THE PSYCHOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER THROUGH MILITARY PERSONNEL’S CREATIVE WRITING

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the linguistic markers of manifestation in the modern non-institutional military-poetic discourse of consequences of combat stress, which the Ukrainian army servicemen experienced during military operations. This study focuses on an integrated approach combining pragmatic and cognitive approaches in the framework of discourse analysis. Analysis of the military-poetic discourse has proved that combat stress takes a toll in the poetry of military personnel in the form of signs of the emotional and psychological state, which is taken as post-traumatic stress disorder. These signs are: reference to recurring disturbing dreams (nightmares) and obsessive troubling flashbacks relating to war; a subconscious desire to forget what has happened; persistent negative emotional and psychological state, which manifests itself in negative feelings, moods and emotions such as: depression, anger, rage, hatred, mistrust, resentment, humiliation, letdown, confusion from not understanding what is happening; persistent inability to experience positive emotions; depersonalization; feeling of isolation, alienation from other people; persistent and exaggerated expectations from others, which manifests itself in negative beliefs and/or blaming yourself and others. To protect their psyche from the destructive effects of a traumatic situation, servicemen use such self-regulation strategy as involvement in artistic creativity, in which poetry works as a type of social and psychological rehabilitation. The rewind technique, psychodrama and cognitive restructuring are the most essential elements of self-regulation strategies used by the participants in the Joint Forces Operation.