Keywords
stress management
stress resistance
individual characteristics
How to Cite
Abstract
In press
In the context of combat operations, military personnel are constantly in situations that require psychological resilience. Encountering combat stress is an integral part of military activity, accompanied by significant physical and psycho-emotional strain, and often leads to the deterioration of soldiers' mental health, complicating the decision-making process. This creates an urgent need to develop effective strategies for psychological support and adaptation after combat stress exposure. The aim of this study is to search for and analyse modern scientific literature to systematise data concerning the cognitive and emotional features of decision-making by military personnel under combat stress. In the process of research, the method of system analysis, comparative and bibliosemantic methods were used. The cognitive and emotional characteristics of decision-making under combat stress were examined. The study highlights the complexity and variability of behavioural, cognitive, and emotional reactions to combat stress. It was found that cognitive and emotional factors are key components of the decision-making process, emphasising the importance of timely and effective psychological support following combat stress. It is emphasised that personal traits of military personnel – such as psychological resilience, adaptability, resilience (hardiness), internal potential, emotional regulation, motivation and persistence, as well as high levels of positive emotions and low levels of anger, impulsivity, anxiety, and vulnerability – contribute to effective decision-making in stressful conditions. It was established that the effects of combat stress can vary significantly depending on individual traits and the cognitive and emotional characteristics of the military personnel. Further research will focus on studying the effectiveness of various psychological interventions aimed at reducing the negative consequences of combat stress, as well as analysing their impact on the cognitive and emotional characteristics of military personnel.
Keywords: post-traumatic stress disorder, stress management, stress resistance, individual characteristics.
References
Kimhi S, Eshel Y, Marciano H, Adini B. Impact of the war in Ukraine on resilience, protective, and vulnerability factors. Frontiers in public health. 2023;11:1053940. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1053940. PMID: 37397735.
The Lancet Regional Health-Europe. The regional and global impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Lancet regional health. Europe. 2022;15:100379. DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100379. PMID: 35531494.
Xu W, Pavlova I, Chen X, Petrytsa P, Graf-Vlachy L, Zhang SX. Mental health symptoms and coping strategies among Ukrainians during the russia-Ukraine war in March 2022. The International journal of social psychiatry. 2023;69(4):957-66. DOI: 10.1177/00207640221143919. PMID: 36598090.
Kurapov A, Kalaitzaki A, Keller V, Danyliuk I, Kowatsch T. The mental health impact of the ongoing russian-Ukrainian war 6 months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2023;14:1134780. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1134780. PMID: 37575573.
Huang MX, Huang CW, Harrington DL, Robb-Swan A, Angeles-Quinto A, Nichols S, et al. Resting-state magnetoencephalography source magnitude imaging with deep-learning neural network for classification of symptomatic combat-related mild traumatic brain injury. Hum Brain Mapp. 2021;42(7):1987-2004. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25340. PMID: 33449442.
Miles SR, Martindale SL, Flanagan JC, Troyanskaya M, Reljic T, Gilmore AK, et al. Putting the pieces together to understand anger in combat veterans and service members: Psychological and physical contributors. J Psychiatr Res. 2023;159:57-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.01.013. PMID: 36657315.
Doody CB, Robertson L, Cox KM, Bogue J, Egan J, Sarma KM. Pre-deployment programmes for building resilience in military and frontline emergency service personnel. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;12(12):CD013242. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013242.pub2. PMID: 34870330.
Coventry PA, Meader N, Melton H, Temple M, Dale H, Wright K, et al. Psychological and pharmacological interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder and comorbid mental health problems following complex traumatic events: Systematic review and component network meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2020;17(8):e1003262. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003262. PMID: 32813696.
Maglione MA, Chen C, Bialas A, Motala A, Chang J, Akinniranye O, Hempel S. Combat and Operational Stress Control Interventions and PTSD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Military Medicine. 2022;187(7-8):e846-55. DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usab310. PMID: 34318331.
Flood A, Keegan RJ. Cognitive Resilience to Psychological Stress in Military Personnel. Front. Psychol. 2022;13:809003. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809003. PMID: 35369170.
Zasiekina L, Duchyminska T, Bifulco A, Bignardi G. War trauma impacts in Ukrainian combat and civilian populations: Moral injury and associated mental health symptoms. Mil Psychol. 2024;36(5):555-66. DOI: 10.1080/08995605.2023.2235256. PMID: 37486615.
Giles GE, Navarro E, Elkin-Frankston S, Brunyé TT, Elmore WR, Seay JF, et al. Characterizing Relationships Among the Cognitive, Physical, Social-emotional, and Health-related Traits of Military Personnel. Mil Med. 2023;188(7-8):e2275-83. DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usad002. PMID: 36705463.
Giles GE, Cantelon JA, Navarro E, Brunyé TT. State and trait predictors of cognitive responses to acute stress and uncertainty. Mil Psychol. 2025;37(4):330-7. DOI: 10.1080/08995605.2024.2370708. PMID: 38935408.
Crivelli D, Acconito C, Balconi M. Emotional and Cognitive "Route" in Decision-Making Process: The Relationship between Executive Functions, Psychophysiological Correlates, Decisional Styles, and Personality. Brain Sci. 2024;14(7):734 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14070734. PMID: 39061474.
Crivelli D, Acconito C, Balconi M. What Happens to Information, Situational Cues, and Individual Strategies in Decision-Making? The Contribution of Latent Decisional Profiles in Realistic Decisions. Decision. 2024;51:57-68. DOI: 10.1007/s40622-024-00374-3.
Ambrosini E, Arbula S, Rossato C, Pacella V, Vallesi A. Neuro-cognitive architecture of executive functions: A latent variable analysis. Cortex. 2019;119:441-56. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.07.013. PMID: 31505436.
Marques da Rocha MC, Malloy-Diniz LF, Romano-Silva MA, Joaquim RM, Serpa ALO, Paim Diaz A, et al. Decision-making styles during stressful scenarios: The role of anxiety in COVID-19 pandemic. Front Psychiatry. 2023;14:1105662. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1105662. PMID: 37091714.
Cantelon JA, Navarro E, Brunye TT, Eddy MD, Ward N, Pantoja-Feliciano I, et al. Emotional, physiological, biochemical, and behavioral responses to acute stress and uncertainty in military personnel. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(11):e0312443. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312443. PMID: 39570827.
Slezackova A, Malatincova T, Millova K, Svetlak M, Krafft AM. The moderating effect of perceived hope in the relationship between anxiety and posttraumatic growth during the russian-Ukrainian war. Frontiers in psychology. 2024;15:1440021. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1440021. PMID: 39156809.
Ghosn F, Chu T, Simon M, Braithwaite A, Frith M, Jandali J. The journey home: violence, anchoring, and refugee decisions to return. Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 2021;15:982-98. DOI: 10.1017/S0003055421000344.
Patel N, Kellezi B, Williams AC. Psychological, social and welfare interventions for psychological health and well-being of torture survivors. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;2014(11):CD009317. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009317.pub2. PMID: 25386846.
Morriss J, Zuj DV, Mertens G. The role of intolerance of uncertainty in classical threat conditioning: Recent developments and directions for future research. Int J Psychophysiol. 2021;166:116-26. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.05.011. PMID: 34097936.
Becerra R, Gainey K, Murray K, Preece DA. Intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety: The role of beliefs about emotions. J Affect Disord. 2023;324:349-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.064. PMID: 36586604.
Cooper DC, Campbell MS, Case SR, Fraine MC, Jones RA, Klein IF, Hoyt T. Outcome metrics utilized in evaluations of programs and interventions for combat and operational stress: A review of psychometric properties. Mil Psychol. 2024;36(2):227-37. DOI: 10.1080/08995605.2022.2117537. PMID: 38377250.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.