FACTORS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF PSYCHOTRAUMA IN ADULTHOOD

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of psycho-traumatization of an adult personality. The most urgent issues of psycho-trauma research, in particular in Ukraine, are related to hostilities and traumas (casualties) experienced by direct combatants and the affected civilians, as well as internally displaced persons. This determined our interest in the problem of the factors of origin and peculiarities of experiencing psycho-traumas in adulthood, in particular, in the conditions of hostilities in the east of Ukraine.
The purpose of the article is to empirically identify and analyze main causes of psycho-trauma in adults. To achieve this goal and to fulfil the empirical objectives of the study, a questionnaire was developed and tested to determine the factors of traumatization of the adult personality. The interview method and the observation method (both included and extraneous) were also used in the study; as well as methods of quantitative and qualitative processing of the received data.
The features of the effects of traumas experienced on the emotional state and subsequent life of the survivors of the loss were also analyzed. According to the empirical research, the most critical factors for traumatization are irreversible physical (death of a loved one), existential (loss of the self) and social and psychological (divorce, loss of friendship, etc.) losses. In general, the types of losses named by the investigators that lead to emotional traumatization were grouped as follows: psychological losses; material and physical losses; personal losses; social losses; spiritual losses.
Thus, the results of the study indicated that the overwhelming number of respondents considered the loss (trauma) experienced as the cause of further or repeated more pronounced emotional traumatization. This has a detrimental effect on the quality of their social and personal life and deteriorating health (psychosomatic disorders) and requires immediate psychological assistance. Therefore, our further research will address a more in-depth study of the problem of the relationship between losses, their emotional living and positive assimilation in the context of further individual and personal development.