The concept of imbecility and the main reasons for its occurrence. The first symptoms of the disease and methods of its correction. Modern drugs for the treatment of this pathology. Imbecility is a pathological condition of a person, which is characterized by a decrease in his mental abilities and manifests itself in the form of a violation of both mental and physical data. The disease is predominantly congenital in nature, and its first signs are noticeable from early childhood. In the future, such people do not have the opportunity to develop according to their age. Their overall life expectancy decreases, as well as the level of socialization in the environment.
Causes of imbecility
This pathology is a serious problem for many children and their parents. Today, this disease is considered to be the second most severe degree of dementia in a person. It occurs during the formation of the fetus in the mother's body, which determines the main range of possible causes.
In order to somehow concretize the alleged harm factors, several main groups were identified:
- Traumatic injury … Of all the variety of problems, this one occurs, perhaps, most often during the birth of a child. Mostly these are birth trauma to the head, but similar conditions can also occur in the prenatal period. These include pathologies of the position of the child, entanglement with the umbilical cord or mechanical damage during falls, bruises. As a result, the initially well-formed fetus gradually loses its ability to develop normally.
- Hereditary diseases … Such a group of diseases in advance makes the baby doomed to any of the degrees of dementia. Among a wide variety of chromosomal and genomic pathologies, imbecility in symptoms appears very often. Down syndrome and microcephaly are considered the most common. It is worth noting the fact that today's medicine makes it possible to establish such a diagnosis even in the early stages of pregnancy and to interrupt its course in a timely manner after the mother's consent.
- Infectious lesion … The most dangerous are intrauterine diseases of the TORCH group. They have the most pronounced teratogenic effect. Also, infections of this group deliberately inhibit the work of the brain and central nervous system. After their transfer, there is almost complete confidence in the possible formation of any defect in the development of the fetus.
- Immunological incompatibility … Most often, such a problem occurs during the second birth in a mother who does not agree with her baby in the presence of Rh antigen. As a result, the immune system is activated. That, in turn, begins to actively destroy the growing organism, like a foreign antibody. As a result of all these processes, if a child manages to survive, then disorders in the form of mental retardation can often accompany him throughout his life.
- Exchange pathologies … Today, in all countries of the world, these conditions continue to appear more and more often in many children. Such diseases are based on the lack of enzyme systems, hormones, mediators and other vital active substances. The most common are hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria. Both of these conditions can lead to imbecility and more. In addition to this symptom, children will also suffer from metabolic problems, which will seriously aggravate their health and well-being.
The main symptoms of imbecility
There is a direct relationship between the causative factor and the symptoms of the disease itself. For example, if a child is diagnosed with Down syndrome, then, in addition to mental disorders, other manifestations and developmental delay will be visible. This, of course, significantly impairs overall health, multiplying some of the other symptoms of imbecility.
The pathology itself is represented by several clearly visible violations:
- Speech pathology … Such children pronounce the first word very late and only with the presence of outside qualified help. If it is rendered correctly, then this skill will be mastered quite well. Despite this, complex speech turns are not characteristic of such people, their vocabulary is very small and not at all diverse. Sometimes this arsenal consists of just a few phrases. But this patient understands the addressed speech very well and can adequately assess it.
- Cognitive impairment … Imbeciles' thinking processes also undergo complex changes. It becomes slow and very tight. Rapid adaptation to the environment is impaired, a person cannot think about several things at once. The same type of thinking and poor imagination are built. The general information inherent in all people is very different in its poor composition. What a normal person already understands, this patient cannot remember and apply in practice.
- Memory impairment … It is this feature, in combination with other symptoms, that makes such people incapable of socialization. They cannot learn letters, read only syllables, and rarely learn to count. Each of these activities requires extraordinary effort, which not all make. The memory works only at a primitive level, which allows you to know the names and the most frequently used objects in the environment. Such people are practically unable to fix a picture or heard information in their minds, not only for a long time, but even for a few minutes.
- Lack of will … This problem is accompanied by completely different symptoms. In childhood, this can manifest itself in the form of gluttony. Children cannot deny themselves anything, even if they know that it is forbidden. At an older age, the problem takes on a slightly different form. A person can become sexually disinhibited. This suggests that he has the same need for body connections as healthy people, but does not understand at all how to cope with it. Sometimes this behavior can be accompanied by aggressive actions.
- Loss of work skills … These people are absolutely not even adapted to everyday life. They are rarely able to dress and brush their own hair. The basic ability to eat requires a very long and laborious training. But there are imbeciles who, through their own efforts, can master these skills. Many of them also manage to learn how to do simple homework and more.
Classification of imbecility in humans
Despite the fact that imbecility itself is part of mental retardation, it also has some of its own types. They were established on the basis of the severity of the course of the disease itself, as well as the prevalence of various emotions.
Let's take a closer look at the types of imbecility:
- Active … This group includes representatives who are distinguished by their simplicity and good nature. They are characterized by the presence of mild euphoria, friendliness and sociability. Unlike, for example, idiocy, such people are strongly attached to relatives and friends. They are able to have warm feelings and expect praise. Such a person is more inclined to diligence and is often able to learn how to do primitive work. They are also more emotional and motivated to take action.
- Passive … This type of people is characterized by lethargy and apathy. They are not very talkative and completely unfriendly. Even in a close circle, they do not really strive for communication and building relationships. More difficult to learn, prone to manifestations of aggression. Such patients require constant supervision and very often specialized medical care. In most cases, they are calm and withdrawn, but they can experience severe attacks of anxiety and fear.
Also, depending on the IQ level, there are three degrees of imbecility. This is not very reflected in the overall clinical picture of the disease, but it significantly affects the ability to learn.
Features of the treatment of imbecility
People with this diagnosis are considered disabled. Modern society, due to certain circumstances, cannot always provide them with proper care and living conditions. That is why it is necessary to make the maximum amount of effort in order to teach them independent survival in society. This process is quite laborious and time-consuming, but still effective. Correction of imbecility is a difficult task and therefore should include several options for exposure at once.
Correct parenting
The most important role in the treatment process is assigned to the parents or relatives of these sick children. It depends on them whether the correct and timely assistance and even its quality will be provided. It is very important that guardians or parents perceive such a child correctly and be able to apply the correct upbringing to him.
Recommendations related to this:
- Equality training … Very often in a family, parents form some kind of specific attitude towards such a child. This is especially noticeable if, in addition to him, there is still a healthy baby. This behavior is completely wrong and only aggravates the situation. Such a fence makes the child even more withdrawn into himself and moves him away from the opportunity to feel on a par with others. It is necessary to adequately assess his behavior, but also not to overdo it with the load.
- Encouragement and punishment … It is very difficult for such children to perform any action. Therefore, it is important that in the learning process, parents try to interest them in some way, praise them for the work done. Then the child will feel the importance of doing it. But excessive permissiveness can also do no less harm. We must not forget about other measures of education, explain what actions are bad and why they should not be done.
- Education … Many parents pin their hopes on drug treatment and medical assistance, completely forgetting that they themselves can have a considerable impact. Constant monitoring, developmental games and other active activities have an extremely positive effect on children. Daily care and self-education are especially important.
Mental therapy
People with this degree of dementia face many challenges in everyday life. Not every parent is able to properly educate and socialize such a baby on their own. Very often, it is precisely the provision of psychological assistance from a specialist who can, by applying his methods, facilitate the child's life.
To date, dozens of different approaches to this problem have already been developed, each of which is gradually bearing fruit. And we will consider the most effective of them:
- Pedagogy … In this case, specialists are working who, in various ways, try to teach the child basic skills. They give one-on-one lessons at home or in designated hospitals. There, children are taught by the method of constant repetitions to dress, wash, comb their hair. Already at an older age, they resort to more serious processes. For example, mastering labor activity in the form of gluing labels, sorting. Doing monotonous single-tasking work for many people with imbecility brings not only developmental benefits, but also monetary rewards.
- Socialization … The described pathology preserves such people the opportunity to experience warm feelings, but in order for them to appear, efforts must also be made. Passive representatives of imbeciles do not very much welcome outside attention or someone's presence in their lives. Since communication between people is the basis of their social interaction, then it is necessary to teach this in some way to children with imbecility. To do this, they arrange various groups or whole classes of such kids, help them get acquainted, play and communicate with each other in every possible way.
Drug treatment
This disease is considered incurable. Even the most modern drugs and techniques cannot help such children grow up normal. But you can improve their quality of life, make it longer and less painful. All pharmacological assistance in this case can be divided into two large groups - symptomatic and specific. It depends on what stage of development the presented drug affects.
In view of this classification, doctors resort to using a wide variety of groups of drugs. Let's consider them in more detail:
- Nootropic drugs … These substances are better than others able to penetrate into brain cells and have a beneficial effect on their metabolism. They increase their resistance to hypoxia, reduce the amount of pathological metabolic products. Such a general effect increases concentration, memory and stimulates learning processes.
- Psychotropic drugs … This group includes tranquilizers and antipsychotics, which are capable of suppressing attacks of anxiety and aggression. They make such a person calm and patient. Stronger drugs can completely turn off consciousness during acute psychoses.
- Psychostimulants … This type of drugs includes substances that, based on their mechanism of action, are able to increase the level of mental and mental activity. Drugs like caffeine slow down the onset of fatigue, help you focus and mobilize all the resources you need to complete a task.
- Anticonvulsants … Due to the wide variety of causes of imbecility, it can be accompanied by a large number of symptoms. Most often, it is a tendency to epileptic seizures. Therefore, when seizures appear, drugs are prescribed that can stop them now and prevent their occurrence in the future.
- Hormonal drugs … Basically, this group is made up of synthetic analogs of thyroxine. After all, it is hypothyroidism that very often becomes the cause of dementia in childhood. Therefore, a drug such as levothyroxine is often included in the basic therapy of the disease.
- Antibiotics … These medicinal substances are prescribed as a course therapy in the event that an infectious disease has become the cause of imbecility. Then the baby must be treated to prevent the development of other symptoms. They use drugs with a wide spectrum of action, sometimes in combination with sulfonamides.
How to treat imbecility - watch the video:
Such a disease as imbecility is a huge problem of our time. In view of its manifestations, it makes a person completely unsuitable for life and asocial. That is why it is very important to make every effort to prevent this condition so as not to face a similar problem in the future.
