Clinical manifestations of non-psychotic mental disorders, the main types of psychological defenses, the possibilities of psychopharmacoand psychotherapy in patients with oncopathology

Background. Oncological pathology, characterized by the significant dynamics of increase in the number of cases and high mortality, is a relevant topic and an urgent medical problem, in connection with which it predetermines the need to improve complex programs of treatment and rehabilitation. Psychoemotional disorders, somato- and psychogenic mental disorders are widespread among patients with oncological diseases. The paper shows the clinical features of mental disorders, the most common psychological defenses in the crisis situation of the disease and discusses the possibilities of therapy in patients with various oncopathologies (cancer of the lungs, stomach and intestines). Material and Methods. The study involved 104 patients with ICD-10 diagnosis of malignant neoplasms of the lungs (C34), stomach (C16) and intestines (C18). All patients were examined by a psychiatrist using a traditional clinical psychopathological method. To study the preferred psychological defenses, the Lifestyle Index method was used. Comparative analysis of the nosological structure of patients with diagnosed mental and behavioral (78.84%) disorders revealed neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform (36.54%), organic (21.15%) and affective (19.23%) disorders. in some cases, a personality disorder was registered (1.92%). Approximately one fifth (21.15%) of patients had not any mental disorder. In the studied simple random sample of patients with oncological pathology, deviations from the standard indicators in the use of defense mechanisms were found: with cancer of the stomach (6 [6.8]), intestines and lungs (6 [5.8]) - denial; cancer of the stomach, intestines and lungs (8 [6.10]) - projection; cancer of the intestine, lungs (7 [5.8]) and stomach (5 [5.8]) - intellectualization; cancer of the stomach, intestines and lungs (6 [4.8]) - reactive formation