AN ANXIETY AS A RESPONSE TO DISTRESS AND AS A SYMPTOM OF STRESS DISORDERS IN WARTIME

The aim: A comprehensive analysis of anxiety as an emotional state and pathopsychological symptom in the situation of a massive humanitarian catastrophe in wartime.

Materials and methods: A systematic search was conducted up to April 2022 in the following databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, DOAJ, and CORE. Three reviewers independently assessed full-text articles according to a predefined aim. We used a quantitative and qualitative approach to infer. The range of mental reactions to the intensive stress with a pooled prevalence of anxiety was estimated. Anxiety as an independent structural psychological phenomenon or incorporated into more complicated mental states, including mental disorders, was assessed.

Conclusions: The anxiety features as an expected mental reaction to the threatening environment are established, the analysis of anxiety development trajectories was shown, and the basic principles of psychological care in anxiety states are considered. The criteria of pathological anxiety, the characteristic of the anxiety symptom as a structural element of psychiatric diseases, and the modern methods of treatment of anxiety disorders are presented. Many specialists in the different areas work with anxious people and patients with anxiety disorders in the Ukrainian current situation, so it was concluded that understanding and being aware of the differentiation of anxiety states will improve psychological care and, if necessary, will lead to providing of a full spectrum of specialized medical care.