Comparative characteristic of manifestations of pathological anxiety in workers of the marine merchant and passenger fleets

Abstract

Background. The activities of seafarers are extremely complex and at the same time risky professions; they put forward specific requirements for the crew of ships. Long seagoing are associated with the constant presence of crew members in a confined space, monotony of activity, a sharp narrowing of external social relations, an increased risk of emergency situations and etc. Scientific studies show the differentiation of the negative impact of occupational stress factors depending on the ranks of long-distance sailors.
 Objective – to study the specifics of manifestations of anxiety reaction of workers of the marine merchant and passenger fleets to determine the need to create specific systemic measures to protect mental health for this contingent.
 Materials and methods. During 2016–2019 we examined 120 workers of the Ukrainian navy. Of these, 90 were sailors, minders, and other merchant fleet workers, and 30 were passenger fleet workers. All examined were men, citizens of Ukraine. The study included the use of clinical, psychopathological, psychodiagnostic and statistical methods.
 Results. A significant part of the deck ratings (workers) of both merchant and passenger fleets has manifestations of a pathological anxiety reaction, mainly of medium-low intensity. Representatives of the working professions of the passenger navy are characterized by more intense manifestations of anxiety symptoms, the average severity of which approaches the upper limit of subclinical values, while among the representatives of the merchant fleet it approaches the upper limit of normative indicators.
 Conclusions. The data obtained should be taken into account when developing specific measures of psychotherapy and psychoprophylaxis for this contingent, which is the prospect of this study.