A group of researchers from the State Institution “The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” received a grant to study ophthalmological biological markers and develop an objective method for early diagnosis of dangerous stress-associated psychological changes in the human condition. This concerns participants in any crisis situations, regardless of the source of stress (including global stresses such as wars, military conflicts, man-made or natural disasters, pandemics, etc., as well as local ones such as traffic accidents, terrorist acts, domestic violence, etc.).

The relevance of the problem today in our country is hard to overestimate. The pandemic, economic instability, and uncertainty about the future have been affecting the psycho-emotional health of Ukrainians for several years. Regarding the negative impact of the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to preliminary forecasts of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, more than 15 million Ukrainians will need psychological support after the war ends. The most vulnerable category includes direct participants in hostilities. War syndrome is the main consequence of the devastating factors in modern wars. This is due to the fact that the number of victims affected by war syndromes, for example, ranges from 35% to 70% of all participants in hostilities, regardless of whether they were in the combat zone or not. And post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an almost integral component of war syndrome, occurs in up to 90% of participants in some cases.

Even if a person is not directly in the place where crisis events are taking place, in the information society, they are constantly exposed to negative informational influences. Information about “arrivals”, destruction, casualties, and deaths, empathy and/or transferring the consequences of these events to oneself can also lead to stress-associated disorders with possible subsequent manifestations of aggression or disappointment in everything, apathy and depression, and other negative consequences such as increased fatigue, difficulty concentrating, cognitive dysfunctions and mood swings, sleep disturbances, irritability, alertness, etc. Moreover, considering the characteristics of delayed stress response, the experienced traumatic events will negatively affect the psyche for a long period even after the war ends.

Specialists from the State Institution “The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” have already conducted a series of pilot studies in which they developed tools and research methods for instrumental detection of signs of stress-associated disorders based on ophthalmological markers (analysis of eye movement data and changes in pupil parameters). Further research, combined with the creation of understandable and easy-to-use software for the rapid processing of obtained data, should form the basis of a method capable of ensuring the objectivity of research, the possibility of detecting the threat of developing stress-associated disorders in the presence of symptoms insufficient for a clinical diagnosis. The short time required for research and data processing will make it suitable for use in mass diagnostic measures (screening).