’traumatic effects of war’ extend far beyond the front lines
Professors Olena Antonaccio and Robert J. Johnson are working on several studies that examine the mental health and other detrimental impacts of war on Ukrainians. The impacts of war can be destructive on many fronts. But new research from two University of Miami faculty members reveals that the mental health toll of military conflicts for people living in Ukraine is particularly severe. Along with a team of researchers, sociology professors Olena Antonaccio, Robert J. Johnson, and doctoral alumna Anastasiia Timmer, who is now an assistant professor at California State University-Northridge, surveyed more than 1,200 residents and 300 internally displaced persons in the Ukrainian cities of Lviv and Kharkiv three years after the conflicts that started in 2014 with Russia. This included the annexation of Crimea, and the war with Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas region. While they were not surprised to find symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among many Ukrainians, the researchers also demonstrated that these harmful effects of war were not limited to those on the front lines, but also affected civilians with no direct war exposure. "We found that civilians in Ukraine who experience war vicariously-through watching it on television or on social media-can begin to experience elevated symptoms of mental distress,” said Johnson, a sociologist who has also studied the impacts of war on Middle Eastern populations.
