Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Establishes Centers for Psychological Rehabilitation
“I was born in Sloviansk, so when the Russian trained troops invaded the city of my birth and I saw how the people suffered, I knew that I should dedicate myself to help the victims of psychological trauma caused by the atrocities they experienced”, said Dr. Serhiy Bogdanov when I interviewed him. A pensive man of few words and a penetrating gaze, Dr. Bogdanov is the director of the PsychologicalRehabilitation Centers (referred to in the United States as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Centers – PTSD) established by NationalUniversity of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Dr.Bogdanov obtained his PhD in psychotherapy at the Medical Universityof Vienna, and is a faculty member at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy department of psychology. He is certified as an expert in post-trauma healthcare by the World Health Organization and UNICEF,and has been leading the effort to establish best practices, train professionals in post-trauma care, and treat individuals affected by post-traumatic PTSD in Ukraine.
In 2015,Kyiv-Mohyla Academy established two PTSD Centers – one in Kyiv,Ukraine’s capital, wherethousands of refugees escaped from the war-torn east, and another inSloviansk, a city where the population suffered severely fromshelling,artilleryand heavy fightingin 2014 and since, where the trauma from violent attacks, death,torture and public humiliation left the local population traumatizedand vulnerable to serious psychological disorders.
PTSD
studies among children, IDPs and veterans
In
Feburary 2016, under the leadership of Dr. Bogdanov, a team of
professionals conducted qualitative and quantitative studies among
children, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and war veterans in
the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
The
results show symptoms of PTSD in various population categories.
Responses of children show a 25% level of intrusion (re-experience
of
the trauma)
and avoidance (efforts not to think, talk, or feel the traumatic
events) in high traumatic stress among boys and girls. Results
further show that compared to a previous study in 2014, there is a
decrease in resilience. When one year ago 36% of children responded
that they did not receive any support from adults after traumatic
events, in 2016, this number jumped
up to 50%. Furthermore, two
years ago, 80%
of children said they were able to cope with stress on their own,
while this number decreased to 50% in 2016.
The
studies also show that internally displaced persons and veterans
struggle under the weight of conflicts. Adults feel they are not
accepted by local communities, both children and adults suffer from
symptoms of PTSD, such as depression and anxiety, feeling lost,
abandoned, and isolated. An additional problem is an increase in
alcohol use. Children are experiencing
emotional pain because of
loss of family members and friends, their towns, and cities, and
their usual surroundings. Most are feeling isolated despite
significant efforts by host communities to support and integrate
them.
Causes
of psychological trauma – the political and military setting
Ukraine
is faced with multiple challenges as a consequence of the Russian
occupation of Crimea and the military invasion of the country’s
eastern territories. But with an internal refugee situation
affecting over one and a half million people, the problems with PTSD
are being recognized as the invisible wound of war.
A
quarter century after the end of the Soviet Union, and two years
after former president Yanukovych was toppled and ran away to hide in
Russia during the height of the Maidan Revolution in 2014, Russia’s
invasion and occupation of Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine
persists, mocking all international agreements and challenging the
world order.
Despite
the invasion, or perhaps because of it, the people of Ukraine
acquired a new sense of national identity and united against the
aggressor. Russia’s government failed to break the Maidan revolt,
and it failed to block a democratically elected government. It also
failed in its plan to seize most of eastern Ukraine’s territory, as
Ukraine’s military forces reorganized, built up their capabilities,
and repelled the Russian surrogates and military units from the
cities and towns they occupied, forcing them to an area in the
easternmost part of the Donbas, where Russian violations of the Minsk
Agreement continue daily with military build-up, attacks and
killings.
The
political, economic, and societal consequences and the human toll
have been serious. Although international sanctions have cost Russia
more than 9 percent of
GDP, according to the IMF,
the
war has cost Ukraine more than 10,000 lives, and forced over 1.5
million people to escape to central and western Ukraine. Ukraine has
been left with the burden of supporting and integrating this large
number of internal refugees on its own. Housing, schooling, higher
education, healthcare, and employment for them are issues that
Ukraine needs to manage daily.
What
is often overlooked in this difficult scenario, are the invisible
scars of war that cause depression, suicide, domestic abuse,
disorientation, fear, confusion and other psychological symptoms.
A
collaborative response to provide psychological safety net services
Under
the leadership of Dr. Bogdanov, the Kyiv-Mohyla Psychological
Rehabilitation Centers were established as a response to a national
healthcare crisis, to provide professional psychological safety net
services free of charge, and to train specialists. The approach
is multidisciplinary – psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists,
and lawyers work together to insure a comprehensive solution in
strengthening the resilience of each client and provide high quality
mental health services on a community based level.
Within
ten months, the Center has conducted 174 training programs in the
Donetsk, Dnipro, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts, with 3,364
participants, including school administrators, faculty and supporting
personnel from schools in these areas.
Since
their inception in 2015, the Kyiv-Mohyla PTSD Centers have been
acknowledged widely for their professional work. They received
international support from the German Embassy and the German
Humanitarian Fund, UNICEF, Malteser International, organizations such
as International Medical Corps, and from many local volunteer
organizations and individuals in Ukraine. The Centers are engaged in
a collaborative program with the School of Public Health at Johns
Hopkins University in the United States, and with the Donbas
National Pedagogical University in
Ukraine.
At
the opening of the center in Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko remarked,
“We
can now state with confidence that Ukraine’s capital has a
professional center to aid individuals with psychological trauma”.
He assured the full support of the city administration toward this
effort.
In
concluding the interview, Dr. Bogdanov remarked, “There was a
reason I was born in Sloviansk. It was my destiny to help the people
of my birthplace and from the east of Ukraine who need to rebuild
their lives.”
Given
the number of soldiers,
men, women, and children that
have been exposed to the dehumanising effects of war
in the east of Ukraine, there
is a compelling case to support
the PTSD Centers that serve the needs of affected individuals.
Marta
Farion
Marta
Farion is an attorney living in Chicago and president of Kyiv-Mohyla
Foundation of America. She conducted a series of conversations with
Dr. Sergey Bogdanov over several months in 2016.
