“Wars are also won in people’s heads”: New Czech report highlights impact of war in Ukraine on mental health
An in-depth report on the impacts of the ongoing war in Ukraine on the mental health of soldiers and civilians has been published by three Czech researchers. One of the team, the journalist, photographer and researcher Jiří Pasz, spoke to Danny Bate about the reasons behind the study and its findings.
Your report focuses on the effects of the war in Ukraine on mental health. What are the effects that a war can have?
“Some of the effects will be nothing new. They are the logical effects of every war, but we are learning more and more about them. These are post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorders, substance use and addiction, and psychosomatic symptoms.
“We have been hearing quite a lot in Ukraine, and I believe there are statistics from the Health Ministry as well, proving that war-related stress is manifesting physically. This means chronic pain, headaches, digestive issues, fatigue, and people are dying more from heart attacks and things like that. So, psychosomatic symptoms should not be underestimated. Of course, unfortunately, one of the effects is suicidal ideations and behaviour, which results in death as well.
“One of the things that should be discussed much more is transgenerational trauma, when war trauma is passed down to future generations. This we have seen in other wars in the past, and it will undoubtedly happen on a massive scale in this war as well. So, for example, children of war survivors can experience like increased anxiety, emotional sensitivity, or things like hypervigilance, even if they have never experienced war themselves. The prevention of transgenerational trauma is extremely important, and will be in Ukraine.”
Your study is entitled ‘Invisible Wounds, the Mental Health Crisis in Ukraine Through the Eyes of Local Experts’. How did you go about conducting this study? Who did you work with?
“First of all, when I went to Ukraine in 2023 and I wanted to learn more about mental health, I couldn't find any big relevant study that would provide me with an oversight. So I started thinking about providing it myself. We wanted to combine qualitative and quantitative data, so we were going through a lot of studies. But the most important thing that this study brings is the voice of Ukrainians themselves.
“A priority was the interviews with psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists who we could meet and talk with about the challenges they're facing, not only with their clients or patients, but with themselves as well. We also found people who lead initiatives or come up with projects, volunteers that work in the field of mental health. We found incredible creativity and fantastic projects, which might be small in scale, but are really important in Ukraine.
“We have also been talking to people who went through some kind of mental health issues, but were helped. So there’s a bit of recovery and hope in the stories that we wanted to gather together. In the end, we did ninety-one interviews in Ukraine. Most of them were from thirty minutes to three hours, so it's quite an in-depth study.
And does your report conclude with any recommendations, any changes that you would suggest? Is there, for example, enough support in your view from official structures and organisations?
“My personal view is – and I think our report proves this as well through the voices of Ukrainians themselves – is that there is not enough support.
“Of course, mental health in war is not a complete priority, since the war itself is draining most of the resources through combat and the conflict zones. But we were all trying to prove that wars are not won only on the battlefield; they're also won in people’s heads, through their will to continue fighting. If you have this scale of a mental-health crisis, you can't win the war. So, we are trying to prove that more investment is needed to support mental health in Ukraine.
“One of the things that we're trying to say is that Ukrainians, after three years, have a lot of experience. They have been through a lot of things. We should always adapt the interventions to Ukraine and the Ukrainian experience. We should listen to the voices from Ukraine very carefully – what they need and how they need it, before we can start going there and telling them, ‘this is how you should do it’.”
