According to the Gradus Research* study commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Company “Darnitsa", 57% of Ukrainians reported that during the past 6 months they have experienced a certain traumatic event that affected them and their closed ones. This percentage is higher among women, residents of Eastern Ukraine and people whose family members engaged in active combat during the war, i.e. 60%, 66% and 72%, respectively. Most often, these people noticed such symptoms as an increased level of anxiety (68%), sleep disturbances (65%) and mood changes (61%).
The total number of people with mental disorders has predictably increased since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the high percentage of people reporting a traumatic experience, only 13% sought professional help. This situation requires the activation of general educational work among the population, because timely professional help reduces the risk of the disease chronicity and/or its progression. Worsening of the prognosis for recovery may be its consequence.
“A third of those who sought help consulted family doctors. The research confirmed our predictions, and that is why “Darnitsa” started holding medical webinars for the primary medical system setting involving leading experts in psychiatry. We understand the urgency of this problem for society and actively support family doctors training in diagnosis and basic treatment principles for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After all, the majority of our citizens will visit family doctors, who will be a “front line” in the fight for mental health,” Ihor Nykyforchyn, Medical Director of the Pharmaceutical Company “Darnitsa” says.
Only every fifth of those who sought professional help visited a mental physician. Prejudicial attitude towards mental disorders, their stigmatization may be the probable reason for this. Unfortunately, avoiding professional help can only make matters worse.
“Among those who did NOT seek professional help, a little less than a third addressed relatives and friends with this question. Also, 24% of people searched for information to provide themselves with psychological support, and about 47% did not seek help at all. That is why the availability of general educational resources for ordinary citizens is important in order to form the right attitude towards the disease and early contact a doctor. We, in Darnitsa, aim to help Ukrainians with quality expert information in this area, that is why we created an information platform about PTSD** for doctors and patients. At the same time, we are working on increasing the number of topics concerning the entire spectrum of mental health problems,” Ihor Nykyforchyn emphasizes.