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In the end of 2013, Roman Lishchuk started working with physically and mentally injured participants of the Maidan; since 2014 he conducted pre-combat psychological training at training grounds in the crisis psychological service. Since 2015 he works as a private psychotherapist with veterans and soldiers who come on rotation and also with wives of the servicemen.
As we know, the military units in Israel and other countries have the position of a military psychologist who assesses the mental state of the soldiers before and after each task. Does the Ukrainian army have anything similar? What are the countries from which experience we can learn?
In the NATO forces, before being sent on a mission, fighters undergo a six-month adjustment consisting of three parts: pre-combat psychological training, where there is «stress vaccination» on dummies, as close as possible to situations with blood, tolerating reality, and then – pre-medical training and tactical combat shooting. When the fighters have gone through all these stages, the probability is high that their stress level will be lower or at least not disastrous.
A similar program operates in America and Israel, where going through several stages of decompression is mandatory. The unit returns in full force, lives among its fellows, going through the stages of recovery, traumatization and pacification. Only after that, they look at his indicators and determine the level and depth of the need for help. Therefore, the military smoothly and gradually transitions to civilian life.
In Ukraine, the active part of the second phase of the war has been going on for more than a year, so our fighters are also being trained at many stages. Currently, approximately 50% of the soldiers in the Armed Forces are those who have already smelled gunpowder. That is, they have fought. In 2014, the army consisted more of civilians, now they are specialists.
Our military units have military psychologists who help soldiers recover from trauma. After returning, they undergo testing to determine the state of stress, and all the information is sent to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, where specialists determine what the military needs: a hospital, a sanatorium, whether everything is fine with him and whether he can return to work. Psychologists also work in hospitals where the wounded lie.
I think we should work like in the NATO forces, that is, have «stress vaccination».
Are we already moving toward this? And by what steps?
By the big ones. We are opening rehabilitation centres and mental health centres, there are a number of public and volunteer organizations that provide psychological assistance and organize psychological and recreational camps.
This system is already being developed and worked through, there are a large number of highly qualified specialists, known in the world, who come to us, conduct author’s courses, and help specialists improve.
Currently, we in Ukraine either heroize and glorify the soldiers as long as they perform the function of protecting our state, or we mention them infrequently and attach certain labels when they cease to perform this function. Why does it happen this way?
Society is what it is. Before the war, the military was devalued and seen more as a way to retire with a decent amount of money. Not all fighters should be at «zero» [the vanguard]. There should be several lines of defense, and when the first expires, the second one takes over; when it’s no longer able to fight – the third one takes over, and so on. If you already glorify people, then it is correct. Arestovych [Oleksii Arestovych, a former advisor to the President of Ukraine who performed the function of «calming down» the society during the full-scale war – Ed.] worked well for a month and was no longer needed. But it was a technology that allowed people to somehow calm down.
Does Ukraine have enough psychologists and psychotherapists who will work with people? What number of Ukrainians will need their help?
We have enough specialists, but not all of them are willing or able to work with the psychological trauma of military personnel and civilians who have experienced the consequences of war. A priori, psychotherapists work with human grief, but working with specific grief, patients who are angry with themselves, with the country and with the war, is not easy at all.
Post-traumatic stress disorders [PTSD] or stress disorders are specific. Here we use various methods of help – behavioural psychotherapy, EMDR therapy, recreation in the mountains, etc.
Fighters often come to see a psychologist. Do they easily get in touch with him?
The first thought of the soldiers is what can a psychologist know about war? Where is he, and where am I? But it isn’t like that. If you find points of contact, you can achieve a good result.
Military personnel often consult a psychologist and seek help. Another question is how much they trust him and whether they are ready to talk. Whether the conversation will be successful can be understood within 30 seconds of its beginning.
Usually, the veteran is looking for help, and the system should logically go to the veteran. In 2014, when I first came to a military hospital, I worked with a soldier who suffered from PTSD. He immediately refused to communicate, and the second time we didn’t manage to talk either. I already despaired but decided to manipulate: I took out my phone and started consulting with him about what help I could give to the military as a volunteer. At that moment, the person immediately turned on. That is why the military very often needs help provided on the level of their conversations.
I often say to the patients I work with: «I’m a dustbin where you can throw whatever is on your mind. What I will do next with all this is another question. I studied for it.»
We are spiritual mentors who will not just listen, but also simulate the situation, finding proactive answers to questions that have troubled a person for a long time. For example, common ones are: «Did I do well to go to war while my wife and three children remained at home?», «What will happen when I die?» or «I must go to war again because I cannot leave my comrades.» Such questions torment a person terribly, so it is necessary to help him solve them.
Currently, there is a full-time position of military chaplain in the Ukrainian army. What are the similarities and differences between the work of a psychologist and a priest in wartime?
They are close. In many units, chaplains were initially devalued, they were told that [soldiers] had nothing to discuss with them. Now, chaplains take courses where they are taught trauma therapy, stress resistance, and they can act as psychologists or psychotherapists.
The chaplain represents faith, and faith is one of our «brothers»: the boys believe in God as a higher power that provides some help.
How do you advise communicating with the military in civilian life, so as not to offend, not to hurt, not to put in an awkward position?
You need to communicate normally, without pathos, without humiliating either yourself or them. We are not guilty of anything to each other, although many of us have this feeling of guilt. Soldiers feel that they did not do enough to win the war, and civilians – that they did not do enough in the rear.
When starting a conversation, you should at least ask the fighter if he wants to talk. But in reality, ordinary people on the street are not in a hurry to touch or stop the warriors, offering them to talk. Rather, they pass by. As for aggression, the fighter must have at least a severe injury or damage, so that he responded to a question or an offer to talk with a violent reaction. These are rare cases.
What one can ask and what he should not ask the fighter? Is the question «did you kill» appropriate?
No, you can’t ask that. This is taboo. Even experienced psychologists don’t ask about it. Think for yourself: if he did not kill but was on the front lines for several months, then is he not a warrior or a hero?
You can often hear that «a person went to war, but later returned a completely different one.» Does it happen and why?
As Erich Maria Remarque wrote, «only the dead could truly judge what war is: only they alone knew everything to the end.»
Let’s simulate the situation. A bartender was mobilized for the war. The person worked for a long time with a large number of people, his tongue was hanging out, the customers who came for the shift were having fun all the time. And suddenly he found himself in danger – under threat of life and health, under constant shelling, among frequent injuries. He saw the death of others, executions, dead bodies of friends, capture, rape, torture, abuse, and, being a humanist, he himself killed... Here is the answer.
It happens that military personnel who were treated in hospitals or stayed at home for a certain time still want to return to the war – to the place where danger lurks.
In war, everything is simple and clear: here are ours, there are strangers; we shoot – they hide, they shoot – we hide. In everyday life, everything is much more complicated, because you have to negotiate or apologize. Therefore, they have a longing for relations in a war mode.
A soldier who was in the war sees «black and white» – truth and falsehood. If everything is quiet and calm, if he controls the situation – then it is «white». If, for example, someone in the queue pushed or insulted him, then there is a need to fight back.
Fighters can be exposed to any psychological trauma. A classic example is a military man arriving on short leave or during rotation. He was taken off the battlefield four days ago, and he still shivers at the sound of a passing tram. His peers sit and drink beer... In the military, the sense of what is right and what is wrong often disappears. And in order to survive, they work on instinct, intuition, and thanks to training and endurance, they have developed quick reactions.
The action of all organs and senses in fighters is intensified, like in animals, and the ability to feel and demonstrate emotions is dulled. In particular, a fighter can no longer simply hug someone, or cannot say a gentle word to his wife or child. And this becomes his enemy in civilian life. Yes, the man suffers because of that paradox, but he cannot do anything about it. Then he dives into himself, considering himself «not normal» and refuses to go to the psychologist.
What are military personnel afraid to talk about or don’t want to do when they are on leave or on rotation? What are the most common difficulties in adapting to a peaceful life?
Civil life often seems unbearable to them. They feel that they must be where their fellows are in danger. It would be good if, during the war, the entire unit returned to rotation and underwent decompression. But this is impossible.
How to adapt soldiers after returning from the front to peaceful life and how long can this process last?
Recovering the psyche is not as easy as adapting after a physical injury. Let’s imagine that a person breaks his little finger. In order for everything to grow well, you need to fix it for a month, then develop it little by little, and then it will start working normally. It’s the same with emotional injuries – adaptation and treatment take time.
I think most of the war veterans who return home will be able to stabilize within a year, but we need to help them with this. 90% of men who have survived a traumatic event will return to normality within a year. As for women, statistics show that 80% of them will return to normal within a year. At the same time, there will be 10-20% of people who will have severe symptoms and will need medical, psychotherapeutic, psychological and social assistance.
What about men who are not ready to go to the front?
Prepare. Again, it is worth signing up for courses in tactical medicine and psychological training. It may not be necessary, but a person will be able to defend himself and resist.
Not only military, but also civilians, volunteers burn out too, right? How to prevent this?
Yes, medics or those who are volunteers, some since 2014, can burn out. This will turn into depressive disorders, various abuses, and problems in families. People often think that they are supposedly doing good things, but still feel like fools. At the same time, there are people who donate 100 hryvnias to the Armed Forces once a month or a year and think that they have contributed a lot.
It is very difficult to live in harmony with your conscience: it will «catch up» with those who have gone abroad, hide, manipulate, and abuse power. For example, being in crime, living as a criminal, under security all your life, being afraid of death – it all is not so simple. The same is here.
People should allow themselves to rest and not drive themselves into a corner thinking «I’m not doing enough.» We are like batteries: when charged, we glow green. And when we are «green», we can share our professional knowledge, love someone, take care of someone, and look after others. But simultaneously, there should be an exchange of resources and recharging. There are a lot of resource actions: for some, it is lying on the sofa, for others – smoking, riding a bicycle or planting flowers. When a person works all the time and does not rest, he is exhausted to the point of «yellowness», and can become «red». That’s when burnout occurs, all kinds of diseases take hold, stress arises.
One of the first symptoms when a person «takes off from the coils» is sleep disorders, insomnia, which leads to depression. Half a year ago, I also thought that I had to work 24/7. And now, I go to or from work and try to drink coffee on the way and sit on a park bench. Sometimes it is so resourceful as if he rested for a week in the Maldives.
Every day, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine submits numbers of enemy military losses. The first column is about real people. And when I see a photo of the killed Rashists, it makes me happy. Is this a normal reaction?
Yes, it’s normal. There is even a telegram channel «Zashkvary Rusni», a page with undisguised data, videos and photos without retouching. It’s surprising, but people «got it».
A little more than 400 days ago, there was also the question of capturing Kyiv in three days, but a phenomenon happened.
Olha Shveda spoke
Translated by Vitalii Holich
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