O. N. Golodenko

Evaluation of quality of life in young people affected by chronic emotional stress

M. GORKY DONETSK NATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, DONBASS, DONETSK

A person is very vulnerable to powerful stressors of war, especially if, in addition to the factor of hostilities, there is an information component and socio-economic problems. Particular attention is drawn to the fact that the consequences of experiencing extreme mental trauma tend not only not to disappear with time, but also become more pronounced, and also appear suddenly against the background of general well-being. It should be noted that in any stressful situation, and especially in extreme situations, young people react to it differently from adults. Given the lack of life experience, young people are more susceptible to the development of fears, anxiety, dissatisfaction with themselves, which results in dissatisfaction with the quality of life in all areas. The purpose of the study was evaluation of quality of life as a reflection of the subjective feeling of fullness of life with a certain meaning in young people exposed to chronic emotional stress in the Donbass. The main group consisted of 4th year students exposed to chronic emotional stress due to armed conflict (n=147). The comparison group consisted of 134 4-year students for whom this stress was acute. The average age of all examined was 20?25 years. As a psychodiagnostic technique, the questionnaire «The scale of existence of A. Langle and K. Orgler» was used. Significant differences in the subjective assessment of stress of various durations were revealed. It is noteworthy that for people who are under the influence of acute emotional stress, indicators on all scales of the questionnaire were at low level. In the main group, several indicators of stress were higher than in the control group. The reaction to the acute stressful situation of hostilities with an immediate threat to life is different from the reaction of young people to long-term experiences of social and economic problems. Such people become prone to neurotic and depressive disorders, they feel a lack of freedom and meaning. However, unlike an acute reaction to stress, they have a willingness to go into the world, they become able to show willpower, which can become a very good springboard for psychotherapeutic intervention at restoring or developing personal resources, that is, improve the quality of life.