Is there a difference in the psychologist's work with soldiers at the front and with veterans who have returned home?
Oleksandr Tkachenko, the author of the methodology and leading psychologist of the project on psychological recovery and education of veterans «Veterans’ Hut», told about it in an interview:
- Working at the front comes in handy in further work with veterans after returning. But such work is very different. In war, it is necessary to perform a combat task, and the main task is always related to the destruction of the enemy. Sometimes you have to send people to a place from where they no longer return. And this is also the work of a psychologist.
And working with veterans is the opposite. A psychologist should help a veteran return to civilian life, where they do not shoot or kill.
But, unfortunately, it can kill the word. Psychological problems in civilian life when returning are so serious that veterans often return to war because it is easier for them there. Our society is not yet ready to receive veterans with dignity.
Civilian psychologists live in a different system of concepts than those returning from war. In addition, civilian psychologists often come across their own psychological boundaries when working with veterans, beyond which they are no longer able to work effectively. These psychological boundaries of the personality of a civilian psychologist turn out to be smaller than the psychological boundaries of the personality of a veteran.
A veteran has a larger field of learned traumatic experiences than a civilian psychologist. And he teaches them, and the psychologist begins to get nervous, he himself begins to have problems. Have you heard about the so-called secondary trauma? A civilian psychologist, having worked with a veteran, must go to the supervisor for help. We had such situations. A psychologist's “peaceful” opportunity bar is often lower than a veteran's.
The full interview you can watch here: https://mozhna.space/anketa/all