Kharlamenkova, N.E.

Background. The study of the psychological resources of a person experiencing a life-threatening disease is important due to the increased number of social requests related to improving the quality of a patient’s full-fledged adaptation to life. The effectiveness of coping with the psychological consequences of a serious illness is determined by the system of internal conditions of the individual as well as by the age characteristics, due to which a subjective assessment of the psychotraumatic situation, the nature of a person’s appeal to potential opportunities are specified.

Objective. The study focuses on human resources when coping with the psychological consequences of post-traumatic stress, depending on age and the characteristics of the life-threatening brain disease (local or vascular pathology of the brain).

Study Participants. 125 people showing no signs of cognitive deficits and who have given their informed consent were involved in the study. Of those, 64 people had a diagnosis of benign meningioma (30–70 years), and 61 people were diagnosed with cerebrovascular disease (31–69 years).

Methods. To assess the level of psychotraumatization in respondents, the “Impact of Event Scale” technique was used, emotional and personal characteristics were studied using the Freiburg Personality Inventory and the “World assumptions scale” technique.

Results. It has been established that, regardless of the type of disease, caused by local or vascular pathology of the brain, and the age of a person, a common resource for coping with psychotraumatic experiences is, on the one hand, accepting the situation of the disease and on the other, distancing oneself from experiences that mark it as hopeless, causing despair. For people with symptoms of cerebrovascular disease coping with stress, it is more important to regulate relationships with the outside world and maintain their functionality. While for people with meningioma, a positive self-attitude and the focus on unlocking inner potential, which becomes especially relevant in older age, are more important.

Conclusions. The resourcefulness of a person in a situation of severe illness is determined by the rational nature of emotional self-regulation, including through selective appeal to social support. Specific resources associated with the peculiarities of the stressful situation of brain disease become more significant with age and manifest themselves in the specifics of the personality orientation (outward or inward).

The results of investigation the relationship between the intensity of the experience of traumatic events, post-traumatic stress and the parameters of psychological well-being in conscripts (n=123, age 18—25), passing military service in military units in Moscow and Moscow region are presented. Psychological techniques: Life Experience Questionnaire (LEQ) by J. Norbeck, I. Sarason et al. in adaptation of N.V. Tarabrina et al.; The Scale of psychological well-being by C. Ryff in adaptation of T.D. Shevelenkova, T.P. Fesenko; Symptom Check List-90-r-Revised by L.R. Derogatis et al. in adaptation of N.V. Tarabrina et al.; Mississippi scale (civilian version) by T. Keane et al. in adaptation of N.V. Tarabrina et al. The significant inverse relationship between psychological wellbeing, the intensity of PTSD and the experience of traumatic events was revealed. It is shown that intensive post-traumatic stress is associated with a variety of psychopathological symptoms: somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism. It is revealed that the feeling of autonomy prevents the development of psychopathological symptoms accompanied the post-traumatic stress, supports psychological wellbeing, but without additional resources cannot be directed to influence on the level of psychic traumatization.