Neuroticization Status of Long-Living Persons Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic in CIS Carpathian Location (Ukraine)

For many years, scientists have been studying the phenomenon of longevity (people who survive past the age of 90) and the factors that influence the lifespan. There are many theories justifying the phenomenon of longevity [1,2]. However, none of the studies can confirm the advantage of any one contributing factor alone. Studies by American psychiatrist Julia Samton, who has looked at the findings of a variety of scientists on the subject of green old age and life extension, summarize that the most severe effect on longevity lies in a healthy diet [3], regular exercise and an optimistic approach to life. The scholar argues that the longevity secret resides not only in good nutrition, but also in other factors that affect how the human body ages [4].
Our team of scholars set the task of studying the longevity phenomenon in the Ciscarpathian location (Ukraine) by applying an interdisciplinary methodology, relying on the experience of gerontology, genetics, psychiatry and psycholinguistics, and studying the effects that affect the state of neuroticization of longevity during the Covid-19 epidemic. In the process of research Prykarpattia long-livers [5] we have found that aside from genetic determinants and external factors a major role in the formation of longevity plays mental status of a person, a sound congruence of emotional disposition and speech, correspondence of non-verbal psycho-emotional resonances and logical iconicconventional consistency in human speech practice. An important feature of active and long-term physical existence is the formation of a special kind of world-perception and world-experience, which organizes the inner emotional and neurotic space of a person through a system of coherent, logically and pragmatically balanced inner visual-verbal macro- and microcosms. They reflect the most sensitive themes of ‘self-conception,’ and in a broader sense they reflect a system of views on the world, social life, its past and future, on morality, science, art, healthy lifestyle, human beings, life meanings [6]. Of particular relevance is the study of neuroticization in long-living persons before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The study used Wasserman’s method of determining the level of neuroticism, which is of the ‘pencil-and-paper’ type and assumes both group and individual use in the form of a questionnaire survey. Respondents from 197 long-livers who live in Ivano-Frankivsk region and who were part of the study group in previous trials were analyzed [7]. The questions to determine the level of neuroticization are indicative only. The questionnaire consists of 40 questions, which must be answered by agreeing or disagreeing with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Positive responses were counted during data processing. When the score is higher, the higher the level of neuroticization is. The levels were interpreted as follows: a high level of neuroticization was considered to be present if the surveyed person provided an affirmative reply to 20 or more of the suggested questions. An intermediate level of neuroticization is detected when the respondent provides an affirmative answer to 10 to 19 questions in the test. A low level of neuroticization was recorded when there were 9 or fewer positive responses to the questionnaire. The survey was conducted twice: first in March- April 2018 and in January-March 2021 for a second time. Persons who underwent an examination in 2018 and did not live to see the 2021 study were eliminated from the statistical analysis. The results of the study may be exemplified in Table 1.

Table 1: Level of neuroticization of long-living persons in Prykarpattia.

According to the data obtained, the level of individuals with a high level of neuroticism increased by 5.13 times over the period under study. At a high level of neuroticization, there is pronounced hyper emotivity, producing various negative experiences (anxiety, tension, worry, confusion, irritability and the like) and manifesting in discordance of ‘visibility’ and ‘verbality’, displaying various forms of illogical alignment of visual and verbal semantics, which do not contribute to objective self-identification. We also observe an increase of 8.12% in the number of people with an intermediate level of neuroticism and a decrease in the number of long-living persons with a low level among those surveyed.
The processing of the questionnaire results revealed that the ‘panic viruses and the psycho-emotional resonances formed under its influence generate more prerequisites for neuroticization than for overcoming the coronavirus infection. Therefore, in addition to maintaining physical health, it is essential to take care of your mental status, its iconic-conventional ordering, a wholesome coherence of visual and verbal self-interpretation of the problem. Those who have fallen under the influence of ‘infodemia’ and constantly scan the media outlets for different visual and verbal indications of COVID-19 symptoms, ‘try them on,’ need to closely adhere to the rules of personal ‘emotional-verbal’ hygiene and of course physical distancing, assess the real risks and case scenario.

Using Ludwig Wasserman’s neuroticization methodology, the number of long-living persons with high and intermediate levels of neuroticization was found to increase by 5.13 times in 2021 compared to 2018 and 1.18 times in 2018, according to a pre-pandemic questionnaire. The prospect for further research is to examine the level of neuroticism in the study subjects after vaccination.

1. Christensen K, Vaupel JW (1996) Determinants of longevity: genetic, environmental and medical factors. J Intern Med 240(6): 333-341.
2. Kitsera N, Kozovyi R, Kovalchuk L, Kozan N, Han R, et al. (2020) The importance of socio-psychological factors and lifestyle in shaping health and life expectancy among long livers from pre-Carpathian region (West Ukraine). EC Pediatrics 9(5): 41-47.
3. Samton J (2021) The number one diet recommended by Harvard and Hollywood. Science has shown that this diet improves your waistline while lengthening your life.
4. Samton JB, Ferrando SJ, Sanelli P, Karimi S, Raiteri V, et al. (2005) The clock drawing test: diagnostic, functional, and neuroimaging correlates in older medically ill adults. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 17(4): 533-540.
5. Kozovyi RV, Podolska SV, Gorovenko NG (2014) The frequency of alleles in the GSTT1 and GSTM1 genes involved in phase II of xenobiotic transformation in long-lived people of subcarpathia. Adv Gerontol 4: 123-127.
6. Martin LG, Schoeni RF, Andreski PM (2010) Trends in health of older adults in the United States: past, present, future. Demography 47(Suppl 1): 17-40.
7. Wasserman LI, Shchelkova OY (2003) Medicinskaya psihodiagnostika. Teoriya, praktika i obuchenie. Academia, Moskva, Russia.