The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine is actively working on creating a psychological support and assistance system for military personnel.

This was stated by Oksana Sukhorukova, Head of the Health Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, during her speech at the section devoted to psychological support of the Armed Forces at the First Annual International Congress on Military Medicine and Mental Health.

According to her, the number of service members who have been diagnosed with stress-related neuralgic diseases is gradually increasing. Currently, PTSD accounts for 29% of these illnesses, and this number is expected to increase.

Oksana Sukhorukova emphasized the importance of providing psychological support and assistance to service members at all stages of service. She outlined four main stages of psychological care:

• Self-help or peer-to-peer support
• Crisis intervention
• Psychological development centers at a safe distance from the front lines
• Long-term psychological care

Special attention is given to supporting service members returning from captivity, as well as their families. “We are obliged to support families all along the way: from the moment they receive a report that their loved one is missing, through the search, waiting for them, to their release,” emphasized the head of the Defence Ministry's Health Department.

Oksana Sukhorukova also called for cooperation in creating an effective psychological support system: “The Ministry of Defence can issue any document, can create any kind of policy. However, it is only by working together that we can implement this policy. I hope that each of you will contribute to the creation of this system, its strengthening, and the mental health of our military personnel.”