Psychasthenics are quite easy to recognize from the crowd; they are quite suspicious and anxious. They can often exaggerate situations and worry about events that may not even occur. Often psychasthenics begin their sentence or their thought with the words: “What if...” without having the slightest idea whether this “what if” will happen or not. Psychasthenics are truly modest. They are used to appreciating what they have, and do not particularly pretend to something more.
Most often, such people begin to look for signs of a particular disease in themselves because they feel that something is wrong.
A truly courageous person must show timidity when he decides to do something, must weigh all the contingencies, but when executing it, he must be courageous. Herodotus
Frodo is a typical representative of psychasthenics: timid, anxious, distrustful, conscientious
It's all about experiences
Psychasthenics worry about everyone: for themselves, for their family and friends, for friends, for others, for work.
And this anxiety affects their behavior and their lives; it seems to consume them, forcing them to refuse everything new. Because of this anxiety, they may not even travel outside the city, or even outside the country. Of course, deep down, many psychasthenics understand this, but cannot admit their fears to themselves.
It’s easier for psychasthenics when they are in a fictional world, where everything is fine, the way they want and they don’t have to solve any problems.
Treatment and prognosis
The prognosis for anancastic disorder is favorable. With proper treatment, it is possible to achieve sustainable compensation, during which anankasts live a full life.
The lack of treatment is fraught with frequent breakdowns, during which the restraining mechanisms are “switched off” and emotions hidden for a long time burst to the surface like an awakened volcano. During these periods, there may be a need for drug therapy: antipsychotics, anxiolytics, antidepressants. The basis for this type of personality disorder is psychotherapeutic treatment.
In a state of mental compensation, people with anancastic personality disorder have high professional suitability. They are considered valuable and reliable employees, experts in their field. However, they achieve labor success at the expense of family and friendships. The reason for this is their pathological perfectionism, which extends not only to work, but also to personal relationships. High demands and little time devoted to family and friends often jeopardize the relationship of anancastes with their loved ones. Therefore, during maintenance therapy for psychasthenic personality disorder, one often has to solve the problem: “How to treat perfectionism?” For this purpose, individual psychotherapy is successfully used, namely psychoanalysis, with the help of which it is possible to correct dysfunctional manifestations, make them more flexible and adaptive.
The Alliance mental health center employs qualified psychotherapists who have effective methods for diagnosing and treating anancastic personality disorder. Our specialists have many years of successful experience in this field. Thanks to an individual approach to each case, it is possible to obtain a positive effect from treatment in the shortest possible time. Competent rehabilitation and supportive therapy carried out by our doctors is the key to stable long-term compensation and a high quality of life for our patients.
Anancastic personality disorder, in the strict sense, is not a mental illness, but refers to violations of the characterological constitution. These are personality traits that were formed in childhood as a defense mechanism and accompany a person throughout his life. Therapy in this case is not aimed at eliminating certain personality traits, but at changing, mitigating and compensating them.
Calm, just calm...
Psychasthenics also cannot withstand prolonged psychological stress and stress, so their nervous system is considered weak.
Outwardly, psychasthenics are calmer than other character types. Their body movements are minimized, facial expressions and gestures too. They themselves are inactive, and generally unnoticeable to others, which is most acceptable for them.
Psychasthenics prefer to dress in gray colors and their possible shades. Also, because of their suspiciousness, they can be squeamish and timid.
Asthenoneurotic type
People with a weak nervous system who are characterized by low endurance, irritability and fatigue. They get more tired from psychological stress than from physical exertion. When working for long periods of time, they need frequent breaks; in general, they like to work at their own pace. Such people have a hard time switching from one activity to another; it is better not to distract them from the process again. Any unforeseen situations cause them irritability and anxiety. But these people are very neat and disciplined; they can spend hours doing monotonous work that does not require speed.
Heredity
Mistrust since childhood
Most often, psychasthenic character traits are inherited and do not depend on upbringing and communication with adults.
Or this type of character is developed in a child when both parents are also psychasthenics, then the child simply adopts the example of behavior from the parents.
Initially, psychasthenics perceive everything new very painfully and with caution, but if something new is inevitable, then they get used to it and it becomes easier for them.
Closedness
Timid, pushes himself into limits
Psychasthenics try to provide themselves with the minimum necessary for life and not let anyone or anything unnecessary into their lives.
It is very difficult to gain the trust of a psychasthenic, because before trusting anyone, he will study the person from head to toe.
Such people are very reserved and uncommunicative, and often analyze their actions, because it is important for them not to make a mistake.
This fear of making a mistake is always present, and what if they do something wrong, but they often cannot explain what will happen in this case.
Conformal type
People who are distinguished by their desire to live like everyone else and do not want to stand out from the crowd once again. Other people's opinions are very important to them; they try to earn the praise and approval of others. Basically, the lifestyle of such people directly depends on the society in which they live. If there are religious people around them, then the conformist will be a believer to the point of fanaticism. It is also difficult for them to change something in their lives; it is difficult to get them out of their comfort zone. Positive traits include low conflict, friendliness, loyalty and diligence.
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How to communicate with psychasthenics
Constant concern
It is very difficult to talk with people who worry about everything; any pressure from the interlocutor drives them into even greater stress and worry.
If you are forced to communicate with people of this type of personality, then try to be calm around them, do not make sudden movements, do not “press” when talking, do not insist strongly on anything.
Give them the initiative in the conversation, listen more yourself. If you want to get into the circle of trust of a psychasthenic, show sincere interest in him and his problems. But remember that they are afraid of quarrels and conflicts, since it is difficult for them to show their emotions to the people around them.
Unstable type
A complex personality type, which is characterized by irresponsibility, idleness and a tendency to addiction, for example, to alcohol, drugs, games. Such people strive for pleasure, want to constantly relax and have fun. They often have problems with work, they do not want to learn and grow professionally. This type of personality can be called a true hedonist, who sees entertainment and pleasure as the main goal of his life. Positive traits include openness and sociability.
Fear of responsibility
It is also important to know that psychasthenics avoid any responsibility that scares them.
Of course, they can take responsibility for someone or something, but at the same time they can get scared and refuse it under any pretext. But, despite this, psychasthenics are efficient and do everything that their superiors order. If you need a person who will do everything you order him and not take on serious responsibility, then feel free to hire a person with a psychasthenic type of character - he will turn out to be your indispensable assistant.
Psychasthenic type
Short
The psychasthenic type determines the tendency to introspection and reflection. Psychasthenics often hesitate when making decisions and cannot bear high demands and the burden of responsibility for themselves and others. Such subjects demonstrate accuracy and prudence; their characteristic feature is self-criticism and reliability. They usually have an even mood without sudden changes. In sex, they are often afraid of making a mistake, but in general their sex life is uneventful.
Detailed description according to A.E. Lichko
Fragment from the book “Psychopathy and Character Accentuations in Adolescents”
This type, like the asthenoneurotic one, belongs to the area of close contact between psychopathy and neurosis. A psychasthenic personality is especially prone to developing that variant of obsessive-compulsive neurosis, which in adolescents is designated as obsessive-phobic [Lichko A. E. 1979; Shevchenko Yu.S., 1979]. Following the way P. Janet (1903) described psychasthenia, most of its most famous researchers began to view it not as a neurosis, but as a character anomaly.
Psychasthenic manifestations in childhood are insignificant and are limited to timidity, fearfulness, motor clumsiness, a tendency to reason and early “intellectual interests.” Sometimes, already in childhood, obsessions are discovered, especially phobias - fear of strangers and new objects, darkness, fear of being left behind a locked door, etc. Obsessive actions and neurotic tics can be observed less often.
The critical period when the psychasthenic character develops almost in its entirety is the first grades of school. During these years, serene childhood is replaced by the first worries - the first demands for a sense of responsibility. Such demands represent one of the most sensitive blows to the psychasthenic character. In the past, perhaps the most important factor contributing to the development of psychasthenia was upbringing in conditions of “increased responsibility”, when, due to difficult living conditions, parents assigned non-childish concerns for the supervision and care of children or helpless family members, when in difficult material and living conditions a teenager and even a child had to find himself in the position of the eldest among brothers and sisters [Sukhareva G. E., 1959].
In our era of material well-being, we have had to face a different form of education in conditions of “increased responsibility.” Parents cherish too high hopes for the success of their child, demanding only excellent studies or noticeable achievements in some prestigious field for them - in music or languages, or paying tribute to some new fashion like figure skating. A child prone to psychasthenia does not remain indifferent to parental hopes, sensitively perceives these high expectations and is afraid of not justifying them, so as not to lose the fullness of parental attention and love.
Compared to other types of psychopathy, there are usually no sharp exacerbations of psychasthenia during puberty. Uniformly regulated school life, the absence of the need to independently make important decisions, the stress on the sense of responsibility that has already become familiar and easily fulfilled (learn lessons, carry out given assignments, etc.) favor satisfactory adaptation even with pronounced psychasthenic traits. Decompensations can occur again at moments of particularly high demands on a sense of responsibility, for example during exams. It is known that psychasthenia reaches its greatest peak at the age of 20-40 years; with the onset of involution, its manifestations weaken again.
The main features of the psychasthenic type of character in adolescence are indecision and a tendency to reasoning, anxious suspiciousness and love of introspection, and, finally, the ease of occurrence of obsessions - obsessive fears, concerns, actions, rituals, thoughts, ideas.
The anxious suspiciousness of a psychasthenic teenager differs from a similar trait of the asthenoneurotic and sensitive types. If the asthenoneurotic type is characterized by fear for one’s health (the hypochondriacal orientation of suspiciousness and anxiety), and the sensitive type is characterized by concern about the attitude of others, possible ridicule, gossip, unfavorable opinions about oneself (the relative orientation of suspiciousness and anxiety), then the fears and concerns of the psychasthenic are entirely are addressed to the possible, albeit unlikely, in their future (the futuristic orientation of suspiciousness and anxiety): lest something terrible and irreparable happen, lest some unforeseen misfortune happen to themselves, and even more terrible, to those close to whom they display a passionate, sometimes pathological attachment. Real dangers and hardships that have already happened are much less frightening. Among teenagers, anxiety for their mother is especially pronounced - lest she get sick and die, although her health does not inspire anyone with fear, lest she die under a vehicle or get into a disaster. If a mother is late from work or stays somewhere without warning, such a teenager cannot find a place for himself.
Specially invented signs and rituals become psychological protection against constant anxiety about the future. If, for example, when walking to school, you walk around the ECC hatches without stepping on their covers, then you “will not fail” when answering homework, exams, etc.; if you don’t touch door handles, you won’t get infected or get sick; If, whenever there is a flash of fear for your mother, you pronounce an invented spell to yourself, then nothing bad will happen to her.
Another form of defense is particularly elaborate formalism and pedantry. Consciously or subconsciously, without realizing it, the psychasthenic teenager here proceeds from the postulate that if everything is foreseen in advance and acted in strict accordance with the plan, then nothing unexpected or bad should happen. The pedantry of a psychasthenic differs from that of the epileptoid type. Behind the pedantry of an epileptoid there is always selfishness, concern for one’s own interests and well-being, and forcing others to observe an order that is beneficial to him in small things. The pedantry of a psychasthenic is far-fetched and formalistic; it does not promise him any “earthly” benefits.
Indecision in action and reasoning in a psychasthenic teenager go hand in hand. Such teenagers are strong in words, but not in actions. Any independent choice, no matter how insignificant it may be (for example, which movie to go see on Sunday), can become the subject of long and painful hesitation. However, a decision already made must be implemented immediately. Psychasthenics do not know how to wait, showing amazing impatience here.
In psychasthenic adolescents one can see a reaction of overcompensation in relation to their indecision and tendency to doubt and hesitation. This reaction is manifested in them by unexpected self-confident and categorical judgments, exaggerated decisiveness and hasty actions at moments and in circumstances when leisurely prudence and caution are required. The resulting failures further intensify indecision and doubt.
The tendency to introspection most of all extends to thinking about the motives of one’s actions and actions, and manifests itself in delving into one’s experiences and sensations.
The physical development of psychasthenics usually leaves much to be desired. Sports and all manual skills are bad for them. Typically, psychasthenic adolescents have particularly weak and clumsy arms, with stronger legs. Therefore, in sports activities, running, jumping, skiing, and cycling are easier for them. Basic manual skills (even driving a nail evenly or sharpening a pencil) are sometimes a stumbling block.
Adolescent behavioral reactions with a psychasthenic type of character are weakly expressed and peculiar. Instead of an emancipation reaction, one often sees a pathological attachment to one of the family members - in boys, more often to the mother. Perhaps this attachment is fueled by indecision and also serves as a psychological defense. The attraction to peers manifests itself in timid forms - they usually do not find a place in a teenage group, unless they are lucky enough to find themselves in the company of young intellectuals. Hobbies, as a rule, belong to the field of intellectual and aesthetic hobbies. Even the collection of teenagers of this type is more fueled by these needs than by the passion of hoarding (“I collect stamps from different countries to study geography,” said a 12-year-old boy with a psychasthenic type of character).
Sexual development usually outstrips general physical development. Intense masturbation is often observed, which becomes a source of self-remorse and symbolic prohibitions. There may also be a tendency towards transient teenage homosexuality.
All described forms of behavioral disorders (adolescent delinquency, early alcoholism, etc.) are unusual for psychasthenics. We didn’t even encounter suicidal behavior in difficult situations. The place of these violations, apparently, is completely replaced by obsessions, philosophizing and soul-searching.
Self-esteem, despite the seemingly propensity for introspection, is not always correct. There is often a tendency to find in oneself a wide variety of character traits, including diametrically opposed ones (for example, hysterical ones).
Yuri Ch., 15 years old. From a good, friendly family, the Mother is prone to overprotectiveness of her son. Since childhood, he has been shy. At the age of one and a half years, after being frightened by the vacuum cleaner being turned on, a stutter appeared. I attended a specialized kindergarten for children with speech disorders - by the age of 6, the stuttering had completely disappeared. He was shy and loved to play with girls. At the age of 7 he suffered a mild traumatic brain injury without consequences. He studied well at school and diligently, but was timid and indecisive. He was constantly worried about his mother, father, and older sister - as if something bad would happen to them. If his mother was late from work, he ran out of the house to meet her.
At the age of 12, the first obsessions appeared. After secretly reading a brochure about sexually transmitted diseases from my elders, I became afraid of contracting them and began washing my hands frequently. From the same age - masturbation. First, I washed my hands for a long time after masturbation, then - whenever “bad thoughts” appeared or to “get rid of troubles:”. From the age of 14, before finishing eight years of school, a host of other obsessions appeared. Before leaving for school, I performed a number of rituals - so as not to get an unsatisfactory grade, so that nothing bad would happen. He dressed in a strictly defined sequence, touched the light switch several times, and walked to school along a strictly defined route. He considered the number three “lucky” - a symbol of a satisfactory grade, as well as a symbol of the three people dearest to him - his mother, father and older sister. A passion for introspection appeared - he thought for a long time about the motives of his actions, desires, etc. For masturbation he subjected himself to “punishments” “—didn’t watch the program he was interested in on TV.
He was burdened by the rituals he had invented, but could not get rid of them - their implementation, in his words, provided “a release of internal tension.” He never performed rituals in front of strangers or tried to disguise them as necessary or random actions. For example, when hospitalized in a somatic hospital, instead of washing your hands frequently, you only touched the soap or the water tap.
I studied well. I talked with my comrades, but could not find a close friend. He was in love with a classmate, but tried not to show his feelings. Sometimes he even deliberately neglected communication with her. He was fond of reading classical literature and loved listening to classical music.
At the age of 15, he asked his mother to take him to a psychiatrist in order to get rid of the obsessions that tormented him and from masturbation. After rational psychotherapy and treatment with Melleril, the obsessions weakened significantly - according to the patient, “they became easy to disguise from strangers.”
Neurological, somatic and electroencephalographic examination revealed no abnormalities.
Survey using PDO. According to the objective assessment scale, a mixed - psychasthenic and sensitive - type was diagnosed. There were no signs indicating the possibility of psychopathy. Conformity is moderate, the reaction of emancipation is weak. There is high frankness in the choice of answers, which is characteristic of the psychasthenic type. No tendency towards delinquency was found. A pronounced negative attitude towards alcoholism was noted. According to the subjective assessment scale, self-esteem is insufficient: no traits of any type stand out. However, it reliably rejects the traits of the melancholic (which is often found in healthy adolescents), unstable (which is most characteristic of psychasthenic adolescents) and hyperthymic (tendency to subdepressive states) types.
Diagnosis. Obsessive-phobic neurosis against the background of psychasthenic character accentuation.
Follow-up after 2 years. I successfully completed 10 grades of school and wanted to go to university. However, before competitive exams, the obsessions intensified to such an extent that they interfered with preparation for them. I spent hours performing various rituals. After psychotherapy and treatment with Elenium, I decided to give up trying to get admitted - the obsessions almost stopped. I went to work and to the preparatory department at the institute.
With psychasthenic psychopathy, in contrast to accentuation of the same type, there are constant, although fluctuating in intensity, obsessions and phobias. Obsessions and extreme indecisiveness impair the ability to work and make communication and family adaptation extremely difficult. Hypercompensatory mechanisms also turn out to be exaggerated - impatience with a decision already made, unexpected and unnecessary categoricalness, pedantry reaching the point of caricature.
In severe cases, there is often a need to differentiate this psychopathy from obsessive-phobic syndrome with neurosis-like sluggish schizophrenia (see Chapter VII).
Psychasthenic psychopathy is most often a constitutional anomaly of character. It is possible, however, that psychopathic development is based on accentuation of the same type due to improper upbringing (conditions of increased moral responsibility, dominant hyperprotection).
The first of them is felt even in adolescence, and with dominant hyperprotection, failure more often manifests itself upon entry into independent life.
Psychasthenics at work
Integrity is a hallmark
Psychasthenics do everything on time and correctly, because they are afraid of punishment for their mistakes, they are afraid to argue with those who are stronger than them.
But there is also one thing: psychasthenics will not try to do something better, they will do everything the same, no better, no worse, because in both cases they can attract undue attention from their superiors and other work colleagues, and This is what they want least of all.
Also, psychasthenics rarely change jobs, and most likely, if you hire a person with a similar type of character as your assistant, he will serve you faithfully for a very long time.
It is also good that they are completely immersed in work and try not to participate in gatherings of other colleagues, in their conversations and conflicts. This way you can be sure that your secrets will remain secrets to others, because even if a psychasthenic talks to someone, he will be afraid to reveal your secret, because this could lead to a conflict with you.
Psychasthenics and superstitions
They believe in all sorts of amulets and amulets; for them, many things are symbolic.
Sometimes, if a psychasthenic is deprived of such an amulet, he will wilt because he will feel unprotected, his fear will intensify and panic may begin. Take such things seriously, even if you are not a superstitious person, because this is very important to your psychasthenic interlocutor, and your jokes and ridicule towards him on this matter may seem like a personal insult to him.
The fear of a psychasthenic is that something might happen, or he will be noticed, and he will be forced to change the situation, its conditions, environment. Due to constant anxious thoughts, several phobias may appear.
Psychologists recommend that if you discover psychasthenic traits in yourself, you need to be happy with what you have in life
. But at the same time, we must not forget that you can discover something new for yourself, and you should not be afraid of it. If you really have fear, just sit down and write down on a piece of paper all the pros and cons, and also calculate, if possible, all the risks of the upcoming changes and think about how you can minimize the risks and disadvantages, and what you can do to protect yourself. This way you will know what to expect and what to do about it. Then the fear will subside, or at least become minimal.
In general, it is important to work through all your fears with a psychologist, because you must understand where this fear came from. You can solve a specific problem, but if you do not eradicate the cause of fear in yourself, then it will return at the first convenient opportunity.
How to behave with a psychasthenic
If one of your family, friends and family exhibits traits of this type of character, try to behave calmly with him:
- Do not attack him with aggression and do not “show off” in front of him.
- Take his fears and problems seriously, because the psychasthenic is counting on you, you can support him, because he trusts you, and for him his fears are real and painful.
- If you laugh at him and don't take him seriously, it will hurt the person even more.
Semichaevskaya Maria · 03 Feb, 2020
