Unfortunately, war leaves an irreparable mark on the psyche of every person. Find out more about how and why Ukrainians continue to persevere despite the constant threat of russia's armed aggression

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The psychological state of Ukrainians in the second year of the war is a real phenomenon. After all, despite the constant exposure to harsh, super-extreme conditions, the results of the Gradus Research study have shown that the overall picture of the psycho-emotional state of citizens is not panic or even alarming.

Thus, 41% of respondents (including Ukrainians aged 18 to 60) rated their mental health on a scale of 1 to 10, with 8-10 points, where:

• 1 was assessed as "I have a lot of problems with my mental health";
• 10 - "I have no problems with my psychological health at all".

So how do we explain this? According to all the laws of logic, constant psycho-emotional stress over such a long period of time should have completely destroyed the picture of the world and the course of life. Let's figure it out together.

Why do Ukrainians remain psychologically resilient despite all the stressful factors?

To explain this, we need to know what preceded these events and how citizens assessed their lives. To do this, we need to compare the results of two surveys, one conducted before the full-scale invasion and the other after.

How Ukrainian citizens felt before the war

According to the data published by Gradus Research:

• 77.1% and 75.6% of Ukrainians surveyed before the full-scale invasion assessed their lives as troubled and unstable, respectively;
• 50% of respondents identified the direction in which our country is developing as wrong, and another 48.2% - unwise;
• statistics on moral satisfaction with their lives were disappointing: 50.9% of respondents rated it as unworthy, and only 18.2% as worthy;
• also, the negative estimates in the question of emotional perception of life were significantly higher: 58.5% and 50.2% defined it as sad and unhappy, respectively.

Having evaluated these data, we can see that even before the full-scale invasion, the level of satisfaction with their lives was extremely low among Ukrainians. This was largely due to two factors:

1. Prolonged uncertainty provoked by the events of 2014. Public sentiment in different regions of Ukraine differed significantly, and the hybrid war in the east of the country had a permanent impact on citizens;
2. The COVID-19 pandemic, which came as a shock not only to Ukrainians but also to the whole world. Quarantine measures have forced people to change their usual way of life and look for new internal and external supports.

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How Ukrainian citizens feel during the war

The second survey found that during the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians began to assess and perceive the overall picture of the world not worse, but rather better. 

According to experts, the main impetus for these changes was the transition from uncertainty to a specific extreme situation in which it was necessary to accumulate all internal and physical resources to the maximum. In addition, the new harsh conditions helped Ukrainians to find new meaning and guidelines, and to assess the security situation in the country even more highly (the proportion of citizens who previously considered life in Ukraine dangerous decreased by ~10%, from 66% to 55.6%).

Thus, the researchers obtained the following results from the survey:

• Assessments of how people define their lives as active have changed dramatically - from 31.6% to 52.7%. Experts explain this by the fact that Ukrainians have finally seen the vector in which they need to develop and the end point they are striving for, namely the end of the war. And the approach of this event requires concrete actions, so passivity has begun to disappear.
• The number of those who previously assessed life in Ukrainian society through the development vector as unreasonable and wrong has sharply decreased. Thus, estimates fell from 48.2% and 50% to 17.1% and 19.5%, respectively.
• Assessments of the dignity of life have also changed significantly. Thus, 44% of respondents rated their lives as worthy (before the war, this percentage was 18.2). In addition, Ukrainians began to consider it humane, with the new data showing a 57.3 percentage, compared to 21.6 percent before the war.
• Life is now considered free by 58% of citizens, while in the previous survey only 29.5% thought so.
• The last major change was the ratio of optimists to pessimists. Thus, the second survey showed that the number of optimists increased from 20 to 46.4%, while the number of pessimists decreased by 20%.

What is the phenomenon of the resilience of the Ukrainian people: the paradox of war?

The war has made the picture of the world simpler and given certainty to the situation, and the goals of Ukrainians have become clear and understandable - Victory. This became a solid foundation for the mental resilience that we now call a phenomenon. 

It is also important that this goal will continue to support the psychological state of Ukrainian citizens, because the determination to win will remain unchanged. 

So, no matter how unfortunate it may sound, the war has become a kind of incentive to reassess the values and meanings of life, which has given Ukrainians the strength to stand firm and continue to live "for" and "in spite of".

Earlier, we told you that even the war did not become an obstacle to true love. Read more about the incredible love stories of the military in our article here.

Photo: Volha Shukaila/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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