Conceptualization and management of personality disorders in Russian psychiatry.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article aims to present the current picture on conceptualization, diagnosis and care provision of personality disorders (PD) in modern Russia. These issues are highly relevant to Russian psychiatry, which has a rich historical tradition of analysing psychopathic constitution, personality types and dynamics. RECENT FINDINGS: This narrative review covers the main tendencies in the recent Russian academic literature devoted to PD. PD are most frequently investigated in the frames of forensic psychiatry, in which expert conclusions and assessment of the risk factors for socially dangerous behaviour are particularly important. Another area of research concerns comorbidity, since PD often affect other health conditions or are co-occurrent with other mental or behavioural problems. Specialists have also focused on the challenges of therapy in PD. SUMMARY: Reviewed manuscripts show a pathogenic and pathoplastic role of personality factors in manifestation of other mental, behavioural or somatic disorders. Analysis of pathocharacterological profile and self-regulation processes is a major component in assessing and diagnosing PD. The principal perspectives in this particular area focus on evidence-based research of mechanisms of personality pathology and validation of targeted personalized combined therapeutic approaches.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety, depression and distress - online survey results amid the pandemic in Russia.

Background: In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic evoked a variety of research into the virus and its effects on mental health. A variety of mental health and psychological problems have been reported: stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia, denial, stigma, anger and fear. Objectives: To assess the level of anxiety, depression and distress in the general population during the lockdown in Russia and to reveal factors associated with distress. Methods: An online survey was carried out from 22-27 April 2020 (the fourth week of lockdown) among the general population (mostly Moscow residents). The survey questions covered general information about people's social and demographic characteristics, experience of COVID-19, health condition (physical and mental), attitudes and views on the pandemic, and the need for psychological support. The survey included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and evaluation of the preceding week's subjective distress level using a visual numeric scale (from 0 to 10). We also asked respondents to specify the causes of distress, adopted from the WHO information sheet relating to the major psychological challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: In total, 352 responses were collected (men = 74, women = 278; age (M ± SD) = 36.81 ± 11.36 y.o.).Most respondents (n = 225, 63.92%) did not have any personal experience of the coronavirus infection. Normal levels of anxiety and depression scores were prevalent in the sample. Higher than normal levels of HADS anxiety/depression ( 7 scores) were observed in 105 (29.83%) and 59 (16.76%) respondents, respectively; mean (95% CI)scores for HADS anxiety/depression were 6.23 [5.77, 6.68] /4.65 [4.22, 5.08] (women) and 4.20 [3.32, 5.09] /3.46[2.63, 4.29] (men), respectively.The leading causes of distress were: 1) the risk of financial problems in the future (n = 267, 76.3%); 2) violation of plans and the disruption to normal life (n = 235, 67.1%; and n = 240, 68.6%, respectively); 3) the health of elderly or chronically diseased relatives (n = 205, 58.6%) and 4) being in self-isolation (n = 186, 53.1%). Conclusion: The level of anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in the study sample did not exceed the norm for the population in non-pandemic conditions. Our assessment of distress levels captured existing emotional problems, and distress levels were found to be connected with the reported need for psychological support.