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Relevance. The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the mental health of the population leading to an increase in anxiety disorders, depression, sleep disorders, eating disorders and alcohol abuse. This situation urgently demanded the introduction of a new method of providing psychological assistance, taking into account the inaccessibility of its full-time forms (“face to face”) in an epidemic.

The objective of the article is to acquaint Russian mental health professionals with the specifics of the application and the effectiveness of short-term distance cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy in minimizing viral anxiety associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Results. The general specificity of conducting distance cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is described, its advantages and disadvantages are highlighted. The components of remote examination of the mental state of a patient with viral anxiety are described. The modules are presented and the effectiveness of the E.M. Anderson short-term protocol of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is shown. It is aimed at influencing the patient’s anxiety caused by the virus by minimizing dysfunctional strategies for regulating negative emotions (anxious rumination, catastrophization, health anxiety) and replacing them with more flexible ones (acceptance and responsibility, a sense of optimal awareness, a positive time perspective for the future, decatastrophization).

Conclusions. The available data show that in the digital age, the use of adapted distance protocols of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy can be an effective tactic for reducing dysfunctional viral anxiety by promoting adaptive emotion regulation strategies, which has significant potential for improving public health in Russia.

Background. The increase of public satisfaction with the quality of medical care is one of the Russian healthcare issues. A method for increasing public satisfaction lies in modernizing the model of medical care, i.e. a shift from the paternalistic approach to the patient-oriented one in medical counseling. For its successful implementation, the image of the patient in the attending physician is of great importance.

Objective. We hypothesized that targeted doctor training in professional communication skills will cause a qualitatively-quantitative change in the semantic content of the patient’s image. Therefore, the objective is studying changes of the patient’s image in medical students in the course of their participation in quasi-professional activities.

Design. In order to test the hypothesis, we conducted an experimental study that included 250 (78.2% females, 21.8% males) first-year students of the Faculty of Medicine and Prevention, the Ural State Medical University. The average age of the participants is 18.8 years. To eliminate distortions in the responses of the participants, the patient’s image was studied from the perspective of a psychosemantic research approach. An important criterion in choosing an approach and a research method was the desire to identify implicit and in most cases indirect characteristics of the patient’s image. To study the subjective semantic spaces representing a set of subjective systems of meanings in relation to a patient, the method of bipolar and unipolar personality semantic differential was used

Results. The results of factorial and comparative analysis (T-Student) by the methodology “Bipolar and unipolar personality semantic differential” showed that the content of the patient’s image as a semantic space of the world’s image of doctors with targeted training in professional communication skills tends to change when performing educational and professional tasks of clinical practice.

Conclusion. The contents of the semantic category “patient image” is significantly expanding filled with various semantic meanings. Accordingly, various changes in the behaviour of future doctors turn to be possible. The results of the study can serve as the basis for integrating a targeted training of professional communication skills into the medical educational programs, which will increase the quality of doctors’ preparedness for practical activities and help increase public satisfaction with the quality of medical care.

Background. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of disabilities and death. CHD is known to be a multifactorial disease and in the process of complex research, it is important to take into account the role of psychological factors. The presence of gender specificities in the formation and course of cardiovascular diseases determines the need to study the psychological characteristics of men and women with CHD in order to plan and develop prevention and rehabilitation programs.

Objective. The present research is aimed at studying the psychological features in men and women with CHD before coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at the stage of preoperative care: 1) the study of asthenic condition in patients with CHD (men and women) during inpatient treatment before CABG; 2) the study of the severity and structure of anxiety in patients with CHD (men and women) before CABG; 3) the study of psychopathological symptoms including depressive manifestations in patients (men and women) before CABG; 4) the study of personality peculiarities in patients with CHD before CABG.

Design. In the course of the present study 60 patients with CHD before CABG were surveyed with a gender distribution of 30 women and 30 men. The study was carried out on the basis of Almazov National Medical Research Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (St. Petersburg, Russia). The average age of patients was 60.9 ± 7.6. The study included the clinical interview and the following methods of psychological testing were used: Asthenic State Scale, Integrative Test of Anxiety (ITT), Symptom Check List-90-Revised, and The Big Five Personality Test.

Results. In women with CHD before CABG, the higher level of asthenia and anxiety (both state and trait) was found as compared with men. Also in women in comparison with male patients higher rates of such manifestations in the structure of their psychological features as “somatization”, “interpersonal sensitivity”, “depression”, “phobic anxiety” were noted. According to the results of the study of personality peculiarities, it was found that among men with CHD the indicator of emotional stability is higher than in women.

Conclusion. It is necessary to take into account the possible variants of a sensitive emotional response which may be more common in women at the stage of impatient treatment before CABG (including such manifestations as anxiety, low mood, emotional sensitivity, asthenia). In accordance with this, during psychocorrectional work, it is important to apply techniques aimed at working with those emotional-negative experiences that may worsen noticeably in connection with the upcoming surgical intervention.

Background. One of the issues of modern health care the frequent arterial hypertension (AH) in people of the so-called middle age. There is a decrease in the productivity of mental activity accompanied by anxiety in the form of «cognitive dissatisfaction» with the corresponding experiences. Features and causes of cognitive dysfunctions in patients with hypertension require special study. Its results are important not only for understanding the central mechanisms of the disease, but also for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, preventive, correctional and rehabilitation programs. They are determined by the relevance of clinical and psychological studies of the syndromes of cognitive dysfunctions and factors that determine cognitive functioning in hypertension in the middle age.

The Objective is the assessing of motivational and emotional factors to the qualitative characteristics of cognitive activity in the middle-aged patients with AH who are unaware of the medical qualifications of their disease.

Design. The study and interpretation of its results was carried out in accordance with the principles of psychological syndrome analysis (school of L.S. Vygotsky - A.R. Luria - B.V. Zeigarnik). The research program included the diagnosis of emotional and personal characteristics using the Russian-language version of the 16-factor Cattell personality questionnaire (Cattell, Schuerger, 2003; Kapustina, 2006) and the Pictogram methodology (Zeygarnik, 1962; Rubinstein, 1970), diagnostics of general intelligence using the “Raven’s Progressive matrices” (Raven, et al., 2012; Davydov, Chmykhova 2016), and also the study of “qualitative” features of cognitive processes using pathopsychological examination (Zeigarnik, 1986). We examined 48 patients (52.3±6.6 years) with Stage 2 hypertension, Grade 1-2, unaware of the diagnosis and 54 almost healthy people, comparable to patients by gender, age and educational level.

Results. 84% of hypertensive patients with high and medium intelligence showed signs of a decrease in cognitive activity. A meaningful interpretation of the results of the study using the methodological principles of psychological syndrome analysis (the school of L.S. Vygotsky - A.R. Luria - B.V. Zeygarnik) showed that in the structure of disturbances of cognitive processes in hypertension, disturbances in the dynamics of mental processes expressed by labile mental activity and rapid exhaustion, based on a decrease in neurodynamic support of mental activity. Reduced cognitive functioning is also influenced by the emotional and personal characteristics of patients, especially the deficiency of harmony in their motivational sphere. The study of thinking showed the diversity of opinions in 43% of patients and signs of distortion of the generalization process in 24% of patients with hypertension. Correlation analysis data have confirmed the relationship between the frequency of occurrence of these phenomena and the frequency of decrease in the productivity of cognitive activity. Patients with hypertension in the middle age unaware of the presence of this diagnosis, differ from healthy individuals in the greater disharmony of personality traits. They are characterized by a tendency to restrain affect, personal rigidity, lack of flexibility of emotional manifestations, with persistence in achieving goals and overall dominance, and also increasing values on the scales of anxiety and depression. The levels of anxiety and depression are statistically related to the productivity of the cognitive functioning in patients with hypertension.

Conclusion. Using the methodological principles of psychological syndrome analysis showed that the cognitive processes in untreated middle-aged hypertensive patients can be described as cognitive dysfunction syndrome, where two syndrome factors can be considered significant: neurodynamic and motivational ones. The research results contribute to the solution of personal and «actually intellectual» processes correlation in solving problems in normal and pathological conditions. They expand the understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of hypertension, and allow individualizing strategies for medical and psychological care for patients with hypertension.

Background. Impaired ability to regulate the emotional state is significant both in the onset of alcohol addiciton and in its course. Despite the fact that it is generally accepted to consider alcoholism from the point of view of the biopsychosocial paradigm, cross-cultural studies of the individual psychological properties of patients with alcoholism are extremely few.

The Objective of the research was to analyze strategies and methods of emotional regulation within alcoholism in the residents of St. Petersburg (Group 1) and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (Group 2). Research hypotheses: there are regional and national differences in the emotional regulation strategies; emotional regulation strategies may occur due to socio-cultural factors.

Design. The research involved patients who were treated with drug at St. Petersburg Bekhterev Research Psycho-Neurological Institute (St. Petersburg Bekhterev NIPNI) and Yakutsk Republican Drug Dispensary. The sample included persons aged 18 to 70 years old diagnosed with alcohol addiction syndrome (F10.2) in accordance with ICD-10 and fluent in Russian. In total, 60 people took part in the study, 30 of them were residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region (Group 1), 30 people are residents of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (Group 2).

Results. Significant regional differences were found in the use of the cognitive strategy of emotion regulation “positive reavaluation” (p = 0.01) in the residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and residents of Yakutia. The basic strategy of emotional regulation is “suppression of expression” (p = 0.02), and also such difficulties of emotional regulation as “aversion of emotional reactions” (p = 0.002), “difficulties in showing impulsive reactions” (p = 0.007), “limited array of strategies emotional regulation ”(p = 0.003) are characteristic of residents of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). They reflect the cultural-based features of the northern peoples that are expressed in emotional restraint, propensity to suppress emotions and feelings.

Conclusion. The study of emotional regulation in alcohol pathology in reference to national and regional affiliation of individuals is of fundamental importance for solving problems in the field of ethnic psychology and psychiatry. In order to effectively provide medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic care to patients with alcohol addiction and other forms of addictive disorders it is necessary to take into account national and regional characteristics that can be an internal resource for the success of the assistance provided.

Background. The issue of the applied clinical psychology methodology is very relevant due to the considerable diversity and unsystematic review of modern research. There is a confusion of research works focused on the psychological explanation of mental disorders, statistically correlation studies, which provide links between various parameters, properties and characteristics based on a study of various clinical patient groups, and also incomplete works of applied research in clinical psychology.

The Objective of the paper is a theoretical and analytical study of the applied clinical psychology.

Design. The analysis of the current situation of applied clinical psychology is given, the prospects for development are studied and the forecasts of foreign researchers about the future of clinical psychology are performed. Particular attention is paid to the development opportunities of further methodology issues of applied clinical psychology founded by G. Munsterberg, its use in the design of a wide range of applications of psychology in modern medicine. The possibilities of developing applied medical psychology in the modern information society, the development of its new methods, analysis and subsequent tech-based approach are discussed.

Results. A wide array of applied clinical psychology opportunities related to the prospects of tech-based practical medicine and its organization is presented. The analysis of the problem field of applied clinical psychology brings out the need for system design of new applied psychological developments in medicine. Preliminary data show that a deeper systemic level of development can be associated with the applied cultural historical psychology in their design.

In the course of treating a serious illness, a person is faced with questions related not only to the medical side of treatment, but also with the realizing the sense of the events. This is equally true for both oncology adults and for children.

The paper researches the disease representation in children who suffer from severe diseases. General psychological aspects of the disease situation and the understanding of patient children and the ability to use these concepts in practical psychological help are considered.

The study hypothesizes, first of all, the semantic structure of representation in this group of children having specific characteristics that distinguish them from healthy children. Secondly, data representation having a therapeutic potential can be used as a psychological tool. Mediating function of the psychological tools mentioned is justified in this paper from the perspective of cultural historical approach and the concept of mental health levels. The experimental study was conducted in the specialized pediatric clinics in Moscow, Russia. Control group include students of one of Moscow schools. The study included organization of the experimental situation, criteria for obtaining data, comparative analysis and evaluation.

The hypothesis is confirmed. The characteristic structure of disease representations in patient children reflecting some vector of the disease course is outlined. This makes the study an important practical value as the results may provide a solution to practical issues of medical psychology in assisting patient children. The research offers further studying the semantic sphere of patient children.

The paper is devoted to the study of coping behavior of adults with cystic fibrosis, who manage stressful situations, and also individual and specific strategies for healing cystic fibrosis regarding subjective illness perception as either moderate or expressed threat to life and health. Cystic fibrosis is regarded as a real threat to life and health, which launches the cognitive and emotional processes of its regulation and influence on the choice of coping with the disease. We suggest that healing cystic fibrosis in adult patients will be differentiated regarding the subjective illness perception as a threat to life and health.

The research involved 86 male and female patients (mean age – 23.7 ± 4.8 years) with cystic fibrosis, with severe and moderate course, receiving inpatient or outpatient treatment. The research identified adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping with cystic fibrosis and ways of overcoming their difficult life situations. We confirmed that perceptions of cystic fibrosis as a moderate threat to life and health contributes to psychological adjustment to problem life situations and illness proper due to moderately intensive use of adaptive coping strategies and more rare reference to the maladaptive coping strategies avoidance. The perception of cystic fibrosis as expressed threat to life and health is associated with decreased psychological adjustment to problem life situations and illness caused by the rise of cystic fibrosis avoidant behaviour and suppression of optimistic illness acceptance.

The paper discusses changes introduced in the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association in May 2013. The DSM-5 was subjected to a flood of criticism already at the time of its preparation. The authors examine the reasons for revising the previous edition of DSM and provide examples of structural and diagnostic changes introduced in the DSM-5. Special attention is paid to those innovations, which have initiated controversy and debate in the professional community. The paper gives consideration to criticism of the changes in the DSM-5 and urges to the development of a new methodological approach to mental health.

The influence of psychological factors on the occurrence, course and prognosis of cardiovascular disease is considered. The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying their effects are analyzed, including direct (physiological) and indirect (behavioural) effects. The results of foreign and national research of psychological factors that cause cardiovascular diseases are shown.