotherapy will help with this: cognitive behavioral therapy, art therapy, and medication.

Its goal is to change a person’s behavior pattern, his type of thinking. During the healing process, people learn to understand their thoughts and analyze their actions. By the end of the course, the patient should become aware of his own condition and that it can and should be dealt with.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is done with a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. At the first session, he asks the patient leading questions:

what provoked such behavior;
why I couldn’t control my emotions;
How often do such hysterical attacks of irritation and hatred and conflicts occur?
the patient is enraged by specific people or their actions, actions, manners, etc.

At this and subsequent stages, client involvement is important. If he is not interested in treatment, you should not waste your time.

The course consists of 5–10 sessions depending on the specific situation. One consultation lasts 40–60 minutes. During the process, aspects of human behavior are discussed. It is possible to attend group classes.

Treatment consists not only of individual sessions, but also of homework. The goal of the latter is to work through their problems on their own. Understand the root causes of hysteria, learn to quickly recognize and prevent it. In this case, self-analysis is connected to cognitive behavioral therapy.

After each session, the adult patient is asked what he or she has learned about himself or his disorder. Often consultations take place in the form of role-playing games and active dialogue. This makes it possible to track progress and make a prediction whether the disorder will develop or this process may stop.

Art therapy

In psychology, this method of treatment is best for children from 3 to 10 years old. The idea is that with the help of some type of art you need to display your fears or hateful things. Allows you to understand why a child behaves in a certain way during a tantrum.

The colors that the child used in the drawing, all the lines and strokes, as well as ornaments are analyzed. The larger the size of the depicted object, the more clearly negative emotions appear.

After art therapy, you need to talk with your child. Ask to explain the drawing, what causes fear and provokes internal hysteria.

Art therapy will not cure hysteria. In psychiatry they believe that it only gives an idea of the nature of the problem, and psychoanalysis, hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy will help get rid of it. Suggestions and beliefs are used. The technique is chosen depending on the subject of hysteria.

Sedatives are one of the fastest options to recover during a hysterical attack. They have a sedative effect. Herbal medicines will help:

valerian;
St. John's wort;
chamomile;
lavender;
oak;
motherwort;
lemon balm;
mint.

Sometimes the composition may contain B vitamins, which have a beneficial effect on the central nervous system.

For increased excitability, take bromine-based medications. If hysteria happens often - tranquilizers. They relieve emotional stress and eliminate anxiety. The best among them:

"Buspirone";
"Atarax";
"Mezapam";
"Mebicar";
"Clozepid";
"Amizil";
"Phenazepam."

If the hysteria is so strong that it leads to insomnia, you need to take a sleeping pill. Sometimes chamomile or mint tea is enough.

1. Take a break. If you feel that your nervous tension is going through the roof and you are about to explode, then try to delay the time of a possible breakdown: count to ten, take a few deep breaths and exhalations, go outside or to the balcony to get some fresh air. In general, try to switch your attention to something calming.

By the way, pets are excellent helpers in the fight against hysterics. Therefore, if a quarrel with your loved one has reached its limit, it is better to start petting the cat or watching the fish in the aquarium - this calms you down.

123RF/Victor Koldunov

2. Look at yourself from the outside. If a breakdown does occur, then pull yourself together and try to imagine what you look like from the outside.

Listen to what you say to other people, and you will understand that now in their eyes you are just an angry “vixen”, uttering offensive and sometimes meaningless phrases, inadequate, with whom it is useless to talk and explain anything to her. Believe me, tomorrow you will be ashamed of your behavior in front of your superiors, colleagues or loved ones.

3. Move. During a hysteria, it’s better to start running circles around the room than to scream at someone for no reason and take your anger out on innocent people. Psychologists advise directing the aggressive energy that overwhelms you in a direction that is peaceful and harmless to others and spending it on movement.

By the way, physical activity is also a great way to relieve stress. It would be better to stand on a treadmill or lift dumbbells than to strain your vocal cords.

4. Drink water. If no one has yet managed to douse you with it, then it’s better to take a glass of water yourself and drink it to the bottom. By the way, it would be a good idea to wash your face - rinse your face with cold water to sober up your temporarily clouded mind.

123RF/avemario

1. Let it go wild. You should not persuade a person to calm down, enter into a debate with him and feel sorry for him. Any response on your part only fuels the desire to become hysterical further. It’s better to just go into another room or pretend that you don’t notice his inappropriate behavior at all. Let him calm down.

2. Take action. If you understand that a person is going too far and completely cannot control himself: he is shouting at children, throwing things, breaking dishes, then try to sober him up with some sharp and unexpected action.

You can give him a gentle slap, pinch his arm, or pour a glass of water on his head. It may seem wrong and even risky to you now, but sometimes hysteria cannot be stopped any other way.

3. Offer a sedative. It doesn’t matter whether it’s valerian or another remedy, the main thing is that it helps. By the way, if you feel that hysteria is about to happen to you, also take medication, just to be sure.

What should parents do?

How to calm a child during a tantrum

Try to prevent the onset of hysteria. Especially if you already have experience with your child’s tantrum, you can “calculate” the risks and prevent its occurrence in advance.
You should not try to stop a hysteria with severity, shouting or using physical violence. If your child does not harm himself or others during a tantrum, you can say that you are waiting until he calms down so you can talk. You should speak calmly, not loudly, but confidently.
If you haven’t had time to understand what exactly led to the hysteria, try asking leading questions: “Are you scared?!”, “Are you hurt?!”, “Do you want...?!”
Hug your child. He will feel safe, understand that he is not alone and that they will help him.

Treatment of hysterics

If all your efforts to prevent tantrums do not work and the child’s condition only worsens from time to time, you should seek help from specialists.

At the very beginning of your journey, it is better to consult a psychologist. If working with a psychologist does not bring results, then the psychologist himself can recommend other specialists, or you can make this decision yourself. A neurologist and psychotherapist, if indicated, can prescribe medication. But in the conditions of modern medicine, before starting treatment, try to consult with different specialists, listen to different points of view, and only after that make an informed decision regarding medications.

Symptoms

Each person has their own characteristics of a hysterical attack, but there are common symptoms of this condition. The first significant sign is confusion. A person does not know what to do correctly at a particular moment and cannot adequately assess the situation and make a decision. Gradually, internal tension increases, and he begins to get very nervous. As a result, the following symptoms appear:

increased sweating;
low or high blood pressure;
dizziness, lightheadedness;
feeling of nausea;
muscle weakness, which may be accompanied by cramps and trembling;
inhibited reaction, etc.

The next stage of hysteria is bouts of convulsive crying, which can abruptly turn into laughter. Usually ends with loud screams, a request for help and strong crying. Sometimes a person in such a fit tries to somehow calm himself down by saying affirmations.

The last stage - a person cannot control himself, and every day begins with sobs. He sees no meaning in life, wants to fall asleep quickly and constantly gets into conflicts.

Why does hysteria happen?

Not every person experiences hysteria. This explosion of emotions is characteristic, as a rule, of creative and excitable people. Hysteria occurs to release tension. Usually it accumulates for quite a long time. A person maintains external calm for a long time and behaves adequately. And then one day a breakdown occurs and hysteria begins.

The cause of hysteria can be a contradiction between the desire for something and the inability to satisfy it. This is especially pronounced in young children. After all, at an early age they still do not know how to control their desires.

Sometimes hysteria can be caused by an unexpected strong experience, which happens in difficult life circumstances. Often from one’s own powerlessness and inability to change anything.

Tantrums in kindergarten

All parents dread the moment when their child goes to kindergarten for the first time.

In fact, a lot depends on the parents themselves. It is important to prepare your child for this even before going to kindergarten. You can arrange role-playing games at home, tell your child about the kindergarten, about the teachers, what the rules are there. Also, do not forget to say that in kindergarten he will have many friends, new toys, and holidays.

You can go to the chosen kindergarten in advance and show it to your child and play on the playground there.

In addition, a lot depends on whether the child communicates with other children. You need to go to the park, to the playground, where there are many children, as often as possible. There children take their first steps towards acquaintance and communication.

It is necessary to take your child to kindergarten at least 1-2 months before the mother goes to work. The child must be gradually accustomed and not act like they have a baby and immediately leave. You can ask the teacher to allow him to go with him to the group, introduce him to the teachers, show him the toys, and then come up with an excuse to go away for a few minutes and mom will return.

This way, children adapt more easily and there will be no constant hysterics.

Photo: kindereducation

Features of hysteria in children

A child’s hysteria is the result of his disharmonious upbringing. It usually develops in families where parents constantly quarrel, humiliate their son or daughter, and use physical force against him. Then such behavior is a manifestation of hopelessness. The child does not know how to behave in order to correct the situation.

Another option is that the baby is the only child in a rich family. All the attention is on him, which he quickly gets used to. In the future, any refusal or prohibition causes resistance in him in the form of screams and hysterics. The child becomes demanding.

Another case is families where there are too many prohibitions and restrictions, when the child does not have the right to choose. He wants more freedom of action, which is why hysterical attacks occur.

Typical manifestations of hysteria in children:

The presence of screaming or increasing crying. This is the initial stage.
The child hits his head against the wall. Other options are rolling on the floor, jumping a lot and strongly, banging his feet on the floor, hitting his parents or other people around him.
The baby begins to scratch and bite others. May cause harm to oneself.
The appearance of seizures. This is the last stage. Usually manifests itself in the form of abnormal and severe bending of the body (“hysterical bridge”).

How to help yourself?

When a tantrum occurs, the best way out for the person who has “lost it” is to work through the situation. In other words, you should not push your hysteria inside and suppress your emotions. It’s better to throw them out and, figuratively speaking, “enjoy your hysteria.” That is, it is necessary to discharge completely.

It’s another matter if hysteria is close, but it’s not there yet. In this case, you need to switch to something, try to distract yourself. The rule here is this: the stronger the internal tension, the more powerful the method of distraction should be.

How to smooth out an impending tantrum

It happens that the mother already sees in the morning that the child is not in a good mood and 100% will be hysterical for some reason. It can be prevented by allowing the child to express his emotions in advance. And this can be done with the help of simple games.

Evil and good cats. Mother and child turn into “angry cats”, run around, scratch the sofa, bite the pillow, tear up pieces of paper. And then these “seals” become kind and begin to purr and cuddle.
Pushing the wall. Parent and child compete to see who can push the wall harder.
Throwing toys. Children often throw toys; parents do not always approve of this. For such situations, you can buy special beating toys.

Such simple games will help, if not prevent hysteria, then definitely make the outburst of emotions less violent.

Consequences

During a hysteria, a person can be dangerous to others. He does not control his actions, acts impulsively and does everything on emotions.

If tantrums occur frequently, this may become the basis for the development of more serious mental illnesses.

The weakest among them is nervous breakdowns. This is the most common result of frequent hysterical attacks. Main symptoms:

sudden mood changes several times a day;
causeless tearfulness;
prolonged apathy;
long-term depression;
excessive anxiety;
increased fatigue;
headache;
sleep disorders (insomnia);
poor appetite, etc.

Symptoms of hysteria in men

Hysteria in men is rare. This is partly explained by the fact that representatives of the stronger half of humanity try not to show their weaknesses in front of strangers. Therefore, the first signs of hysteria in men are usually detected by their wives. Husbands project their condition onto the latter, “venting” their anger.

The main symptom is a condition in which the patient obsessively tries to attract maximum attention to his personality.

Mental disorder in this group of patients develops under the influence of similar factors. An increased tendency to hysterical attacks is observed in men who grew up with frequently quarreling parents. Being formed in such conditions, a person begins to perceive such behavior as the norm.

Both physical (emotional) fatigue and jealousy can provoke a hysterical attack. At the same time, if you do not react to the man’s actions, then his condition will normalize relatively quickly.

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If you were nearby?

People around are also able to help a person who is beginning to “explode”. The main thing is to act correctly.

We need to redirect his attention. An effective way is with a slap. However, here you need to be very careful and act based on the specific situation and personality of the person. You should treat the situation calmly and not get angry. This has a calming effect on someone who is hysterical. In some cases, the method of “response aggression” can help someone.

At the same time, the person observing the hysteria should try to portray an attack. Such false hysteria distracts attention, and the person quickly calms down. It happens that the situation is too unpleasant and you can barely restrain yourself. In this case, you can use the “Chinese mirror” method. Repeat after the screamer all his actions.

If you see that he is close to inappropriate actions, you need to intervene: to protect yourself and the “hysterical” person. Remove dangerous and heavy objects from his field of vision - knives, forks, screwdrivers, figurines.

If the rebel is light in weight, you can take him to the bathroom and put him under the shower. Or apply cold to his temples - ice, frozen berries or fruits. Splash cold water on your face. Cooling down not only provides an opportunity to take your mind off what is happening. It slows down reactions and therefore holds back emotions.

If a tantrum occurs with a small child at home, then this option comes to the rescue: the child screams, and you hit yourself.

By doing so, you are showing how hurt his behavior is to you. Usually the child is surprised at the first moment, and then rushes to feel sorry for you.

Physiological causes of seizures in women

The cause of a seizure due to an excess of estrogen in the blood can be:
long-term sexual abstinence;
a certain phase of the menstrual cycle;
pregnancy;
menopause;
chronic alcohol or drug intoxication;
overstrain of the brain and body, languishing from idleness;
excess coffee “got to the head” or the consequences of a very specific cranial injury;
stress both in the family and at work.

The problems are not just yesterday, but have been accumulating for years. And now, finally, they have found a way out in such desperately uncontrollable, often public behavior, which brings colossal relief. A relief that will soon require repeating. This means that a continuation is coming “in the next episode.” Or depression and even a suicide attempt from the realization of what has been done (for not all religions and cultures allow such “unbridled” behavior). And the very movements of a body uncontrolled by the mind can lead to its death, just like during an epileptic seizure.

Consequences

Most people feel empty and confused after an emotional outburst. “When they regain consciousness,” they often have difficulty understanding what they have done. Many do not remember what they did and how they behaved at this time.

When the hysteria ends, do not be outraged by the person’s behavior, do not remind him of what happened. If necessary, give him a sedative - hawthorn infusion or a few drops of motherwort tincture. You can give him warm tea. And after that go to bed.

Polina Nikitina

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How to understand a child who cannot yet speak?

All first-time parents regret that the newborn does not come with instructions in the manufacturer's language.

In fact, crying is a kind of language of communication between the baby and the world, because it can be very diverse. Over time, each parent begins to distinguish the intonations with which the baby tries to convey information about what is bothering him. But even if this is a problem, the very presence of crying already says a lot.

When breastfeeding, the baby always responds well to feeding if everything is in order. If he cries and refuses to eat, something definitely hurts him. Perhaps it's stomach colic.

If the crying slowly increases from quiet to loud and demanding, the baby is probably hungry. And if the mother is also lost somewhere, then the crying takes on the intonations of resentment and despair.

If the crying is not too active, but restless, this usually indicates discomfort. The diaper may need to be changed. In fact, a baby can scream without a good reason, simply because he is bored, but then it is not crying, but a scream, usually intermittent and loud, like a call to get attention.

Over time, the toddler learns to let his parents know what he needs, so that in a few months any mother will become an expert in the types of children's screams, cries, expressing the whole gamut of human feelings and will know exactly how to calm a newborn child during a tantrum.

Well, a one-year-old baby is already on the verge of learning the language of his parents.