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A national survey of Ukrainian residents showed that 31.2% of respondents met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD (C-PTSD), according to the results of a study published by the British academic publisher Taylor & Francis Group in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.

“High levels of both lifetime and war-related trauma were recorded. The national prevalence of PTSD according to the ICD-11 was 25.2%, with 6% of respondents meeting the additional criteria for C-PTSD according to the ICD-11, resulting in a combined prevalence of 31.2%,” the publication states.

The data collected reflect mental health status at the time of the survey but do not show changes in symptoms over time. The material for this article was obtained by the publication as early as 2025.

Factors associated with a higher likelihood of developing PTSD or C-PTSD included female gender, older age, lower educational attainment, prior military service, forced displacement due to war, as well as a greater number of traumatic events and war-related stressors experienced throughout one’s lifetime.

Loneliness was the only factor specifically associated with C-PTSD rather than PTSD.

Study co-author Emma Fizer-Irwin, a clinical psychologist, noted that the fact that PTSD was much more common than C-PTSD may indicate that psychological responses to ongoing war do not always fit neatly into models developed in post-conflict settings. “When the threat remains ongoing and unpredictable, the ways in which people experience and adapt to traumatic stress may vary, and this is an important area for future research,” she noted.

The study’s lead author, Deirdre McManus, a lecturer and researcher in forensic psychiatry at King’s College London (KCL), noted that the overwhelming majority of respondents had experienced numerous traumatic events throughout their lives, and many had also been directly affected by the protracted war due to forced displacement, the loss of loved ones, the destruction of their communities, or anxiety about their families; many Ukrainians continue to face stressors in their daily lives. “Despite this, many Ukrainians continue to live and adapt under extremely difficult conditions,” she noted.

Study co-author Vladimir Kulik, a professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Kyiv School of Economics, noted that PTSD and C-PTSD affect not only veterans or people who were near the combat zone. “These disorders are also prevalent among other segments of the population that have been severely affected by the war—in particular, among internally displaced persons, people who have been subjected to rocket and drone attacks on their cities and towns far from the front lines, as well as those who care for the wounded or traumatized,” he emphasized.

According to Kulik, further research will be necessary to understand how the psychological impact of war evolves among the general population, changing as the conflict continues.

In addition to experts from KCL and the Kyiv School of Economics, the research team included scholars from George Washington University, the University of Manchester, the Center for Eastern European Studies and International Relations (ZOiS), and Combat Stress—a leading British charity addressing veterans’ mental health issues. The study was initiated by the “Conflict and Cooperation in Eastern Europe” (KonKoop) research network, led by Professor Gwendolyn Sasse (ZOiS), and funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space.

The study was conducted via telephone survey using a random sample of 2,504 respondents in territories controlled by the Ukrainian government.

The relationships between the type and number of traumatic experiences encountered during one’s lifetime and war-related trauma, as well as PTSD/C-PTSD, were examined using a series of logistic regression models adjusted for age and gender. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, marital status, educational level, macroregion, language, and ethnicity.

Before fieldwork began, the questionnaires were pre-tested on a roughly representative subsample (n = 20) of the target group (adults living in urban and rural areas of Kyiv and nine regions of Ukraine). During data collection, interviewers were able to ask questions of a psychologist and consult with him or her on complex cases. The average interview duration was 27 minutes.

Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2026.2697563