The Impact of the Duration of Professional Activities Associated with a Vital Threat on the Development of Mental Adaptation Disorders in Military Personnel

Relevance . Prolonged exposure to a vital threat can cause mental adjustment disorders and contribute to a deterioration in the performance of professional duties. Objective . To assess the severity of mental adaptation disorders in groups with different length of stay of the examined in conditions of vital threat and to identify targets for psychocorrective measures. Methods . 98 people were examined, whose professional activity is associated with business trips to the high-risk zone with a vital threat, aged (29.7 ± 4.0) years. The control group consisted of 24 people of the same age, whose activities were without the risk of vital threat. We created 3 groups based on the length of stay in situations of vital threat. The 1st group consisted of 43 people with an average duration of stay in conditions of vital threat of 5.6 months, the 2nd group - with a duration of 20.8 months – 22 people, the 3rd group – with a duration of 38 months – 33 people. It has been suggested that individuals in group 3, in contrast to group 1, may experience mental adjustment dis- orders and stress-induced disorders. To assess personal characteristics and the likelihood of developing mental adjustment disorders, psychological methods were used: the Module personality questionnaire, the Individual-Typological Questionnaire (ITO), the Professional Burnout questionnaire (MBI), the hospital anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), the A. Beck hopelessness scale (BHI), and the methodology for diagnosing the level of social frustation L.I. Wasserman, Mississippi Scale of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (MS PTSD). The nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-test with the Bonferroni correction was used for a comparative analysis of two unrelated groups. The relationships were assessed using Spearman’s nonparametric correlation coefficient. Results and analysis . An assessment of the effect of vital threat duration indicators on individuals whose professional activities are associated with business trips to a high–risk area and with a vital threat revealed that 18 % of individuals with a high duration of vital threat had separate (partial) signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, and 6.1 % had clinical and subclinical levels of anxiety and depression, people with medium and long duration had a higher level of rigidity. In addition, there was a low level of compromise in the group with an average duration, and a high level of conflict in the group with a high duration. Thus, as the duration of the combatants’ stay in a situation of vital threat increases, there is an increase in “negative” psychological manifestations. Conclusion . With an increase in the length of stay of the examined persons on business trips with a vital threat, the risk of injury and the development of mental adaptation disorders increases.