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Objective: To estimate the prevalence of alexithymia and self-harm in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). To assess the role of alexithymia in the emergence of self-harm in patients with BPD., Material and Methods: We studied 104 patients (85 women, 19 men aged 21 to 25 years (64.4%)), including 54 patients with and 50 patients without BPD. Most of them had incomplete higher education (55%). We used the Russian version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to reveal alexithymia and SCID - II to diagnose BPD. The presence of self-harm behavior was confirmed by the subjects' anamnesis data., Results: The prevalence of alexithymia in patients with BPD was 83.3%, in the control group it was 52% ( p =0.001). The prevalence of self-aggression was 70.3% ( n =38) in patients with BPD, and 12% ( n =6) in people without BPD. Self-harm among persons with alexithymia was noted in 62.5% ( n =45). During the analysis, a connection between auto-aggression and alexithymia was found at the level of a statistical trend ( p =0.051)., Conclusion: Alexithymia and self-harm are more common in patients with BPD than in healthy people. This type of emotional dysregulation mediates self-harm in patients with BPD.

A clinical pharmacological 56-day trial was devoted to the effect of tanakan on the psychophysiological state of 26 patients with psychogenic and post-traumatic asthenic disorders. The drug was found to produce a positive effect on the psychophysiological state, with most pronounced improvement in the attention characteristics, short-term visual memory, operational component, and integral operator performance index. The results confirmed the positive action of tanakan on the cognitive and mnestic functions, which is analogous to the effect of nootropes. The antiasthenic, anxiolytic, antiamnesic, and vegetotropic components in the pharmacological spectrum of tanakan correlate with the positive psychophysiological effects. It is shown that positive changes in the psychophysiological state play an important role in the complex therapeutic action of tanakan in the treatment of asthenic disorders.

Zolpidem, non-benzodiazipine preparation, was used for therapy of 56 patients with insomnia. 4 groups of patients were treated: a) with a prevalence of asthenic symptomatology in psychogenic disorders; b) with polymorphic neurotic symptomatology and autonomic disorders; c) with affective pathology of neurotic level; d) with nervous anorexia and bulimia. Zolpidem was quite effective in all groups of patients in terms of normalization of falling asleep, improvement of quality of sleep without changing of daily activity. A good drug tolerance was found in elderly patients.

In patients with an anxious syndrome of the neurotic genesis, complaints of sssleep disorders correlate with the clinical pattern of asthenic disturbances and objective changes in the sleep character (a reduction in delta-leep, frequent awakenings). In cases of hysterical neuroses, there is a dissociation between the intact structure of sleep and the absence of asthenic symptomatology on the one hand and complaints of marked sleep disturbances on the other. In cases of neurosis-like schizophrenia despite a reduction in delta-sleep, asthenic symptomatology is almost absent and complaints of sleep problems are rather formal in nature. The pathogenesis of sleep disorders in neurotic patients, including the role of anxiety in objective sleep pattern alternations, is discussed. A hypothesis relating the specific characteristics of thought to a diminished need for delta-leep in schizophrenics is proposed.

An experimental psychological examination involved 87 patients with anorexia nervosa of different nosological origin. Patients with anorexia nervosa as part of borderline disease and schizophrenia presented specific characteristics of perception of their own appearance and of feeding habits. Patients with anorexia nervosa combined with borderline mental diseases showed close relationship between the orientation and degree of distortion of perception of the size of their own body and the nature of emotional value judgements. In schizophrenic patients with symptoms of anorexia nervosa this interrelationship was either absent or paradoxical in nature. All patients presented marked changes in the structure of feeding habits which were specific in each nosological group (lack of substitution effect, etc.). The results obtained served as a basis for appropriate psycho-corrective measures.

On the basis of the examination covering 30 young children (aged 2 months to 3.5 years), three variants of motor psychogenic disorders were specified. Group I included elementary, stereotypic motor phenomena expressed as special poses, rocking, jack-knifing, finger sucking and other stereotypes of motor acts. Group II was characterized by more complicated motor and psychomotor disorders in the form of various manifestations of motor infantilism. Group III comprised children with neurotic motor monosymptomatic and ritual-behavioural obsessive actions. The above disorders are assessed from the evolutional-dynamic point of view.