Пережити негаразди війни. Короткі поради щодо виживання для цивільних осіб в умовах військового стресу.

As the Ukrainian war rages, countless civilians are exposed to shelling, bombardments, relocation, loss of live and other modalities of war-related adversities. Whilst much has been learned about the late psychological outcome of traumatic exposure, , for most civilians the task at hand now is to successfully survive whatever level of adversity and horror they have been exposed to; efficiently protect themselves and others around them, and ultimately emerge victorious and minimally scathed by war. This document offers an easy-to-follow survival advice. We start by defining war stress and its many facets, review successful and less successful ways to mitigate war stress, outline critical aspects of life that must be dealt with during war, and provide a simple self-assessment tool of one’s achievement and resilience.У той час, як вирує українська війна, незліченна кількість мирних жителів зазнає обстрілів, бомбардування, переселення, загибелі людей та інших негараздів, пов'язаних з війною. Хоча багато відомо про відтерміновані психологічні наслідки травматичного впливу, для більшості цивільних осіб зараз стоїть завдання успішно пережити скруту та жахи будь-якого рівня, яких вони зазнають; ефективно захистити себе та оточуючих і зрештою вийти переможцями та мінімізувати втрати від війни.   Цей документ пропонує прості поради щодо виживання. Ми почнемо з визначення військового стресу та його численних аспектів, розглянемо успішні та менш успішні способи пом'якшення стресу від війни, намітимо критичні аспекти життя, з якими необхідно справлятись під час війни, та запропонуємо простий інструмент самооцінки своїх досягнень та стійкості

Study approach and field work procedures of the MentDis_ICF65+ project on the prevalence of mental disorders in the older adult European population

Background This study describes the study approach and field procedures of the MentDis_ICF65+ study, which aims to assess the prevalence of mental disorders in older adults. Methods An age-appropriate version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI65+) was developed and tested with regard to its feasibility and psychometric properties in a pre-test and pilot phase. In the cross-sectional survey an age-stratified, random sample of older adults (65–84 years) living in selected catchment areas of five European countries and Israel was recruited. Results N = 3142 participants (mean age 73.7 years, 50.7% female) took part in face-to-face interviews. The mean response rate was 20% and varied significantly between centres, age and gender groups. Sociodemographic differences between the study centres appeared for the place of birth, number of grandchildren, close significants, retirement and self-rated financial situation. The comparison of the MentDis_ICF65+ sample with the catchment area and country population of the study centres revealed significant differences, although most of these were numerically small. Conclusions The study will generate new information on the prevalence of common mental disorders among older adults across Europe using an age-appropriate, standardized diagnostic instrument and a harmonized approach to sampling. Generalizability of the findings and a potentially limited representativeness are discussed

Post-traumatic stress disorder associated with life-threatening motor vehicle collisions in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

BACKGROUND: Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are a substantial contributor to the global burden of disease and lead to subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the relevant literature originates in only a few countries, and much remains unknown about MVC-related PTSD prevalence and predictors. METHODS: Data come from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative, a coordinated series of community epidemiological surveys of mental disorders throughout the world. The subset of 13 surveys (5 in high income countries, 8 in middle or low income countries) with respondents reporting PTSD after life-threatening MVCs are considered here. Six classes of predictors were assessed: socio-demographics, characteristics of the MVC, childhood family adversities, MVCs, other traumatic experiences, and respondent history of prior mental disorders. Logistic regression was used to examine predictors of PTSD. Mental disorders were assessed with the fully-structured Composite International Diagnostic Interview using DSM-IV criteria. RESULTS: Prevalence of PTSD associated with MVCs perceived to be life-threatening was 2.5 % overall and did not vary significantly across countries. PTSD was significantly associated with low respondent education, someone dying in the MVC, the respondent or someone else being seriously injured, childhood family adversities, prior MVCs (but not other traumatic experiences), and number of prior anxiety disorders. The final model was significantly predictive of PTSD, with 32 % of all PTSD occurring among the 5 % of respondents classified by the model as having highest PTSD risk. CONCLUSION: Although PTSD is a relatively rare outcome of life-threatening MVCs, a substantial minority of PTSD cases occur among the relatively small proportion of people with highest predicted risk. This raises the question whether MVC-related PTSD could be reduced with preventive interventions targeted to high-risk survivors using models based on predictors assessed in the immediate aftermath of the MVCs

How well can post‐traumatic stress disorder be predicted from pre‐trauma risk factors? An exploratory study in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108700/1/wps20150.pd

Cognitive Flexibility Predicts PTSD Symptoms: Observational and Interventional Studies

Introduction: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent, severe and tenacious psychopathological consequence of traumatic events. Neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying PTSD pathogenesis have been identified, and may serve as risk-resilience factors during the early aftermath of trauma exposure. Longitudinally documenting the neurobehavioral dimensions of early responses to trauma may help characterize survivors at risk and inform mechanism-based interventions. We present two independent longitudinal studies that repeatedly probed clinical symptoms and neurocognitive domains in recent trauma survivors. We hypothesized that better neurocognitive functioning shortly after trauma will be associated with less severe PTSD symptoms a year later, and that an early neurocognitive intervention will improve cognitive functioning and reduce PTSD symptoms.Methods: Participants in both studies were adult survivors of traumatic events admitted to two general hospitals’ emergency departments (EDs) in Israel. The studies used identical clinical and neurocognitive tools, which included assessment of PTSD symptoms and diagnosis, and a battery of neurocognitive tests. The first study evaluated 181 trauma-exposed individuals one-, six-, and 14 months following trauma exposure. The second study evaluated 97 trauma survivors 1 month after trauma exposure, randomly allocated to 30 days of web-based neurocognitive intervention (n = 50) or control tasks (n = 47), and re-evaluated all subjects three- and 6 months after trauma exposure.Results: In the first study, individuals with better cognitive flexibility at 1 month post-trauma showed significantly less severe PTSD symptoms after 13 months (p = 0.002). In the second study, the neurocognitive training group showed more improvement in cognitive flexibility post-intervention (p = 0.019), and lower PTSD symptoms 6 months post-trauma (p = 0.017), compared with controls. Intervention- induced improvement in cognitive flexibility positively correlated with clinical improvement (p = 0.002).Discussion: Cognitive flexibility, shortly after trauma exposure, emerged as a significant predictor of PTSD symptom severity. It was also ameliorated by a neurocognitive intervention and associated with a better treatment outcome. These findings support further research into the implementation of mechanism-driven neurocognitive preventive interventions for PTSD

Пережити негаразди війни. Короткі поради щодо виживання для цивільних осіб в умовах військового стресу.

У той час, як вирує українська війна, незліченна кількість мирних жителів зазнає обстрілів, бомбардування, переселення, загибелі людей та інших негараздів, пов'язаних з війною. Хоча багато відомо про відтерміновані психологічні наслідки травматичного впливу, для більшості цивільних осіб зараз стоїть завдання успішно пережити скруту та жахи будь-якого рівня, яких вони зазнають; ефективно захистити себе та оточуючих і зрештою вийти переможцями та мінімізувати втрати від війни.   Цей документ пропонує прості поради щодо виживання. Ми почнемо з визначення військового стресу та його численних аспектів, розглянемо успішні та менш успішні способи пом'якшення стресу від війни, намітимо критичні аспекти життя, з якими необхідно справлятись під час війни, та запропонуємо простий інструмент самооцінки своїх досягнень та стійкості