PSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION OF SOLDIERS AFTER RETURNING TO CIVILIAN LIFE

Abstract

The article integrates both theoretical and empirical analysis of the psychological rehabilitation of military personnel after returning to civilian life. The theoretical section generalizes contemporary approaches to understanding combat stress, anxiety, depressive manifestations, and PTSD within the resource-resilience paradigm, emphasizing the role of hardiness, internal locus of control, emotional well-being, and value-meaning orientations in ensuring socio-psychological adaptation. It substantiates the staged nature of rehabilitation and the evidence-based effectiveness of trauma-focused and cognitive-behavioral interventions, as well as the importance of meaning-making and family-social support for sustainable recovery. The empirical findings indicate that successful rehabilitation is directly associated with adaptation, which in turn depends on the integration of personal resources, the capacity for self-acceptance, the development of internal control, and cognitive flexibility, whereas low levels of hardiness and emotional well-being are accompanied by increased PTSD symptoms, heightened anxiety, and reliance on maladaptive coping strategies. It was also established that the duration of combat exposure, age differences, and individual psychological characteristics significantly affect the course of adaptation processes and the degree of psychological resilience. The feasibility of developing and testing adaptive psychotherapeutic and rehabilitation programs, integrating cognitive-behavioral, trauma-focused, and resource-oriented approaches, with further assessment of their effectiveness through standardized methods, has been determined.