A pensive man of few words and a penetrating gaze, Bogdanov is the director of the Psychological Rehabilitation Centers (referred to in the United States as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Centers – PTSD) established by National University ofKyiv-Mohyla Academy. B
Bogdanov obtained his Ph.D. in psychotherapy at the Medical University of 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 Organizationand 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, where thousands of refugees escaped fromthe war-torn east, and another in Sloviansk, a city where the population suffered severely from shelling, artillery and heavy fighting in 2014 and since, where the trauma from violent attacks, death,torture and public humiliation left the local population traumatized andvulnerable to serious psychological disorders.
PTSD studies among children, IDPs and veterans In Feburary 2016, under the leadership of Bogdanov, ateam of professionals conducted qualitative and quantitative studies amongchildren, 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) andavoidance (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 percent 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 thisnumber 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 inalcohol use.
Children are experiencing emotional pain because of loss of family members andfriends, 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 multiplechallenges 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 Viktor 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 fromthe 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 gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund, 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 ofsupporting and integrating this large number of internal refugees on itsown.
Housing, schooling, highereducation, healthcare, and employment for them are issues that Ukraine needs tomanage 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 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 10 months, the center has conducted 174 training programs in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Kharkivoblasts, with 3,364 participants, including school administrators, faculty andsupporting 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 collaborativeprogram with the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in theUnited States, and with the Donbas National Pedagogical University in Ukraine.
At the opening of the center in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko remarked, “We can now state with confidence that Ukraine’scapital has a professional center to aid individuals with psychological trauma.” He assured the full support ofthe city administration toward this effort.
In concluding the interview, Bogdanov remarked, “There was a reason I was born in Sloviansk. It was my destiny to help the people of mybirthplace and from the east of Ukraine who need to rebuild their lives.” Giventhe number of soldiers, men, women, and children that have been exposed to the dehumanizing 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 is an attorney living in Chicago and president of Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America. She conducted a series of conversations with Dr. Serhiy Bogdanov over several months in 2016.
