Ukraine’s soldiers don’t have time to grieve and can’t risk falling apart, psychotherapist says after visiting front lines
- Ukrainian soldiers are forced to set aside grief on the battlefield, says psychotherapist Yulia Brockdorf.
- Brockdorf visits Ukraine to provide counseling and aid. The war continues taking a mental toll on soldiers.
- Prolonged service, PTSD, and lack of consistent aid exacerbate soldiers’ mental health issues.
Ukrainian soldiers who have long been fighting on the front lines, facing the horrors of combat, are being forced to set aside their grief on the battlefield, said visiting psychotherapist Yulia Brockdorf.”It layers on, these losses, these injuries, the ungrieved pain,” Brockdorf told Business Insider. The healthy processing of emotions and grief are pushed aside for the mission at hand, defending the nation from a relentless foe. “You need to set it aside because you need to focus and do your job because if you don’t do your job, you will encounter more losses,” she said, explaining how many Ukrainian soldiers she’s worked with view their situation.Brockdorf has made several visits to Ukraine since the Russians launched their full-scale invasion in February 2022 to provide counseling services and medical equipment to soldiers, as she is also the co-founder of DAWN, a nonprofit organization that has been supporting Ukraine. Her last visit was in March of this year.
