Exacerbation of hearing causes. Traditional treatment of ear diseases

With the appearance of various noises in the ears, accompanied by dizziness, you need to contact a specialist who can establish the root cause of the condition and begin to treat it, which will help to avoid further functional disorders the patient's body.

Types and causes

How do patients describe murmurs?

Before visiting a specialist, the patient needs to decide what kind of noise bothers him:

• monotonous noise - hissing, whistling, hum, wheezing, clear ringing;

• complex noise - dull ringing, extraneous voices, musical motives. Such noises can be attributed to the consequence drug overdose, mental disorders, sound hallucinations.

Tinnitus is divided into:

• subjective, which is heard exclusively by the patient;
• objective, which can be heard both by the patient himself and by strangers.

Possible diseases

There are a number of diseases, one of the signs of which are dizziness and tinnitus. With such pathologies, the patient may experience additional symptoms, including:

Such pathologies include:

ENT diseases

Pathologies of the ENT organs are considered a common cause of the appearance of noise in the shah.

Otolaryngological pathologies in which a person hears noise and feels dizzy include:

Inflammatory process in the inner ear, which is characterized by hearing loss, stuffy ears. When moving the head, the patient begins to hear a dull hum and feel a slight dizziness.

Tympanic membrane disorder

Damage to this organ can be triggered by trauma, skull fractures, mechanical impact of foreign objects and bodies, and a sharp loud sound. In this condition, the patient has stuffy ears, a loud whistling in the ears, sharp pain and a significant hearing loss.

Otosclerosis

Patients complain of hearing loss, tinnitus (some patients hear a hum, some complain of crackling), dizziness, weakness and psycho-emotional disorders.

Miner's syndrome

When disease occurs, dysfunction occurs inner ear, which is responsible for maintaining a person's balance. Patients suffering from these diseases hear a clear ringing and constant hissing.

High blood pressure

With a strong increase in blood pressure, blood flows to the inner ear unevenly. As a result of this, the nerve endings concentrated inside the organ are excited, which leads to the appearance of a symptom. As a rule, such a state is observed during a period of a sharp pressure jump and is manifested by the following symptoms:

• sensation of a muffled sound in the ears;
• headache;
• dizziness;
• nausea and vomiting;
• heart pain;
• muscle pain;
• convulsions and loss of consciousness.

High intracranial pressure

When the pressure inside the skull rises, it interferes with the normal functioning of the brain, which is manifested by the presence of a dull ringing in the ears. There is severe fatigue and general weakness, dizziness, migraine, nausea.

Migraine

Another reason why a patient has tinnitus, similar to the roar of an airplane, is a migraine. Migraine is also characterized by dizziness, headache, congestion in the ears, light and sound phobia.

Circulatory disorders in the brain

Most of the attacks of loud tinnitus occur in diseases associated with impaired cerebral circulation:

• atherosclerosis, which is characterized by the formation of cholesterol plaques on the arterial walls that impair their patency;
• thrombus formation;
• diabetes;
• head injury;
• tumors and intracerebral bleeding.

Pathologies of the spine

With cervical osteochondrosis, there is a violation in the transport of oxygen and nutrition to the brain due to compression of the arteries, which causes a variety of disorders. In addition to noise, the pathology is characterized by headache, unsteady gait, dizziness, visual disturbances, weakness of the upper limbs.

How to quickly, effectively and safely help yourself recover from cervical osteochondrosis, using folk remedies that have been proven for centuries, read in this article.

Other reasons

Noise that a person can hear in only one ear, and accompanied by partial, complete hearing loss or, conversely, sensitivity to any sound, may indicate the following pathologies:

Tumors

It happens that tinnitus, pain and dizziness are symptoms of an oncological disease, namely a brain tumor. This pathology has additional symptoms, in the form of drowsiness, nausea and profuse vomiting, a rupture in the labyrinth membrane, which leads to the ingress of fluid from the inner ear into the middle ear. Patients note congestion and whistling (hissing) noise in one ear.

Multiple sclerosis

A disease that affects people. The disease is characterized by the destruction of the myelin sheath of nerve fibers, which leads to a slowdown in the transmission of signals along the nerves. The audible noise accompanies the patient constantly and resembles a quiet whistle or hum.

Depression and neuroses

Often, neurotic disorders, depressive states, overwork are manifested by symptoms similar to more serious pathologies. So, for example, patients complain of stuffy ears, ringing in one ear, blurred consciousness, dizziness, general weakness. It is very important to determine the causes that caused these signs in order not to treat a patient for a disease that does not actually exist.

Some medicines

The sensation of tinnitus can be caused by the use of certain medications. Medicines that have an ototoxic effect on the body include:

pills and substances that have a negative effect on the central nervous system - antidepressants, marijuana, lithium, caffeine, aminofillin, halopiredol;

anti-inflammatory tablets - Prednisolone, Mefevamic acid, Zamepirak, Salicylate, Naproxen, Quinine, Indomethacin;

diuretics - ethacrynic acid, furosemide

heart drugs - B-blockers, Digitalis

antibacterial drugs - Sulfanilamide, Aminoglycoside, Tetracycline, Clindamycin, Vibramycin, Dapsone, Metronidazole.

Traditional treatment of ear diseases

Non-drug treatment

It is possible to save the patient from such an obsessive symptom, both with medication and without resorting to the help of drugs. The second method includes:

Medical treatment

Treatment of tinnitus is based on ridding the patient of the cause that caused this sign. Only a specialist can prescribe tablets (or other forms of release), calculate the dosage and frequency of administration, based on diagnostic data and a personal conversation with the patient. As a rule, people with such complaints are recommended pills that have a noise-suppressing effect, improve blood microcirculation in the brain and inner ear.

The most common of these drugs are:

Herbal preparation, the action of which is aimed at improving cerebral circulation.

Tablets are recommended for cognitive and neurosensory deficits (except for Alzheimer's disease and dementia), visual impairment due to vascular pathologies, noise, congestion in the ears, dizziness and loss of coordination, Raynaud's syndrome.

It is not recommended for use by persons with hypersensitivity to the drug, with diseases of the digestive system in the acute stage, with reduced blood clotting, during the recovery period after a heart attack, as well as during pregnancy and lactation.

Betaserc

A drug to improve blood microcirculation in the brain.

Tablets are indicated for various vestibular vertigo, Miner's syndrome, conditions characterized by vestibular disorders, pain, tinnitus, hearing loss.

Contraindicated in pheochromocytoma, gastric and duodenal ulcers, as well as hypersensitivity.

Trental

A drug that improves cerebral circulation.

Contraindicated in major bleeding acute infarction myocardium, hypersensitivity to the main components, pregnancy and lactation, as well as patients under 18 years of age.

Vasobral

Combined drug that has a stimulating effect on the CNS receptors. Improves blood circulation and metabolic processes in the brain.

Contraindications for use are hypersensitivity to the components, pregnancy and lactation.

Which doctors can help?

With the appearance of tinnitus, which occurs along with dizziness, it is necessary to contact a neurologist, otolaryngologist, otoneurologist. Only a specialist can find out the causes and prescribe adequate treatment.

What examinations are needed

To accurately determine the cause that caused this symptom, the patient must undergo the following diagnostic methods:

Ultrasound examination (ultrasound) of the arteries

This diagnostic method is aimed at detecting the cause in the form of obstructions in blood flow to the brain, which lead to cerebral vascular diseases.

Examination of the functions of the auditory nerves

The method is aimed at identifying diseases of an otolaryngological nature, the causes of tinnitus.

MRI or CT

Magnetic resonance or computed tomography makes it possible to more extensively examine the tissues of the brain and / or inner ear to determine inflammatory processes. Such diagnostics also makes it possible to identify various anomalies on the initial stages, which makes it possible to accept timely decision about the necessary treatment.

G.I. Yakovlev. Psychosomatics in the practice of a therapist

Asthenic syndrome

Asthenia - condition fatigue With frequent change mood, irritable weakness, exhaustion, hyperesthesia, tearfulness, autonomic disorders and sleep disorders. This is how psychiatrists briefly characterize this symptom complex.

Probably the most common syndrome in the practice of a therapist, especially since any indefinite weakness and the resulting discomfort of trouble is disturbing and always gives rise to the patient's need to find out "what's inside." Low specificity, multiformity of manifestations, polymorphism of the soil of occurrence represent a rather difficult task when deciding what is primary, what is secondary and in what order to treat. Even if the diagnosis of the disease itself is established, the sequence of medical measures, depending on the algorithm of diagnostic assessments, will determine the speed and effectiveness of recovery or compensation for the patient.

Asthenic syndrome can be a personality trait - psychasthenia (asthenic psychopathy); a symptom of a mental illness (for example, schizophrenia), when other, more often deficient symptoms are detected at the same time; a sign of neurasthenia - neurosis with obligate (main, main) asthenic syndrome; one of the properties of the psychoorganic syndrome is neurosis-like symptoms in various encephalopathies (vascular, traumatic, toxic, etc.); concomitant complex with various pathogenic exogenous influences; be one of the inclusions in the picture of predominantly endogenous diseases, etc.

In structure asthenic syndrome the three most pronounced moments are always highlighted when examining patients.

Lowering the sensitivity threshold causes a subjective heightened perception of exogenous and endogenous signals. The variety of manifestations is due to the fact that these changes in various systems have varying degrees of expression. In certain areas, sensitivity can be so increased that the patient begins to suffer under the action of ordinary stimuli. Painful exacerbation of hearing interferes with rest, because. the patient suddenly begins to hear the actions of neighbors two floors above, or ordinary daylight when going outside causes pain in the eyes and lacrimation, a sense of smell "like a dog" appears. At the same time, rapid fatigue increases. When trying to read through a short time the letters begin to merge, what is read is not assimilated, there is a feeling of heaviness, dullness in the head with a headache. These phenomena are sharply enhanced when reading special literature, and an interesting detective story can be read without complications (a feature of partial manifestations in neurasthenia concerns all sense organs). An increase in auditory sensitivity (hyperacusia) is accompanied by noise, a buzz in the head, dizziness, headache, intolerance to loud and even ordinary sudden sounds, which is accompanied by a deterioration in general well-being. Of the other disorders of sensitivity, the most constant are hyperalgia, hyperesthesia, paresthesia. Hyperalgia of various localizations are more common. These are muscle pains of the type of various myalgias (limbs, chest, spine), arthralgias in large and small joints without signs of inflammation or degenerative changes, limited pains (in the heel, in the foot in the arm), various pains in the abdominal cavity, pain in the heart area, headaches. They can be different localization and coloring: in the region of the crown, forehead, occiput, wear burning, stabbing, pressing, dull and sharp shades. Headache is often combined with dizziness, which the patient perceives as an imbalance occurring with him, body position, swaying, often with fear of falling. Severe manifestations are sometimes accompanied by nausea and even a single intermittent vomiting. Muscle tone is usually reduced, which is accompanied by a feeling of lethargy, weakness, decreased physical activity and ability. With fatigue or tension, a tremor of the limbs occurs, which sharply increases with emotional stress and unrest.

Vegetative lability is most pronounced in the form of vasomotor disorders. Various variants of unstable, inadequate situation changes in blood pressure from hypotension to hypertension, even of a significant level, easily arise and are recorded by the doctor. Quite often, heart rhythm disturbances in the form of tachycardia (bradycardia also occurs), unstable extrasystole, which is more often disturbing and more pronounced at rest and stops after a slight physical exertion in the form of ordinary squats. Patients complain of darkening in the eyes with dizziness, palpitations, especially when changing the position of the body from horizontal to vertical, with premature awakening; sensations of pulsation of blood vessels in the back of the head, in the temples. There is a slight change in the color of the skin of the face from blanching to redness at the mere thought of any tension, a fairly stable change in the color of the skin of the extremities: cyanotic marbling appears with a feeling of constant chilliness even in the warm season. Last years more often violations of thermoregulation began to be observed in the form of subfebrile condition, at first fixed by a certain time of day, and then randomly arising as body temperature was measured.

"Purely" autonomic disorders smoothly transition and are combined with somatic disorders. Various side effects gastrointestinal tract as dyspeptic disorders and disorders of the digestive system. Disorders of the pancreas, gastric secretion and motility lead to the appearance of an acute feeling of hunger with muscle trembling and feeling of lightheadedness, symptoms characteristic of hypoglycemic conditions; in other cases, to anorexia with hyposalivation, difficulty in chewing and swallowing. Typical sensations of pressure in the stomach, fullness after eating, eructations such as aerophagia, pain, constipation with sudden diarrhea, etc. Often, irritative gastritis is detected, and sigmoidoscopy can reveal multiple superficial ulcerations of the intestinal mucosa.

Excessive sweating is well known. Cold wet palms, profuse sweating of the forehead, head with little emotional or physical stress, nocturnal hyperhidrosis of the head, neck - frequent complaints in the practice of a therapist.

episodes of polyuria frequent urination(through min), weakness and intermittency of the urine stream with a difficult onset of the act of urination more often in an unfamiliar environment or uncontrollable urges in situations of emotional stress and excitement also refer to dysregulation.

An almost constant component of asthenic syndrome is sleep disturbance from drowsiness to insomnia of varying severity. It manifests itself in the form of difficult extended falling asleep, anxious, intermittent superficial sleep with early awakenings and a desire to sleep if necessary to get up. A night's sleep does not bring vivacity and increase efficiency, moreover, it takes time to overcome weakness, adynamia, often a feeling of apathy with constant internal struggle according to the principle "I need to work, I must, I will not give in." After a few hours of this mood, the working capacity is partially restored, by the evening there is a revival and even a surge of strength. However, work is less productive, it requires additional time to complete, lengthening the working day, shortening rest, and in the evening again dissatisfaction and anxiety about what has not been done and annoyance with oneself again ends in difficult falling asleep.

All this is accompanied increased irritability, incontinence, emotional instability. Emotional reactions are inadequate to the strength of irritation, there is impatience, poor tolerance of expectations, increased excitability and at the same time weakness, exhaustion. Hypochondriacal, depressive, phobic disorders often join asthenia.

In the development of asthenic syndrome in neurosis, it is fundamentally important to find out the motives that gave rise to it. Often the basis is a system of relations between the "I" and the environment, which leads to a conflict with the development of the syndrome. So, for example, in neurasthenia, the accentuation is based on the motive of excessive demands on oneself, which significantly exceeds the needs of the environment. It is this kind of exaggerated pedantry, a sense of duty, commitment that supports the already existing tension and anxiety of character. For such a person, depressing feelings are common about the fact that in a well-prepared report or report on one of the pages there is a trace of a sweaty finger; the tailor is worried about the fact that the lining of the sleeve at the level of the elbow has a defect in the pattern of the fabric; the hostess - a pedant of cleanliness - after a thorough cleaning of the apartment, puts a white ironed starched rag in front of the door to wipe her feet.

Concomitant anxiety after the slightest seeming failure or tough situation deprives such people of peace for a long time. They endlessly replay what they have experienced in their thoughts and synthesize various options of how to act, what to say, blaming themselves for the lack of determination, resourcefulness, which they really are not developed. Mental discussions are sometimes accompanied by the same intense experiences as in reality, with corresponding physiological reactions.

The opposite picture can also be observed, when a person from external environment requires much more than is possible, significantly downplaying the requirements for oneself and one's self. This is typical for hysterical forms of relationships. The conviction that he was underestimated, his merits were ignored, they were not specifically allowed to show his abilities, but he could, but he would like to, and he would have shown - "good impulses are destined for us, but nothing is given to accomplish." The development of asthenic syndrome on such grounds leads to its demonstrativeness, emotional emphasis and more pronounced partiality, attachment to a specific frustrating situation.

Asthenic syndrome after suffering infectious diseases does not require special therapy and in the vast majority of cases it stops in the process of convalescence.

If you carefully read the manuals for internal diseases, it can be easily found that most of the symptoms of diseases, which are described in detail by the authors, are various variants of asthenic syndrome. Only a few syndromes and symptoms are informatively specific only to a certain disease. This fact allows you to more successfully learn your specialty, because. highlighting the main thing with this approach is immeasurably easier and the algorithm diagnostic process facilitated by reducing the number of steps in the search for diagnostic criteria.

Hearing exacerbation in neurosis

I dare to suggest that the change in colors and sounds is somewhat similar to the notorious dereal.

My brother had PA several times after a strong binge - a wild fear of his own voice and all the sounds, in his expression, "beat on the brain", in general, he was scared of the sounds.

So don't worry, I think everything flows within the framework of the said disorder.

You are tense - tense and the senses.

Yes, the most common thing. I, too, when I'm more nervous than usual, the sounds are very annoying, you hear everything that happens in the yard, for example. And with panic, many still have photophobia. I also had a couple of times. The pupils are very dilated, well, they say that fear has large eyes, and it becomes difficult to look at the light, at the window. So, everything is fine with you, well, if neurosis is the norm. You use earplugs, it helps.

What? I had a supervisor who went so often, and nothing, no one mocked him.

Neuroses (hysteria and neurasthenia)

An analysis of the neurological picture in neurotic patients suffering from symptoms of the cochlear and vestibular systems indicates that these patients are dominated by vaso-cardio disorders. vegetative system. Considering that the 8th pair of nerves, especially the labyrinthine branch, is connected throughout the brain with the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, it becomes clear how changes in the autonomic system can affect the function of the auditory nerve.

That is why the entire cochlear-vestibule symptom complex observed in neurosis, especially in neurasthenia and migraine, should be considered as a consequence of the lability of the autonomic, especially the vasomotor system, which causes circulatory and innervation disorders along the pathways of the 8th pair of nerves.

Snail system. Violations of the cochlear function, expressed in tinnitus, in increased sensitivity to resounding sounds, in hearing loss up to complete deafness, observed more often in hysteria than in other neuroses, are a common symptom in neuroses.

A characteristic hearing impairment in neurotics, especially with neurasthenia and migraine, are: tinnitus with normal hearing, slight attention fatigue during hearing examination. This latter is manifested in the following: during a tuning fork examination, the ear hears the entire period of sounding of the tuning fork only if the tuning fork from time to time in the process of examination either approaches or moves away from the ear. In addition, in these patients, there is an alternating discrepancy between the subjective sensation of hearing loss and the perception of sounds during a tuning fork study.

Often observed in hysteria, reduced (hypesthesia) or complete loss (anesthesia) of the excitability of the cochlear apparatus is a manifestation of general hypoesthesia or anesthesia. So, it is sometimes observed that after a hysterical attack, the patient experiences tinnitus, dizziness, with hearing loss in both ears. This condition may last for several days and gradually disappear. With hysteria, noise is observed much less frequently than with other neuroses, and hypacusis or acoustic anesthesia is not always combined with noise. Often, neurotics have increased hearing acuity (oxyoekoia), which is expressed in the fact that knocking, musical sounds are perceived at a greater distance than normal hearing. Much more often, acoustic hyperesthesia is observed, which manifests itself in the fact that the sound causes a painful, up to painful, sensation in the ear, and this symptom can be combined with acoustic hemianesthesia.

Hypesthesia is more common than hemianesthesia. Tuning fork studies show a uniform shortening of perception for all sounds of the tonal rock with a positive Rinne, Weber on the healthy side and a shortened Schwabach. It should be noted that

one of the characteristic signs of hearing loss of neurotic origin, especially hysterical, is the phenomenon of discrepancy between the perception of clock sounds and whispered speech; it is expressed in the fact that patients hear the sound of a clock better than whispered speech, which usually does not happen with organic lesions of the sound-perceiving apparatus. A similar discrepancy is noted in obtaining results in the study of tuning forks and speech. Fluctuating hearing acuity in different periods time. With regard to the onset and duration of hearing impairment in hysteria, it should be noted that it usually appears and disappears simultaneously with the onset and disappearance of hemianesthesia. However, there have been cases where hysterical deafness lasted for several years and disappeared some time after the absence of hemianesthesia.

vestibular system. Along with impaired auditory function in neurosis, changes are also observed in the vestibular apparatus. While in hysteria there is often a violation of the cochlear apparatus, in neurasthenia, on the contrary, changes in the vestibular apparatus are more common, and often in neurasthenia and migraine an isolated lesion of the vestibular apparatus is observed. In neurotics, both complete, with all its components, and partial vestibular syndrome are observed. As for the nature of dizziness experienced by neurotics, its phenomenology is identical with labyrinth (vestibular). Thus, there is no fundamental difference between the labyrinth syndrome of neurotics and the vestibular syndrome caused by an organic lesion of the vestibular system. In neurotics, the vestibular syndrome proceeds milder, but much more often, and sometimes permanently. Labyrinth syndrome in neurotics is often accompanied by headaches with a large vegetative component.

Dizziness, occurring in the form of a labyrinth-vegetative seizure, can manifest itself in different forms. So, before the onset of headaches, there is a flicker before the eyes with a feeling of nausea or vomiting, and sometimes the movement of the environment and the inability to move. In the process of these sensations, patients sometimes experience compression, contraction in the region of the heart, fear, paresthesia, fever, flushing to the head, chills, sweating, trembling. IN rare cases the seizure is accompanied by a blackout of consciousness.

Despite the variety of disorders observed in neurotics in the cochlear-vestibule system, it seems still possible to single out certain categories that differ in their course.

1) Octavopathia angioneurotica (angioneurotic crises of the 8th pair - type Kobrak'a), expressed in sudden appearance noise in the ear, hearing loss, facial blanching, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. These phenomena quickly pass with the appearance of normal coloring of the face.

2) Angioedema of the eighth pair - Lermoyez type - begins with tinnitus, a feeling of congestion in one or both ears; in the study, whispered speech is perceived sharply shortened, the sounds of low tones through the air are almost inaudible; in Weber's experiment, the sound is perceived either in a healthy or in a hard of hearing ear. This state of hearing different intensity it can last from several minutes to hours, until dizziness suddenly appears (the patient is “disturbed”, he cannot look at the light, sometimes he feels movements along with the bed, pains of a constricting nature in the neck and sore ear), lasting several hours, after which hearing returns almost to normal. Since hearing comes after vertigo, Lermoyez gave this type of vertigo the name le vertige qui fait entendre, the vertigo that caused the hearing. Finally, in neurosis, one has to observe vestibular seizures, accompanied by flushes to the head, a painful sensation, a violation of statics in the complete absence of cochlear phenomena, with barely emerging general neurotic symptoms, with pronounced enophthalmos. We call this form of dysfunction of the vestibular apparatus autonomic vestibularopathy or vestibular neurosis.

In contrast to the cochlear vestibular syndromes just noted in neurosis, similar phenomena are observed in another disease, the so-called. Meniere's disease, where after the onset of dizziness, hearing always seems to be reduced and does not fully recover, the disease proceeds with a peculiar clinical picture, where the basis is probably an organic disease of the 8th pair of nerves in the medulla oblongata.

Vegetative and vasomotor disturbances of the 8th pair of nerves along its entire length generally constitute partial phenomena of a general vascular neurosis.

Often, the phenomena of general vascular neurosis are mild, and the whole picture of the disease is colored by labyrinth-cochlear symptoms. Thus, the diagnosis of autonomic neurosis is often made on the basis of an analysis of the symptoms of the 8th pair of nerves in the absence of other phenomena from the central nervous system.

It should be noted that very often neurotics with a disease of the middle ear experience dizziness, which, if you do not take into account the general condition of the patient, can be regarded as a labyrinthine disease of otogenic origin. Often in such cases, an incorrect interpretation gives rise to subjecting patients to surgery, but even after it the dizziness continues. On the other hand, it is observed that in persons with a labile autonomic nervous system who suffer from chronic disease ear develops - in some a neurotic reaction (neurasthenic), in others, depending on the predisposition - hysterical. This should not be forgotten, since such a combination may reveal "vestibule-cerebellar symptoms", which in reality turn out to be functionally of hysterical origin. It often happens that such cases mislead the attending physician, give reason to suspect an intracranial complication of ear origin and undergo surgery.

Sudden periodic sharpening of touch and hearing

At the expense of the aggravation of these 2 senses, you can feel like a superman. I hear everything very well, I hear just everything, it’s very difficult by the way, it presses very hard, there’s too much of everything, but at the expense of touch, I feel everything I don’t touch, if it’s a blanket, then with one touch I feel every speck, fold or something else that I couldn’t usually feel, please tell me please what it could be, suddenly some kind of deviation or illness, because sometimes it scares.

You need to contact a PSYCHIATRIST (.), do not be shy in any way. Perhaps in 4-8 months you will FOREVER get rid of this disease.

I wish you good health!

Psychic hyperacusis is a painful exacerbation of auditory sensations. Sounds of normal intensity seem unbearably loud, deafening, causing irritation and even physical pain to patients: “I can’t stand noise, knocks, sounds of conversation, they torment me, I dream of complete silence. Sounds literally beat on the brain, penetrate the skull, the head seems to be about to split from them. Hearing sharpened. I hear the cat stomping, the clock strikes like a sledgehammer. I even hear a mouse rustling in a hole and a sparrow jumping on the roof. The noise behind the wall is exhausting, I don’t know how to distract myself from it. I began to hear how the neighbor on the floor above was snoring, and if a child runs around there, it just torments me. I never thought how many different sounds there are in the night, I didn’t hear them before, but now I can’t understand what those sounds are.” Psychic hyperacusis can be combined with auditory agnosia and typhus- the phenomenon of Botkin (1868).

Chapter 29 Neurosis

Neurosis is a disorder mental activity, provoked by a psycho-traumatic factor and manifested mainly by a pronounced change in the nature of emotional response, vegetative and often endocrine disorders. Currently, neurosis is universally recognized as one of the most common diseases. In developed countries, various variants of it are detected in 10-20% of the population, while women are ill 2 times more often than men. Such a prevalence of neuroses and sometimes a long-term decrease in the working capacity of patients with them make the problem of their study relevant and very significant not only in medical but also in social terms.

J. Morgagni in his work "On the location and causes of diseases discovered by dissection" (1761) argued that each disease must have a certain morphological substrate. However, this thesis was not always acceptable. In this regard, in 1776, the Scottish physician W. Kuplen introduced the term "neurosis" and designated them "disorders of sensations and movements that are not accompanied by fever and do not depend on local damage to any organ."

At present, neurosis is usually considered as a consequence of an acute or chronic emotional stress violations of the functions of the limbic-reticular complex, primarily the hypothalamic part of the diencephalon, which provides integration between the emotional, vegetative and endocrine spheres. If the dysfunction of the same parts of the brain occurs for a different reason (intoxication, mechanical trauma, infectious-allergic and other factors), then the resulting clinical picture similar to neurosis is usually regarded as a manifestation of a neurosis-like syndrome.

The main thing in the development of neurosis is the personal significance for a given person of the psychotraumatic factors affecting him, the features of his physical and mental state during their exposure. Therefore, the same traumatic circumstance (conflict at work or in the family, news of bankruptcy, natural disasters, etc.) does not always lead to the development of neurosis in everyone. Its manifestations often occur in people who do not imagine a way out of the created situation, prone to anxiety, fear, emotional instability, in people who do not have enough life experience. Manifestations of neurosis are more often observed during periods of endocrine restructuring (puberty, menopause), with overwork, lack of knowledge and skills necessary to cope with a situation that knocks a person out of a normal life rut. Neurophysiologist P.V. Simonov considers neurosis as a consequence of negative emotions that arise in cases where it is difficult to satisfy the vital needs inherent in a given person due to the lack of information necessary for this. In this regard, it is recognized that people who are better prepared to overcome the difficulties encountered on the path of life are less likely to develop a neurosis. The adequacy of needs and opportunities for their implementation, formed in the process of education and training, reduces the tendency to develop neurosis.

The clinical manifestations of neurosis are multivariate and depend not on the nature of the mental trauma (emotional stress), but on the characteristics of the patient's personality. Since each person has their own unique personality traits, the number of variants of the clinical picture of neurosis is almost infinite. But the interests of practice dictate the need to identify the main forms of neurosis. In domestic medicine, it is customary to distinguish 3 such forms: neurasthenia, obsessive-phobic neurosis (neurosis obsessive states) and hysterical neurosis.

29.1. Neurasthenia

Neurasthenia is a neurosis characterized by a combination of increased excitability with irritable weakness, increased exhaustion, and disorders of the functions of the autonomic nervous system.

Clinical manifestations. The symptomatology of neurasthenia is diverse. Common symptom is a diffuse headache that appears towards the end of the day. At the same time, a feeling of squeezing the head is possible, as if a heavy hat is put on the head (“neurasthenic helmet”). Dizziness is possible, but, as a rule, there is no sensation of rotation of surrounding objects. Palpitations, a feeling of constriction or tingling in the region of the heart are characteristic, patients easily blush and turn pale. These changes occur with any excitement and even a lively conversation (heartbeat appears, pulse quickens, blood pressure rises). There are frequent complaints of poor appetite, pressure in the epigastric region, heartburn, belching, bloating, constipation, causeless diarrhea and other dyspeptic phenomena. An important symptom of neurasthenia is pollakiuria (frequent urge to urinate), which increases with excitement and, conversely, decreases or completely disappears at rest. Often there is a decrease in sexual desire. Premature eruption of the seed is characteristic, which leads to quick end sexual intercourse, leaving a feeling of weakness, weakness, dissatisfaction. Violations of the urogenital area cause the development of hypochondriacal syndrome.

Sleep disturbance is one of the main symptoms of neurasthenia: the patient has difficulty falling asleep, often wakes up, sleep is short. After sleep, the patient does not feel rested, feels weak. Possible increased drowsiness. Due to absent-mindedness, instability of attention, the process of memorization is difficult, and patients often complain of a weakening of memory.

The most important sign of neurasthenia is a decrease in working capacity. Usually, in the process of work, patients quickly experience a feeling of fatigue, weakness, decreased attention, and therefore labor productivity decreases.

Increased irritability is manifested by startling or even screaming at any unexpected loud sound. Patients worry about every trifle, tensely experience minor events. For many, irritability is combined with irascibility, outbursts of anger, indignation. The mood is extremely unstable. Each trifling failure for a long time brings the patient out of balance.

Examination reveals revival of tendon and periosteal reflexes, trembling of the fingers of outstretched hands and eyelids, pronounced dermographism, hyperhidrosis (especially of the palms), increased pilomotor reflex, and tachycardia. There are two forms of neurasthenia: hypersthenic (excitatory) and hyposthenic (inhibitory). The first is manifested classic symptoms diseases, and with the second, general weakness, lethargy, drowsiness are noted; tendon and periosteal reflexes may be reduced.

Diagnostics. Doesn't cause any problems. The diagnosis is based on the main symptoms. However, before making a diagnosis of neurasthenia, it is necessary to exclude an organic disease of the central nervous system.

Current and forecast. There is a tendency to a chronic course, however, among neuroses, this is the most favorable prognostic disease.

Treatment. First of all, you need to find out the cause that caused the neurosis, and, if possible, neutralize it. It is necessary to reduce the mental load and strictly regulate the daily routine. A change of scenery is desirable, a stay on fresh air, psychotherapy. At the same time, general strengthening treatment should be carried out. Food should be rich in vitamins. To enhance anabolic processes, calcium glycerophosphate is prescribed, often in combination with iron preparations. Individually selected doses of bromine and caffeine are effective. With hypersthenic form, tranquilizers are prescribed - chlozepid (elenium), oxazepam, with hyposthenic form - trioxazine, medazepam (rud hotel), sibazon (diazepam) in small doses, eleutherococcus extract, strong tea or coffee; sleeping pills are not recommended. Half-hour walks before going to bed, warm foot baths are useful. It is necessary to observe the daily regimen with a certain hour of going to bed and getting up (for example, 23 hours and 7 hours). Tonics are recommended: Schisandra chinensis fruits, ginseng root, pantocrine, saparal, calcium gluconate. In the hyposthenic form, thioridazine (sonapax, melleril) is also prescribed, which in small doses has a stimulating and antidepressant effect, and with an increase in the dose, a sedative effect increases. Therefore, this drug can be used both in hypo- and in hypersthenic form. For treatment cardiovascular disorders prescribe preparations of motherwort, bromine, valerian, hawthorn tincture. Definite therapeutic effect gives a method of autogenic training for neurasthenia.

29.2. obsessive-compulsive disorder

Clinical manifestations. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or obsessive-phobic neurosis, is manifested mainly by involuntary, irresistibly arising doubts, fears, ideas, thoughts, memories, aspirations, drives, movements and actions, while maintaining a critical attitude towards them and attempts to combat them.

Obsessive doubts are features of suspiciousness, anxiety, self-doubt, for example, in the correctness or completeness of this or that action, with the desire to repeatedly check its implementation (whether the gas stove tap is closed, the door lock, whether the address is written correctly on the envelope, whether the stamp is pasted, whether the dishes are washed, etc.), and such patients can check the correctness of the action to the point of exhaustion.

Obsessive fears: patients are painfully afraid of whether they will be able to perform this or that action when it is required: to speak to the public, to remember the words of a role or poem, not to blush (erythrophobia). fall asleep, have sexual intercourse, urinate in the presence of strangers, etc.

Obsessive thoughts: the patient persistently remembers names, surnames. geographical names, a poem, etc. Obsessive thoughts can be blasphemous or "blasphemous", i.e. opposite to those that reflect the actual attitude of a person to certain things (for example, blasphemous thoughts in religious person). Sometimes obsessive thoughts appear in the form of "mental chewing gum", philosophizing. Patients endlessly think about topics that have no meaning for them (for example, what will happen if a person grows one more arm, why people are not taller than houses, etc.).

Obsessive fears (phobias) are very common and can be varied: fear of heart disease (cardiophobia), fear of contracting a venereal disease (syphilophobia), cancer (carcinophobia), heart attack (heart attack), fear of heights and depths, open space, wide areas (agoraphobia), enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), fear for the fate of their loved ones, fear of drawing attention to themselves, fear of death (tana). tophobia), etc.

Obsessive actions: the desire to count unnecessarily objects that fall into the field of view (windows, passing cars, passers-by on the street, etc.). Obsessive movements can be in the nature of some kind of arbitrary act: for example, the patient obsessively squints his eyes, sniffs his nose, licks his lips, stretches his neck, as if his collar is in the way, grimaces, winks, clicks his tongue, straightens his hair, arranges objects on the table in a certain order, etc.

Obsessive ideas: extremely vivid obsessive memories (melodies, individual words or phrases, the sound images of which the patient cannot get rid of, as well as visual representations, etc.), reflecting the psychotraumatic effect that caused them.

Intrusive memories: the patient, in addition to his desire, recalls objects or details of some unpleasant event.

Diagnostics. Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually manifests itself in individuals with a special personality and is manifested by self-doubt, constant doubts, anxiety, suspiciousness. It is typical for people who are anxious, suspicious, fearful, highly conscientious.

Isolated obsessions also occur in practically healthy people, for example, fear of animals, certain insects, darkness, heights, etc. In the neurological status, revival of tendon and periosteal reflexes, trembling of outstretched fingers, vegetative and vegetative-vascular disorders, hyperhidrosis of the hands are possible.

Flow. There are three main forms of flow: 1) the symptoms that appear last for months and years; 2) relapsing course; 3) a steadily progressive course. The aggravation of the process provokes overwork, infections, lack of sleep, unfavorable conditions in the family and at work. Full recovery happens rarely. After years, the painful phenomena are smoothed out.

Treatment. Rational psychotherapy, suggestion during hypnosis, drug hypnotherapy (caffeine is administered, and then barbamil). Large doses of chlozepid (chlordiazepoxide), sibazon (diazepam) are prescribed. Sometimes a high dose course is recommended. neuroleptics: frenolone, thioridazine (Melleril), triftazine.

Employability. It decreases only with a pronounced clinical picture of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

29.3. Hysterical neurosis

Hysteria is one of the types of neurosis, which is manifested by demonstrative emotional reactions (tears, laughter, screams), convulsive hyperkinesis, transient paralysis, loss of sensitivity, deafness, blindness, loss of consciousness, hallucinations, etc. The mechanism of development of hysterical neurosis is "escape to illness", "conditional pleasantness or desirability" painful symptom. The disease has been known for a long time. The doctors of ancient Greece associated it with the wandering of the uterus in the body, so it was called "hysteria" (from hystera - uterus). Scientific Foundations studies of hysteria were laid in the 19th century by Charcot, who considered the cause of the disease to be constitutional or hereditary factors. As a neurosis, the disease began to be considered only at the beginning of the 20th century.

Clinical manifestations. Hysterical neurosis is characterized by extreme variety and variability of symptoms. This is explained by the fact that very often the symptoms occur according to the type of self-hypnosis and usually correspond to a person's ideas about the most striking painful manifestations. These representations can be extremely diverse, therefore it is believed that hysteria can simulate almost all diseases. Hysteria always arises under the influence of mental experience. Since the sign of the “conditional pleasantness or desirability” of a painful symptom is specific to hysteria, it becomes clear from this why, in hysteria, the symptoms of its manifestation are striking in their “rationality”: the patient develops exactly the symptom that under the given conditions is “beneficial”, “needed” for him.

Hysterical seizures. More often the disease begins with a hysterical paroxysm. Paroxysms usually develop after unpleasant experiences, a quarrel, and sometimes as a result of excessive concern for the well-being of loved ones. The first signs of a seizure are manifested by unpleasant sensations in the region of the heart, palpitations, a feeling of lack of air, a ball rolling up to the throat (“hysterical ball”) and arise as a reaction to mental unrest. The patient falls, convulsions appear, more often of a tonic nature, but they can be clonic or tonic-clonic. Convulsions are often in the nature of complex movements. During an attack, the patient's face turns red or pale, but it never happens cyanotic or purple-cyanotic, as in epilepsy. The eyes are closed, when strangers try to open them, the patient closes his eyelids even more. Pupillary response to light is preserved. Often, patients tear their clothes, beat their heads on the floor. convulsive seizure often preceded by crying or crying and laughter at the same time. During the attack, patients groan or shout out some words. Seizures never occur in a sleeper. There is usually no bruising or biting of the tongue when falling (but there may be biting of the lip or cheek). Consciousness is preserved, at least partially. The patient remembers the seizure. Can not be involuntary urination, no sleep after a seizure. Sometimes hysterical seizures are less pronounced: the patient sits down or lies down, begins to cry or laugh, making a series of erratic movements with his limbs (mainly with his hands), his gestures can be theatrical, with an attempt to tear his hair, scratch his body, scatter objects that fall under his arm.

Sensitivity disorders. One of the most common types of hysterical neurosis are sensitivity disorders - anesthesia, hypesthesia, hyperesthesia, hysterical pain. The distribution areas of sensitive disorders are very diverse. Hemihypesthesia is more often observed, less often para- and monohypesthesia. Frequent hyperesthesia. However, more often there are hysterical pains that are of a different nature and may have an unusual localization. Often, pain is noted in a limited area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe head (feeling of a “driven in nail”), as well as in other parts of the body. The degree of intensity of hysterical pain can be different - from mild pain to severe pain.

Disorders of the function of the sense organs. Manifested in visual and hearing impairments. There is a concentric narrowing of the visual fields, usually bilateral, hysterical blindness in both one and both eyes. At the same time, even with bilateral "blindness", the safety of visual perceptions is detected, so such patients never find themselves in life-threatening situations. Often there is hysterical deafness, usually in one ear. It can be combined with pinna anesthesia and mutism.

Speech disorders. These include hysterical aphonia (loss of sonority of the voice), mutism, stuttering, hysterical chanting (pronunciation in syllables). With mutism, patients cannot pronounce both words and sounds. Sometimes they make only inarticulate sounds, but their cough turns out to be sonorous. Examination reveals hysterical hypesthesia of the tongue and pharynx. Patients, as a rule, willingly enter into written contact or contact with the help of gestures. Hysterical mutism may stop immediately, but sometimes turns into hysterical aphonia or hysterical stuttering (more often). Stuttering in hysteria can also occur on its own. Distinctive feature its is that patients are not embarrassed by this painful symptom. They do not have convulsive concomitant contractions of the facial muscles or friendly movements.

Motor disorders. Usually manifested by paralysis (paresis) of muscles (mainly limbs), contractures, inability to perform complex motor acts or various hyperkinesis. Hysterical monoplegia (paresis) of the hand, hemiplegia, lower paraplegia are more often observed, however, paralysis of other muscles is possible: neck, tongue, face. It should be borne in mind that with hysteria there are not paralysis in the literal sense of the word, but the impossibility of voluntary movement, therefore, patients cannot have isolated paralysis of individual agonist muscles. Contractures in hysteria affect the joints of the extremities, but can be in the spine, muscles of the neck (hysterical torticollis) and face. Movement disorders can manifest as a psychogenic inability to stand and walk. At the same time, in the prone position, both muscle strength and range of motion were preserved. Hysterical hyperkinesis is diverse: trembling of the whole body or its individual parts, hyperkinesis of the head in the form of rotational movements, tics of mimic muscles, muscles of the body. As a rule, hysterical paralysis, contractures, hyperkinesis disappear during sleep.

Disorder of the function of internal organs. Patients may have no appetite, swallowing disorders in the form of a spasm of the esophagus, a feeling of a ball in the throat, psychogenic vomiting, belching, yawning, coughing, hysterical convulsions of the diaphragm, hysterical flatulence, pseudoileus and pseudoappendicitis, sexual coldness, instability of the cardiovascular system (heartbeat, pain in the heart, etc.). Possible shortness of breath in the form noisy breathing or breathing accompanied by whistling, hissing, and other sounds. Sometimes attacks of bronchial asthma are imitated.

Mental disorders. The disease is based on a hysterical character: egocentrism, a constant desire to be in the center of attention, to play a leading role, increased emotionality, mood variability, tearfulness, capriciousness, a tendency to hobbies, exaggerations, etc. The behavior of patients is characteristic: it is distinguished by demonstrativeness, theatricality, infantilism, it lacks simplicity and naturalness. It seems that the patient is "satisfied with his illness."

Diagnostics. The diagnosis is made on the basis of clinical manifestations characteristic of hysteria. During the examination, there may be an increase in tendon and periosteal reflexes, tremor of the fingers of outstretched hands. Patients often react to the examination with groans, tears, a demonstrative increase in motor reflexes, a deliberate shudder of the whole body are observed.

Current and forecast. Hysteria manifests itself for the first time in adolescence and proceeds chronically with periodic exacerbations. Symptoms improve with age, and menopause temporarily escalate. Under the influence of treatment, the exacerbation disappears and the patients feel well, without going to the doctor for years. The prognosis is favorable when the situation that caused the exacerbation is eliminated, and is better in young people. It should be remembered that hysteria can be not only a disease, but also a special personality type (hysterical psychopathy).

Treatment. Apply psychotherapy, conduct restorative treatment. If the patient is excitable, prescribe drugs of valerian, bromine, tranquilizers, with persistent insomnia - sleeping pills. Do not fix the attention of patients on the symptoms of the disease. One of important methods treatment is occupational therapy.

Exists great amount causes of hearing loss in humans. Every day, each of us is faced with them, and over time, the first symptoms of violations begin to appear. To preserve the ability to hear, it is important to make every effort to eliminate the negative impact of these factors and learn how to restore the hearing organs after a heavy load. Timely detection of deviations and quality treatment increase the chances of a favorable outcome.

The principle of operation of the hearing organs and the symptoms of their dysfunction

First you need to deal with the device auditory system and the principle of functioning of its elements. The noise source emits sound and vibration vibrations. They enter the ear canal. The auricle allows you to capture waves and determine the approximate location of their source. Next, irritation of the tympanic membrane occurs, auditory ossicles that carry the signal further down the chain. Hair receptors convert vibrations and through auditory nerve the signal goes to the corresponding part of the brain.

Hearing loss can be the result of a disorder of one or more functional elements. In violation of neurosensory transmission, another type of hearing loss occurs, not functional.

The following symptoms may indicate a hearing problem:

• ear pain and constant discomfort;
• a feeling of congestion or fullness;
• noises;
• puffiness;
• deterioration in the perception of sounds of a certain frequency and volume level.

If you were previously able to distinguish one or another type of sound freely, when disturbances occur, this ability is gradually lost, complicating everyday communication with other people.

Factors Predisposing to Hearing Loss

In order to prevent hearing loss or to determine the possible cause of changes that have already occurred, it is necessary to figure out which factors provoke destructive processes.

The following risk factors can be distinguished:

• Heredity. Some people have diseases and a tendency to early decline sensory sensitivity of the ears are inherited.
• Congenital pathologies. Hereditary anomalies or diseases that have arisen in connection with the pathologies of pregnancy and childbirth. These can be underdevelopment of certain elements of the ear, cerebral palsy, birth injuries and other abnormalities.
• Age changes. Natural hearing loss occurs with age. Exposure to sounds, wear of individual elements of the ears, reduction brain activity and diseases transferred throughout life lead to such adverse consequences.
• Injuries. Damage to the hearing organs, and especially traumatic brain injury, can cause irreversible processes that provoke the development of complete deafness. This includes acoustic and barotrauma of the tympanic membrane, anvil, malleus and stirrup.
• Medications. Taking medications from certain groups can cause toxic effect on the body, as a result of which hearing is temporarily reduced or irreversible hearing loss develops.
• Diseases. Inflammation, purulent and necrotic processes, tumors, chronic systemic diseases affect not only hearing, but also other sensations and abilities.
• Loud sounds. The impact of noise that exceeds the threshold of 60 dB already causes tangible discomfort. With constant exposure, hearing loss occurs. Noise pollution is especially important in big cities. fireworks sounds, different transport, especially air, lead to acoustic trauma. Loud music, screaming or construction sounds are the most dangerous for the ears.
• Professional activity. Some professions may be directly related to exposure to noise pollution. The sound of machine tools, technology, music and people's voices - all this negative factors impact. With a constant stay in such conditions, a person develops disorders at the nervous level.
• Music player. Listening to music with headphones directly affects the health of the ears. It is not only directed action sound waves and vibration, but also a source of infection in case of non-compliance with hygiene standards.

All these causes of hearing loss can affect almost anyone. That is why after 40 years more than half of people suffer from hearing disorders of one kind or another.

Diagnostics, methods of treatment and correction

To determine the degree of hearing loss, its type and the causes that provoked hearing loss, you must contact the clinic for a thorough diagnosis, which will determine further treatment. The standard methods are:

• audiometry;
• tuning forks;
• otoscopy;
• CT or MRI;
• radiography.

Hearing loss may be due to banal non-compliance with hygiene rules or residual effects after otitis. In this case, the treatment prescribed by the ENT will restore health to your ears in just a few sessions.

If the hearing loss was provoked by more serious reasons, then it is necessary to treat the pathology. For this, the following approaches are used:

• Medical treatment. The main part of the preparations is designed to improve the blood supply to the hearing organs and the brain, increase their activity and sensitivity. In the presence of diseases, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs are needed, sometimes vasoconstrictor and antihistamines.
• vitamin therapy. It is aimed at maintaining the strength of the body, due to which there is a partial restoration of its functions in a natural way. Particularly important are vitamins A, B, E, and C, which are more beneficial to obtain from food rather than from supplements.
• Physiotherapy treatment. The impact of electrical impulses, laser, ultraviolet and radio waves stimulates the organs and restores their work. This is an excellent complementary treatment for the standard drug therapy, as well as to speed up rehabilitation after surgery.
• folk methods. The effectiveness of some recipes is questionable by experts, therefore this method should not be considered as the main one. Of the most popular components folk treatment propolis, white lily, bay leaf, tar, onion, as well as oil and alcohol tinctures medicinal plants.
• Surgery. This is the most radical, but at the same time quite effective way to restore hearing at least by a certain percentage. It implies the restoration of damaged elements, their prosthetics and reconstruction, the implantation of alternative transmitters of sound signals.

If the decrease in hearing acuity cannot be stopped by such methods, hardware correction is taken into service. Schematic hearing aids and cochlear electrodes are used, some of which are implanted directly into the patient's ear.

Prevention

To prevent hearing loss, and even more deafness, you need to start taking care of your health in advance. As preventive measures the following are meant:

• Ear protection from hypothermia. Cold air provokes the development of inflammation, which can affect hearing acuity.
• Loud sound protection. Try to avoid sources of loud, harsh sounds, do not listen to music with headphones. Choose a comfortable volume within the range of up to 50-60 dB. When working in adverse conditions, use protective equipment in the form of earmuffs or earplugs.
• Elimination of noise pollution. Constant irritation with monotonous sounds, for example, vehicles, hammering, working equipment, leads to the destruction of nerve sensors. Keep this influence to a minimum and protect your ears from noise.
• Timely treatment of diseases. Prevent the development of otitis media, tympanitis and other diseases that trigger purulent and inflammatory processes. If you notice any suspicious symptoms, contact the hospital immediately.
• Regular control. It is recommended to visit an otolaryngologist from time to time for preventive examination and detection of pathological processes at an early stage of their development.
• Hygiene. Proper and regular cleaning of the ears reduces the risk of hearing loss, including due to the accumulation of wax in the ear canal.

If you start treatment at an early stage of the disease, the risk of developing deafness is significantly reduced. Timely elimination of problematic phenomena and the implementation of preventive measures increases the chances of a favorable prognosis.

1. Usually before going to bed, people tend to switch off from all sounds. You, on the contrary, try to concentrate all your attention on them for several minutes and try to determine the source of each sound.

2. Listen. You may hear the refrigerator turning on and off, or the ice cream maker across the street unloading ice.

3. You heard the sound of a motor. What is this? Car, truck or motorcycle?

4. The rumble of a flying plane is heard. Listen: maybe it's a helicopter?

How many? Are these men or women? How old are they?

Got the idea? Learn to identify any sounds, hear your breathing and heartbeats, the slightest rustle in the room, do not miss anything. Train your ear to distinguish subtle sounds, because

Higher consciousness often speaks to a person in a quiet, soft voice that may not be heard in the noise of the day.

1. Waking up in the morning, do not spare a few minutes for such exercises. Listen to the sounds of the morning.

2. Do you hear the cries of newspapermen, birds singing, distant beeps?

3. During the day, try to also briefly listen to the sounds around you: to TVs and radios turned on somewhere, to ringing phones, to the noise of passing trains and barking dogs.

4. Try to be on the alert all the time, keep the background noise under control, wherever you are.

Literally after the very first exercises, your hearing will become very aggravated. You will be surprised to find how many sounds surround you, but they do not interfere with you. You will be on the alert all the time and do not miss anything that may be useful to you.

If we reacted to every sound, we would probably go crazy. Therefore, we “turn off” from unnecessary noises, and it happens that “together: we throw out the baby with water” - we don’t hear sounds that could warn us of danger and make us wary. We need to ensure that our subconscious mind always keeps the sounds that come to us under control.

In case #3, I described how my subconscious mind suddenly tuned me into the voice of the Higher Intelligence, even though I was busy with paperwork.

In order for the subconscious mind to always be on the alert, it must be programmed.

An example of such programming follows. The main thing is to understand the main idea. You can change the program as you wish.

Start programming your subconscious when you lie in bed with your eyes closed and listen to the sounds of the night.

1. Say to yourself: "I am listening to the sounds of the night." (Personally, I say these words out loud, although you may find it more comfortable to do so mentally.)

2. I hear sounds (describe the sounds you could hear: a motorcycle passing by, a neighbor snoring, etc.).

3. I listen to these sounds to sharpen my hearing. This will help me become a good psychic.

4. I command my subconscious to be always on the alert and let me know if there are sounds that are useful to me, sounds that improve my psychic skills, sounds coming from intelligent entities, sounds coming from cosmic consciousness.

Use this simple subconscious mind programming exercise every time you practice hearing sharpening.

Saying the words out loud is not necessary, especially since sometimes, due to circumstances, you simply cannot afford it (for example, exercising on the bus when you go to work).

Try to close your eyes as much as possible: in this case, the brain automatically switches to alpha rhythm and suggestion works more efficiently. I recommend closing your eyes while doing any of the exercises in this book.

This does not mean at all that programming does not happen with open eyes; it just takes more time. Remember: programming always works, although it is not immediately evident. The instructions I give in this chapter should be kept in mind for other kinds of programming that you will come across later. I will not repeat them every time in the same detail.

You can create your own programs that are more convenient for you. What I offer is just an example. However, you can use this as well.

If you are not too lazy and begin to regularly perform the exercises described in the book, you will be surprised to find that each time they become easier for you. Don't be dogmatic: feel free to experiment, change the exercises, adapt them to your needs. The main thing is to move in the right direction and include the sixth sense in the work as often as possible.

Man perceives the world through sight (eyes), hearing (ears), touch (skin receptors), taste (tongue and mouth receptors), smell (nose), and the sixth sense, which I also call intuition or extrasensory perception. The sixth sense can be very powerful, although few use this gift from our Creator.

In truth, most of us don't even know how to use our five senses. Since the sixth sense is sometimes based on information received by ordinary organs of perception, it is necessary to pay a little attention to them. Now I will tell you how to become more receptive to signals coming from the outside world and from own body.

The exercises that I will offer you will not take much time, they should be practiced only until you get used to noticing slight, barely noticeable changes.

As soon as this happens, training will no longer be needed, increased sensitivity will always accompany you.

VISION
Visual perception is very important for a psychic. There are two types of extrasensory vision: internal and external. With inner vision, a person sees the images that arise in his mind. With external vision, he sees images and visions that exist outside, for example, ghosts (ghosts, essence).

I have never had a chance to see the essence, although I quite often came into contact with these incorporeal beings. I feel their presence, communicate with them, a couple of times I literally physically felt their touch, but, alas, I did not have a chance to see them. But quite often I see images that arise in my mind, and I see them very clearly, as on a screen. The following case is a perfect example of extrasensory vision.

Case 2
USING PSYCHIC VISION
Many years ago, I experienced the deepest shock, because for the first time in my life, I spontaneously had a psychic vision. A few weeks later, I again encountered an unusual psychic phenomenon, this time I heard a "prophetic voice from above." In any case, it was these events that completely changed my life. This is one of my most vivid memories, despite the fact that we are talking about an event quite old. (This all happened in the early 1970s, just before the $35 an ounce fixed price for gold was abolished in the US.)

At that time, I worked as an advertising manager for a large corporation engaged in the development and production of new computers, and I had 47 people under my supervision. Psychology and psychics did not interest me at all then. On Monday, one of my employees (let's call him Harry) walked into my business office.

I was sitting at the table and working with papers, but as soon as I looked at Harry, something unexpected happened to me.

I had the feeling that a small projector started working in my head, showing me an amazing and terrible movie. I saw quite clearly Harry trying to commit suicide yesterday. He ate a whole handful of some pills and soon fell unconscious. Suddenly, his wife (let's call her Rose) appeared, a nurse who, seeing Harry, immediately guessed what had happened. Without delay, she took him to the hospital. It was the hospital where Rose worked, and she managed to arrange everything so that this case was not publicized. Due to the fact that the help was provided in time, Harry recovered very quickly and the next day he was already at work, so as not to arouse unnecessary suspicion. I saw all this in a fraction of a second.

This vision struck me so much that I simply fell out of reality. Stunned, I sat staring into space, unable to make out a single word of what Harry was trying to tell me.

I'm sorry, Harry, - I muttered, - I got a little distracted, please repeat.

Harry began to explain something to me again, and again a terrible vision appeared in my mind. I could not understand where it came from, what it was, but the vision was so bright and strong that I could not ignore it.

I got up, locked the office door, and sat down next to Harry.

Harry, I think you have some personal problems; maybe we can talk about them?
- No, no, what are you? I'm fine!

I put aside all my fears and asked directly:

You tried to take your own life yesterday, Harry, didn't you?

He turned pale as death, tears came into his eyes, and after a few seconds he burst into sobs. I did not prevent him.

After a while, he was finally able to ask:

How did you find out? Rosa called you, didn't she?
- No, Rosa didn't call me. It doesn't matter how I found out about it, what matters is that...

I stopped mid-sentence as a new vision arose in my mind. I saw quite clearly Harry putting a gun to his head the following Saturday. This time he decided to act for sure.

And I finished the interrupted sentence:

And you won't succeed again, Harry.
- God! Where, tell me for God's sake, how could you know about it? And his shoulders shook again with sobs.

When he calmed down a little, I began to speak, but these were not my words. Some intelligent being entered my mind and suggested that I should speak. I was just a conductor.

Harry, I know you're in a lot of pain, you can't take it anymore and you want to die. This is your life, and if you decide to die - no one dares to interfere with you, this is your right. But you have another right, the right to life. It seems to me that you did not fully use this right. Let's make a deal, Harry, you give me two weeks of your life. During these two weeks you will not try to kill yourself and will undergo a course of general strengthening therapy. I also want you to come into my office every day after three o'clock, if only for a few minutes, just to talk to me. For my part, I promise that I will keep everything a secret and, if after two weeks you do not change your mind, I will not stop you. I'm not asking for much, Harry, you've endured this pain for years; two weeks is not a very long time.

So, do you agree?

And you really won't tell anyone?
- I promise.
- OK, I give you these two weeks.

I immediately took Harry to a doctor working in our firm, who immediately began a course of therapy.

Back at the office, I had a hard time imagining what I would be talking to Harry about during those two weeks. After all, everything that I just said to him was nothing more than a repetition of the words of a creature, God knows where, appeared in my mind. At that time, I had no knowledge or experience in such situations.

However, my fears were unnecessary. The next day, when Harry entered the office and sat across from me, the invisible intelligent being reappeared in my mind and began to suggest the right words. I literally felt it entering my head somewhere on the top of my head. I taught Harry and taught myself.

Exercise #2
INCREASED VISION

1. At night, in the dark, carefully look around and try to determine the outlines of the objects around you. Try doing this while lying in bed or in your backyard, walking down the street, etc.

2. Having identified the outlines of the object, say (to yourself or aloud - as you prefer): "The outlines of this object in the dark remind me of (name of the object). I am developing the ability to recognize objects in any light."

3. During the day, anywhere and at any time, take a few seconds to carefully examine the objects around you.

4. Mentally list all the objects that you saw and say: "I train my mind to constantly see everything that is happening around me."

5. Say, "I command my subconscious mind to be on the alert at all times and to inform me of anything that might be helpful in developing my consciousness and psychic abilities."

The exercises described are just an example. You can use them or come up with your own. The main thing is that your consciousness is attentive to everything that you see.

It is advisable that you practice these exercises for a few seconds, but daily. They perfectly increase the sharpness and accuracy of perception.

You will be surprised to find a huge number of things and objects that you simply did not notice before. Mindfulness is the key to success in any business.

We will often return to visualization exercises in the future. This will help you become more collected, attentive, develop the "inner" vision of your consciousness. Clear visualization is a necessary condition for the successful work of a psychic.

HEARING
Sometimes a person hears a "voice from above", the source of which cannot be those around him. This happens extremely rarely.

Below will follow detailed description such a case. It happened to me personally, it happened spontaneously, without any effort on my part. And yet this psychic experience proved to be very useful and even profitable for me.

Suddenly I heard:

And there is not a soul!

I came back, sat down at the table and thought. Selling stock in a company I worked for 18 years is stupid. I knew very well that the company was doing well, each share was worth $ 400, and prices continued to slowly rise. At that time, the shares of our company were considered a very reliable investment with very solid interest. I bent over the papers again.

Sell ​​your shares, and immediately! This time the words sounded like an order.
- No! - I answered mentally.
"I was right about Harry, wasn't it?" asked the voice ingratiatingly.

Goosebumps ran down my back. I grabbed the phone and dialed my broker's number.

Don, sell my shares, right now.

Don tried to dissuade me for a good 20 minutes.
He assured that it makes no sense to sell shares, on the contrary, you should buy more of them. But I insisted, and finally Don said:

OK, Bill, I will sell the shares, but on one condition: you tell your wife that I was against it. I don’t want her to curse me for the rest of her life. Okay, he continued, what to do with the money received from the sale?
The voice said, "Buy new shares."

Buy new shares, - I immediately repeated.
- Which?

List me the shares of the new companies.

Don began to name companies, and suddenly a voice said, "Buy."

Invest all your money in this company, I said.
- Bill, you're just crazy! This is a very risky business. Before you can even blink an eye, you will become a beggar.

Don spent another 20 minutes trying to dissuade me.
Finally, he gave in and invested all the money in a new business. It was a gold mining company in South Africa.

EPILOGUE. Two days later, the stock market was in a fever. The prices of the shares that I managed to sell fell from $400 to $190. Only a few years later, the price of them began to rise little by little. I sold them for the highest price!

A few more days later, the US government canceled fixed gold prices, and they quickly crept up. Prices for shares of gold mining companies immediately jumped 3-4 times and continued to grow.

Six months later, when I was again sitting in my office, bending over the papers, a quiet voice said: "Sell."

Without any hesitation, I sold the shares of the gold mining company and put the money in the bank. This brought me a solid profit.

A little later, to my great surprise, I was fired from the company where I had worked for 18 years and had not a single remark! New director started a reorganization and a new policy.

With the proceeds from the sale of shares, I traveled around the country for four years, qualified as a hypnotherapist, became a professional astrologer, lectured on psychology and extrasensory perception and, most importantly, became a recognized writer!

So, Higher Consciousness completely changed my life. I took every next step, focusing only on him, and thanks to this I became a participant in events that are hard to believe. The cases in this book are selected for your learning, but they are just the tip of the iceberg!

I don't know how you can develop the ability to hear the "voice from above", but even if I knew, I would hardly begin to teach you this art. I am convinced that the "voice from above" is an extremely rare phenomenon and arises spontaneously among the chosen people.

In addition, there are many mental illnesses in which people hear voices, and it is quite difficult to distinguish a "voice from above" from an auditory hallucination. This, by the way, is another reason why I would not undertake to teach you.

In any case, we must remember that if you hear a voice calling you to destructive actions, it is most likely a mental disorder, and not a "voice from above." The cosmic mind will never order to kill a living being or threaten someone, it gives only useful information.

The voice that advised me to sell the shares could not belong to a person, it was not even the voice of a rational entity, it was information from the cosmic consciousness, which I perceived as the voice of a person standing nearby.

A "voice from above" is a rare occurrence, but it can be a powerful tool for influencing the psyche, prompting a person to completely change his life, as happened to me. But to acquire a subtle, selective hearing is useful for everyone. Therefore, I will give below examples of listening exercises that will allow you to better navigate the world of sounds.

Exercise #3
INCREASED HEARING

1. Usually before going to bed, people tend to switch off from all sounds. You, on the contrary, try to concentrate all your attention on them for several minutes and try to determine the source of each sound.

2. Listen. You may hear the refrigerator turning on and off, or the ice cream maker across the street unloading ice.

3. You heard the sound of a motor. What is this? Car, truck or motorcycle?

4. The rumble of a flying plane is heard. Listen: maybe it's a helicopter?

How many? Are these men or women? How old are they?
Got the idea? Learn to identify any sounds, hear your breathing and heartbeats, the slightest rustle in the room, do not miss anything. Train your ear to distinguish subtle sounds, because

Higher consciousness often speaks to a person in a quiet, soft voice that may not be heard in the noise of the day.

1. Waking up in the morning, do not spare a few minutes for such exercises. Listen to the sounds of the morning.

2. Do you hear the cries of newspapermen, birds singing, distant beeps?

3. During the day, try to also briefly listen to the sounds around you: to TVs and radios turned on somewhere, to ringing phones, to the noise of passing trains and barking dogs.

4. Try to be on the alert all the time, keep the background noise under control, wherever you are.
Literally after the very first exercises, your hearing will become very aggravated. You will be surprised to find how many sounds surround you, but they do not interfere with you. You will be on the alert all the time and do not miss anything that may be useful to you.

If we reacted to every sound, we would probably go crazy. Therefore, we “turn off” from unnecessary noises, and it happens that “together: we throw out the baby with water” - we don’t hear sounds that could warn us of danger and make us wary. We need to ensure that our subconscious mind always keeps the sounds that come to us under control.

In case #3, I described how my subconscious mind suddenly tuned me into the voice of the Higher Intelligence, even though I was busy with paperwork.

In order for the subconscious mind to always be on the alert, it must be programmed.
An example of such programming follows. The main thing is to understand the main idea. You can change the program as you wish.

Start programming your subconscious when you lie in bed with your eyes closed and listen to the sounds of the night.

1. Say to yourself: "I am listening to the sounds of the night." (Personally, I say these words out loud, although you may find it more comfortable to do so mentally.)

2. I hear sounds (describe the sounds you could hear: a motorcycle passing by, a neighbor snoring, etc.).

3. I listen to these sounds to sharpen my hearing. This will help me become a good psychic.

4. I command my subconscious to be always on the alert and let me know if there are sounds that are useful to me, sounds that improve my psychic skills, sounds coming from intelligent entities, sounds coming from cosmic consciousness.

Use this simple subconscious mind programming exercise every time you practice hearing sharpening.

Saying the words out loud is not necessary, especially since sometimes, due to circumstances, you simply cannot afford it (for example, exercising on the bus when you go to work).

Try to close your eyes as much as possible: in this case, the brain automatically switches to alpha rhythm and suggestion works more efficiently. I recommend closing your eyes while doing any of the exercises in this book.

This does not mean at all that programming does not happen with open eyes; it just takes more time. Remember: programming always works, although it is not immediately evident. The instructions I give in this chapter should be kept in mind for other kinds of programming that you will come across later. I will not repeat them every time in the same detail.

You can create your own programs that are more convenient for you. What I offer is just an example. However, you can use this as well.

If you are not too lazy and begin to regularly perform the exercises described in the book, you will be surprised to find that each time they become easier for you. Don't be dogmatic: feel free to experiment, change the exercises, adapt them to your needs. The main thing is to move in the right direction and include the sixth sense in the work as often as possible.

SMELL
Now I will tell you about the case when my consciousness caught and allowed to easily resolve the paranormal situation. The scent of roses was the clue. There are many cases of the sudden appearance of a pungent odor where it should not be in any way. With the paranormal, this is a common thing.

Case #4
Psychic Smell
It happened in Colorado in 1980. Spring had just begun, but it was still quite cold and there was snow everywhere.

I got into the car and went to work. (I was working for a car company at the time.)
Leaving the freeway, I suddenly distinctly smelled fresh roses and even stopped in surprise, deciding to check what was going on. He breathed the air again and again - not the slightest doubt: the smell of roses; it feels like there are a good hundred of them in the car. But where? There are no flowers in the car, and on the street there is only cold white snow.

From the experience of previous unusual experiences, I understood that something had happened. But he couldn't figure out what it was. I went into an altered state of consciousness and asked out loud, "What does that mean?"

And I immediately understood everything: only two weeks had passed since my sister-in-law died. With the smell of roses, she sent me her last "thank you". During the last month of her life, I relieved her suffering through hypnosis. She also told me that she was fine now. I smiled and said softly, "I love you. Thank you." And at the same moment the smell of roses disappeared.

One of the most remarkable abilities of psychics is communication with people dear to us, but, alas, who have left this world. The sharp smells that overtake us are far from always a sign of a meeting with the esoteric world. There are more than enough of them in our world too.

However, the exercises that follow will help you navigate the world of real smells well, and then you will not confuse them with extrasensory sensations.

Exercise #4
INCREASED SMELL
1. Take a few seconds, relax, take a deep breath and try to identify what smells surround you.

2. Combine business with pleasure: do these exercises in a restaurant or in the kitchen. Open boxes of seasonings often and inhale their aroma. Try to quietly sniff every piece of food that you are going to put in your mouth. Look in the refrigerator often and examine its contents with the help of smell.

3. Smell the air inside your car when you press the accelerator. Try to learn how to determine how the air changes depending on the engine speed.

4. When identifying sources of odors, mentally name them. Say to yourself: "I am sharpening my sense of smell for the development of extrasensory abilities. Now I can smell ..." (listing smells and their sources).

You will probably be surprised at how many different smells, pleasant and not so pleasant, fill your life.

TOUCH
Through touch, you can feel the presence of the essence of a disembodied sentient being. People who have tried to touch the ghosts usually feel the chill of the grave. While doing psychic healing, you can also feel the change in temperature. In the case which I will describe below, where psychic treatment is concerned, I felt a strong warmth in my hands.

Case #5
Psychic Touch
Of all my practice, this case was remembered as the most extraordinary.

At one time, my wife worked part-time, demonstrating food products. One day at work, she met a woman (let's call her Nancy), who was told by the doctor that her husband had no more than two months to live. Husband (let's call him Tom) suffered a lot. rare disease, in which part of the intestine is infected and sooner or later intoxication should lead to death. It was an incurable case. The affected part of the intestine could be removed surgically, but Tom was so weakened by the disease that the doctor, not without reason, decided: he could not endure a long operation - he would die on the table. An operation that could have saved his life would surely have killed him, so he was simply left to die. This is such a sad story.

Dee was so moved by Nancy's sad story that when she came home she told me everything and asked:

Bill, is there anything you can do to help this man?
- What I can? If his doctor said there was no hope, then there was. I am not God.
“But you have already helped people who had no hope more than once. After all, you could just talk to him, support him. Please call Nancy and ask her and Tom to come visit us today. Here is her phone.

Dee handed me a piece of paper with a phone number on it.
But I don't know these people. I don't know what to say, I protested.
- Call Bill, please! There are no exit situations for you.

I could never refuse my wife, so I called and invited Tom and Nancy to join us. Later I learned that Dee had no doubts about my answer and warned Nancy and Tom in advance to wait for my call. They showed up exactly 20 minutes later.

Tom looked terrible. At 6 feet tall, he weighed no more than a hundred pounds. Dystrophy "ate" his muscles: it was a skeleton covered with skin. There was not even a spark of life in his deeply sunken eyes. With great difficulty he raised his legs no more than an inch. The marks from the injections on the hands did not heal, pus oozed from them. His emaciated body was unable to even recover from the injection. It became clear to me why the doctor decided that Tom would not survive the operation.

It was a living corpse. Why, perhaps, many corpses look better than poor Tom. We sat in the living room. Dee made tea. I had no idea how I could help the poor fellow. Even before the meeting, I had a glimmer of hope that I could alleviate Tom's situation with the help of hypnosis, but as soon as we began to talk, this hope evaporated. From intoxication, Tom is almost completely deaf. When I sat opposite him and shouted at the top of my voice, he could hardly hear the individual words. What to do? I cannot hypnotize a person who is completely deaf, and I have never heard of anyone being hypnotized by notes. How to be?

I relaxed, leaned back in my chair, entered an altered state of consciousness to the level of theta rhythm. Mentally, I sent to the cosmic consciousness only one request: "Help!"

And help came instantly. Illumination flashed through my mind like lightning. In a second, I already knew what to do. I confess honestly: I knew what to do, but what it all meant - I did not understand. All my experience has suggested that it is foolish to address higher consciousness for detailed instructions. It told you what to do, and that's enough. To argue in such cases is useless and stupid.

I led Tom into the examination room and seated him in a deep chair. On a piece of paper, I wrote, "Lean back and relax. Close your eyes and don't open them until I touch your forehead." Tom nodded and closed his eyes.

I brought my hands up to his face, but did not touch him. Between the palms and the face of Tom remained a distance of half an inch.

I spread my arms and began to slowly lower them along Tom's body, as if scanning him. Almost immediately, my hands became hot. The longer I scanned his body, the hotter his hands got. They became red and swollen. It felt like I had dipped them in boiling water. I scanned Tom's body for about ten minutes. Then I felt that my hands were getting colder. Puffiness and redness disappeared. I realized that I had done everything I could, and gently touched his forehead with my palm. Tom opened his eyes and literally jumped out of his chair. "God! What have you done to me? I felt like I was put into a cauldron of boiling water, but now I'm much better."

His skin has returned to normal. Life sparkled in his eyes. When we returned to the living room, he was walking, not dragging his feet.

We spent the rest of the evening talking. Tom's deafness is gone. Dee put it on the table, and Tom ate it greedily. His wife said that for several days he had been unable to take solid food.

A week later, his condition improved so much that the doctor decided on an operation that was successful.

I visited Tom in the hospital shortly after the operation. His shoulders were still covered in non-healing injection marks. Probably, all the forces of his body were directed to the fight against the main disease, and they simply did not remain for these wounds.

Bill, is there anything you can do about this? - Tom pointed to the festering wounds.

I exactly repeated the procedure that had already helped him once.
The very next morning, Tom called me and said that the injection wounds had already completely healed and he was almost healthy.

The doctor released him from the hospital a week earlier than expected.
Over the next few weeks, I worked with Tom, talking on the phone or inviting him to my house. I've never met a person who treats himself so badly. I explained to him that this was the cause of all his problems, helped him master self-hypnosis and taught him how to restore his body using psychic methods. Then I left him to himself, giving him a final piece of advice: he must realize responsibility for his life. I felt that it would be difficult for him without me, but I could not remain his nanny all my life. I explained to him that by conquering his negativism, he would regain his health.

During all this time I did not dare to demand from him for treatment and a penny, but he probably did not even think of paying me. He never even thanked me. True, I didn’t lose money, because I discovered another gift in myself. But Tom's wife thanked me from the bottom of her heart. She also confessed to me that in her entire life together she had never heard words of gratitude from her husband.

Over the years, Tom continued to follow my advice. His health was fully restored. Suddenly, after five years, he abandoned everything. Life for himself and for his wife turned into a nightmare. Everyone who met him just shrugged their shoulders in bewilderment. Tom's health deteriorated rapidly.

Having learned about this, I went to them and saw that Tom was again on the verge of death. This time he behaved completely differently: he clearly wanted to die. It was impossible to help him.
He died. But he won five years of life from death and got the opportunity to grow spiritually. Unfortunately, he did not take advantage of this opportunity. But he will certainly use the acquired knowledge at another time, in another place.

Sooner or later, we all get the opportunity to learn or feel something, the opportunity for spiritual growth. She cannot be missed. Spiritual development is our only way. There is simply no choice.

Why not develop your spirit in this life and not in the next? Make a choice right now, dear reader, and work, work on yourself.

Exercises #5-7
And now I will offer you exercises that will help sharpen your sense of touch.

Basic psychic level
5. Close your eyes and plug your ears. Relax. Feel the skin on the cheek, then on the wrist, on the heel.

Try to define your feeling of touch in one word, for example:
smooth, silky, ribbed. Pick up a piece of ice from the refrigerator, hold your hand near the flame of a candle. Name your feelings.

6. Take a shoebox, make a hole in it large enough for your hand to enter. Put in a box small items different textures (pieces of various fabrics, small toys made from various materials). Close the lid of the box, try, sorting through the objects, to determine by touch what you are holding in your hands. Gradually complicate the task by putting objects that are more and more uniform in texture into the box.

7. Fold the change that they give you for change not in your wallet, but in your pockets. In your spare time, practice to determine by touch what denomination of coins you have in your pocket, and how much you have.

By doing these exercises, you will learn to "see" with your hands and will be able to easily navigate in the dark.

Library creator.

Mental hyperesthesia- Painful exacerbation of elementary sensitivity. Sometimes it is possible to establish that the amplification concerns only one component of sensations - emotional or receptive. In the first case, patients emphasize an unpleasant, irritating shade of sensations, in the second, they first of all note an increase in the intensity of sensations. More often, perhaps, both of these components are amplified. In those frequent cases when hyperesthesia is accompanied by a distinct reaction of suffering, one should, apparently, state the fact of painful mental hyperesthesia - by analogy with painful mental anesthesia.

Both of these phenomena, if they occur in , can replace each other. For example, in mild depression, symptoms of painful mental hyperesthesia are more common. With the deepening of depression, manifestations of painful mental a- or hypoesthesia come to the fore. For example, the patient notes that he is irritated by bright lights and loud sounds. At the same time, he experiences a vagueness of perception and even the unreality of what is happening around him, a dulling of tactile sensitivity. He also reports that at times he does not feel his legs and arms, as if he does not have them, but at the same time “the head does not float, it becomes clear, and everything around is perceived quite clearly.”

Often, patients report an increase in only some of the submodalities of the corresponding sensations. There are complaints in which there is an increase in the intensity of some sensations (or submodalities) and at the same time a dulling of others. For example: “Quiet sounds are perceived louder than usual, and loud ones, on the contrary, they seem to fly past the ears ... The light is so bright that it hurts the eyes, and I hear the sounds as if at a distance.” With intoxication, the phenomena of hyperesthesia of external sensations often predominate, with endogenous ones - in the sphere of somesthesia. The noted dissociation primarily affects, apparently, reciprocal sensations and their modalities. We believe that such symptoms should be designated by a special term, such as, for example, the phenomenon of paradoxical sensitivity. Let us indicate the following manifestations of mental hyperesthesia.

Mental hyperalgesia- exacerbation of pain sensitivity. It is observed in various disease states and apparently has a different nature. Thus, patients with mild depression often develop or worsen various pains, both acute and chronic, localized in various parts body. This kind of pain often does not have any anatomical basis and appears, apparently, in connection with vegetosomatic disorders and hyperactivation of self-perception mechanisms. Sometimes, at the same time, the former, as if forgotten pains “come to life”. These are, for example, pains in places of old fractures and wounds. N. Petrilovich (1970) described depressive hyperalgesia under the name algic melancholia. With the deepening of depression, hyperalgesia is replaced by analgesia. The phenomena of hyperalgesia in the form of a recurrence of pain previously observed in somatic diseases often occur during opium morphine intoxication.

It is known that pain can appear or intensify if the patient watches someone hurt another person - synpsychalgia. There is such a type of pain when patients seem to appropriate the pain of another person. Someone broke, for example, a leg, and the patient feels pain at the same time, and in the same place. There are imaginary pains. Reincarnating, for example, in another person, the patient feels the same pain that this person has or should have. And he suffers from this pain. Probably, the words that the pain of another person is best tolerated are not always true. Cases are also described when an actor or writer gets used to someone's role so much that they experience real pains that correspond to this role. The hysterical algias and the pains of hypochondriacs seem to have the same origin. In all the cases just mentioned, the pains are imaginary, associated with a violation of self-perception.

In chronic pain syndrome, in more than half of the cases, the pain does not have an actual organic basis. It occurs much later after illness, accompanied by severe and persistent pain. Such pain arises, probably, because the patient, firstly, is interested in it for some reason, he seems to want to return to the position of a sick person. Secondly, this pain is not just a memory of it. The patient really feels it, albeit in an exaggerated form. Forgotten pain returns, perhaps because the idea of ​​it is somehow transformed into pain itself. The only explanation for why this is happening seems to be that morbid fantasies are turned into subjective reality by the disruption of self-perception. Interest in pain can have different motives.

Some patients with chronic pain syndrome use pain as a means of pressure on others, subordinating them to themselves. Such patients really become tyrants in the family. There are cases when such patients try to subjugate doctors to their will, each time triumphing in their futile attempts to eliminate pain with the help of medicines - the syndrome of killing luminaries. The desirability of pain may also be related to the fact that pain enables the patient to freely use drugs. Pain as an effective way of self-punishment for sins has always been in demand by the saints and martyrs of the church. For sexual masochists, pain, to its known limits, is important as a necessary element of the intimate side of their life. In other words, a person would not be such if he did not find the meaning and use of pain to his advantage.

Nyctalgia or hypnoanalgesia is manifested by increased pain during sleep. morning pain- is the pain of depressed patients with diurnal mood swings, when the symptoms of depression are aggravated in the morning. Evening pains are observed in depression, if its manifestations increase at sunset or closer to night. Painful akinesia is a state of immobility from pain, which is aggravated by movement. This symptom is described in hysteria (Mobius, 1891).

Paresthetic brachialgia is manifested by pain and paresthesia in the hands upon awakening from sleep (Wartenberg, 1932). According to the observations of Lopez-Ibor (1973), it often occurs with latent depression. A similar disorder is the Wittmann-Ekbom (1861, 1945) restless leg syndrome, which occurs when various violations including the phenomena of neurolepsy.

Mental hyperopia- painful exacerbation of visual sensations. Ordinary illumination is perceived by patients as excessive, blinding - galeropia. The symptom is described, in particular, in case of poisoning carbon monoxide. Patients report that the light cuts, tires the eyes, irritates them, forces them to wear dark glasses, curtain windows during the day, leave the house only in the evening. At the same time, the color perception is exacerbated. Colors seem excessively bright, saturated, color shades are perceived much more clearly. The contours of objects are perceived much more clearly. The letters of the text are seen as "convex, faceted, gothic", objects - sharp, standing out against the background like a bas-relief. This violation often occurs with asthenia, depression, mania, intoxication with psychostimulants, at the beginning of acute psychosis.

Mental hyperacusis- painful exacerbation of auditory sensations. Sounds of normal intensity seem to patients unbearably loud, deafening, causing irritation and even physical pain: “I can’t stand noise, knocks, sounds of conversation, they torment me, I dream of complete silence ... The sounds literally beat on the brain, penetrate into the skull, it seems that my head is about to split from them ... Hearing has become sharply aggravated. I hear the cat stomping, the clock strikes like a sledgehammer. I even hear a mouse rustling in a hole and a sparrow jumping on the roof. The noise behind the wall is exhausting, I don’t know how to distract myself from it. I began to hear my neighbor snoring on the floor above, and if a child is running there, it just torments me ... I never thought how many different sounds there are in the night, I hadn’t heard them before, but now I can’t understand what those sounds are. Mental hyperacusis can be combined with auditory agnosia and with typhus - Botkin's phenomenon (1868).

Mental hypergeusia- painful exacerbation of taste sensations. It is often selective, that is, it concerns individual submodalities of taste sensitivity. Often the taste and even the appearance of food cause disgust, accompanied by nausea, and sometimes vomiting. There is also the opposite picture, when taste sensations deliver unusual pleasure, up to pleasure.

Mental hyperosmia- painful exacerbation olfactory sensitivity. Often it is very selective and is combined with hypergeusia. Smells are not only perceived very sharply, but are also accompanied by various emotions, both negative and positive. This indicates the prevailing mood background. Elevation of mood is combined with a pleasant emotional accompaniment of smells, depression is usually accompanied by unpleasant emotions: “I can’t stand the smell of tobacco and fumes, they make me sick ... I can’t drive in a car, I feel sick from the smell of gasoline ... It seems to me that something very unpleasant smells so strongly from mentally ill people that I can identify one of them in a crowd ... I absolutely can’t stand the smell of cologne, I feel sick ... I don’t try soup or boron sch on salt, I determine by the smell whether there is enough salt in them ... I really like the way the girls smell, this feeling of something spring and joyful.

Psychic hypernaphia- painful exacerbation of sensations of touch. It can relate to various tactile submodalities: “Clothes literally stick into my body, press, constrain, squeeze... I feel the slightest movement of air... Before the rain, I feel how damp it pulls... I can’t stand it when they touch me, I even shudder... I can’t comb it, it hurts to touch my hair... I hear wheezing in my daughter’s lungs with my hands.”

Mental hyperbaresthesia- a painful exacerbation of sensations of pressure and weight: “The body is heavy, as if lead ... Such a weight has fallen, as if a load has been placed on top ... There is such a heaviness in my arms and legs that I can hardly move them ... The bucket of water has become terribly heavy, I can’t believe that I used to lift something heavier jokingly ... I took off the chain, it presses so hard that it hurts.”

Mental hyperbatesthesia- painful exacerbation of kinesthetic sensations: "I feel how my eyes move, my hair moves ... It became difficult to move, I can hardly move my legs." Some patients catch ideomotor acts: “As soon as I think about doing something, I immediately feel that the body starts to move ... I’m just about to say something, but my tongue is already moving.” Many patients report that they cannot remain at rest for a long time, as they soon begin to feel aches, pulling sensations in the muscles, some kind of discomfort, and a desire to change position.

Mental hyperstatesthesia- Painful exacerbation of static feeling. Many patients complain, for example, of "dizziness" in the head, swaying sensations when walking, an easy feeling of loss of balance, for example, when turning or raising the head, tilting the body. There is even a slight acceleration of movement in a bus, train, not to mention passenger transport, an airplane.

Mental hyperpallesthesia- painful exacerbation of sensations of vibration:

“I feel with my body how the window panes rattle from the noise ... At first I feel that a car is driving, and only then I hear the sound of an engine ... Inside everything is shaking like a jellied meat ... Everything inside is trembling, trembling, as if rolling in waves ... The pulse beats like a hammer in the temples and gives off in the whole body ... The heart beats heavily, strongly, strikes like a sledgehammer. " S.S. Korsakov (1912) described the intensification of internal sensations under the name disproportionate perceptions.

Mental hyperthermesthesia- painful exacerbation of temperature sensitivity: “It seems that I’m burning all over, but the temperature is normal ... From a distance I feel that the child’s temperature has risen ... I’m all cold, in the summer I dress in everything warm, but I can’t get warm, I’m still cold.” It also happens like this: “I’m burning all over and at the same time I’m freezing ... I feel that I’m all cold, sweaty, but inside it’s hot, it’s hot there. Or I’m burning all over, red, but inside it’s cold, I freeze there. The temperature is normal."