The experience of providing assistance to internally displaced persons treated in the municipal non-profit enterprise ternopil regional clinical psychoneurological hospital of Ternopil regional council

Abstract

Summary. After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ternopil region became one of those, where thousands of our compatriots found refuge and tried to return to normal living, and therefore required social and psychological support.

The aim of the study – to examine the physiological, psycho-emotional, socio-psychological, and informational factors that caused psychological discomfort in internally displaced persons.

Materials and Methods. 426 internally displaced persons (166 men and 260 women) were interviewed. The general questionnaire that assessed socio-demographic data and information on the history of mental disorders, the scale of depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21), The Holmes and Rage Stress Inventory, and the statistical methods were applied.

Results. We explored that internally displaced persons who, previously before the start of a full-scale war, did not have mental disorders showed a gradual adaptation to various stressors in all the subgroups. In women, physiological, psycho-emotional, and socio-psychological factors were more expressed in all time intervals than in men. In the group of relatively healthy individuals who were diagnosed with some mental symptoms that did not reach the clinical level, the socio-psychological factor began to significantly affect the stress resistance of respondents some period after these respondents left the conflict zone. In the group of people suffering from mental disorders, there was a gradual deterioration of stress resistance under the influence of socio-psychological factors after escaping from the war zone, and the impact of psycho-emotional factors after moving to a relatively safe place remained significant.

Conclusions. Thus, the least resistance to stressors was observed in internally displaced persons who were diagnosed with mental disorders. In women, physiological, psycho-emotional, and socio-psychological factors were more expressed in all groups than in men. The high level of resistance to stressful events was typical for internally displaced persons who did not have mental disorders, and low – for those persons with mental disorders. The psycho-correctional work and use of cognitive-behavioral techniques as well as rational psychotherapy and auxiliary techniques should begin in the first days after moving out in order to speed up the adaptation process.