Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The current military events in Ukraine have brought to light the problem of psychological trauma as one of the key factors affecting the mental health of military personnel and civilians. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occupies a special place among the consequences of military trauma. It develops as a delayed reaction to extreme events that exceed an individual’s adaptive capabilities and are accompanied by threats to life, loss, helplessness, and the destruction of basic notions of security and stability in the world. In the context of protracted armed conflict, PTSD takes on not only an individual dimension but also a social one, affecting the processes of social adaptation, professional functioning, and interpersonal relationships. The purpose of the study is to theoretically substantiate and analyze the psychological trauma experienced by military personnel in combat conditions, as well as to determine the possibilities and specifics of applying coaching methods as resource-oriented tools for psychosocial support and recovery within the framework of comprehensive psychological assistance. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the psychological consequences of military action for military personnel, in particular manifestations of PTSD, in the context of the current socio-political situation in Ukraine. It is emphasized that PTSD is not exclusively a reaction to direct participation in combat operations, but can develop in response to any traumatic experience that exceeds an individual’s tolerance for stress. In this context, the article reveals the peculiarities of traumatic stress experienced by different social groups: military personnel, their family members, and civilians who have suffered occupation, forced displacement, loss of housing, loss of loved ones, or who have been in conditions of constant threat to their lives. The specific factors of traumatization inherent in modern warfare are analysed, in particular the hybrid nature of armed conflict, the chronicity and repetitiveness of threats, constant information pressure through the media, the disruption of social roles, and the destruction of established value orientations. It is shown that PTSD in military personnel often manifests itself in difficulties in adapting to peaceful life, loss of meaning, a crisis of role identity, and internal conflict between combat experience and the demands of the civilian environment. The civilian population is dominated by anxiety and dissociative reactions, sleep disturbances, social isolation, and a feeling of uncontrollability of the future. Research methods include theoretical analysis and generalization of scientific sources on psychological trauma, PTSD, stress, and coaching psychology, comparative analysis of approaches to psychosocial support for people with traumatic experiences, as well as interdisciplinary synthesis of psychological and coaching concepts in the context of rehabilitation and adaptation. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of coaching as a non-medical, client-centred approach aimed at mobilizing internal resources of the personality, developing awareness, self-regulation, and responsibility for one’s own recovery process. It is argued that coaching techniques, in particular goal setting, working with values, forming action strategies, and expanding the zone of personal influence, can contribute to increasing emotional stability, reducing anxiety, and strengthening adaptive skills in military personnel during their return to peaceful life. At the same time, the limits of the coach’s professional responsibility and the inadmissibility of replacing psychotherapeutic or clinical care with coaching interventions in cases of acute or severe manifestations of PTSD are emphasized. Conclusions. It has been proven that coaching strategies should be considered not as an alternative to psychotherapy, but as an additional, resource-oriented component in the structure of comprehensive programs for the psychological rehabilitation and socio-psychological adaptation of military personnel with PTSD. The integration of coaching support in the form of training modules, individual support sessions, and mutual aid groups can increase the effectiveness of traditional rehabilitation programs by activating the subjective position of the military personnel, developing their personal resources, and forming constructive coping strategies. The results obtained open up prospects for further scientific research and practical developments in the field of trauma-informed coaching in the system of psychological assistance to military personnel.
Author: Serhii Dubinskyi
Institution: Alfred Nobel University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7131292012