2785 – Subthreshold Mental Disorders in University Students: Recognition and Prevention

Abstract

Mental health and psychological difficulties in students are connected with academic and interpersonal stressors as well as with personal and existential problems. These disturbances are manifesting in different cognitive, affective, somatic and behavioral symptoms, which usually don’t reach the mental disorders’ level and don’t fulfill the criteria of ICD-10.

Confidentiality, voluntary involvement and multiprofessional approach are the main principles of organization of student mental health care in University Medical Centre. This psychoprophylactic model is based on the multistage programme of medical and psychological accompaniment of education.

Early diagnosis of mental health disorders in students consists of regular assessment of the student's psychological needs and mental health problems. It is provided by taking into account a complex of psychosomatic and psychosocial aspects having a special meaning for the identification of risk groups of non-psychotic psychopathology.

1–2 years students were studied with structured clinical interview and psychodiagnostic tests to investigate typical emotional reactions, personality predictors and stress coping strategies.

Psychiatric predisposition consisting of stress vulnerability, emotional and cognitive partial deficit, liability autochthonous states is found in more than a half of examined students. Subthreshold mental disorders in students being age-related ones, have the specific peculiarities such as a great role of social and stress factors, shortness of reactions, prevalence of affective spectrum symptoms, frequency of somatic components.

Prevention measures suppose the psychological competence development, first of all the improvement of social and selfmanagement skills as well as psychoeducational courses for students and staff.