Alcoholic psychosis is a mental disorder that occurs in patients with alcohol consumption. Often, the first signs of deviation manifest themselves in the second stage of the disease and can change with the course of the disease. In this regard, the very phenomenon of alcoholic psychosis in psychiatry has several subspecies that differ from each other in manifesting signs. Let us consider in more detail what kind of pathology it is, find out what symptoms are observed in this case, and find out how the disease should be treated.
Development reasons
Alcoholic psychosis usually occurs as a result of long consumption of appropriate drinks. The cause is also a metabolic failure. True, a long experience in alcoholism is not at all necessary for the development of psychosis. If you try to derive a general list of the causes of this disorder, then it will include the following factors:
- Prolonged use of alcohol.
- The presence of a hereditary predisposition of the body.
- Social environment along with living conditions.
The category of social environment should be understood not only as a constant presence among drinking individuals, but also general mass trends. Due to the emergence of a fashion for the use of energy-based alcoholic drinks, a large number of people become susceptible to the disease of alcoholism. But it should be noted that the development of alcoholic psychosis due to inappropriate social environment is a less common case. Often the cause of disturbances in the human psyche is a drunken form of alcoholism or the presence of a predisposition to it at the genetic level.
What are the symptoms of alcoholic psychosis?
It is rather difficult to give a single list of symptoms, since each of its subspecies has its own distinctive features. Depending on the stage, the following clinic of alcoholic psychosis is observed in a patient:
- The appearance of disturbances in the rhythm of sleep. This may be accompanied by constant insomnia or intermittent and restless sleep.
- The development of a depressed state.
- The emergence of emotional apathy.
- Observation of instability in the mood. At the same time, one can notice anxiety, depression, aggression or irritability in a person’s behavior, which can suddenly change to another state for no reason.
- The appearance of hallucinations.
The manifestation of the last symptom is typical only for certain types of alcoholic psychosis. In order to understand exactly what stage these or those signs belong to, we will study them in more detail.
What is the disease?
As already mentioned above, this type of psychosis is a violation of the patient's behavior due to excessive alcohol consumption. True, depending on the alcoholic stage and the duration of the pathology, one of its subspecies is implied. Varieties included delirium tremens, alcoholic hallucinosis, depression, epilepsy, paranoid and delirium of jealousy.
Symptoms of alcoholic psychosis are difficult to confuse.
Delirium tremens development
The delirium tremens is popularly called any violation of the mental state as a result of alcoholism. In medicine, this kind of psychosis is called alcohol delirium.
They characterize it with a difficult tolerated withdrawal syndrome against the background of attempts to abruptly stop drinking alcohol or long-term abstinence from contact with alcohol. This subtype of psychosis manifests itself in a patient's sleep disturbance, and a person may also increase general nervousness and irritability, which in combination will lead to the appearance of visual hallucination.
The onset of alcoholic hallucinosis
This subtype of alcoholic psychosis develops against the background of severe withdrawal symptoms for a person, as well as a result of a long-lasting binge. The main feature that is characteristic of this type of disorder is the manifestation of auditory hallucinations in the patient, often combined with a special phenomenon - delusions of dangerous persecution.
What other symptoms and course of alcoholic psychosis are there?
The development of alcohol depression
As part of the course of a strong in its capacity withdrawal symptoms, a person develops a condition that can be characterized by alcohol depression. In this case, the patient will be in a depressed mood, and, in addition, he will be overcome by thoughts of self-destruction. Against this background, tear attacks can also occur constantly. Often this condition is combined with a mania of persecution or all kinds of conspiracies. Experts consider the development of alcoholic depression one of the most dangerous conditions, as it can even lead to suicide.
What can chronic alcohol psychoses lead to?
The development of alcoholic epilepsy
At this stage, pathology is manifested not only in the mood of the patient, but also in changes in the physical capabilities and functions of the body. Against the background of alcoholic epilepsy, the patient can suffer severe convulsive seizures. Such seizures are especially strong immediately after a sharp refusal to take alcoholic beverages before the onset of withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms and treatment of alcoholic psychosis are interconnected.
Quite often, epilepsy manifests itself as a deterioration in the general condition against delirium tremens. There were also cases in which, on the contrary, seizures occurred when the patient was in a state of extreme intoxication. First aid for the development of such seizures is, as a rule, no different from the standard algorithm of actions and techniques for epilepsy.
Convulsions occur after the cessation of libation, which negatively affects the possibility of treatment. But with a sufficient period of abstinence from alcohol, seizures can pass on their own without the return of another epilepsy.
Alcoholic paranoid
A mental disorder called an alcoholic paranoid develops in patients with experiencing a strong withdrawal syndrome, as well as due to prolonged ongoing binge. With his onset, a person is overcome by a strong nonsense, the essence of which, as a rule, is in the formation of an idea related to persecution or adultery. In such a situation, patients are able in every person who is nearby to consider their personal enemy, who encroaches on their property or honor.
Patients in the state of alcoholic paranoid most of the time confused and even somewhat scared. But such a mood can be quickly replaced by aggression or animal fear, which can be accompanied by flight, an attack on people, or requests for all kinds of help addressed to law enforcement agencies.
The appearance of alcoholic delirium of jealousy
Staying in an alcoholic delirium of jealousy in most situations is typical only for male patients. With women, such a mental disorder is quite rare. In addition, it was noted that this subspecies of psychosis has its own age group. It mainly occurs in men who have reached the age of forty years and above.
This violation manifests itself in the form of dissatisfaction with the attitude of the second half. In particular, the spouse can be accused of being cold and inattentive. Against this background, the patient begins to think up that the spouse is actively communicating with a person of the opposite sex. In such a state, suspicions of infidelity arise very quickly, and any men who are next to a woman can be considered as candidates for lovers. At the same time, the patient perceives relatives as accomplices covering his wife’s infidelity.
As soon as alcoholic delirium of jealousy arises, a person becomes suspicious and overly aggressive. This can especially be manifested in relation to his wife. The patient will be annoyed by the behavior, and, in addition, the appearance of the second half, he will begin to control her movement along with her social circle. The patient's mood can dramatically change to aggressive behavior, up to and including cases of assault.
The varieties of psychosis described above form the main base, but do not provide an exhaustive list of all types of the presented disorder. Also, each of these conditions has two forms of flow: acute and chronic. Chronic alcoholic type of psychosis often occurs with a constant drunken nature of the disease. The acute form is characteristic of a state of abrupt cessation of alcohol intake and the development of withdrawal symptoms.
Alcoholic psychosis: treatment
Symptoms, and in addition, the treatment of any mental disorder, including alcohol, are closely related. Depending on the stage of development of the disease, the pattern of withdrawal of the patient from hard drinking along with the intensity of the course will change. What needs to be done first? Let's see below.
The best treatment for alcoholic psychosis is a combination of infusion therapy with psychotropic drugs along with nootropic medicines and a course of vitamins. In order to avoid any complications, treatment should be carried out in a hospital, where each medicine will be strictly dosed by trained and qualified personnel.
The consequences of the continued development of alcoholic psychosis may be different. Depending on the type of disorder, the patient can be dangerous for himself, and in addition, for people around him. There are often situations when in a state of alcoholic psychosis, others received serious injuries, which subsequently led to death.
In this regard, the manifestation of any change in the patient's behavior should be perceived carefully and with responsibility. The sooner treatment is started, the faster it will be possible to eliminate the disorder. Of course, getting rid of the disease will not play any role if the abuse of harmful drinks cannot be stopped.
What to do with acute alcoholic psychosis?
What measures are taken during treatment?
To develop the necessary treatment tactics, specialists first need to correctly diagnose the patient's condition. For these purposes, as a rule, to begin with, they invite a narcologist to the house. Further therapy occurs according to the following scheme:
- At the initial stage, the patient receives drugs that help get rid of toxins. Medical devices allow with the minimum loss for the body to remove the products of ethanol metabolism.
- Next, the implementation of the restoration of water-electrolyte balance is carried out along with the correction of metabolic disorders.
- In parallel, if the patient’s condition allows, treatment of concomitant somatic pathologies is carried out for him , and, in addition, measures related to the prevention of complications are developed.
- Rehabilitation of a patient requires not only pharmacological type of support, but also psychological assistance.
Drugs for the treatment of ailment
As part of the treatment of alcoholic psychosis, the following groups of pharmacological agents are used:
- For detoxification, electrolyte solutions are introduced along with glucose and magnesium sulfate.
- Diuretic drugs.
- Among enterosorbents, Rekitsen-RD and Enterosgel are used.
- It is advisable to use sedatives, and in more severe cases, antidepressants in the form of "Afobazole" and "Cipralex" are used.
- The treatment with antioxidants is “Glycine” with “Limontar” and “Yantavit”.
- Hepatoprotectors are: "Hepatofalk" along with "Silibinin" and "Hepabene."
- Of the tranquilizers used "Bromazepam" with "Diazepam."
- Antipsychotics such as Clozapine along with Droperidol and Metophenazine are also used.
- Nootropics are also used, for example, “Piracetam” with “Gutamine” and “Euclidan”.
- Equally important is the use of vitamin complexes of groups B, C, K and PP.
What is the prognosis for alcoholic psychosis?
The consequences of this pathology
Far from always dependent on alcohol, people manage to recover from a psychosis. The most common consequences that develop even against the background of refusal to take alcohol are the following negative signs:
- A marked decrease in mental abilities.
- The difficulty of remembering new information and, as a consequence, memory problems.
- Patients observe simple and primitive mental activity.
- Total or partial disability.
- Severe degradation of personality.
- Psychosis becomes chronic.
- Alcoholic epilepsy develops.
Thus, the disease is an extremely serious violation of mental activity, which requires not only timely treatment, but also a guaranteed rejection of alcohol.
We examined the symptoms, course and prognosis of alcoholic psychosis.