Overcoming The Psychological Consequences of The War In Ukraine: Ensuring Security For Europe

Abstract

The war led to several mental disorders, especially post-traumatic stress disorder. It is known from world experience that if PTSD is not overcome in time, then over time (in 3-7 years) there is a sharp increase in deviations in society, manifested by high aggression, suicide, addictions and other forms of undesirable behaviour.

In addition, as the practice of providing medical and psychological assistance shows, the institutions of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and other professional institutions cannot fully cope with this.

However, now, thanks to digital technologies and modern neurotechnology, it is possible to overcome this acute social problem and reduce the level of disability due to mental and behavioural disorders.

In a study organized by the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine "Ukrainian in the world: a socio-behavioral and clinical-psychological study of internally displaced persons and migrants", which was conducted on a sample of displaced persons from Ukraine to Austria, Hungary, Georgia, Italy, UAE, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic the following was established.

19.2% of respondents report that their relatives and family members have experienced complete, and 19.5% have experienced partial destruction of housing and property. In 27.6% of Ukrainian migrants, people from close circle experienced disability, bodily injuries, physical injuries as a result of hostilities.

37.0 Ukrainian migrants have new somatic (physical) symptoms, but they do not significantly affect life and well-being. In 16.4% of respondents, the manifestation of this symptom is strong; 11.2% - feel exhausted and disorganized due to the appearance of new somatic symptoms.

In 38.4% of Ukrainian migrants, old somatic (physical) symptoms intensified, but they do not significantly affect life and well-being. At the same time, in 12.3%, the manifestation of this symptom is strong and 5.7% of the respondents feel exhausted and disorganized due to the intensification of somatic symptoms.

It should be noted that 26.0% of Ukrainian migrants developed problems related to mental health, while in 17.8% of respondents the manifestation of this symptom is strong.

Assessing the everyday difficulties faced by Ukrainian migrants, it was found that there are restless thoughts about the future.23.3% have certain signs of anxiety about the future, but they do not significantly affect life and well-being; in 47.9%, the manifestation of anxiety is strong; 12.3% feel exhausted and disorganized when considering the prospect of a future life.

With regard to the feeling of belonging to one's ethnic group, it was found that 23.3% of the respondents had this feeling "for the first time" due to involuntary resettlement; in 41.1% - the manifestation of a sense of belonging to their ethnic group is strong; 2.7% feel powerless and disorganized due to their ethnicity.

The mental health of Ukrainian youth is a pressing social and clinical problem. Our pilot study (March 24-27, 2022) on a sample of 54 students from Kyiv aged 18-20 years shows that 72.2% of them were in the active zone of hostilities, and 16.7% of respondents are at the epicentre of hostilities in moment of research. For 20.4% of respondents, this is a repeated experience. Among the surveyed, 37.0% experienced the destruction of housing and property, and in 65.8% of the surveyed relatives also suffered the destruction of housing. In 57.4% of the respondents, people from the immediate environment suffered disability, bodily injuries, and physical injuries because of hostilities. In 28.0% of respondents, family members were forced to leave Ukraine. 61.2% of the subjects had new somatic symptoms and complaints, 55.6% had old syndromes, and 59.2% had symptoms and complaints related to mental health. This highlights the need for clinical and differential analysis of mental and physical health of student youth to develop models of crisis psychological intervention in wartime, the circumstances of which complicate the organization of psychological assistance to young people.

Keywords: Russian war in Ukraine, neuropsychology, monitoring, diagnostics, closed-loop psychotherapy program, displaced persons and migrants, somatic (physical) symptoms, mental health, feeling of belonging to one's ethnic group, psychological trauma,