Preservation of the mental health of refugees in the conditions of escape from war to Poland from Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the mental state of war refugees who have come to Poland since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022 from the perspective of a crisis psychologist who implements psychological support directed to refugees in Poland. The predominant group of those fleeing the war are women with children, nevertheless there are also men among those forced to emigrate by the war. Ukrainian women found themselves in a completely new environment, in an unfamiliar country, but they did not lose their strength to cope with daily challenges and maintain a standard of living that met their current needs. However, in the group of female war migrants, there are also those who did not cope with the crisis and continue to feel the destructive impact of the traumatic experience on their own mental and physical health and thus on the health of their children. The article focuses on an analysis of the factors that inhibit and promote the maintenance of mental health by war refugees in their new place of residence.