Non-Medicamentous Spa Treatment of Mental Disorders

Abstract

Rationale: considering the high frequency of occurrence of mental disorders in the general medical network, as well as due to the not always sufficient success of biological therapy of mental diseases and not uncommon poor tolerability, it is of interest to consider non-drug methods of spa treatment of these conditions. The analysis of the literature has shown that until recently, regarding non-drug methods of correction of mental disorders, as a rule, only studies on individual methods are given without considering the entire range of possible procedures that can potentially be used for therapy, or the information provided is very formal.The purpose of this work was to consider non-drug methods of treatment of mental disorders used in the conditions of the sanatorium-resort industry and, according to modern principles of evidence-based medicine, to assess the available evidence of their effectiveness and safety; as well as new prospects for the use of well-known techniques. Materials and methods: to search for possible non-drug methods of mental disorders correction and their mechanism of action, modern guidelines for balneology treatment and medical rehabilitation, electronic databases of the RSCI and MedLine were studied, the latter also searched for publications of studies confirming the effectiveness of the studied methods, which was carried out by keywords (names of relevant methods and mental dysfunctions, such as anxiety, depression, cognitive disorders, adaptation disorders, stress states, psychosomatics); the levels of evidence of effectiveness and safety were evaluated according to the National Standard of the Russian Federation GOST R 56034-2014.As a result of the work carried out, the vast majority of methods of correction of mental disorders used in the sanatorium-resort area are covered. The information presented concerns not only stress-related disorders traditionally related to borderline psychiatry, but also diseases of a more severe register and cognitive impairments; depending on the etiology and clinic of mental illness, the described techniques may be applicable as the main or additional treatment methods; some of them have a high evidence-based level of effectiveness, the other seems promising for further study in terms of therapy of individual mental disorders.Conclusion: the information provided may be of interest both for the scientific and practical fields of psychiatry, when solving problems aimed at improving the effectiveness of treatment and improving the quality of life of patients with mental illnesses.