Bulletin of Vasyl' Stus Donetsk National University.
Series of Psychological Sciences

Entering the third consecutive year of full-scale wartime conditions in 2024, the psychological adaptation of the Ukrainian population shifted from acute mobilization and mid-term endurance toward chronic habituation and cumulative coping resource exhaustion. Grounded in Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and longitudinal developmental stress frameworks, this empirical study evaluates multi-wave trajectories of psychological resilience, depressive symptomatology, and post-traumatic growth across a panel of 410 adult respondents surveyed sequentially in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Assessment batteries included the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and a cumulative resource loss inventory. Growth mixture modeling (GMM) identified four distinct longitudinal adaptation trajectories: "Resiliently Stable" (36.2%), "Chronic Distress/Depletion" (28.4%), "Delayed Recovery" (19.1%), and "Relapsing-Remitting" (16.3%). Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that while initial adaptation in 2022 was heavily predicted by social solidarity and acute national identity consolidation, sustained well-being in 2024 relied primarily on micro-environmental stability, professional re-engagement, and realistic boundary-setting against informational hyper-vigilance ($\beta = 0.48, p < 0.001$). Individuals manifesting chronic coping depletion exhibited depleted perceived collective efficacy and persistent sleep fragmentation. The study underscores the necessity of transitioning from emergency psychological first aid to structured, long-term community mental health stabilization programs.

The widespread prevalence of artillery barrage and explosive shockwave exposures among frontline combatants has generated a high volume of mild-to-moderate blast-induced Traumatic Brain Injuries (bTBI) characterized by persistent post-concussion cognitive deficits, attentional slowing, and frontal executive dysfunction. Drawing upon Luria's neuropsychological syndromic analysis and contemporary frontoparietal network disconnection models, this clinical study investigates the profile of executive functioning impairments in 84 combat veterans diagnosed with subacute bTBI (assessed 3 to 12 months post-injury) compared to 76 uninjured combat controls. Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery including the Trail Making Test (TMT-A and TMT-B), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test, the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), and the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire. Between-group ANCOVA controlling for comorbid PTSD severity revealed statistically significant impairments in set-shifting flexibility, perseverative error reduction on the WCST, and processing speed among bTBI veterans ($p < 0.001$). Furthermore, working memory deficits correlated strongly with subjective cognitive fatigue and emotional irritability. The author outlines a targeted computerized and metacognitive neurorehabilitation protocol designed to restore frontal executive control in blast-injured military personnel.

Demobilized combat veterans transitioning back to civilian life face multifaceted occupational readjustment barriers, wherein traditional corporate employment models frequently fail to accommodate military-acquired leadership competencies and physical limitations. Grounded in Bandura's self-efficacy theory and entrepreneurial event models, this study examines the psychological predictors of veteran-led startup creation, vocational self-efficacy, and successful economic reintegration. Survey data were gathered from 220 demobilized veterans participating in national veteran business incubators across Ukraine using Liñán and Chen's Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Proactive Personality Scale, and Brief COPE. Hierarchical regression modeling revealed that proactive personality traits, combat-honed crisis decision-making self-efficacy, and perceived peer mentorship support accounted for 51.2% of the variance in entrepreneurial intention and startup initiative ($\beta = 0.52, p < 0.001$). Veterans who reframed military strategic autonomy as commercial leadership successfully bridged identity gaps between combat and civilian enterprise. Practical recommendations for veteran business incubators and psychological support frameworks are formulated.

Entering their third year of cross-border displacement in 2024, Ukrainian refugees residing in Western European host states experienced a complex psychological state termed "digital exile"—characterized by physical integration into foreign labor markets and school systems coupled with continuous, hyper-connected digital immersion in Ukrainian news, social media, and wartime realities. Grounded in Berry's acculturation framework and Anderson's imagined communities theory, this empirical study investigates how transnational media consumption and linguistic integration mediate acculturative stress and identity fragmentation among 315 adult refugees in Germany, Poland, and Spain. Assessment instruments included the Riverside Acculturation Stress Scale (RASS), the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a custom Digital Immersion Index, and identity positioning scales. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that high, unmoderated digital immersion in wartime news channels significantly elevated daily homesickness, survivor guilt, and anxiety ($\beta = 0.46, p < 0.001$), while impeding local language acquisition and host-community social bonding. Conversely, refugees who balanced transnational cultural maintenance with active local civic participation achieved harmonious integration and reduced psychological distress. Transnational psychological support guidelines are presented.

The severe shortage of licensed mental health professionals relative to the massive psychological burden of wartime populations in 2024 necessitated the exploratory integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools into tele-psychological triage and stepped-care routing. Grounded in digital mental health ethics and stepped-care crisis intervention frameworks, this study evaluates the diagnostic accuracy, safety, and user acceptability of an AI-assisted conversational screening protocol deployed across three national crisis hotlines. Anonymous text-based triage logs from 1,240 help-seekers were evaluated by human clinicians and compared against AI classification outputs identifying acute suicide risk, severe PTSD, and panic symptoms. Results demonstrated high sensitivity (0.91) and specificity (0.87) for AI symptom severity classification, enabling rapid, non-delayed routing of high-risk callers to human crisis specialists while providing automated psychoeducational stabilization scripts for mild distress. Qualitative feedback from hotline operators and users indicated high acceptance when AI systems operated transparently as supportive adjuncts rather than autonomous therapists. Ethical guidelines and safety safeguards for deploying AI tools in wartime mental healthcare are established.

While classical trauma research focuses primarily on fear-conditioning and life-threat phobias, the widespread civilian experience of malicious property destruction, residential looting, and unpunished injustice during military occupation has triggered a distinct clinical presentation termed Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED; Linden). Grounded in Linden's embitterment theory and appraisal models of injustice, this clinical study investigates the prevalence and psychometric correlates of PTED among 172 civilian outpatients whose homes were looted or destroyed. Assessment instruments included the Bern Embitterment Scale (BES), the Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ), the Moral Injury Events Scale, and the HADS. Empirical findings revealed that 38.4% of respondents met diagnostic criteria for clinical embitterment characterized by intrusive thoughts of injustice, helplessness, rumination, and somatic complaints, which frequently persisted independently of classic PTSD symptoms ($r = 0.34$). Regression modeling demonstrated that perceived violation of societal fairness rules and lack of legal restitution were primary predictors of chronic embitterment severity ($\beta = 0.54, p < 0.001$). Wisdom-oriented psychotherapy and cognitive reframing protocols for PTED are discussed.

Frontline secondary school educators operating in active and shell-shocked regions through 2024 faced an unprecedented professional paradox: delivering trauma-informed psychological stabilization and academic instruction to traumatized students while personally experiencing continuous shelling anxiety, displacement, and severe occupational burnout. Grounded in Perry's Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and conservation of resources theory, this study examines the psychological predictors of burnout and resilience among 246 frontline secondary teachers. Assessment instruments included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-ES), the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, the Professional Quality of Life Scale, and a custom evaluation of trauma-informed pedagogical training. Empirical results indicated that 64.2% of frontline educators exhibited high emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Path analysis revealed that institutional peer supervision pods and specialized training in trauma-informed de-escalation significantly enhanced teacher self-efficacy and buffered against burnout ($\beta = -0.47, p < 0.001$), whereas isolated remote teaching without administrative support accelerated attrition. A supervisory self-care framework for frontline teachers is presented.

Measuring post-traumatic growth under ongoing national survival and collective existential struggle requires culturally and contextually calibrated psychometric instruments that capture both personal and collective transformative dimensions. This methodological study presents the adaptation, item refinement, and confirmatory factor analysis of the Wartime Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (W-PTGI) across Ukrainian adult samples in 2024. Psychometric evaluation was conducted on a heterogeneous sample of 720 respondents (combatants, displaced civilians, and rear-area residents). Confirmatory Factor Analysis using robust maximum likelihood estimation confirmed a five-factor structure adapted for collective national crisis: Appreciation of Life, Personal Strength, Spiritual/Existential Deepening, New Possibilities, and Collective Civic Solidarity ($\chi^2/\text{df} = 2.04, \text{CFI} = 0.972, \text{TLI} = 0.966, \text{RMSEA} = 0.037, \text{SRMR} = 0.031$). Internal consistency reliability was excellent (overall Cronbach's $\alpha = 0.95$, McDonald's $\omega = 0.96$). Convergent validity was established against measures of collective resilience and purpose in life. Standardized normative tables are provided for psychological research and clinical deployment.

Families of service members officially classified as Missing-in-Action (MIA) or prisoners of war (POW) endure one of the most agonizing forms of psychological trauma—Ambiguous Loss (Boss)—wherein physical absence is combined with psychological presence, preventing closure and freezing the normal mourning process. Grounded in Boss's ambiguous loss theory and family systems frameworks, this clinical-empirical study investigates the determinants of anticipatory grief, chronic anxiety, and functional impairment among 126 family members of MIA military personnel. Assessment batteries included the Ambiguous Loss Inventory (ALI), the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG), the PCL-5, and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES-IV). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the inability to verify status certainty and prolonged institutional limbo accounted for 54.2% of the variance in severe anxiety and depressive exhaustion ($p < 0.001$). Family systems characterized by rigid enmeshment or extreme emotional cutoff exhibited exacerbated psychosomatic strain. Specialized multifamily support groups utilizing rituals of symbolic holding and cognitive mastery of uncertainty successfully restored relational functioning.

Chronic sleep disruption caused by nocturnal air-raid sirens, explosions, and hyper-vigilant scanning has evolved into an endemic psychophysiological disorder across Ukrainian populations by 2024. Grounded in the hyperarousal model of insomnia (Bonnet & Arand) and polysomnographic sleep research, this clinical study examines sleep architecture parameters and insomnia phenotypes among 110 adult patients presenting with severe chronic sleep maintenance and onset insomnia. Assessments combined 7-day actigraphy, polysomnographic recordings, the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale. Empirical results indicated severe reductions in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep percentages, alongside markedly elevated nocturnal sympathetic tone and frequent micro-awakenings triggered by ambient auditory triggers ($\text{mean sleep efficiency} = 61.4\%$). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) augmented with targeted somatic relaxation and auditory masking protocols yielded significant improvements in sleep continuity.

The sustained influx of combat amputees undergoing complex prosthetic rehabilitation in 2024 necessitated comprehensive psychological investigation into the determinants of body schema reconstruction, phantom limb pain coping, and long-term psychological adaptation. Grounded in biopsychosocial rehabilitation models, this multi-site study evaluates 130 military amputees across four rehabilitation centers using the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the PTGI, and the HADS. Empirical findings demonstrated that phantom limb pain severity and high catastrophizing were primary predictors of depressive distress and delayed prosthetic integration. However, peer mentorship programs pairing newly injured soldiers with seasoned veteran amputees, combined with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), significantly accelerated psychological acceptance and fostered post-traumatic growth ($\beta = 0.49, p < 0.001$).

Ukrainian youth have demonstrated unprecedented civic mobilization through volunteer networks since 2022; by 2024, maintaining the psychological sustainability and preventing burnout in youth activists became a critical societal imperative. Grounded in Clary and Snyder's functional approach to volunteerism and collective agency theory, this empirical study examines motivational profiles and burnout vulnerability among 280 active youth volunteers (aged 18–25 years). Assessment tools included the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), Boyko's Burnout Inventory, and the Sense of Community Index. Regression analyses revealed that youth driven by values-expressive and community-enhancement motives exhibited higher resilience, whereas those motivated by guilt-reduction or external social pressure experienced rapid emotional exhaustion. Structured peer supervision and rotation protocols significantly buffered against burnout.

The persistent weaponization of digital information channels and synthetic disinformation campaigns in 2024 underscores the psychological importance of digital resilience and epistemic vigilance among media consumers. Grounded in Sperber's epistemic vigilance framework and dual-process reasoning models, this study examines cognitive reflection, media literacy, and emotional regulation as predictors of misinformation discernment among 340 adult respondents. Instruments included the Cognitive Reflection Test, the Epistemic Vigilance Scale, and an experimental news-veracity evaluation task. Path modeling demonstrated that analytic cognitive style and higher media literacy robustly predicted resistance to manipulated sensational headlines ($\beta = 0.51, p < 0.001$), whereas high situational anxiety and emotional reactivity increased susceptibility to viral disinformation. Psychological inoculation training modules for digital media users are proposed.

Elderly individuals forced into internal or international displacement during armed conflict face severe gerontopsychological vulnerabilities, including the loss of lifelong homes, social networks, and health stability. Grounded in Erikson's psychosocial stages (Ego Integrity vs. Despair) and Frankl's logotherapy, this study investigates existential meaning-making and post-traumatic growth among 190 displaced older adults (aged 65–82 years). Assessment batteries included Leontiev's Purpose-in-Life Test, the PTGI, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Empirical findings revealed that older adults who maintained social generativity (such as storytelling to younger generations, participation in senior clubs, or volunteering in shelters) successfully resolved geriatric despair and achieved high ego integrity and post-traumatic growth despite displacement. Gerontological counseling guidelines are formulated.

Evaluating psychological flexibility and experiential acceptance under unremitting wartime adversity requires specialized psychometric instruments adapted from ACT hexaflex principles. This methodological study presents the development, factor structure verification, and psychometric standardization of the 18-item Wartime Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (WPFQ). Psychometric evaluation was conducted on a nationwide sample of 750 Ukrainian adults evaluated between October and December 2024. Confirmatory Factor Analysis using robust maximum likelihood estimation confirmed a three-factor structure: Acceptance of Uncontrollable Reality, Values-Driven Action under Threat, and Present-Moment Mindfulness ($\chi^2/\text{df} = 2.09, \text{CFI} = 0.968, \text{TLI} = 0.962, \text{RMSEA} = 0.038, \text{SRMR} = 0.032$). Internal consistency reliability was excellent (overall Cronbach's $\alpha = 0.92$, McDonald's $\omega = 0.93$). Convergent validity was established against measures of resilience, anxiety, and depression. Standardized normative percentile tables are provided for clinical and research deployment.