Modern approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders associated with a new coronavirus infection

Abstract

The article systematizes information on the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders, the frequency of which has increased significantly at the present time, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The characteristic of stressful factors affecting the human psyche in the conditions of forced self-isolation and after it is given. Many people experience anxiety due to lockdown, social isolation, unemployment, and a high probability of illness and death. Uncertainty in the future, anxiety during the period of uncertainty caused by the spread of the “new coronavirus”, are a trigger for emotional exhaustion, suppress the immune system, which negatively affects the human nervous system and provokes an exacerbation of chronic ailments. The psychological consequences of a person’s stay in quarantine are considered. In the structure of mental health disorders associated with the COVID-19 epidemic, there is a large range of adaptation disorders: fear, frustration, a sense of hopelessness, expectation of threat, loneliness, social isolation and alienation. In the situation of COVID-19, there is often a depletion of mental resources and maladaptation, a disorder of adaptive reactions. Anxiety disorders occur in the form of adaptation disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, somatoform disorders, including panic attacks. Timely diagnosis of these disorders is possible not only by the psychiatric service, but also with the involvement of internists who possess screening diagnostic tools with automated conclusions (scales, mobile applications to smartphones, etc.). A brief review of domestic and foreign studies on the assessment of methods for the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders is presented. Diagnostic methods and therapeutic tactics, the use of various traditional drugs in psychosomatic pathology are discussed. To correct the identified disorders, there is a choice of anti-anxiety drugs, including antidepressants (primarily selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), tranquilizers, among which tofizopam occupies a worthy place.