Mental disorders in lesions of cerebral vessels

This group combined mental disorders arising in the various forms of vascular pathology (atherosclerosis, hypertension and its consequences - stroke, heart attack, etc.). These diseases can occur without pronounced mental disorders, with a prevalence of somatic and neurological disorders. Especially that patients with mild, "non-psychotic" disorders are treated in ordinary clinics and do not fall into the field of view of a psychiatrist.
Mental manifestations in cerebrovascular disease are varied both in nature and the depth of disorders, from neurotic symptoms and sharpening of character traits to psychotic episodes and expression of dementia. At the initial stage of the disease, patients complain of headaches, dizziness, noise in the head, sleep disturbances, fatigue, irritability, intolerance to strong stimuli, forgetfulness. The mood can be reduced with a touch of anxiety or with tearfulness. The character: as if some features are erased and sharpened hypertrophy or others. The involution of age (under 60 years) are amplified or there are such personality traits as anxiety, indecision, mistrust, resentment. For the elderly are more characteristic selfishness, greed, callousness, zastrevaemost, indifference to others.
With the progression of vascular process, there are signs of reduction of personality and intellect, ie organic psychosyndrome. It appears rigidity and thoroughness of thinking, weakening of memory on current events and the difficulty of the development of new material, narrowing the scope of perception and a decrease in its definition, as well as changes in the level of judgment, reasoning and intellectual productivity.