More than 70% of the issues Ukrainian soldiers bring to military psychologists are not psychological disorders but accumulated fatigue and everyday problems, the Ukrainian Ground Forces press service reported on 23 April, All-Ukrainian Psychologist Day.
Therapy by the week, not by the year
The Ground Forces drew a contrast between the public image of psychological work and what military practice looks like. "This profession for most of us is associated with a spacious office, a comfortable chair, a measured conversation, detailed work through a mental problem that can last months, even years. But these are all attributes of civilian specialists," the statement read.
Military psychologist Oleksandra Hanushevych said the time horizon in uniform is radically compressed. "If civilians can afford a year of therapy, in our case a week is already an astronomical amount of time," she told the Ground Forces. Unlike civilian colleagues, a military psychologist is constantly embedded with personnel and bears responsibility for them.
Sleep loss, family worries, and the burden on returning POWs
Illia Herasymniuk, a lecturer at the Department of Military Psychology and Pedagogy, put a figure on what soldiers typically want to discuss. "The majority of issues in my practice, more than 70%, are not psychological in nature. It's banal fatigue, banal everyday issues," he said.
According to the Ground Forces, the most common complaints include sleep disturbance, prolonged stress, worry about family during deployments to the front line, and irritability or aggression following combat experience.
Soldiers returning from Russian captivity form a separate category. They often exhibit heightened anxiety, sharp emotional reactions, sleep problems, and broader health issues, which in turn can trigger aggression, tremors, and other reactions that complicate reintegration.
Communication breakdowns — with fellow soldiers, commanders, and relatives — frequently compound the pressure. Disrupted communication, the Ground Forces said, often becomes an additional trigger that intensifies tension. The key factor in recovery, according to the statement, remains the creation of a safe and supportive environment in which a service member can build trust, feel understood, and gradually stabilize.
The Military Institute of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv offers a specialization in military psychology, with cadets receiving over 10,000 UAH monthly and top fourth-year students around 20,000 UAH.
