ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL READINESS OF PERSONALITY IN ADAPTATION TO EXTREMAL LIVING CONDITIONS

The article deals with the peculiarities of psychological types of winterers and the role of psychological readiness in the process of adaptation to extreme living conditions. The urgency of the research is due to the fact that Ukraine is one of the 29 countries of the world with the status of the Consultative Party to the Antarctic Treaty, and for 22 years it has been sending its scientists to investigate the White Continent to the Ukrainian Antarctic station “Academician Ver-nadsky”. The wintering of Ukrainian polar explorers in areas approved by the State Program (Earth Sciences, Life Sci-ences, Physical Sciences) is associated with prolonged stay in a limited area that requires adaptation to social isolation, sensory and psychological deprivation in the wintering. In addition, the adaptation of winterers takes place in harsh environment, and largely depends on the readiness of expedition members to perform their professional duties in ex-treme conditions. The article presents the author's method of determining personality types, as well as empirical results on the adaptation indices for winterers of different types during the previous four winter months. Comparison of the results of the survey before and after the expedition revealed the changes in the psychological characteristics of indi-viduals and psychophysiological indicators. On the other hand, after an expedition, some winterers, who during their stay in Antarctica had psycho-emotional problems, revealed typical psychological and psycho-physiological changes, although the most marked manifestations of psychophysiological status were found in Antarctica. Such results allowed to define new criteria of psycho-physiological and psychological prediction, and also confirmed the need for the use of psychological training of Antarctic wintering people.