Treatment of Anxiety and Depressive Disorders in Combatants in Modern Conditions: Focus on Efficacy and Safety

Military service in Ukraine today is associated with emotional overload, which leads to significant changes in mental health. On the background of a large number of stress factors, cognitive disorders develop rapidly, especially those related to attention and working memory, which significantly affects the effectiveness of service. For the treatment of stress and anxiety, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used as first-line drugs: citalopram hydrobromide, escitalopram, paroxetine hydrochloride, sertraline, as well as serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors: venlafaxine hydrochloride, duloxetine hydrochloride. Tricyclic antidepressants belong to the second line. Due to the wide range of side effects of these drugs, such pharmacotherapy is often poorly tolerated and is associated with unsatisfactory adherence. The issue of the safety of the use of any drugs in combatants is extremely important given the specifics of the tasks they perform. The search for effective and safe treatment of anxiety and depression is a pressing issue today. The objective: to assess the impact of herbal medicine which contains lavender oil (WS® 1265) on the mental health of combatants in real combat conditions. Materials and methods. 76 servicemen (mean age – 34 ± 2.2 years) were examined. They were treated at the clinical base of Military Medical Hospital 59. The average duration of stay in the combat zone before hospitalization was 5 ± 1.2 months. Somatic pathology was diagnosed in 31 (40.8%) combatants – arterial hypertension (AH) of stage I–II with 1–2 degrees of increased blood pressure (BP). The average value of “office” systolic blood pressure was 156.5 ± 7.4 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure – 92.6 ± 4.4 mm Hg. Results. Anxiety disorders were determined in 49 combatants, and anxiety-depressive disorders – in 27 persons. For 10 days patients received herbal remedy with lavender oil (WS® 1265) 30 minutes before bedtime. Before the start of treatment, 89.5% of the examined experienced clinical anxiety, on the 5th day – only 9.2% (p < 0.001), and on the 10th day no signs of clinical anxiety were recorded. The level of anxiety in the dynamics of treatment significantly decreased from 18.0 to 7.5 (p < 0.001). Manifestations of depression before the start of treatment were detected in a significantly smaller number of combatants – 47.4% with a predominance of signs of subclinical depression – 32.9%. In the dynamics of the use of the drug on the 10th day of observation the signs of clinical depression were not determined in any combatant. Against the background of therapy with a medicinal product based on lavender oil (WS® 1265), blood pressure indicators significantly decreased (r = 0.51; p < 0.001). Conclusions. It was found that the use of herbal preparation with lavender oil (WS® 1265) has a positive effect on the mental health of combatants, reducing the average level of both anxiety and depression, as well as reducing blood pressure indicators. The tolerance of the herbal preparation based on lavender oil (WS® 1265) was found as excellent in 90.8%.