Severe life events and their psychological consequences: loss or threat of loss of nearest

Abstract

The article analyses the specifics of the psychotraumatic experience associated with the experience of loss of a loved one (due to an accident or natural causes) and the threat to life caused by the presence of a dangerous disease. It is shown that the psychotraumatic effect of the experience of these events is similar in the degree of intensity of post-traumatic stress and some symptoms, with the exception of the symptom of arousal, which takes the highest rates in the sudden nature of the psychotraumatic situation (sudden death, dangerous diseases or injuries). It was found that the closest relationship between the level of post-traumatic stress and psychopathological symptoms (anxiety, somatisation, interpersonal sensitivity, etc.) is observed in the case of delayed experience of a dangerous disease, which allows us to consider it as a special existential situation.