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This article reveals the features of externality-internality in the context of experiencing a high-intensity stressor making a diagnosis that is associated with a threat to life. Part of the results of a comprehensive research project aimed at studying people diagnosed with meningioma (n = 64, from 30 to 70 years of age, Me = 54) is presented. All respondents signed an informed consent form before starting the study. Methods: Freiburg Personality Inventory, World Assumptions Scale, Impact of Event Scale. We used median analysis, K-means method, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U test (p < 0.05). The results show that in a difficult life situation associated with the diagnosis of meningioma, people with an external orientation, sociable and socially courageous, have low rates of posttraumatic stress and are characterised by a high degree of self-regulation, control, positive self-acceptance and a focus on justice, which is not typical for people who are shy, unsociable, and prone to an internal orientation. Ambivalent style, which includes different communication strategies, is typical for people with moderate rates of psychotraumatisation, lower self-regulation and self-rejection.

This article presents the results of theoretical and empirical study of the psychological problems, which are arisen on the influence of high-intensity stressors on a personality. The post-traumatic stress, as a delayed complex response to a stress- or – a life-threatening disease, is considered as one of such consequences. On a sample of people (n = 39) diagnosed with meningioma (a benign tumor of the arachnoid mater), in the post-surgical period, a comprehensive psychological study was conducted using the interviewing and testing methods. The authors verified the hypothesis of a special configuration of personality characteristics and psychopathological symptoms at different levels of post-traumatic stress (PTS), caused by the reaction of the individual to the diagnosis of meningioma. The investigation demonstrates that at the high level of PTS such personality traits as depression, emotional lability, shyness and irritability are diagnosed, that are the most likely prerequisites for the development of psychopathological symptoms – depression, anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism. It is concluded that the severe experience of post-traumatic stress, caused by the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, systematically manifests itself at all levels of the individual functioning – organismal, psychological and social.