No 88 (2023)

The relevance of the study is determined by the significance of the issue of preserving the psychological well-being of young doctors. The paper presents the results of a study of depression, anxiety, stress and multidimensional perfectionism in psychiatry and neurology residents.

Materials and Methods. First and second year psychiatry and neurology residents (N = 100) aged 22-29 (М = 25; SD = 1,3) filled out a questionnaire including sociodemographic data and the following validated instruments: «Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21, DASS-21» (Lovibond & Lovibond) and «Three-Factor Perfectionism Inventory» (Garanyan et al.). The sample was divided into three groups with high (n = 37), medium (n = 33) and low (n = 30) levels of perfectionism.

Results. The results suggest that residents with higher level of perfectionism have higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress (p < 0,001). Significant positive associations between depression, anxiety, stress and general level of perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic cognitive style were observed (p < 0,01).

Relevance. To date, mass media, especially the internet, stands as the primary tool for informing, enlightening, educating, and entertaining the overwhelming majority of individuals. Media coverage, particularly on the internet, carries a “psychogenic” potential akin to that of a treating physician, especially in its publications regarding potential threats to human life and health. The immediacy of the internet, social networks, and mass media played a crucial role in transforming the COVID-19 pandemic into an extreme situation. Authors of media publications emphatically asserted the fatal nature of the new infection, the immediate threat to human life and health, thereby shaping dominants that contributed to aberrations in the perception of reality. Certainly, such information influenced people’s attitudes toward the emerging situation, shaping their perceptions of risk, motivation for daily behavior, and emotional background. This attitude could not help but manifest itself in the event of illness.

The aim is to study the features of the formation of attitudes towards the disease during COVID-19 with the iatrogenic impact of mass media on the psyche of patients.

Methodology. The study took place on the basis of St. Petersburg City Hospital No. 15, Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A. I. Herzen and using the Internet resource docs.google.com/forms. A total of 120 individuals, aged 16 to 65, were examined using the clinical-psychological method. Diagnosis of the attitude towards the disease was carried out using the TOBOL technique. To specify socio-demographic characteristics and respondents’ attitudes toward COVID-19, a questionnaire “Attitude to Coronavirus” was developed. The analysis of empirical data was performed using descriptive statistics and methods of mathematical-statistical data processing.

Results and their analysis. It has been established that the media have an iatrogenic effect on the formation of attitudes towards the disease during COVID-19.

Conclusion. The results obtained can be used to develop and plan psychoprophylactic measures in the system of anti-epidemic measures.

Introduction. Professional burnout is the process of development of chronic professional stress of moderate intensity, causing a change in the personality of a professional. Violations of the psychological component of professional burnout can occur in up to 40 % of specialists in subject- subject relations, which affects staffing levels and operational efficiency.

The aim is to expand information capabilities on professional burnout, for which to study the scientometric indicators of domestic articles published in peer-reviewed journals over 18 years from 2005 to 2022, to conduct a semantic analysis of keywords and visualize their clusters.

Methodology. The 6219 domestic articles in which were analyzed the problems of professional burnout presented in the Russian Science Citation Index in 2005–2022 were studied. The average annual number of articles was (346 ± 58). There is an increase in the number of publications. Visualization, semantic and cluster analysis of article keywords was carried out using the VOSviewer 1.6.20 software.

Results and analysis. Psychological problems of professional burnout were analyzed in 51.8 % of articles, medical – in 21.1 %, pedagogical – in 15.8 %, economic – in 3.8 %, physical education and sports – in 1.7 %, other branches of science – in 5.8 %. Low scientometric indicators in the array of articles were noted. About 10 % of publications were published in highly rated domestic and foreign journals. 59 % of articles were cited at least once, the average weighted impact factor of the journals in which the articles were published was 0,287, the average number of citations per 1 article was 3.29, per 1 co-author – 1.62. There were no identified journals whose core would contain the maximum number of articles on professional burnout. No more than 1% of articles from the array on professional burnout and 0.1 % of all articles published in the journal were published in leading journals. Cluster analysis of keywords showed a clear presentation of professional burnout in articles from the perspective of prevention and rehabilitation. The 1st cluster combined keywords on emotional exhaustion and factors preventing of articles with 32.8 % of the total link strength, the 2nd – on professional burnout and factors preventing it – 28.3 %, 3rd – in the formation of the consequences of professional burnout among medical workers – 11.9 %, 4th – in the influence of stress on the formation of not only professional burnout, but also in increasing stress resistance and adaptability – 9.7 %, 5th – in the reduction of personal achievements, depersonalization and personality deformation – 7.6 %, 6th – in the prevention of professional burnout – 7.4 %, the 7th cluster is the probability of developing professional exhaustion and professional burnout among specialists in extreme professions – 2.4 %, respectively.

Conclusion. The obtained results expand the information capabilities on professional burnout for practicing specialists and editors of scientific journals and show promising areas of research for scientists.

Relevance. Harmonious development of personality is achieved through balanced improvement of physical and mental qualities of a person. The available methods of psychophysiological selection of applicants to higher educational institutions and methods of accompanying the educational process are largely subjective, time-consuming and unable to fully predict the future professional fate of the student. This work is devoted to the study of the integrative relationship between the results of physical and intellectual activity, on the one hand, and their basic vegetative support, on the other hand, in young people.

The aim is to characterize the interrelationships of physical characteristics, intellectual achievements and features of vegetative support of the body of young people studying at the university.

Methodology. A total of 329 practically healthy subjects, aged 19.8 ± 1.2 years, undergoing training at a higher educational institution according to the specialty program, were examined. Data collection was conducted through face-to-face individual interviews. Using variational cardiointervalography, parameters of the autonomic support of organism vital activity and indicators of their balance were assessed. Indicators of the autonomic nervous system were recorded based on the results of cardiorhythmography according to R.M. Bayevsky, using the hardware and software complex “Valenta” and the biosignal converter PBS-01. The state of the autonomic nervous system was evaluated at rest and during the application of functional tests.

Results and their analysis. The results of the assessment of physical and mental performance were statistically insignificantly correlated with all indicators of vegetative support of the body’s activity, with the exception of the stress index, which directly correlated with moderate strength with the speed of the subjects at all measurement points (r = 0.55, 0.7 and 0.64, respectively, p < 0.05). The percentage change in the intensity index directly correlated with the indicators speed and endurance and vice versa – with parameters of strength and cognitive success. There was a trend of moderate strength towards a decrease in cognitive success against the background of an increase in speed (r = −0.5, p > 0.05), weak – as the endurance index increases (r = −0.24, p > 0.05) and their increase as the value of the physical strength index increases (r = 0.17, p > 0.05).

Conclusion. The dependence of functional characteristics on somatometric indicators in individuals completing their education at the university exists. The autonomic support of organism activity is in a complex interrelation with indicators of its psychophysiological functioning. Growth in intellectual achievements is observed predominantly under conditions of the prevailing tone of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. The modification of organism functioning parameters is subject to correction through both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.

Relevance. The problem of the impact of challenging work situations on the development of burnout syndrome is highly relevant for elucidating the peculiarities of professional activities among law enforcement personnel. Difficult work situations arising in the activities of law enforcement officers create a persistent stress load, which negatively affects the performance of official duties by law enforcement personnel and contributes to a decrease in their overall quality of life.

Purpose: to analyze the impact of difficult work situations on the occurrence of professional burnout syndrome among law enforcement officers.

Methodology. The study involved 89 employees of the St. Petersburg police department aged from 20 to 54 years, differing in gender, experience in the law enforcement system and the specifics of professional contacts. The study used psychological, sociological and mathematical-statistical methods. Data collection was carried out in the form of a face-to-face individual survey.

Results and their analysis. Regression analysis showed that difficult work situations influence the occurrence of professional burnout syndrome among law enforcement officers. Employees with 5 to 10 years of work experience are most susceptible to this impact. The most pronounced indicator of professional burnout is depersonalization. The most traumatic type of difficult work situations is a situation of permanent stress.

Conclusion. The problem of the influence of difficult work situations on professional burnout of law enforcement officers requires in-depth psychological analysis, since various dysfunctional consequences of “burnout” may arise, leading to various violations in the performance of professional activities of law enforcement officers immersed in specific difficult work situations.

Relevance. Over the past few years in Russia, there has been an increase in patient visits to dermatologists with complaints of specific skin itching, repeated pulling out and/or eating hair from different parts of the body, picking, scratching the skin in various parts of the body, biting cheeks, lips, nails, eating cuticles, skin on fingers. As of 2023, more than 19 million people in the United States suffer from these behaviors and often seek help from a dermatologist for skin damage, a challenge for mental health professionals.

Aim. To acquaint dermatologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and clinical psychologists with the specifics, tactics of psychological examination and complex treatment of repetitive traumatic behavior focused on the body and skin.

Results. This article details the clinical manifestations of body-focused repetitive traumatic behavior or skin picking disorder. One model details the range of forms of repetitive traumatic behavior directed at the body. A diagnostic algorithm and psychological approach to the assessment and initial treatment of psychosocial stressors in this group of patients are proposed. General treatment tactics are presented and emphasis is placed on the specifics of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for repetitive traumatic behavior directed at one’s own body, as well as its effectiveness and limitations. It has been shown that the “classical” CBT protocol (for example, habit change training, habituation, attention control, stimulus control) is an insufficient tactic for psychotherapeutic treatment, because unable to help the patient cope with internal experiences and emotional dysregulation. In this regard, it is recommended to use a multimodal protocol with an emphasis on metacognitive features of situation perception, regulation of impulsivity, maladaptive perfectionism and minimization of empirical avoidance of one’s own experiences.

Conclusion. This article fills the gap by providing a summary, understanding of the disorder and how professionals can diagnose and help this group of patients. We encourage not only dermatologists, but also mental health professionals to expand their knowledge about this disorder.