[Bioelectric brain activity in patients with neurotic disorders].

Seventy-three patients with neurotic disorders, aged 14-35 years, and 33 healthy controls have been examined using electroencephalographic method with spectral analysis of EEG, which has been conducted on the Brain Surfing system by the algorithm of direct Fourier transformation. The patients had changes of brain electric activity manifesting as insufficiency of thalamo-cortical synchronizing systems that caused an excessive activating effect of reticular formation on the cortex realized through extrathalamic reticular cortical and septo-hippocampal activation paths. Determinative in electrophysiological brain organization was the theta-rhythm, a marker of excessive emotional and autonomic activation, which directly correlated with an extent of personality accentuation and severity of neurotic state.

[Specific features of the structure of sleep and personality under the conditions of chronic emotional stress and methods of improving the adaptive abilities of man]. / Osobennosti struktury sna i lichnosti v usloviiakh khronicheskogo émotsional'nogo stressa i metody povysheniia adaptivnykh vozmozhnostei cheloveka.

The results of a complex psychophysiological study of human sleep in the chronic stress condition are described. 20 patients with complaints of night sleep disturbances in the chronic stress condition and 10 healthy controls were examined by polysomnography. Profound changes of the quantitative and qualitative sleep parameters, mainly, related with the slow sleep phase, sleep delta characteristics and adaptive wakefulness mechanisms. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of improving the human adaptive parameters in the chronic stress conditions by using the drug and drugless therapy methods.

[Dreams of children and adolescents with high and low anxiety level]. / Snovideniia detei i podrostkov s vysokim i nizkim urovnem trevozhnosti.

One hundred and three children and adolescents, aged 10-17 years have been examined in the study: 78 neurotic patients with high and low anxiety level and 25 healthy children. Lusher's color test with anxiety expression evaluation according to L. Skott and psycholinguistic analysis of the reports on the dreams were the main methods used. In the dreams of the patients with neurosis, high anxiety correlates, which shared in common temporal orientation towards a future being negatively emotionally colored, have been determined. These dreams differ from those in healthy children with anxiety that have been positively emotionally colored with favorable outcome and orientation towards the present.

[Dreams and interhemispheric asymmetry]. / Snovideniia i mezhpolusharnaia asimmetriia.

The dreams of 103 children and adolescents, aged 10-17 years, have been studied. The test group included 78 patients with neurotic disorders; control one consisted of 25 healthy subjects. Dream features, which were common for those with preferentially left asymmetry profile both in patients as well as in healthy subjects, were: less expressed novelty factor and frequent appearance of rare phenomena, such as "déjà vu in wakefulness", reality, "mixed" (overlapped) dreams, prolonged dreams in repeat sleep, frequent changes of personages and scenes of action. Left-hander dream peculiarities, being detected only in neurotic patients but not in healthy subjects, emerged as lucid phenomena deficit, "dream in dreams" and "dream reminiscence in dream" syndrome, which have been found only in left-handers. Right and left hemispheres seem to contribute in different ways to a dream formation. In authors believe that the left hemisphere seems to provide dream origin while the right hemisphere provides dream vividness, figurativeness and affective activation level.

[Dreams and psychologic defence in children and juveniles with neurotic disorders]. / Snovideniia i psikhologicheskaia zashchita pri nevropaticheskikh rasstroistvakh u detei i podrostkov.

The examination of 78 patients at different stages of neurotic disorders and 25 healthy individuals (10-17 years old) has shown that the dynamics of dreams at compensatory stage was directed to their intensification, affective and cognitive activation and to reduction of dreams' activity during decompensation of neurotic disorders. This may indicate their role in psychologic defence. In neurotic patients peculiarity of the reaction to stress was the presence of some latent period after stress, that preceded the very reaction of dream to stress, its longer duration than in healthy individuals and its qualitative peculiarity. That may reflect complexity of adaptation to stress influence in neurotic patients.

[Psycholinguistic studies of the dreams of children and adolescents with neurotic disorders]. / Psikholingvisticheskoe issledovanie snovidenii detei i podrostkov s nevroticheskimi rasstroistvami.

78 patients with neurotic disorders, 46 patients with cerebral organic pathology (tumors of the brain, epilepsy) and 25 healthy individuals were examined. Their age was 10-17 years. Clinical, paraclinical, experimental-psychologic, psycholinguistic methods were used. Psycholinguistic analysis of the reports concerning the dreams of the children and juveniles was performed by means of original computer system of the analysis of the meaning of the texts and by specially elaborated scheme for categorization of the words. Neurotic patients had a significant quantitative and qualitative peruliarity of speech which reflected stable changes in patients' personality concerning the sphere of meaning.

[Epilepsy and dreams in children]. / Epilepsiia i snovideniia u detei.

24 patients at the age of 10-18 years with different forms of epilepsy and 10 healthy children and juveniles were examined. The analysis of dreams testified both intensification and quantitative peculiarities of dreams in epileptic patients. Their specific features were: frightening character, stereotypy, brightness and contrastness of colour images as well as psychosensory disorders and sensations of different modalities, peculiar and original topic. The dreams characteristic for epilepsy arise frequently long before the objective clinical manifestation and might serve as one of the important markers of cerebral epileptisation.

[Dreams in neuroses in children and adolescents]. / Snovideniia pri nevrozakh u detei i podrostkov.

46 children and adolescents with different forms of neuroses at the age of 10-18 years were observed. It is shown that the dreams in neurotic individuals are characterised by both cognitive and affective activation as well as by widening of the limits of time and space, by frequent incompletion and by some imperative tendencies (the "channelization" of colour perception, repeated dreams' rise). There was a dependence of dream's character upon the neurosis form. The data obtained are important for adequate diagnosis and therapy of borderline conditions.

[The use of the Lüscher color test for assessing the emotional status of children and adolescents with an organic central nervous system lesion and borderline psychopathology]. / Ispol'zovanie tsvetovogo testa Liushera dlia otsenki émotsional'nogo sostoianiia detei i podrostkov s organicheskim porazheniem tsentral'noi nervnoi sistemy i pogranichnoi psikhopatologiei.

The diagnostic value of Lüscher's colour test for the estimation of emotional state of children and juveniles (teenagers) with central nervous system's organic alteration and borderline psychopathological disturbances was analysed. Moreover a number of other additional tests were used namely the colour estimation of current and optimal state, the measurement of personal emotional anxiety according to Scott scale as well as the comparison of colour selection results and colour perception in dream. It was demonstrated that color selection results depended upon both neuroticism level and presence or type of psychopathological disturbances. They had their own specificity if organic CNS alteration took place and were determined by pathological focus localization. The psychological characteristics that were symbolized in colours according to Lüscher corresponded mainly to personal peculiarities in both neurosis-like and certain types of psychopathological alteration in which the definite colours were preferable.

[The study of dreams in a complex method for the neuropsychological examination of children and adolescents with organic lesions and functional disorders of the CNS]. / Izuchenie snovidenii v kompleksnoi metodike neiropsikhologicheskogo obsledovaniia detei i podrostkov s organicheskim porazheniem i funktsional'nymi rasstroistvami TsNS.

The dreams were analyzed in 73 patients aged 10-14, among them 22 had brain tumors, 23 epilepsy, 18 neurotic and psychopathic-like disturbances. The control group included 10 healthy children. The results showed that the frequency and pattern of the dreams are related to functional disturbances secondary to the organic lesions of the brain as well as to organic lesions themselves and relevant location. Correlation between dream features and psychologic characteristics of the patients has also been demonstrated.