Unusual living conditions as a factor of mental adaptation disorder

Abstract

Recently, the world has faced a number of cataclysms, one of which was the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in a long time, people had to adapt to major changes in their way of life. A regime of self-isolation was declared the main measure to prevent the spread of infection, and a significant number of people found themselves in conditions of restricted habitual forms of activity and communication. The situation was aggravated by constant media coverage of the unfavorable epidemic situation. Thus, the whole environment of anti-epidemic measures was a large-scale situation that required adaptation for a large number of people. Under such conditions, disorders of mental adaptation are a natural reaction in the changed life conditions. The study participants were 132 university students from Saint Petersburg aged 17 to 26 years. To clarify the sociodemographic data, they were asked to fill in the developed questionnaire, including information about their gender, age, living conditions, form of employment, etc. For self-assessment of functional state we used the SAN method, and for assessment of subjective experience of own ‘self’ in conditions of self-isolation — the method of semantic differential. The empirical data were analyzed using Student’s t-test. We found that in the process of self-isolation students experienced deterioration of well-being and mood, a decrease in activity, which was accompanied by a sense of change in their ‘self’. Such manifestations are associated with a number of socio-demographic conditions. The conducted research revealed the conditions determining the significance of pandemic and selfisolation for young people, which, due to a number of factors, becomes traumatizing. The study analyzes the psychological aspects of adaptation reactions in changed conditions of life. In accordance with the accepted methodological bases of the study, we designate the signs of mental state disorders in the conditions of anti-epidemic measures as pseudo-psychopathological phenomena of adaptation. The study contributes to the understanding of psychological mechanisms of mental adaptation and the importance of personal experience in the pandemic experience.