Prevention of the Development of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in People who have experienced an Armed Conflict in the East of Ukraine

Abstract

Armed confrontation in the South-East of Ukraine, considerable impoverishment of the population, the lack of a comprehensive national policy in the interests of citizens – these and many other factors led to the development of the management experiences of the individual, that cause the intellectual, spiritual, emotional and physical tension man. Today, almost two million Ukrainians are forced to leave their homes, fundamentally change their life structure and search for new housing, thousands in recent years, died in a result of armed conflict, and hundreds of them officially recognized missing. Psychological assistance is necessary for all civil and military people who went through or were affected by the war. The large-scale traumatic experience is new and atypical of the modern and independent Ukraine. The majority of participants of antiterroristic operation (ATO) come back suffering from acute stress disorder. Yet, they lack skills and knowledge of how to deal with the psychological state and feelings they are experiencing. It is important to emphasize the fact that this phenomenon has impact not only on the combatants, but also on their close surrounding – family, friends, acquaintances, who often don’t know how to behave and react. The most vulnerable category is children who have not yet formed the compensatory mechanisms, for they can adopt the symptoms from their close surrounding – parents or other relatives. Functional complaints, sleep disorder and disadaptation, posttraumatic stress disorder are common reactions of mind to stressful or lifethreatening situations. Not all of this, could but affect both at the level of public consciousness, and on an individual system of social attitudes and value orientations of the individual, i.e. on the viability of the individual. Any crisis is individual phenomenon, as the definition of its complexity is determined by the same individual, depending on its perception, assessment and interpretation, subjective significance of this situation. That is why, it is essential to provide efficient and timely help to the families that suffer from such disorder.