Yevhen Golovakha on Hromadske Radio on the resilience of Ukrainians

The journalist Yelyzaveta Tsarehradska has published an interview with the Director of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor Yevhen Golovakha in the podcast “Drive Time”. The conversation began with a question about Ukrainians' fatigue and resilience after more than 1000 days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The leader of Ukraine's academic sociology confirmed that the question of the potential for resilience largely determines the capacity to resist.

He noted that almost three years of full-scale war could not fail to affect people's psychological state substantially. The research of Ukraine's sociologists, including the Institute's staff, shows that in 2023 there were 10% of people in Ukraine in a state of high distress (destructive stress, in which it is hard for a person to live in such a situation). Today the situation has become more difficult — 25% of people now have a high level of distress.

“These are our losses, human and material,” the professor observed. “When people themselves name the main stressor, what they mean is the distress connected with receiving information from the media. So the media bear a great responsibility. More than 80% of respondents say that precisely this can cause stress. Yes, there is stress, anxiety has risen, it has become harder psychologically, but the main thing, Golovakha stressed, is that this is not the decisive indicator of moral-psychological and social resilience. In second place is fear for the life and health of loved ones, and this factor has not changed compared with 2023. That is, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians, despite all the hardships of the war, are still prepared to endure in order to win this war,” the expert observed, adding that he considers this an astonishing fact.

Asked by the presenter about the population's psychological state, the sociologist observed that it is becoming harder, but that this does not fundamentally affect the readiness to resist aggression:

“That is, I would put it this way: Ukrainians display a high level of ability to withstand even psychological stressors. Considering that many people are in a state of distress, that is, of stress that affects their capacity to work, the overwhelming majority are still ready to resist in order to preserve the country's independence. And in order that Ukraine should end the war on just terms,” he noted.

Golovakha particularly stressed that the best mechanism for relieving fatigue and stress is positive news from the front: “Two days before the offensive in the Kursk region the Razumkov Centre was conducting a survey. And in the first two days before the offensive into the Kursk region the assessments of the situation in the country were negative. But after the day when that successful offensive began, and for two days more while information came in, the assessments were the opposite. Do you see? So good news from the front is the main factor,” he concluded.

The sociologist warned, however, that regardless of how events at the front unfold, a clear system of psychological support for the population must be created now. Beginning with the groups that suffer most (people at the front and those who have come back from it, as well as those who live and work in front-line regions and people in distress). That is, the country should have a system in which, if a person feels psychological fatigue or exhaustion, or excessive anxiety, or feels depressive emotions appearing, they know clearly whom to turn to and how in order to receive the help they need: “This depends above all on psychologists, psychotherapists and civic organisations that can take on such psychological support. And also on volunteers who really do have enough inner strength and energy to help others,” the sociologist noted.

Yevhen Golovakha also recalled that it is no accident that the most popular subject in universities today, the one young people are choosing, is psychology. Once it was programmers; now psychologists are in first place.

A question was raised on air: is it right to stress so strongly that the people are prepared to endure for the sake of victory? A caller called this a romanticisation of the problem and disagreed with the guest's claim, declaring that the people would not endure for long. To this the usually tolerant head of the Institute responded unexpectedly firmly and clearly, assigning the caller to that small part of society which does not think about victory and may perhaps not even be opposed to our country's defeat in this war. The majority, however, do want victory — the sociologist stated firmly, on the basis of survey data.

This interview with the leader of Ukraine's academic sociology for so popular an outlet as Hromadske Radio, which has an enormous audience, made it possible not only to answer the pressing questions that concern society but also to confirm once again that Ukraine's sociologists, the staff of the Institute headed by Yevhen Golovakha included, keep a firm finger on the pulse of events and of Ukrainians' mass attitudes, which is of great scholarly and social importance.

The full material: https://hromadske.radio/podcasts/drive-time/25-ukraintsiv-maiut-vysokyy-riven-dystresu-sotsioloh