Peculiarities of Military Values of Combatants with Signs of Post-traumatic Stress Reactions and Moral Traumas

Yanina Matsegora¹, Oleksandr Kolesnichenko^{2,* ✉}, Ihor Prykhodko¹, Kateryna Marushchenko³, Yurii Rumiantsev³, Ihor Tovma⁴, Roman Gakh⁵, Dmytro Prikhodko⁶

1 - Research Center, National Academy of National Guard of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine; yanina_gora@ukr.net (YM), prikhodko1966@ukr.net (IP)
2 - Research Laboratory, National Academy of National Guard of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine; alex_kolesnichenko@ukr.net
3 - Department of Military Therapy, Ukrainian Military Medical Academy, Kyiv, Ukraine; riv.umma@gmail.com (KM), katipon@gmail.com (YR)
4 - Department of Psychology and Pedagogics, National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine; ihor.tovma@gmail.com
5 - Department of Physical Rehabilitation and Sports, West Ukrainian National University, Ternopil, Ukraine; romangah@gmail.com
6 - Psychology and Pedagogy Department, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, Kharkiv, Ukraine; d.petrovich7971@gmail.com

Correspondence: Oleksandr Kolesnichenko, alex_kolesnichenko@ukr.net

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55453/rjmm.2023.126.4.6

Received: February 20, 2023

Accepted: March 26, 2023

Abstract:

According to the results of the study, there were determined the peculiarities of military values of servicemen who participated in hostilities and had signs of PTSD and moral trauma. The study included 397 servicemen (aged 20 to 55 years) with combat experience. The study showed that PTSD and violation of moral normativity were closely related to unfavorable social conditions of performing combat tasks. Unlike PTSD, the moral normativity indicator was less tightly related to the immediate threat to life. The structure of values of the servicemen had no signs of PTSD as well as no violation of moral normativity consisted of factors that indicated the value of teamwork, responsibilities for decisions and actions made based on ideas related to loyalty to the oath and the Motherland, resistance, and professionalism. For the servicemen who participated in hostilities who had violations of moral normativity, it was more important to have the ability to act following their conscience, not to lose dignity, and to remain honest in the faces of their brothers than to have professionalism, loyalty to the oath and the Motherland.