For decades, modern medicine and psychology have studied stress mostly in stable societies. Studies of depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and burnout have been shaped primarily by examples of individual trauma or short-term crises—accidents, natural disasters, local military conflicts, or personal losses. This knowledge has become the foundation of modern psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine.
However, the full-scale war in Ukraine has created a situation that has practically no analogues in modern science. It is not only about the scale of the trauma or the duration of the stress, it is about a phenomenon that is increasingly attracting the attention of international researchers: a society that lives in conditions of constant danger, but at the same time continues to function. Ukrainians work, treat patients, open businesses, teach children, create cultural projects, build new technology companies and, at the same time, support the army and help each other. In conditions where daily reality includes air raids, losses, uncertainty and war fatigue, society does not just survive – it retains the ability to act.
This phenomenon poses a fundamental question to science: how is it possible to maintain social and psychological functionality in a situation of prolonged collective stress?
Modern research increasingly uses the concept of collective resilience. It describes the ability of society to adapt to crisis conditions thanks to shared values, horizontal social ties, mutual support and trust between people. However, the Ukrainian experience demonstrates a more complex picture than just psychological adaptation. We see a phenomenon that can be described as functional resilience in a state of chronic social stress. In other words, it is not just about the ability to survive trauma, it is about the ability to continue to act. Sometimes even more effectively than in peacetime.
This is a serious challenge for medical science. Psychosomatic medicine is well aware that prolonged stress has clear physiological consequences. Chronic elevation of cortisol levels is associated with cardiovascular disease, immune disorders, cognitive changes, and depression. That is why in stable countries of the world, more and more attention is paid to stress prevention and psychological well-being programs.
But the reality of Ukraine shows that people can be in conditions of extremely high levels of stress and at the same time retain the ability to be socially active. This does not mean that Ukrainians do not experience trauma or that the war leaves no traces. On the contrary, the consequences of this trauma will require systematic work by doctors and psychologists for a long time. But at the same time, it is obvious that there are adaptation mechanisms that modern science has not yet fully described.
One of the key factors is collective identity. In times of crisis, people begin to feel more strongly about their belonging to a community. In Ukraine, this is manifested in the phenomenon of horizontal solidarity – from a large-scale volunteer movement to local mutual aid initiatives. Sociological research shows that the level of trust between people and the willingness to support each other in Ukraine has increased significantly after the start of a full-scale war.
The second important factor is meaning and values. Even Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who survived Nazi concentration camps, wrote that the ability to find meaning in suffering changes the very nature of a person’s psychological response to trauma. For many Ukrainians, the fight for freedom, the protection of loved ones and the future of their country has become just such a source of meaning.
The third factor is social support networks. Ukrainian society has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to self-organize. Volunteer initiatives, public foundations, professional communities, and local support groups create a kind of social infrastructure of mutual assistance. In psychology, this is called a “social support buffer” – a factor that significantly reduces the destructive impact of stress.
That is why the Ukrainian experience is increasingly being seen as a potential basis for a new interdisciplinary research direction. It can be tentatively called Ukrainian Resilience Studies – a study of the Ukrainian model of social resilience.
This direction could bring together different disciplines: psychology, sociology, neuroscience, medicine, and health systems research. Its goal would be to understand how mechanisms of adaptation to prolonged crises are formed and how these mechanisms can be maintained or replicated in other societies.
A particularly important area for such research is the healthcare system. Healthcare workers are currently at the center of systemic stress. They work with injured and traumatized patients, experiencing burnout, fatigue, and emotional exhaustion. At the same time, it is their resilience that determines the ability of the healthcare system to function in wartime.
That is why initiatives are beginning to take shape in Ukraine aimed at systematic research into the psychological well-being of healthcare workers. One such initiative is the work of HMI, which is engaged in research into professional burnout and psychological resilience in the healthcare environment. One of the key tools could be the implementation of a system that allows assessing stress levels, identifying burnout risks, and creating and implementing support programs.
Such tools are important not only for Ukraine. The world is gradually entering a period of increased instability. Geopolitical conflicts, economic crises, climate disasters and pandemics are shaping a new reality in which societies are increasingly faced with protracted crises. That is why the issue of social resilience is becoming one of the key ones for the future of medicine, social sciences and public policy.
Ukraine is today at the forefront of this experience. And although this experience was born from the tragedy of war, it can help world science understand something very important: how people and societies can maintain humanity, effectiveness, and the ability to act even in the most difficult circumstances.
Perhaps in a few years we will be talking about a new interdisciplinary field – the science of societal sustainability. And it is quite likely that Ukraine will be the place where this science will begin to take shape. Because sometimes the most important discoveries appear where humanity is going through its most difficult trials.