ON THE PATH OF ESTABLISHING A UNIFIED SYSTEM OF PSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION OF VETERANS – COMBAT PARTICIPANTS IN UKRAINE

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
S. Safin
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Male Population ◽  
Normal Behavior ◽  
The Status ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military ◽  
Former Ussr

The issues of rehabilitating and restoring the psychics and the body of the military personnel initially after combat activitiesbecomes urgent practically directly after the hostilities have come to an end. Such an understanding of the issue of “psychologicaldisinfection” has not been instantly established. For a certain reason there’s no reflection with regard to the Soviet post-war period,the historic experience to a certain extent when the vast majority of the male population of the former USSR had the experience ofparticipating in the Second World war. It was those that have managed to return home alive, crippled by the traumatic combat stresshad to face this issue alone, for due to the overwhelming ideological input to the psychological science there was no one who hadboth interest and ability to identify this problem, without even the further discussion of solving it.At the beginning of October this year in Ukraine it has been officially announced to establish a system of rehabilitation for theveterans of combat activities. The initial matter at hand is psychological rehabilitation, and also the educational measures of socialcohesiveness. Its creation is facilitated and implemented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, The Ministry of Defense, the Ministry ofhealthcare and the Ministry of veterans of Ukraine. In accordance with recent data that have been published by the Ministry ofVeteran affairs, the status of a participant of combat activities has been granted to more than 460 000 individuals. The vast majorityof them need a complex and multilayer program of support. The introduction of the system of veterans of combat activities will grantthe opportunity for the veterans to return from war not only in terms of their body but also in terms of their mind.One of the most complex issues for Ukraine is the rehabilitation and readapting of combatants, plenty of whom happen to havethe post-traumatic stress syndrome. The basic concept used by professionals towards the war veterans suffering from PTRS beforethe initial start of combat activities in the East of Ukraine was that it has been necessary to distract their attention from thetraumatizing events that have caused PTRS, and by doing so assisting them to be normal, to adapt its way of behavior to thegenerally accepted norms. The practically comes down to the following that an individual who has received a psychological traumais obliged to modify its behavior in such a way not to be differentiated from the overwhelming mass of citizens, that as a majorityadhere to similar views in terms of what type of behavior is socially accepted and which is not. However, this sort of adaptation isunlikely to be useful to an individual who has been under extreme circumstances for a long period of time to regain inner solace andthe joy of life. This kind of approach could deceive the veteran that in order to heal he is obliged to modify his behavior in order tobecome like “everybody else” and thus to stop act, think and feel in an original manner. The vast majority of combatants that aretrying to adapt, and force themselves to “normal” behavior, experience the main difficulties due to the fact that there are offered ascure simply to erase the past, and thus to get rid not only of the ugly repulsive phantoms of war but also the lessons of nobility,honor and heroism. This is a path which does not lead to an integral personality, for it suggests to cure the implications of a deceaseand not its cause and therefore the aim and purpose of such a “treatment” is for the most part not the psychological health, butrather the psych prophylaxis of delinquent behavior. Therefore, the mentioned approach cannot lead to full fledge healing of thecombatant.

scholarly journals Features of the manifestation of posttrummatic stress disorders of ato participants

HUMANITARIUM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Svitlana Herasina
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Sleep Disturbances ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Stress Disorders ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Delayed Reaction ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

The article represents theoretical substantiation of the problem of the impact connected with traumatic events related to the military conflict in the east of Ukraine, on the psycho-emotional state of the soldiers participating in the antiterrorist operation (ATO). There is analysis of modern scientific researches on the interdependence of combat stress with post-traumatic emotional frustration of fighters, causing: intrusive memories, flashbacks and sleep disturbances; avoidance, manifested in emotional distress, apathy, indifference, despair, depression; hyperactivation, which manifests itself in agitation, intense emotional and physiological excitement, and in unproductive psychomotorism. There is proving of the expediency of psychodiagnostic method «Mississippi Scale» (military option) in the study of symptom complexes: «intrusions» – emotional jostling; «Avoidance» – suppression of traumatic memories; «hypersensitivity» – hypertrophied psychophysiological reactions; feelings of guilt and shame and suicidal inclinations. There is empirical definition of psychological peculiarities of respondents with post-traumatic stress disorder as a kind of neurosis, manifested as a result of the simultaneous experience of several psychotraumatic events by a fighter. There is disclosure of PTSD as a delayed reaction of the individual to a stressful event of a threatening nature, which also caused chronic stress – distress. The psychopathological condition of fighters is revealed, which is caused by the necessity to perform responsible combat tasks under the conditions of extreme ATO factors. There is determination of destructive mental states that are developing in the military and in the period of adaptation to the usual conditions of life and service, after returning from the war that reduces the stress resistance and the process of social adaptation.There is description of stressful factors: high responsibility, danger, death of friends, injury, contusion, disability, long stay in the ATO, etc., which destructively affect the psychological health of the soldiers. The basic psychotherapeutic strategies of psychoanalysis of ATO participants are offered: updating of adaptive skills and renewal of own resources of «I»; formation of «positive attitude» to the symptom; reduction of avoidance, focus on the transformation of psychotraumatic experience; change in the attribution of the content of the traumatic situation and its consequences, the feeling of its own «control and authority over the psychotrauma».

Stress management: Corpus-based insights into vernacular interpretations of stress

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-93
Author(s):  
Laurel Smith Stvan
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
American English ◽  
Physical Symptom ◽  
The Body ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
The Past ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Semantic Shift

Examination of the term stress in naturally occurring vernacular prose provides evidence of three separate senses being conflated. A corpus analysis of 818 instances of stress from non-academic texts in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the Corpus of American Discourses on Health (CADOH) shows a negative prosody for stress, which is portrayed variously as a source outside the body, a physical symptom within the body and an emotional state. The data show that contemporary speakers intermingle the three senses, making more difficult a discussion between doctors and patients of ways to ‘reduce stress’, when stress might be interpreted as a stressor, a symptom, or state of anxiety. This conflation of senses reinforces the impression that stress is pervasive and increasing. In addition, a semantic shift is also refining a new sense for stress, as post-traumatic stress develops as a specific subtype of emotional stress whose use has increased in circulation in the past 20 years.

scholarly journals Prognostic factors of post-traumatic stress disorder risk in patients with surgical treatment of hip acetabular fracture. Original study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Truszczyńska-Baszak ◽  
Monika Guszkowska ◽  
Emilia Dadura ◽  
Adam Tarnowski
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Acetabular Fracture ◽  
Functional Disability ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Harris Hip Score ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic

AbstractThe aim of the study was to assess the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder in patients after hip acetabular fracture surgery. The study involved 42 patients fulfilling inclusion criteria. Physical ability levels of the patients were determined with the Harris Hip Score, and modified Merle d’Aubigné scale. High risk of post-traumatic stress disorder was assessed with the PTSD-C questionnaire. Patients had in PTSD-C questionnaire 42.86 ± 28,10 points. In Harris Hip Score 63.64 ± 16.06, in Merle scale 11.10 ± 2.82, that was poor results in both scales. Positive correlation with age reached the level of tendency (ρ = 0.294; p = 0.059). Patients at risk of PTSD were in worse functional state measured by HHS (U = 136.0; p = 0.034) and Merle scale (U = 132.0; p = 0.026) and they were older (U = 147.5; p = 0.068). The groups differed significantly in gender ratio (χ2 = 4.01; p = 0.045). Women (8/10) were more often than men (14/32) at risk of PTSD. Patients after surgical fixation of the acetabulum experience significant functional disability. Increased level of disability after fracture and surgery, older age and female sex make patients vulnerable to PTSD. It is advisable to make medical staff who treat accident victims aware towards aspects which may be related to disorders of the patients’ psychological health.

scholarly journals A Case Study of Meditation to Reduce Alcohol Use Disorder Symptomology in Veteran PTSD Comorbidity

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Cameron Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Drinking Problem ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Military Veteran ◽  
The Military

Background: Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol comorbidity is becoming a rising issue within the military veteran community highlighted by research indicating individuals diagnosed with PTSD are more likely to have a drinking problem [1]. The implementation of meditation as an alternative form of stress release was aimed at reducing PTSD symptomology and therefor reducing factors that lead to drinking.Methods: A single veteran was recruited to complete a two-week intervention. The participant completed a behavioural diary noting alcohol consumption and mood respectively. During the middle of the study, an interview was undertaken to determine reasons of alcohol consumption and potential reasons and motivations for the cessation of drinking.Results: A moderate correlation between using meditation as a tool to reduce alcohol consumption in veterans with PTSD however this was not significant. Conversely, meditation was able to reduce PTSD symptomology.Conclusions: These results indicate that an alternative to drinking can be implemented as a successful form of treatment. However, these findings are specific to this study and need to be amplified and reproduced to determine if it can be applied to the general population.

Falling Out of Performance: Pragmatic Breakdown in Veterans’ Storytelling

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristiana Willsey
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Combat Veterans ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Military Veterans ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
The Public ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
The Military ◽  
War Stories ◽  
Careful Management

Unfortunately, coming to terms with disability and trauma are all too familiar foes for American combat veterans, many of whom receive inadequate, delayed, or nonexistent treatment options upon returning home. We conclude this volume with chapter 10, “Falling Out of Performance: Pragmatic Breakdown in Veterans’ Storytelling,” in which Kristiana Willsey provides new insights into the ways in which U.S. military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan make meaning and process trauma through the sharing of narratives. She argues that naturalizing the labor of narrative—by assuming stories are inherently transformative, redemptive, or unifying—obscures the responsibilities of the audience as co-authors, putting the burden on veterans to both share their experiences of war, and simultaneously scaffold those experiences for an American public that (with the ongoing privatization of the military and the ever-shifting fronts of global warfare) is increasingly alienated from its military. Importantly, Willsey asserts that the public exhortations in which veterans tell their stories in an effort to cultivate a kind of cultural catharsis can put them in an impossible position: urged to tell their war stories; necessitating the careful management of those stories for audiences uniquely historically disassociated from their wars; and then conflating the visible management of those stories with the “spoiled identity” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

War-Worn Subjects

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-130
Author(s):  
Sara Rushing
Keyword(s):  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Wounded Warriors ◽  
A Site ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Military

This chapter explores how humility and autonomy come into play for “wounded warriors” seeking post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment and for the medical professionals treating them within the particular constraints of the military-medical complex. Analyzing military PTSD illustrates how deeply entangled disease construction, diagnosis, and “cure” are with the complex discourse of “choice and control,” or with medicalization under the pressures of neoliberal rationality. Like with birth and death, but perhaps even more so, veteran PTSD as taken up within the Veterans Health Administration is a site of subjection and potential contestation from which we can learn much about the production of citizen-subjectivity in moments of distinct corporeal and psychic vulnerability. This chapter examines how militarism and masculinity conspire with inadequate conceptions of patient (and doctor) humility and autonomy, to produce an assumption of and fatalism about whether “wounded warriors” can be “fixed.”

The Role of Glucocorticoids in the (Mal)adaptive Response to Traumatic Experience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hagit Cohen ◽  
Joseph Zohar
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Basic Facts

Glucocorticoids (GCs) play a major role in orchestrating the complex physiological and behavioral reactions essential for the maintenance of homeostasis. These compounds enable the organism to prepare for, respond to, and cope with the acute demands of physical and emotional stressors and enable a faster recovery with passage of the threat. A timely and an appropriate GC release commensurate with stressor severity enables the body to properly contain stress responses so as to promote recovery by rapidly restoring homeostasis. Inadequate GC release following stress not only delays recovery by disrupting biological homeostasis but can also interfere with the processing or interpretation of stressful information that results in long-term disruptions in memory integration. A salient example of such an impaired post-traumatic process is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings from recent animal models and translational and clinical neuroendocrine studies summarized in this chapter provide insights shedding light on the apparently contradictory studies of the HPA-axis response to stress. Also included is a review of the basic facts about PTSD and biological data.

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