THE DIAGNOSTICS AND CORRECTION OF THE MENTAL STATES OF THE SERVICEMAN, WHO ARE EXPERIENCING PHANTOM PAINS

Abstract

The article investigates the peculiarities of the mental states of military servicemen, participants of hostilities who are experiencing phantom pain. The consequences of being a soldier in combat conditions were described. The problems faced by the soldiers upon their return from the military zone were identified.Two groups of subjects were formed. The first group included patients who were injured during an anti-terrorist operation, but did not have any limb amputations. The second group comprised those patients, who were injured and experienced traumatic limb amputations. It was found out that the mental state of a serviceman who has experienced a traumatic limb amputation coincides with a state of acute grief. The fact of amputation is perceived as a grievous personal tragedy that has enormous destructive influence. Amputation leads to the collapse of all life prospects and plans of the serviceman, that is manifested in the reassessment of one's "I", a significant reduction in the level of harassment, the need to find a social niche and often in the loss of the life meaning.The characteristic features of the condition of the injured in both groups are high rates of reactive anxiety. Typical mechanisms of psychological protection aimed at eliminating anxiety were defined. The main options of psychological protection of the injured servicemen are aggression, rationalization, regression in the infantile phase with the inherent impunitive response.Key areas of psychotherapy, concerning the work with military personnel were outlined, examples of the methods of mirror therapy, used to overcome phantom pain, were given. The effectiveness of mirror therapy for an amputee soldier was proved through the visual feedback.