THE INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SENIOR OFFICERS - THE PARTICIPANTS OF COMBAT ACTIONS

Today, the identity of a serviceman participating in local wars and armed conflicts is one of the most relevant research topics for the Russian military psychology, and the psychological consequences of combat psychological trauma are the area of mutual scientific and practical interests of both civilian and military specialists. The personality of senior officers-combatants is of particular interest. This is due to the fact that they face the influence of various factors and situations when solving their combat missions. To solve combat missions successfully, senior officers-combatants need to have both professional skills and certain psychological characteristics. The paper shows the results of the comparative analysis of individual psychological characteristics (stress resistance, anxiety, the ability to adapt to the new life conditions, the preferred forms of coping behavior) of the top commanders of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who participated in combat operations (the experimental group) and their colleagues who did not participate in the hostilities. The study showed that senior officers who took part in hostilities were more prone to neuro-psychic breakdowns than their colleagues who did not take part in hostilities. Senior officers-combatants are characterized by a significantly higher level of personal anxiety expressed in the tendency to consider a wide range of situations as a threat to themselves; they show more pronounced indicators of social maladjustment. Moreover, the author identified that senior commanders who took part in hostilities were at most prone to use non-constructive strategies to overcome stressful situations.