Family Squad: how to make it easier for veterans to return to a peaceful life
Military personnel return from the war zone with a set of psychological and social problems. Observation of the behavior of conflict veterans shows that they form a kind of complex paramilitary psyche. In some cases, there has been an increase in brutality, uncompromising behavior, and an inability to adapt to peaceful conditions. From June 2023 to February 2025, more than 80 thousand participants of the SVO and their family members applied for psychological help. What problems they face and how to help them can be found in the Izvestia article.
"Club of broken toys"
At the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, an initiative group has created an educational project to provide psychological assistance to servicemen who have returned from the front and their families — "Life after Victory." Currently, the program includes almost 900 people from different regions of the country. Moreover, the number of people willing to take part in it is increasing, said Ekaterina Stenyakina, one of the authors of the initiative, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
— Returning to a peaceful life after participating in a special military operation is a special challenge that requires comprehensive support. Our project is designed to help veterans and their families adapt, overcome psychological barriers and find themselves in a new reality," Ekaterina Stenyakina said.
The stories of many SVO veterans and their families are similar, but they are all different, psychologists say.
Dmitry has been fighting since the very beginning of the military special operation, after being wounded, he returned home for a while.
"We are a club of broken toys, especially those who have been participating in their OWN for a long time," he told Izvestia. — Physical pain after injury is relieved by medications. But psychologically it is difficult to adapt. I'm from Moscow, and when I come back here, I see that most people don't give a damn about what's going on in their war zone, where people are dying. It is much more important for them to understand how they will spend their vacation, whether it will be comfortable and pleasant enough. As a result, I imposed restrictions on my communication with the outside world. That is, visits to entertainment venues and shopping malls were immediately put at a minimum level. Sports, physical activity — I use them to release negative energy.
Igor, who spent three years in the war zone, admitted that he had to rebuild his life after returning.
"My whole value system has changed," he says. — I became uninterested in peaceful life, at first I didn't understand at all what I was doing here. The children grew up and got used to living without me — they didn't need me, it seemed to me. It's all very disorienting. No, I didn't drink it. Although I cannot fully cope with the new condition for me. I went to a psychologist, even though I used to think it was stupid. It helps, it gives you the opportunity to look at yourself from the outside, it explains seemingly simple things that you didn't understand before. Helps you make the right decisions. Now I'm actually looking for my place in life anew.
Professionals and family will help.
— From the point of view of psychiatry, the problems of soldiers returning from the front are called post-traumatic stress disorder, — psychiatrist Alexander Fedorovich told Izvestia. — There is a special diagnosis, and that's exactly what it sounds like. He says that a person has experienced events that are quite difficult to bear, they have left a powerful mark on his psyche. Naturally, this is a whole series of neurotic states. Unexpected drops in blood pressure or panic attacks occur, for example. People who are physically injured, such as those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, become less tolerant, more aggressive, and impulsive. From somatics— these are traumatic, if a person has been injured, and headaches. People often have disturbed sleep. And this is a very important factor, because this is the only space where the body can accumulate its resources and recover.
The family is the first and main social institution that faces this problem, helps a person to adapt to a peaceful life, said Alexander Fedorovich.
Medical psychologist Elena Karakina, who participates in the project "Life after Victory", notes the problematic aspects that arise when fighters return home after participating in their military training.
— We are talking about how to meet fighters, about their expectations and the expectations of women who have been waiting for them at home all this time, they often do not match — this problem must be solved, — the specialist clarified.
Loved ones become a shock absorber between people with serious psychological reactions and the state, as well as the law enforcement system.
— Unprepared people cannot help, — Alexander Fedorovich is sure. — It is important to take a comprehensive approach to this difficult issue. Highly professional psychotherapy is needed not only by the person who returned from the war zone, but also by the whole family. Therefore, I would talk about the need to interact with a highly professional family therapist in order to control the situation," he concluded.
Indeed, a lot depends on the family, agrees Alexandra Dolgikh, deputy dean of the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University, who is directly involved in the development of the project's training course program.
— If a family has acceptance, resilience, and psychological competencies that help a fighter overcome the first, most difficult, stages of rehabilitation, then he understands that everything is ahead of him and everything will be possible. In situations where the family cannot support them for various reasons, the fighter has much less attitude and motivation to return to life, take care of his health, and find a job," explained Alexandra Dolgikh.
According to her data, from June 2023 to February 2025, more than 80 thousand participants of the SVO and their family members applied for psychological help.
— And we understand that this is not everyone who really needs such support. Therefore, our women really need a practical course from psychologists on how to help their husband or son after returning from the front," Alexandra Dolgikh believes.
Izvestia wrote that in the new regions of Russia, up to 15-20% of children have signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. They are a risk group and require special attention. They survived the fighting in their hometown or village, were under fire, and there are those who still live near the line of contact. There are similar signs of post-traumatic disorders among adults, especially in the DPR and LPR, where fighting has been going on with varying intensity since 2014. They are also receiving psychological help now.
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