EXISTENTIAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH ANXIETY AND DEPRESSIVE CONDITIONS: FEATURES OF EXISTENTIAL DEFENSES

Shevelenkova Tatiana Dmitrievna

The purpose of the study is to determine the features of existential problems, as well as the severity of existential defenses in young people with pronounced anxiety about health and with depressive states compared with the conditional norm group. The pilot study involved 48 people aged 18 to 23: 16 people classified as a conditional psychological norm (control group); 16 people who are in a depressed state; 16 people prone to hypochondria health. For the selection of a group of respondents, the "Scale for Express Psychological Diagnosis of Semi-Structured Depressive Disorders" was used. and the Brief Health Anxiety Questionnaire. The author's questionnaire "Existential defense mechanisms" was used in the work. The study (1) identified significant differences in the severity of existential defense mechanisms in the study groups; (2) according to the degree of intensity of existential defenses, the most problematic spheres of existence, generated by a collision with finite givens (death, freedom, isolation, senselessness) in people with depressive states and a tendency to health hypochondria, are characterized; (3) a relationship was found between the severity of hypochondriacal (health anxiety) and depressive symptoms (conditions) with the intensity of existential defense mechanisms.

Keywords:existential defense mechanisms, health hypochondria, depressive states