Modern specificity of non-psychotic mental disorders in internally displaced persons

Abstract

Internally displaced persons are persons who, due to certain life circumstances, were forced to leave their permanent place of residence. Such circumstances include: the threat to one's life caused by war, the threat of violence, terrorism, violation of human rights, and such persons are forced to seek refuge in other regions of the country. Nowadays, military operations are a significant cause of post-traumatic stress disorder in 80% of those who survived them, with a high risk of depression, self-destructive behavior, anxiety disorders, and addictive behavior. According to the results of the study, the clinical structure of non-psychotic mental disorders in the examined patients was represented by: a moderate or severe depressive episode without psychotic symptoms, panic disorder, mixed anxiety-depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and adaptation disorders. According to the data of the psychodiagnostic study on the scale for assessing the impact of a traumatic event, we obtained the following indicators: (36.2±1.3)% of the examined have severe clinical manifestations of PTSD, while a high level of impact of the traumatic event was noted on all scales: intrusion, avoidance, and physiological excitability. According to the scale of severity of traumatic stress, (66.5±1.6)% have a full manifestation and (31.3±1.3)% have a clear manifestation of stress disorder. At the same time, the average value of the degree of expressiveness of post-stress disorders according to the Mississippi scale in the examined patients exceeded its normative value and amounted to (96.8±2.2) points, and their symptoms were ranked as follows: prevention, intrusion, hyperactivity, guilt. In (59.3±1.5)% of the examined, the presence of an extremely high level, in (31.1±1.3)% of an increased level of social frustration, which is caused by factors of forced resettlement and is a factor of significant social difficulties of forcibly displaced persons, was noted.

Keywords: forcibly displaced persons, anxiety, depression, adjustment disorders, PTSD.