Neuroses in the light of socio-economic transition in Russia

The changes taking place in Russia in the last ten years give an opportunity to study the psychological mechanisms of neurotic disorders with regard to the changes in their epidemiological indices. With the increased frequency of dysadaptation states as a background, the number of all types of neuro-psychic disorders in the country is also growing. However, the number of neuroses proper tends to decrease. The situation that existed in Russia till 1985 was of a more socially protective nature, i.e. a neurotic patient was able to use the entire range of services provided by socialist health care giving structures not fearing that his disease would affect in some or other way the evaluation of his social and industrial functioning. The number of neuroses in Russia is decreasing since the people become more and more orientated at new aims in the sphere of labour and other activities which presuppose the manifestation of their own activity and initiative. If we take into consideration the fact that in the genesis of neuroses of considerable importance is the self-regulating ability that includes not only psychophysiological homeostasis, but, with regard to the social determinatedness of human structure, the realisation of values conditioned by social environment as well, the decrease in the number of neuroses in contemporary Russia seems to be quite explicable.