At the same time, there are also conditions that clinically resemble neuroses, but develop according to a different mechanism. They are defined as neurosis-like and occur in many somatic diseases, infectious processes, atherosclerosis of the cerebral vessels and other pathological processes. In addition, a neurosis-like clinical picture can often be found in people with a bad character or significant shortcomings in upbringing.

The term "neurosis" has become firmly established in our life and is unknown only to an infant. There are school and retirement neuroses, neuroses of achievement and loneliness, somatogenic and ecological, as well as many other varieties of this ailment. A special group consists of the so-called noogenic neuroses associated with the loss or absence of the meaning of life in a person, value conflicts.

There is evidence that approximately every fifth neurotic case has a noogenic basis, but in reality it seems that almost every neurosis has spiritual roots. 27. Question: Who and when first introduced the term "neurosis"? The concept of "neurosis" was first proposed in 1776 by the Scottish doctor Cullen, and since then discussions about the essence of this disease, the roots of its occurrence and the mechanisms of its formation have not ceased to be less vital.

However, this does not mean, of course, that neuroses did not exist at all before Cullen; their appearance, as well as the appearance of diseases in general, occurred as a result of the fall of man. The description of neuroses is already found in the most ancient written sources of mankind. For example, the Kahun (c. 1900 B.C.) and Ebers (c. 1700 B.C.) papyri contain data on the morbid states of women, which are very reminiscent of the clinic of hysterical neurosis. 28.

Question: There are different interpretations of the concept of "neurosis". How to understand the views on this disease? Today it is difficult to find another concept in medicine, interpreted by various scientific schools so ambiguously and even contradictory. Neurotic reactions that can arise in a person after severe shocks, conflicts, somatic diseases or life troubles are very diverse.

Their symptoms are superimposed on the personality of a person, the features of his character - hence the polarity of views on this problem. At the forefront of scientific discussions are not only the issues of the systematics of neuroses, but also their very existence as a nosological (painful) form. The extreme point of view of some psychiatrists looks something like this: neurosis is normal behavior in an abnormal society.

Other opinions can be presented as follows: brain dysfunction; repression of internal conflict into the unconscious; uncompromising attitudes and dogmatic way of thinking; inability to predict a conflict and prepare for it; incorrect stereotypes of behavior, etc. Some researchers attribute the origins of neuroses to the peculiarities of human thinking, others to the pathology of emotions, still others to a violation of the process of self-knowledge, and still others to psychological immaturity and infantilism.

There are also authors who are inclined to think that neurosis is a hereditary disease. And here is another point of view: M. M. Khananashvili speaks of neurosis as a disease caused by an excess of information. In his book "Information Neuroses" he provides the following confirmations of his views: "... It is estimated that in economically developed countries, by 1970, each person on average traveled long distances during one year, met with a large number of people, received more information than a person by 1900 during his entire life... About 25% of the world's population is exposed to the influence of sharply increased information overload..."

This researcher sees the risk of developing the disease in the long-term performance of a large amount of work in conditions of lack of time and a high level of motivation (urge). Academician P. V. Simonov, on the contrary, characterizes neurosis as a disease of lack of information. Thus, in the opinion of this scientist, whose statements also seem to be justified and logical, rage, for example, compensates for the lack of information necessary for the organization of adequate behavior, fear – the lack of information for the organization of defense, grief arises in conditions of an acute shortage of information about the possibility of compensation for loss, etc.

Some authors have expressed the opinion that neurotics suffer from an inability to love. It should be emphasized that each psychological trend became consistent in the eyes of colleagues only when its representatives were able to declare their views on the problem of neurosis in a well-reasoned and new way. So, there are many points of view, but there is no clarity, science is confused.

In our opinion, this happened because neurotic pathology, among other things, has a spiritual basis, which has not been mentioned in Russian psychiatry over the past few decades. 29. Question: Explain the spiritual causes of neuroses. The unrestrained growth of neuroses in the twentieth century is generated not only by stress and scientific and technological progress with its information overloads (

which has been repeatedly pointed out by researchers), but first of all by the "progress" of the universal Fall. At all times in the history of mankind, there have been wars, various natural disasters, floods, droughts, tornadoes. And it is difficult to compare, say, to what extent the present time is more anxious and restless than, for example, the era of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Why has the problem of neuroses become so acute only in recent times?

The reason, I think, is the same – in the growing lack of faith, in the loss of humanity's spiritual foundation, and with it the true meaning of life. It turns out that the main thing in the origin of neurosis is not stress and troubles, but the personality of a person. Moreover, the person is internally upset. Sin, as the root of all evil, entails neurotic disorders. Taking place in the depths of the human spirit, it excites passions, disorganizes the will, and takes emotions and imagination out of control of consciousness.

In the words of St. Theophanes, "the inner world of a sinner is full of arbitrariness, disorder and destruction." Deep neurosis is an indicator of moral ill-health, spiritual and spiritual discord. St. Theophan the Recluse also points out that "the natural relationship of the component parts of a person should be – according to the law of subordination of the smaller to the greater, the weaker to the stronger; the body must be subordinate to the soul, the soul to the spirit, and the spirit by its nature must be immersed in God.