By Olha Makar
03.31.2014. Pravda.com.ua
Translated by Euromaidan and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Source: http://life.pravda.com.ua/society/2014/03/31/160995/

The Psychological Service of Maidan, which has now established itself at McDonald’s on the main square in the country, has long been a part of Maidan culture. The numbers only serve to confirm this: within three months, almost 16 thousand people turned to the service for support.

Psychological Service self-organised on Maidan for the first time on December 2, 2013 – initiated by psychologists Volodymyr Pogoriliy, Galyna Tsyganenko and Nataliya Shaposhnyk: a crowded, unusual situation, fear and anxiety after the clashes – they had every reason to believe that people might need psychological help.

Now, the service has more than 300 volunteers working each day, they receive between 50 to 100 people daily at McDonald’s, the Ukrainian House and the Kyiv City Administration, at first aid locations, as well as at the posts of self-defence guard. In addition, a 24/7 helpline is at work.

Today the service is gradually growing into a pan-Ukrainian structure. Since every region has people that need support – these are Maidan participants themselves, relatives of the fallen and missing, and those who simply watched the events unfold on TV. Psychological service departments already exist in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Lviv.

“Psychological trauma has touched all of our population – the usual schemes changed, we could not cope with one shock before encountering another. We anticipate that there will be people who will cannot alone overcome the stress, although the majority will be able to succeed because of their own mental resources,” explains Natalia Shaposhnyk, the coordinator of the service.

Psychologists emphasize that they provide assistance to victims on both sides of the barricades.

Now the service is also beginning to offer psychological help to refugees from Crimea.

Top sign: “Psychological Help”

“The community is influence by completely varied experiences, but the base emotion, characteristic of so many, is anxiety,” says psychologist Galyna Tsyganenko. “Anxiety and fear for the integrity of the country, for what is to come next, whether there will be war, those are quite prevalent. Even the people who had nothing to do with Maidan or those who condemn it, suffer from anxiety.”

Even Crimeans who are genuinely celebrating that they will get Russian passports and that are euphoric at the moment, are suffering from anxiety as to what will happen next – however, for them it is as yet unknown what this celebration will bring.

To the question of what issues Maidan activists want to discuss with the psychological service now, Galyna Tsyganenko responds: “The main issues currently regard the search of one’s self, their place in life. These are problems of unemployment, conflict in the family, seeking family, they are anxious about internal tension and some associated aggressiveness, some experience difficulties with relaxation and sleep.

These problems can be considered peaceful, but they became activated during significant and long-term social and political uncertainty. In their daily lives, people don’t dare ask for help too often, they think that everything will solve itself over time. With people who lost their relatives or friends, or who are themselves victims, it’s a very big job, because they are extremely painful emotions and traumatic stress. These people need support, and the sooner they ask for it, the better.”

“This whole time the moods and the needs of the population have been changing. When people died, there was a lot of grief. Grieving is a natural process, a person has to endure it themselves, their body has to do its work, and we, the psychologists, can only support them by being nearby. Often, when the period of acute grief has passed, the person needs to express their feelings and here national traditions and rituals play a major role,” says the service’s psychologist, Tetiana Paliyenko. “The families of those who are missing, suffer the hardest – you know how people suffer the unknown. These people are experiencing great tension. The relatives of the fallen have to go a long way: first a shock state, then denial of what happened, then the phase of when they start blaming someone, and then the phase of acceptance.

There is a category of people who have been traumatized physically – their outlook on life has changed. It is important to give people who have been injured hope for the future, so that the loss does not become the center of their life, so that the person can realize themselves under new circumstances.

Those who survive combat, experience states when they continuously see the events repeat themselves in their heads. We tell them it is a normal reaction in such abnormal conditions. Frequently people suffer from problems with their sleep.”

Many Maidan activists experience difficulties in returning back to their cities and towns, to their normal, everyday lives.

“The people express anxious expectations as to what will happen in their lives, in the lives of their group. There are no clear prospects,” explains Volodymyr Pogoriliy. “Many of those who left and have returned [to their homes], have adaptation disorders, therefore they are trying to stay in groups, and they find it hard to readjust to peaceful life. The people who managed to unite with those similar to them on location, have it easier. Those who did not, they return. Some still find themselves here by performing specific functions – for example, guarding objects. Our psychologists say this is not a mass phenomenon, but there are people who still boast about having weapons, that they will still realize themselves more.”

At the moment, says Volodymyr Pogoriliy, more Maidan activists are using alcohol: “Not in all sotnyas, (they don’t have this at all in “Praviy Sector”), but alcoholism has increased. I can interpret that this comes together with the increase of anxiety. If a person did not learn to cope with their anxiety, then they will, as a rule, use alcohol in order to simply relax.

Sometimes, but less frequently, disillusionment comes and the person does not know what to do with it. But this usually happens when the depression emerges – and it is too early to speak of depression yet.”

The Kyivans who were not actively engaged in Maidan, also come to “psychological McDonald’s” more frequently – they constitute about 20-25% of those who ask for help. Psychologists explain that earlier these people had been able to control their anxiety by coming to Maidan, bringing food, and trying to help in some way.

Instead, the anxiety has become too far removed today – it relocated to Crimea and has become harder to deal with.

Overall, the psychologists say, psychological trauma and traumatic stress have affected everyone in various forms.

What will come next – stagnation, depression? Or maybe the entire country will take a more active role in considering the collective experience of overcoming hardship, and solidarity? Will the society return to the victim mentality – or will it consolidate new, heroic archetypes?

This is not a question for the psychologists – it is put to the people.