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What is graphomania and how does an obsessive desire to write manifest itself. graphomania

What is graphomania and how does an obsessive desire to write manifest itself. graphomania

06.02.2019

μανία - madness, frenzy) - a painful attraction and addiction to intensified and fruitless writing, to verbose and empty, useless writing. Graphomania tend to publish their works. So, not having literary abilities, they try to publish their own works of art, and graphomaniacs who do not have scientific knowledge, seek to publish their pseudoscientific treatises. Graphomanic tendencies are quite common in litigious psychopaths.

Literature

"Grafoman" - newspaper, for a long time which was the printed organ of the Velsky Literary Association"Vel". Published since October 2003 by Nikolai Pavlovich Vasiliev. From the very beginning, it was only a regional literary newspaper, in which Velian authors could publish, it was free of charge and was published on the initiative of Nikolai Vasiliev at his own expense. Since 2007, the newspaper has grown to eight pages, and currently(2009) is already published on sixteen pages, as the geography of distribution of the newspaper has increased - first the entire Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and then other regions of the country: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Belgorod region, Altai region and others. In 2008, the editorial team newspaper whose members living in different cities, send all interesting materials to the editor-in-chief, from which each regular issue of the newspaper is already formed.

Deviation examples

The explanatory dictionary explains graphomania as a painful addiction to writing. Realizing who is a graphomaniac, you can identify examples of graphomania.

A person who writes for the sake of the process itself, and not end result. He does not think about the need for society of his work. He does not see his life without writing, considers it the meaning of life.
Rejecting criticism. Any criticism, even constructive, is aggressively perceived by the graphomaniac. Such a person cuts off all ties with the person who “offended” his offspring.
Waiting is not for them. There are graphomaniacs who do not pay due attention to the work. They literally churn out works, guided by the principle "the more the better." They don't like to languish over the long process of creating a quality book.
Lack of structure. Thoughts flow in an endless stream, so the unfortunate author does not bother to create a structure of the text, giving thoughts meaning and coherence.
They don't want to develop. Such types do not read the works of other authors, do not study writing skills. They believe that they know everything and are much better than world classics.

What is graphomania

Causes

The causes of graphomania have a personal and psychological origin. Among the most common causes worth highlighting:

loneliness: lonely people are unhappy, they have no one to spend time with, no one to devote their love to, therefore, in order to forget, they resort to writing texts - these texts can be like personal diary about inner experiences, and an attempt to write a masterpiece;
lack of communication: by writing texts, the graphomaniac compensates for the need for communication - as a result of such “communication”, a real conversation causes fear, panic;
selfishness, narcissism: such people are selfish and self-confident, they believe that their text is a masterpiece that requires universal recognition, in the absence of due recognition, graphomaniacs decide that society is too stupid to appreciate unsurpassed masterpiece.

Loneliness can push a person to graphomania

Differences between a writer and a graphomaniac

It is important to distinguish a writer from a graphomaniac so as not to inadvertently offend an experienced, talented writer or recognize an illness and help to cope with it.

The graphomaniac will talk about his work at every step. Will declare his poems day and night. Writers do not like to brag about their work, to draw increased attention to it.
The writer always sees opportunities for growth and development. The graphomaniac denies the presence of errors, blunders in their creations.
Masters of the word avoid loud, pathetic words, while the work of a graphomaniac is filled with them.
In the work of a real talent, their own thoughts and beliefs are formed, which they try to convey to people. People with graphomania have no uniqueness, they voice the thoughts of famous people.
Writers do not want to cooperate with cheap mass publications or promote someone else's ideas. They treat art with respect and honor, which cannot be said about graphomaniacs.
Writers tend to help newcomers. Graphomaniacs consider everyone to be their competitors, and they do not consider it necessary to help anyone.
Experienced writers will repeatedly read their work until they are convinced that there are no various kinds of errors. Graphomaniacs will not take care of checking the text for errors.
In the editorial offices of graphomaniacs, they know by sight, and not at all because they create unsurpassed works. They fill up the editorial office with endless writings and become furious when they are not wanted to be published. Real writers are known in high-quality editorial offices and are invited to cooperate.
True connoisseurs of art are always dressed with taste and neat. The graphomaniacs are distinguished by their lack of taste, they dress as brightly as possible in order to attract everyone's attention.

Treatment

Many believe that this disease does not require treatment. The person just writes and does not interfere with anyone. This is wrong! Running graphomania can lead to depression, manic-depressive psychosis and other mental disorders.

Treatment of the problem occurs in direct proportion to the stage of the disease. For people whose writing mania is noticeable in the early stages, it is recommended to find a new hobby that will fully involve them in the process. That is, if graphomania was found on early stages, it is necessary to smoothly shift the center of attention of a person.

A person with advanced graphomania needs psychiatric and drug treatment. Drug treatment includes taking psychotropic substances and neuroleptics.

Psychiatric consists of sessions with a family psychologist, hypnosis, cognitive behavioral therapy:

Communication with family members is very important. On a subconscious level, a person has the most confidence in the family, therefore harmonious work a psychologist and family members will help the patient to recognize the existence of a problem and overcome it.
Hypnotherapy is an immersion in a deep hypnotic sleep, during which right thoughts and goals.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is based on the joint work of the patient and the specialist. The therapist determines what prevents a person from thinking adequately, and redirects his thoughts in the right direction.

Despite the fact that many consider graphomania a minor disorder, it requires the attention of a specialist. Any mania, an obsession that is groundless, must be eliminated at its first manifestations.

In labors, tirelessly,
The path of lack of money and torment
Her footprints in the desert sands
Poets are still looking for...

Graphomania as a disease

The well-known opinion presents graphomania, on the one hand, as a disease, some kind of mental disorder caused by an addiction to writing. It is exacerbated by lack of demand, loneliness and the inability to realize their ambitions. Who is a graphomaniac? The definition refers to an author whose works are not accepted by society and with which he himself strongly disagrees.

But some talented writers are also not recognized for quite a long period. And some do not receive recognition during their lifetime. Genius and talent do not fit into the framework of universal norms. Therefore, it is useless to consider what a graphomaniac is from this side.

Uselessness of works

In autumn the color of gold
The muse wove sonnets.
The only difference is the word
A graphomaniac from a poet.

So he creates a work low level mainly for your own benefit. The level of the work is evaluated only by the reader. His assessment is the criterion of what a graphomaniac is and what a real writer is. There are also critics, philologists and other specialists who professionally determine the quality of a work. For some, criticism reaches the point of absurdity, such as, for example, the article “Counts and graphomaniacs”, which made a sensation on the Internet, in which the author looked for blunders from Leo Tolstoy.

The most important assessment is given by the author of the work himself, taking responsibility that what he created will affect the souls of readers. To do this, he must invest his strength and soul. If the work does not have such an impact, then it will be severely disappointed. It turns out that graphomania is a punishment of a person for the poor quality of a work.

Here again, I can't sleep all night,
The edge of flour is in front of me.
stinging edge border
Between brilliance and poverty.

Signs of graphomania

In the middle of a desert of words
among the battles of phrases,
where is the wind of change
won't leave a trace
us search for truth more than once
leads into the labyrinths of delirium.

Three groups of graphomaniacs

The first writes about nothing, but very beautifully, trying to create artistic images. But this reflects only a good education.
Clumsy language, but an intricate plot that can still be edited.
Imitation of works or verbal garbage. Here it is more clearly shown what a graphomaniac is.

Thirst for recognition

Everyone wants recognition. Graphomaniacs attack publishers, insisting on the publication of their "imperishable", or most often published at their own expense. They have a different idea of their works, in contrast to the audience.

Graphomania exists in many varieties, but we are considering literary.

As a rule, graphomaniacs do not have an audience. In principle, they cannot collect it, since no one is interested. Therefore, they remain alone, aggravating their painful condition.

The past day is burning down with a leaf of red autumn.
I thought about this and that for a long time today.
Maybe it wasn't even me at all
If they just walk

The graphomaniac does not feel the subject. Maybe he rhymes correctly, but there is no sense between the words. Most likely, this is similar to the drawing of lines by those who cannot draw, which gives some resemblance to a portrait. It is necessary to properly direct the explosion of emotions and find your right path. But if the topic and reading capture the reader, then this is no longer graphomania.

It is difficult to name quantitative works. Information slips that the evaluation of the work should be payment for it. If they don't pay, then it's graphomania. This is not always the case, but thinking and talented person will always find a way to get paid for his work. Even if it is small money.

Who is a graphomaniac? Definition on the positive side

Unsuccessful writers are presented as losers and mediocrity, not burdened with a special intellect. Most likely this is extreme. A person can be quite decent and educated. It is not necessary for him to earn writing. He writes for himself, and it's just as hard. Unprofessional text and a bunch of shortcomings does not mean a lack of ability. They require certain knowledge and experience, as well as for any other activity. Everyone goes through the period of graphomania until something worthwhile begins to appear. It's just that for some it takes a couple of years of study, while for others it takes long years. This can be clearly seen by teaching the artist's craft, among which there may also be more than one graphomaniac. The master of the word has no right to put a contemptuous stigma on a person just because he failed to get the necessary education in time and makes attempts to write something on his own.

The role of the Internet in the development of creativity

What is a graphomaniac modern society? He has now vanished into the Internet among others writing people. You can create directly in individual blogs and portals. Some people are gradually gaining mastery, and the choice is expanding for readers. At the same time, you do not have to pay anything for freely published texts. If earlier there was an unbridgeable gulf between writers and readers, now everyone writes. It is very good that millions of people are involved in this process, and for many it is completely indifferent whether they stick a label on them or put a graphomaniac stamp on someone or not. The Russian language (and other languages as well) can triumph and be proud of its relevance.

Print, friends, for many years,
There is no reason to stop on the road.
When the Internet dies of the virus,
We will live in frayed pages.

The next advantage of graphomania is salvation from loneliness and idleness. It is undoubtedly useful for children and young people, because it helps to eliminate illiteracy and develop thinking. At the same time, the circle of acquaintances is significantly expanding. For the older generation, graphomania is a means and loneliness. In this way, mental traumas are healed, which cannot be done in other ways. In addition, there will definitely be sympathizers on the network who are ready to support in difficult times.

From the foregoing, the conclusion follows, what is a graphomaniac: this is a person who provides for a wide range persons useful information who copes with his own internal problems.

To begin with, about the meaning of the question. There is a strong opinion that graphomania is a disease, and a disease in the bad sense of the word. Don't root for Zenit. Namely, as a result of something, to get something from which to get rid of (to be cured) is not just a sneeze.
As with the flu - you can’t have a runny nose, put it in a closet and go for a walk, so with graphomania - you need to get sick. You won't get anywhere.
And the second stable opinion is that graphomania is not a disease, but an impulse of the soul, self-realization.
Both of these opinions, of course, have the right to life. Let's try to figure it out - perhaps there is another, third definition of this concept.

Let's take a few explanatory dictionaries, and we will start from the essence of the term, in the movement towards the concept, and the phenomenon - graphomania. Having understood the essence of the phenomenon, we will find out who is a graphomaniac.
So. Graphomania - An addiction to writing, to verbose, useless writing. And writing is a literary work of low quality.
Ozhegov.

So, after all, creativity, and not just a disease. Painful art. It includes all the great writers. None of them wrote - painlessly and indifferently.
Creativity - Creation of new cultural or material assets. Again Ozhegov.
Again, it is not clear what "cultural" means. Is foul language in poetry a cultural value, or not? What about Malevich's Black Square?
Let's try it ourselves: - Cultural ...
This…
Well, here he is man of culture. There is still a TV channel - Culture. There - theater, exhibitions, artists, works. Art is Culture.
Yes and no. Let's ask Ozhegov. Culture is the cultivation of the soul. Cultural - improving, caring for the soul. The TV channel takes care of the soul - it is cultural, and art too.

What happened? Graphomania is an addiction to writing, to verbose useless creation of low quality, new in design, literary treasures who cultivate the soul. Three words fall out of the general harmonious picture a little. "Addiction", "Useless" and "Values". And so, in general, it already seems to make sense.

Addiction cannot be healthy, it is all from the same mania - a kind of mental disorder, an obsessive desire to open oneself to the world. In this context. “Growing out of loneliness, lack of demand, the impossibility of realizing some existing “potential” in a different way. and so on." Something from psychosis and mental illness. But talent and genius are also not the norm of human behavior. Therefore, we will leave this word as acceptable in the existing definition.

Useless - for whom, or what? For yourself - or for others? A complex and rather ambiguous concept. In line with the definition of "Graphomania", the usefulness or uselessness of values of low quality can be determined by their usefulness for the creator and uselessness for all others (the quality is then low). Therefore, uselessness becomes useful only when the creator of value creates it for himself. Self-satisfaction. Now it is clear.

Value is always determined on the basis of some criteria. And this is the most difficult moment in answering our question. There are only two types of values - cultural, which are for the soul, and non-cultural - which are for everything else. But…
A gold tiara, with diamonds, of exceptional beauty and no less than exceptional value - is it valuable for the soul or for everything else? Here we are at an impasse. So you have to take a detour.
Although you can go to thin ice, and try to say that the value of the work is determined by the reader.
In reality, the reader does not determine anything. It expresses emotions - and only, the totality of which, in principle, can make an assessment - emotional. Only when critics, philologists and other specialists, as well as workers in the field of formation, intervene in the process public opinion may appear, along with emotional appreciation and real value. But whether it will be cultural or not cultural, no one knows. Therefore, the ice is fragile ...

So.
The true value of a work is determined by the author, even before the moment when he sits down to write it. He takes responsibility that what he created will influence the souls of readers, cultivating them. And if he is wrong, then a terrible punishment awaits him, in the form of a disease with graphomania, or something even worse - vanity, money-grubbing and a thirst for enrichment. Having sent to the reader his creation, which has no value for the soul of the reader, he receives an equivalent impoverishment of his own soul.
Like that.

This means that graphomania is not a disease, but a punishment for the immaturity of one's own soul or for the "soullessness" of aspirations.
A graphomaniac is a person serving a sentence. Zek.

In relation - "soul beautiful impulses". All souls strive to create, but...
Show your creation to your own reflection in the mirror. If it confirms the cultural value of the existing masterpiece, then boldly indulge in all serious.
Punishment - you are not threatened.
Although, who knows?

Georgy Stenkin
December 2006

From childhood, a person is taught the basic activities that will become necessary in adulthood. These include the ability to write. All people write, leave notes, someone becomes a writer. However, there is a mental illness called graphomania, the signs of which are attributed to people who write poorly. Reasons for writing cravings and treatments will be discussed on the Mental Health Care website.

What is graphomania?

Psychiatry considers graphomania because we are talking about mental illness. What is graphomania? This is a passion, craving, an irrepressible desire to write something, to compose. Wherein cultural value this creation does not represent any. Essays can be completely meaningless for normal people and meaningful only for the sick patient.

Psychology considers graphomania as a craving for writing in the absence of any inclinations and talents in this area. A person experiences an uncontrollable desire to write, which is expressed in the creation of complete nonsense. To critics and readers, such sculptures are of no value. Sometimes similar writings are completely meaningless in and of themselves.

Graphomania is the result mental disorder in the form of a mania that does not occur on empty place. Like any disease, it manifests itself in various forms.

A graphomaniac is a person who writes poorly. This also includes people who write passionately. They are verbose, their writings become empty and meaningless, incoherent. For literary critics these creations are of no interest. The only ones who pay attention to them are psychiatrists who try to establish, through the expressions of a person, the causes of the development of his illness, the goals that he pursues, and also to understand the disease itself.

Graphomania is manifested in the fact that a person begins to write a lot on a topic that he may not understand at all. For example, a graphomaniac will start writing scientific works, absolutely not understanding the area he writes about. He can compose poetry without observing rhyme. Can compose works of art without possessing the appropriate talents.

A variety of graphomania is erotographomania - this is writing love letters. It can manifest itself in mentally ill people who thus achieve sexual arousal or satisfaction.

Signs of graphomania

The main signs of graphomania are various errors that appear in essays:

The inability to work on yourself.
Obsessive repetition of images.
Lack of learning.
Violation of the coherence of the text, vocabulary, style, syntax.
No progressive path.
Intolerance to criticism of their creations.
Passion for typical images.
Plagiarism.
Hatred of authors whose works are printed.
Monotony and boring text.

Unlike regular writers, who may also experience some of the listed experiences, graphomaniacs become familiar with such phenomena. They love absolutely everything they create. They feel like writing as much as possible. They get great pleasure from the process of writing.

Graphomaniacs write a lot. They almost can't stop. Moreover, they compulsively invite other people to evaluate their creations. They are able to send their essays to both familiar faces and strangers.

People who suffer from the mental condition in question are eager to be published. And all their creations tell about them personally. To write about other characters, they simply do not have enough knowledge or experience. Therefore, graphomaniacs write exclusively about themselves, presenting themselves in such an image in which they should be perceived by other people.

Graphomaniacs are not able to take criticism. They even perceive humorous statements very painfully. They have neither self-irony nor a sense of humor. If their creations are not perceived and printed, then they go further into their diseased state. The graphomaniacs take a pseudonym loud and sonorous.

The graphomaniac always carries his creations with him so that people can appreciate them at any time. At the same time, the creations themselves healthy people cause a smile that irritates a sick person.

The most important feature that distinguishes the graphomaniac from all other writers is serious attitude to your activities. Other signs may be present, but not in full.

Causes of graphomania

Graphomania can be associated with the loneliness of a person in society, since the main reasons for its appearance are called:

Alienation.
Low self-esteem.
Lack of friends with whom you can find a common language.
Strive for wisdom.
Isolation.
Hypercompensation of an inferiority complex.
An overvalued and delusional idea of identifying oneself with an outstanding writer.
Detachment, etc.

When a person is left alone, he wants to express himself. This can be done through writing, when he writes about himself and reveals his thoughts, images, secret desires. A sick person pours out his soul through a letter, which further aggravates his condition. The fact is that psychiatrists have noticed a pattern: the more a graphomaniac writes, the less he needs live, real communication. He is more and more immersed in his world, where there is only him and his creations. At the same time, with real people he no longer collides.

Since a person compensates for his need for communication through writing creations, the graphomaniac takes his work very seriously. His creations are not unique or special. The graphomaniac himself admires his creations. Other people experience only laughter and a feeling of pity for the one who wanted to hit them. If someone expresses negative criticism of the graphomaniac and his creation, this is perceived very painfully, which the person later tells about in his works.

To grow and develop their creative skills, writers are interested in the opinions of their readers. Criticism is an incentive for development in order to write better in the future. The graphomaniacs are deprived given quality. They do not develop, because they are protected from any criticism addressed to them.

All their communication with people comes down to an offer to read a new creation. Due to the reluctance to improve, creations remain boring and unoriginal. The reason for this is the increasing care illusory world where the graphomaniac does not want to contact real people.

Milder forms of graphomania are not psychological aberrations if the person can quickly quit their hobby when the situation is corrected:

Temporary difficulties when a person can only speak out on paper.
Heredity.
Sexual pathologies and hobbies.
Living temperament.
Laziness.
Idleness.
Lack of morality.

Graphomania can occur in various disorders (schizophrenia, hypomania, paranoia, mania, paranoid personality disorder, etc.). Psychic automatism may appear when the patient assures that certain forces force him to write a lot.

Treatment of graphomania

Treatment of graphomania depends entirely on the severity of the disease. If graphomania manifests itself in a mild form, then it can be corrected by switching the person's attention to other interesting hobbies and hobbies. A severe form of graphomania is already treated together with specialists (psychotherapists and psychiatrists). Psychotherapeutic work and drug treatment are prescribed here, which includes taking psychotropic and neuroleptic drugs.

The problem with live communication with real people should be eliminated. Graphomania can be stopped if a person establishes contacts with the outside world. It also conducts psychotherapeutic work aimed at:

elimination internal problems that hinder communication with people.
Skills training.

Everything depends on being able to communicate with people, listen and hear them, and also correctly express your thoughts in order to be heard. All this does not happen in one day, so the therapeutic work is long.

Cognitive behavioral and family therapies are often used in the treatment of graphomania.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is aimed at eliminating alienation, timidity, low self-esteem, insecurity, and fear.
Family therapy is aimed at obtaining support from loved ones and stable communication with them. Relatives should show more patience and interest in the graphomaniac. He must feel that he is interested and taken care of for who he is. His attention should switch to trusting loved ones.

A radical method of treating graphomania is lobotomy - excision frontal lobes brain, which not all graphomaniacs agree to.

Forecast

Graphomania gives ambiguous predictions, depending on the severity of the disease. A mild form of deviation is quickly eliminated when a person establishes contacts with significant people and begins to feel their support. A severe form of graphomania can forever remain with a person who will consider his activity the only existing world.

Graphomania does not affect life expectancy. However, it is about mental disorder when a person begins to replace one need with another. It should be understood that going into writing is a compensation. What exactly the graphomaniac compensates for becomes clear only after the diagnosis of his illness.

You should not leave the graphomaniac alone with his misfortune. By itself, a person cannot help in any way. We need specialists who diagnose the condition and help determine the need for a course of treatment.