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THE IMPACT OF A COMBATANT'S SOCIAL AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS ON COMBAT STRESS EXPERIENCES

THE IMPACT OF A COMBATANT'S SOCIAL AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS ON COMBAT STRESS EXPERIENCES

ISSN 2223-6775 Ukrainian journal of occupational health Vol.21, No 4, 2025

https://doi.org/10.33573/ujoh2025.04.309

THE IMPACT OF A COMBATANT'S SOCIAL AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS ON COMBAT STRESS EXPERIENCES

Hryn K.V.

Poltava State Medical University, Poltava, Ukraine

Full article (PDF), UKR

Introduction. Military operations are characterized by extreme tension, rapidity, and high intensity of stressors, causing exhaustion of the psychological and functional resources of combatants. A large number of combatants have symptoms of combat psychological trauma, but various factors, such as the intensity of combat events, the inability to obtain psychological and medical assistance, etc., prevent them from seeking specialized medical help, which deepens the psychological trauma and brings it to a clinical level.

The aim of the research was to examine the impact of a combatant's social and employment status prior to entering military service on their experience of combat stress conditions.

Materials and methods of the research. The study involved 310 male combatants and military personnel aged 19 to 59 with stress-related disorders that debuted during military service, namely adjustment disorders (F 43.2 according to ICD-10). Group I included 134 participants with adjustment disorders, and group II included 176 participants with adjustment disorders and physical combat injuries (mild closed head injury due to mine-blast trauma and gunshot or shrapnel wounds). Combat injuries were mandatorily recorded in the patient's medical records and included in the inpatient's medical chart. Research methods: clinical-anamnesis, clinical-psychopathological, psychodiagnostic, neuropsychological, statistical.

Results. The structure of military experience differs significantly between patients with mental and physical trauma. In the group with mental trauma, there are significantly more people with military experience, especially more than 5 years, which indicates the presence of mental fatigue, exhaustion of resources, and a significant decrease in stress resistance in people who have been fighting for a long time. In the group with adjustment disorders and physical trauma, patients without military experience predominate (81.8%), which is a prerequisite for the unpreparedness of mobilized individuals for military service duties and excessive physical and emotional stress that they have not previously experienced. Conclusions. The absence of combat experience among the majority of combatants in the study was a driving force for the development of psychopathological symptoms, since military action is a powerful and excessive stressor for the psyche, physical overexertion and trauma disrupt activity and deplete the body's resources. Military experience is an important predictor of the risk of psychoemotional disorders in patients with adjustment disorders who have been forced to change their sphere of social and professional activity.

Keywords: social status, military operations, combat stress, adjustment disorders, combat trauma, combatants, anxiety, depression, mental and physical trauma.

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