Journal

Key words: war, Russian-Ukrainian war, mental state, Kharkiv residents, shelling of the city, children.

The article contains the main mental states of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian city with a million populations – Kharkiv. These mental states were observed during the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022. There are three periods in which certain mental states are observed and manifest. The observation method was used during the installation of these stations. Thanks to this method the psychologists of the educational and scientific laboratory of extreme and crisis psychology, the National University of Civil Defense of Ukraine monitored the citizens and provided them with emergency psychological assistance.

Three main stages of changing the mental state of man were defined. The first stage is «Shock». It lasts 1-2 weeks after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. At this stage, there were mostly acute mental states of the city dwellers and children. These states were characterized by abrupt changes of the mood, constant emotional tension, nervousness, attempts to break their nervousness to others. The second stage is «Adaptation». It lasts for 3-4 weeks after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. During this period, many city dwellers are in the process of adapting to new and completely unusual conditions. The third stage is «Addiction». This period starts after fifth week of the Russian-Ukrainian war. At this stage, there is a so-called indifference among city dwellers, who believe that the danger is no more. But the threat to life and health remains. During these stages, various mental states and their manifestations in behavior of the citizens of Kharkiv were observed. The common manifestations and differences of these mental states among the adult and children of the citizens of Kharkiv are specified