Moscow’s Failure to Treat Secondary Trauma from War in Ukraine Aggravating PTSD Problem in Russian Society, Psychologist Warns

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 1 – The Russian government has done almost nothing to treat what she calls the secondary trauma among the family members of veterans in the war in Ukraine, a shortcoming Russia’s private sector can’t make up for and one that means the impact of PTSD among veterans is far larger than many suppose, Galina Petrakova says.

            Since Putin launched his expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been some attention to Moscow’s failure to take PTSD among veterans of the war in Ukraine and the problems, including the rise of violence and crime within Russian society as a result (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/07/moscow-failing-to-treat-ptsd-among.html).

            But there has been far less to what may prove to be an even larger problem, the Russian clinical psychologist says, that of the secondary trauma which family and friends of veterans experience when they encounter the latter (semnasem.org/articles/2024/08/29/rodstvennicy-voennyh-stalkivayutsya-s-vtorichnoj-travmoj-im-nuzhna-reabilitaciya-kak-pri-ptsr-no-gosudarstvo-nedoocenivaet-problemu).

            If the number of veterans numbers in the 10s or 100s of thousands, the number of those suffering from secondary trauma is likely far larger, something that means secondary trauma is likely to affect Russian society even more widely and dramatically than PTSD from veterans alone.

            But instead of recognizing this problem and taking steps to address it, Petrakova says, the Russian government has done little, funding only 17 projects over the last two years, some of which do not appear to be working, and only one of which – in Moscow -- is a fully functional center (https://msupport.dszn.ru/).

            Regional governments have tried to compensate, although with little success. They lack the expertise and the money to set up effective centers to identify and treat secondary trauma. And the private sector, lacking both funds and experience, has sometimes done more harm than good, Petrakova says.

            Among the mistake she points to is the release of a pamphlet advising wives of veterans how to interact with their husbands on their return from the war. Its advice, Petrakova says, is not only problematic but in the wrong hands extremely dangerous. (On that pamphlet and its problems, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/08/wives-of-russian-veterans-of-putins-war.html).

            But even more damaging the clinical psychologist suggests are Russian government efforts to reach out to the wives of veterans by staging fashion shows in which women are shown in military garb. These shows eat up money that should be used to treat those suffering from secondary trauma.

            Unless things change and soon, Petrakova concludes, Russia will face not only a rising tide of alcoholism and drug abuse among the wives of veterans but also a new crime wave in which women are likely to play a far larger role than ever in the past, something for which the Russian government and its penal authorities are far from prepared to cope.