Suppressed aggression: symptoms and methods of combating. Psychologist's advice

1. General information
2. Types of aggression against the background of alcoholism
3. Causes and risk factors
4. Complex treatment: Is it possible to avoid conflict with an addict?

Attention!

Drug use causes irreparable harm to health and poses a danger to life!

Alcohol addiction continues to remain at a consistently high level from year to year. Among addicted individuals, mortality rates remain high from causes directly or indirectly related to alcohol abuse. The use of psychoactive substances changes the course of mental processes. Therefore, in alcoholism, self-aggressive behavior is diagnosed more often than in other mental illnesses. Alcohol aggression provokes suicidal behavior and the risk of committing suicide in such patients is 5 times higher.

General information

Aggression is nothing more than destructive behavior. A person acts verbally or non-verbally with only one goal - to cause harm. The nature of aggressive behavior can be instinctive, that is, innate. This is typical for every person. In response to a direct threat to life, an adaptive reaction is triggered. And in this case, aggression is considered the norm, since it relates to a defense mechanism.

But with an established addiction, aggression is considered from the point of view of an acquired behavioral disorder. The behavioral reaction goes from benign to malignant. A maladaptive reaction occurs without a reason - a direct “threat” to a person.

Ethanol and its breakdown products destroy nerve cells in the central nervous system, which is why changes occur in the psyche, namely in behavioral reactions. The picture of alcoholic aggression is often blurred and from the outside it seems that it is just a character trait.

The phenomenon of comorbidity highlights the connection between alcoholism and personality. Autodestructive personality disorders, such as borderline and dissocial, in the clinical picture of which the leading place is occupied by impulsivity in the form of destructive extra- and intrapunitive “acting out” of anger, resentment and rage, often coexist with alcohol addiction. Moreover, the suicide risk with comorbidity exceeds the risk than with individual disorders.

Auto-aggression and suicide in alcohol dependence: clinic and psychotherapy. D. I. Shustov.

What to do if you encounter a person during an outburst of aggression

If you are faced with inadequacy, then you should adhere to simple rules:

• Do not enter into any disputes with the aggressor.
• Speak to him in a friendly, quiet and reassuring manner.
• Maintain a calm appearance, do not shout, do not run, do not turn your back to him.
• Try not to let such a person get close.
• At the first opportunity, try to leave (run away), or call other people for help.

Have you noticed that you or someone close to you is beginning to experience attacks of aggression? Remember that the sooner you seek help, the less time it will take to correct your behavior. Call and sign up for a consultation - we will definitely help you!

Types of aggression against the background of alcoholism

Any form of alcoholic aggression always implies destruction. This means that negative emotional outbursts are caused by a pathological process in the central nervous system.

Alcohol aggression is divided into:

• Auto-aggression - a dependent person feels an imbalance inside, internal negative emotions often become the reason for committing suicide;
• Heteroaggression – negative emotions can be reinforced by action. A person deliberately and purposefully seeks to cause harm.

Comorbid disorders are always destructive for the individual. The gradual development of alcohol dependence contributes to the development of various crisis situations. But such people experience a phenomenon of cognitive narrowing. The solution to the problem is called “emergency” - suicide, homicide.

With auto-aggression, the addict strives to injure himself not only physically. This applies to all areas of his life (psychological, social, spiritual).

Even after drinking for the first time, a person is capable of doing things that were previously unacceptable to him. Regular alcohol abuse contributes to personality degradation; gradually a person forgets about social norms of behavior, his own principles, and loses the ability to control himself. Most crimes while intoxicated are committed against loved ones, friends or relatives.

Psychological characteristics of aggressiveness in persons with alcohol dependence. I. B. Akimov.

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Many scientists have tried to create a unified classification of types of aggression against the background of formed addiction. But narcologists more often use the option proposed by American psychologists – Darki and Bassa.

They divide destructive behavior into different reactions:

1. Verbal:
   Negative emotions are manifested through form - raising the voice, screaming;
2. Negative emotions are expressed in the form of curses or threats.
3. Physical – a person moves from words to action, displays various forms of physical violence;
4. Negativism - a person expresses disagreement on any matter, behavior becomes oppositional, but the degree of its severity may vary:
   Active;
5. Passive.
6. Indirect - negative emotions are always directed at some object. But there is no expressed aggression, it is disguised and manifests itself in the form of gossip or caustic banter;
7. Resentment (envy, hatred) - a negative emotion does not always have a real basis. That is, the addict can invent it;
8. Irritation – negative outbursts appear in response to any even minor irritant (word, action);
9. Feelings of guilt - a person negatively evaluates any of his actions, but the assessment is subjective and there is not always a real basis for this;
10. Suspicion - the addict is sure that everyone around him is opposed to him and wants to harm him. Complete distrust can turn into paranoia.

Destructive behavior is not always hostile. Sometimes actions and words are used for the purpose of manipulation to achieve their goal. For example, getting funds to buy another portion of alcohol or a negative emotion allows you to achieve psychological release.

Therefore, the position of the aggressor in relation to the “victim” can be different: defensive, offensive, provoked or sanctioned.

Aggressive actions themselves are a situational response. But if they are constantly repeated, then we are talking about aggressive behavior.

Alcoholism always leads to complete degradation. Against the background of intoxication, a malfunction occurs in the brain - destroyed neuronal circuits cannot adequately receive and transmit signals. As a result, antisocial behavior occurs. The addict is not aware of his actions and cannot control his emotions.

Hidden forms of aggression are always considered more dangerous. A person directs all the negativity towards himself and experiences these emotions inside. Such “withdrawal” often leads to suicide.

Forms of manifestation of the disease

Attacks of aggression can manifest themselves in:

• physical fitness (assault),
• verbal form (shouting and swearing),
• hidden version (nurturing ideas of jealousy, hatred, etc.).

Aggression can be direct and indirect, as well as obvious and hidden, without cause. Listed here are just some of the main manifestations of this condition. Outstanding scientific psychologists and psychiatrists have created voluminous classifications that take into account many of the subtleties of this sociopathological process.

Aggression in men (somewhat less often in women) can have benign traits that are embodied in professional activities. People with such behavior are characterized by courage, bravery, courage. A malignant manifestation of the disorder is rudeness, cruelty, callousness, arrogance, and a tendency to violent ideas and actions.

The most often negative-aggressive type of behavior is characteristic of children and adolescents. With age, it goes away, being replaced by productive and purposeful types of mental personality traits. Self-affirmation and a kind of defensive version of aggressive behavior may well manifest itself in cruel and even sadistic behavior in children. This variant of pathology requires mandatory therapy. Some people themselves notice the destructive nature of periodic attacks and try to get rid of this deficiency on their own. In such cases, they often resort to the help of specialists - psychologists or psychiatrists.

Causes and risk factors

The main reason for deviant behavior due to alcoholism is chronic intoxication. Toxic breakdown products of ethanol are not completely removed from the central nervous system. They accumulate in cells and tissues, which ultimately leads to changes in neuronal mechanisms. Neurotransmitters are involved in the transmission of nerve impulses between brain cells, but in chronic poisoning this process is disrupted.

Scientists have proven that the form of aggression directly depends on hormonal imbalance.

Malfunction occurs in every system, but it is dysfunction in the dopaminergic system that leads to antisocial behavior and uncontrolled aggression during moments of alcohol intoxication.

Certain personal qualities also influence the development of mental illness.

Psychologists called them factors of aggressiveness:

• Anxiety;
• Behavior style – dominant;
• Inadequate self-control - overestimated or underestimated;
• Low self-esteem;
• Conscious belittlement of self-esteem;
• Lack of potential.

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Alcohol aggression is a consequence of psychopathy. Aggressive conditions can sometimes reach critical stages.

Data on the effects of ethanol on the opioid system are contradictory, but it has been proven that the concentration of ethanol in different brain structures is not the same. Ethanol affects opioid peptides and changes the processes of their synthesis and breakdown. The main disintegrating role of ethanol on the central enkephalinergic systems of the brain is to shift the balance between them and other neurotransmitters.

Participation of the opioid and dopamine systems of the brain in the implementation of the addictive properties of ethanol. M. V. Pivovarchik.

Alcohol inhibits cognitive interpretation. That is, consciousness (control) is switched off and the person is not able to analyze his actions. In a sober state, “normative frameworks” help to contain negative outbursts, but only if an irreversible degenerative process has not yet started in the brain.

Factors that increase the likelihood of mental illness due to addiction:

• Chronic intoxication;
• History of mental illness or traumatic brain injury;
• Violation of cellular metabolism (dystrophic changes in the central nervous system);
• Stress (acute or chronic) and psychological trauma.

Outbursts of aggression do not appear immediately. With the development of alcoholism, the symptoms of mental deviation begin to increase. At the first stage of alcoholism, symptoms may be present only during moments of intoxication - hot temper and irritability appear. Further, the symptoms begin to increase, and antisocial behavior becomes obvious, while the symptoms appear even in moments of sobriety.

Why Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder Isn't Really a Diagnosis

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) lists passive-aggressive disorder. It belongs to the heading “Other specific personality disorders”, which, in turn, is included in a large list of mental and behavioral disorders.

But formally today there is no such diagnosis. The most authoritative reference book of mental illnesses, the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), does not mention passive-aggressive personality disorder at all. Although it was in previous editions.

This, however, does not mean Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder: Symptoms & Treatment that such a disorder does not exist. The lack of an official diagnosis only suggests that mental health experts are still seeking information about the characteristics, prevalence, and consequences of chronic passive aggression. When this data is finally collected, the diagnosis will be returned to the reference books (by the way, recommendations to do this have been made Passive-aggressive personality disorder: the demise of a syndrome for a long time).

Complex treatment

Pathological aggression is associated with clinical patterns of alcohol dependence. To relieve psychopathological symptoms, a complex effect is necessary. Rehabilitation implies not only medical, but also social readaptation.

The duration of treatment depends on the severity of aggression and the stage of alcoholism. Therefore, the rehabilitation program for each patient is drawn up individually. The standard course lasts 12 months, of which the patient spends at least 1 month in hospital treatment. After relief of acute symptoms and withdrawal symptoms, outpatient treatment is possible.

Psychotherapeutic correction is an important stage in treatment. The form of psychotherapeutic intervention is selected individually. Psychotherapy allows you to prevent aggression during remission and correct pathological behavioral reactions.

Goals of psychotherapy in patients with comorbid disorders:

• Awareness of the problem;
• Correction of pathological behavioral patterns;
• Restoration of adaptive functioning of the individual;
• Creating positive attitudes for the stage of sober life;
• Adaptation in society.

Psychotherapeutic correction of aggressive behavior in cases of prevalence of affective disorders implies: reduction of emotional stress, desensitization of negative experience, training in adequate socially acceptable ways of responding in a state of frustration, increasing the ability to self-control, and formation of values.

Approaches to the correction of aggressive behavior of patients with alcoholism in the process of psychopharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. A. S. Dmitriev, Yu. B. Shevtsova, A. S. Indin.

Is it possible to avoid conflict with an addict?

With alcohol dependence, stable pathomechanisms are formed that regulate behavioral reactions. A dependent person is not able to adequately perceive criticism and control outbursts of aggression that are directed at others.

Outbursts of anger are not always justified, but even in this case there is no need to enter into conflict. Such patients can cause serious harm to health. In the case of auto-aggression, the patient is dangerous to himself.

How to behave when in contact with an aggressor:

• Do not enter into conflict - try to remain calm and speak calmly;
• Do not show your fear - do not panic;
• Do not use active gestures when talking with the aggressor;
• Do not allow the aggressor to develop a conflict - leave the house or room.

Patients with auto-aggressive behavior have identical individual psychological characteristics and socio-psychological characteristics. Characteristic psychological features are suspicion and verbal aggression. Patients are prone to increased impulsive reactivity in the sphere of drives, and their mood is prone to sudden changes. Impulsivity or agitation is difficult to control and such outbursts can be dangerous to others.

Auto-aggressive behavior of patients with alcoholism and drug addiction. A. N. Gryaznov, V. Sh. Maslennikova, V. A. Bogovarova.

How is aggressiveness diagnosed in medical care?

The need for treatment of this mental disorder is determined only by a specialist - a psychiatrist.

To do this, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive examination, including:

• inspection;
• survey;
• conversation;
• psychological tests;
• observation.

A psychologist takes part in solving the diagnostic problem, and, if necessary, doctors of other profiles - a neurologist, an endocrinologist, a pediatrician. Some cases require hospitalization of the patient.

Where does passive-aggressive personality disorder come from?

Scientists honestly admit that they do not know the exact reason. However, some factors of Passive Aggressive Personality: Signs, Causes, and Diagnosis are known that increase the risk of developing chronic passive aggression:

• neglect, abuse and excessive punishment in childhood;
• excessively low self-esteem;
• abuse of alcohol and other psychoactive substances;
• chronic stress;
• depression;
• anxiety disorders;
• bipolar disorder;
• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD);
• schizophrenia.

Preventing Aggressive Behavior

If you think that a conflict may break out with an aggressive person, follow these rules:

• if possible, find a compromise solution;
• calmly listen to your opponent, and then clearly and calmly express your opinion;
• When discussing problems, do not get personal;
• maintain your comfort zone and do not react to manipulation.

A study was conducted that found that just a spoonful of sugar can suppress aggression. For the experiment, a stranger was seated next to the person being tested, who began provocations. People who drank the sweet drink practically did not react to the “hooligan plant.” Subjects who did not consume sugar behaved more aggressively.

Frustration

The discrepancy between the expected and the actual is another reason for aggression. Because frustration causes unpleasant experiences, it can develop into irritability and even aggression.

But it is worth clarifying two points regarding frustration. Firstly, it does not always lead to aggression. Sometimes frustration is experienced completely without it. Second, although frustration is one possible factor in aggression, it is not of central importance and is certainly not the most important of all factors.

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