Mental disorders in victims and relatives of those killed in a fire in Kemerovo
Aim: studying the features of the manifestation of mental disorders in secondary victims during the acute period after exposure to an emergency. Methods. The study was conducted in the Kemerovo after an emergency (fire in the «Zimnaya Vishnya» shopping center), which killed 60 people, including 37 children. We examined 53 residents of Kemerovo (19 men and 34 women), who were more or less injured («secondary victims»), and independently sought medical and psychological help. All calls were recorded in the first 2 weeks after the emergency. Results. All applicants were exposed to a traumatic situation, which was facilitated, according to patients, by the massive dedication of the tragedy in the media (especially on social networks) and constant discussion of what happened in families, at work, in transport, etc. At the time of examination, more than 2/3 of the secondary victims, both men, and women, who sought medical and psychological help, were diagnosed with an Adaptive Reaction Disorder (F 43.2), mainly in the form of depressive and anxiety-depressive reactions. More than half of the secondary victims who sought medical and psychological help, on the first day after the news of the fire in the shopping center and the number of deaths, there were outlined manifestations of a hypo- or hyperkinetic form of the Acute Stress Reaction. 43 examined (81.1% of applicants) were at risk of developing Post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, it should be noted that in 31 cases (72.1%) the development of psychopathological symptoms was preceded by the development of Acute Stress Reaction, and 12 cases (27.9%) - the reactions that took place were defined as an «outwardly adequate response» to stress. Conclusions. The study confirmed that the impact of the emergency causes severe distress and, as a result, psychopathological disorders not only in those directly affected by emergencies but also in a group of people belonging to the «secondary» victims. The study showed that the formation of signs of future PTSD can be diagnosed in the early stages of emergency resolution, namely in the so-called «transition period».