THE IMPACT OF DEPRESSION ON THE ONSET OF PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS

Abstract

The article examines the relationship between depression and somatic disorders in Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine. The authors conducted a theoretical analysis of current research by domestic and foreign scholars on the emergence of depression and psychosomatic disorders related to the war in Ukraine. The theoretical analysis shows that prolonged stress and traumatic events that have become the companions of Ukrainians in the last three years due to the ongoing war, fear for their own lives and the lives of loved ones, relocation to calmer regions of Ukraine or travel abroad often cause depressive disorders, which in turn affect the physical and mental health of people, causing psychosomatic disorders. In order to identify the correlation between the level of depression and psychosomatic disorders, the authors conducted a relevant empirical study, which found that the vast majority (79.2%) of respondents have depressive symptoms, which emphasizes the impact of prolonged stress caused by the war on the mental state of the population. Among the main symptoms of depression among respondents were: high levels of anxiety, feelings of hopelessness (due to lack of confidence in the future), and problems with concentration. These symptoms were accompanied by physical manifestations, among which the most common were: problems with sleep, persistent headaches (often of a mild nature), chronic fatigue, and joint pain. The results obtained in the empirical study confirm that depression directly affects both the mental and physical state of a person. The correlation analysis also showed a significant positive correlation between the level of depression among respondents and the intensity of their psychosomatic symptoms. That is, the impact of the war on the mental and psychological health of Ukrainians causes problems in their physical sphere, at the level of psychosomatic disorders.