Mental Health Amid Times of Conflict

The significance of mental health cannot be understated, especially in times of conflict. News of the country of Ukraine has once again returned to the international spotlight as a result of invasion from Russia; however, the current conflict there has been developing for years. Ukraine has experienced heightened tensions with Russia since 2014, when the Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych was removed from office after a series of mass protests. The removal of a President backed by Russia led to a war in the Donbas region of Ukraine between Ukrainian soldiers and separatists supported by Russia. It has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people (Bilefsky & Pérez-Peña, 2022). In addition to loss of life, over one million people in Ukraine have been displaced from their homes (World Bank Group, 2017). Known officially as internally displaced persons (IDPs), they are but one group in Ukraine that has long been experiencing firsthand the mental strain that accompanies war.

Internally displaced persons are at a particularly high risk of developing mental illnesses, due in no small part to the instability that they face as a result of being forced to leave their homes. It has been found that lack of financial stability, fear of the future, and lack of belonging are closely linked to their increased vulnerability (World Bank Group, 2017). Most IDPs also end up living in the eastern part of Ukraine near the main area of conflict; such close proximity to unrest has also been shown to be associated with the development of mood disorders (World Bank Group, 2017). Compounding these factors is the low amount of monetary investment that the Ukrainian government makes into mental health services, along with the low integration of said services into the healthcare system of the country.

As in many other nations, mental health stigma exists in Ukraine and complicates the matter even further. A study of Ukrainians living in the eastern region found that about a third of the sampled group believed that the use of mental health services was a sign of weakness, or that people seeking mental healthcare should be avoided (Quirke et al., 2021). These kinds of attitudes are not exclusive to people from any one country, but they may cause people with mental illnesses to feel as if they must choose between seeking treatment and being accepted by their community, a dilemma that can be especially pronounced for populations such as IDPs who are already suffering from a loss of community and stability. Stigma, poor national mental health services, and the losses associated with war will likely combine to deter Ukrainians from seeking help even as the war continues and their mental wellbeing deteriorates further. War is not a direct cause of mental illness, but mental health is undoubtedly affected by crises such as the one in Ukraine.

References

Bilefsky, D., & Pérez-Peña, R. (2022, February 22). How the Ukraine Crisis Developed, and Where It Might Be Headed. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/article/russia-ukraine-nato-europe.html.

Quirke, E., Klymchuk, V., Suvalo, O., Bakolis, I., & Thornicroft, G. (2021). Mental health stigma in Ukraine: Cross-sectional survey. Global Mental Health, 8, E11. doi:10.1017/gmh.2021.9.

World Bank Group. (2017). Mental Health in Transition : Assessment and Guidance for Strengthening Integration of Mental Health into Primary Health Care and Community-Based Service Platforms in Ukraine. World Bank, openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28834.