Mental and Behavioral Disorders in the Civilian Population of Regions Affected by Local Warfare

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Abstract

Currently an acute and persistent problem for humanity is participation in military activities, including local conflicts which oftentimes involve activities of radical organizations. Shooting, shelling, bombing, taking hostages, forceful retention, which provide imminent threat to the lives and well-being of people, belong to the most significant psychologically traumatic factors of modern life. The article looks into the consequences of the negative impact of the distress which civilians and refugees (including children) have gone through. Not infrequently these negative consequences lead to deterioration in the quality of life, development of pathological personality traits, social maladaptation, emergence of co-morbid mental and somatic diseases. In the number of the studies we analyzed it is emphasized that massive negative impact on the mental health from the multiple traumatizing factors turns out to be more devastating in the long run than it is in the beginning. Therefore, the following becomes critically important: the earliest possible detection of mental and behavioral disorders in the victims, preventive treatment of their post-stress disorders at the remote stages of the traumatic experience as well as their complete and timely rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

General Information

Keywords: local warfare, local conflicts, mental and behavioral disorders in civilian population and refugees, "children of war"

Journal rubric: Psychology of Extreme Situations and Crises

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/psylaw.2020100413

For citation: Zakharova N., Tsvetkova M.G. Mental and Behavioral Disorders in the Civilian Population of Regions Affected by Local Warfare [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologiya i pravo = Psychology and Law, 2020. Vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 185–197. DOI: 10.17759/psylaw.2020100413. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Natalya Zakharova, PhD in Medicine, senior researcher of the Department of urgent psychiatry and the help at emergency situations, Federal State Budgetary Institution "V. Serbsky Federal Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2424-0901, e-mail: natali_oslo@mail.ru

Marina G. Tsvetkova, Junior researcher of Department of emergency psychiatry and assistance to victims of emergency situations, ”V. Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8736-1674

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