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2020, Volume 11, Issue 3, pages: 72-87 | https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/110

The Main Factors and
Personality
Characteristics to
Predict the Risk of
Suicide by Military
Personnel in
Hostilities

Ihor PRYKHODKO¹,
Yanina MATSEHORA2,
Olexander
KOLESNICHENKO3, Anastasiia
BOLSHAKOVA4, Olena BILYK5,
Andriy V. HAYDABRUS6

1 Doctor of Science in Psychology,
Professor, Research Center, National
Academy of National Guard of Ukraine,
Kharkiv, Ukraine,
prikhodko1966@ukr.net

2 PhD in Psychology, Senior Researcher,
Research Center, National Academy of
National Guard of Ukraine, Kharkiv,
Ukraine, yanina_gora@ukr.net
3 Doctor of Science in Psychology, Senior
Researcher, Research Center, National
Academy of National Guard of Ukraine,
Kharkiv, Ukraine,
alex_kolesnichenko@ukr.net
4 Doctor of Science in Psychology,
Professor, Psychology and Pedagogy
Department, Kharkiv State Academy of
Culture, Kharkiv, Ukraine,
bolshakova777@ukr.net
5 Doctor of Science in Pedagogy,
Associate Professor, Psychology and
Pedagogy Department, Kharkiv State
Academy of Culture, Kharkiv, Ukraine,
bilikle@gmail.com
6 MD, PhD in Medical Science, Associate
Professor, Department of Clinical
Neurology, Psychiatry and Narcology,
Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv,
Ukraine, gaydabrusandriy@gmail.com

Abstract: The problem of non-combat losses due to suicides of military
personnel is relevant for most of the armed forces of states participating in
local armed conflicts. The posthumous pathopsychological study of
materials from the investigation of suicides by Ukrainian military
personnel made it possible to identify the main factors of committing
suicides during the period of participation in hostilities in eastern
Ukraine in 2014-2019: problems of adaptation to combat conditions;
insufficient level of professional and psychological training to perform
missions in combat conditions; acute stressful reactions to participation in
hostilities; physical and mental exhaustion, demotivation; dysfunctional
families; loneliness or breakup with a beloved woman; offenses and
disciplinary actions; alcohol abuse. The main types of personality who
committed suicide in different periods of hostilities were: in 2014-2016
“Demonstratively-Dependent”, having two subtypes “Demonstratively-
Maladaptive” and “Demonstratively-Masked”; in 2017-2019
“Asthenic-Depressive”, which has two subtypes “Constitutionally-
Weak” and “Exhausted-Demotivated”. The manifestation of PTSD
symptoms, physical and mental exhaustion, demotivation, indifference of
society to the problems of veterans can significantly increase the risk of
suicide in the post-war period. The division into periods of suicidal
activity of servicemen suggests that the identified types (subtypes) of
personality become suicidal only in extreme conditions with impaired
adaptation and self–realization. The identified reasons for committing
suicides and the typification of military personnel-suicides associated with
different periods of participation in hostilities are not exhaustive.

Keywords: suicide; hostilities; military personnel; personality
characteristics, Ukraine.

How to cite: Prykhodko, I., Matsehora, Y., Kolesnichenko,
O., Bolshakova, A., Bilyk, O., & Haydabrus, A, V. (2020). The
Main Factors and Personality Characteristics to Predict the
Risk of Suicide by Military Personnel in Hostilities. BRAIN.
Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 11(3),
72-87. https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/110

https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/110
mailto:prikhodko1966@ukr.net
mailto:yanina_gora@ukr.net
mailto:alex_kolesnichenko@ukr.net
mailto:bolshakova777@ukr.net
mailto:bilikle@gmail.
mailto:gaydabrusandriy@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/110

The Main Factors and Personality Characteristics to Predict…
Ihor PRYKHODKO et. al.

1. Introduction

The problem of non-combat losses due to suicides of military
personnel is relevant for most of the armed forces of states participating in
various armed conflicts. Increases in military and veteran suicide have been
reported over the past decade in the US, UK, Germany and other countries
(Bryan & Rudd, 2015; Smith et al., 2019; Willmund et al., 2019a). The
significance of this problem and the desire to solve it are evidenced by the
fact that the US Department of Defense initiated large-scale studies: a meta-
analysis of scientific literature on the problem of suicide prevention among
military personnel; the search for a conceptual model that can be used as the
basis for understanding suicide in military units; development of postventive
strategies with the implementation of clinical and practical guidelines (Pak et
al., 2019). In addition, specialists in the study of aspects of military suicide
were asked to analyze archival information from 1819 to 2017 about the
circumstances and reasons for committing suicide by US military personnel
(Smith et al., 2019). Researchers of suicide among U.S. military personnel
suggested joining forces to solve this problem with specialists from
Germany, Canada, and Great Britain (Willmund et al., 2019b).

A large number of studies on the suicidality of military personnel in
2018-2020 were carried out within the framework of the interpersonal
psychological theory of suicide, which put namely acquired capability for
suicide, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness as
components explaining the commission of suicide. When studying suicidal
risks in military personnel participating in hostilities, studies of thwarted
belongingness and namely acquired capability for suicide seemed promising.
The loss of connection with their families, the perception of oneself as a
burden on the family as factors of suicidal risk were attractive for
constructing veterans' studies (Hom et al., 2017). Baer et al. (2019) studied
the relationship of emotional dysregulation and impulsivity with perceived
severity and thwarted belongingness to military personnel in a military
hospital due to a suicidal crisis. Martin et al. (2019) in a study of US National
Guard personnel who had unique experience of transitions from military to
civilian life, determined that tolerance to distress has a significant indirect
effect on the relationship between PTSD and constructs of interpersonal
psychological theory of suicide.

Relevant topics among military suicide researchers are still defining
the role of PTSD in suicide risk (O'Donnell et al., 2019), psychoactive
substance use (Anestis et al., 2019), predictors of repeated suicide attempts

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in military personnel (Bryan & Rudd, 2015), reasons why military personnel
do not seek professional help (Applegarthet al., 2019).

Given that military personnel often hide their suicidal thoughts and
intentions, researchers began to search for objective and non-stigmatized
signs that could be markers of an increased suicidal risk in military
personnel. The possibility of using suicidal risk markers such as insomnia
and positive screening for traumatic brain injury (Soberay et al,, 2019) has
been tested. The possibility of using indirect signs of suicidal behavior to
clarify suicide risk indicators for veterans with and without PTSD (Barnes et
al., 2019).

The problem group for the risk of suicide is military personnel
dismissed for negative reasons (Barr et al., 2019). The authors concluded
that veterans dismissed for negative reasons had higher average scores for all
predictors of suicide risk (PTSD, depression, alcohol use, somatic
symptoms, and physical disability) than military personnel dismissed for
valid reasons.

Adler et al. (2019) have studied the difficulty of obtaining
psychological support when deploying military personnel with a history of
suicidal thoughts and attempts. The authors brought that these difficulties
are associated with both stigma and logistical problems, difficulties in
organizing a reception, a long waiting time, etc. Common ways of providing
support to servicemen who have experienced a suicide crisis (family support,
crisis hotlines, help from priests and commanders) do not have a unanimous
positive assessment among them.

The need to take into account historical content when studying
suicidal activity is reflected in the publications of American and Ukrainian
scientists. Trying to determine the specific content specifically for military
suicides, American researchers turned to an unprecedented in its scope
analysis of information about military suicides published from 1819 to 2017
(Smith et al., 2019). The authors found that starting in 1843, the overall
trend in annual suicide rates among military personnel serving in the U.S.
Army increased and reached its peak at 118.3 per 100 000 in 1883. Out of
this historic maximum, the suicide rate among military personnel decreased
in three successive waves, each of which corresponded to the end of the
war: the Spanish–American (1898), the First World War (1914-1918) and the
Second World War (1939-1945). After the Second World War, a historical
minimum was set – 5 per 100 000 (in 1944-1945). During the Cold War
(from 1945 to 1991), this figure stabilized at 10–15 per 100 000.
Nevertheless after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this figure increased,
reaching 29.7 per 100 000 in 2012. From 2008 to the present, the annual rate

The Main Factors and Personality Characteristics to Predict…
Ihor PRYKHODKO et. al.

remains in the range of 20.2–29.7 per 100 000. The study authors showed
that this long-term historical approach to suicide among US Army personnel
provides subsequent researchers with a new analytical tool and additional
perspective with which to better differentiate between long-term and
historical trends (Smith et al., 2019).

In peacetime, among the population in Ukraine, it was proposed to
distinguish four periods of the dynamics of suicidal mortality: a decrease in
suicidal activity against the background of the anti-alcohol campaign in
1981-1988; sharp growth after the collapse of the USSR (1991-1996);
stabilization of suicidal mortality at a high level (1997-2000) and its gradual
decrease (2000-2013), but did not reach the level during the anti-alcohol
campaign (Yuryeva et al., 2019). The authors argue that in 2014 (the first
year of hostilities) among the Ukrainian population, there was a gradual
decrease in suicidal mortality, which reached a minimum in 2015 and lasted
until 2016.

However, among the military personnel of the National Guard of
Ukraine (NGU), with the beginning of the armed conflict in the East of
Ukraine, already in the first year (2014), the number of completed suicides
increased several times compared with the peace period (Prykhodko et al.,
2018). The authors proved that in the period from 2014 to 2016 this was due
to the problems of insufficient professional and psychological preparedness
of mobilized servicemen to participate in hostilities. Since 2017, other
suicidogenic factors have come to the fore – mental and physical exhaustion
of personal resources due to the prolonged action of combat stress factors
(Prykhodko et al., 2020). This contradiction between the all-Ukrainian
dynamics of suicidal mortality, where there was a tendency to decrease it,
and an increase in suicide cases among NGU servicemen associated with the
outbreak of hostilities in 2014, was the reason for the study.

The aim of the study is to determine the main factors and personality
characteristics of NGU military personnel who committed suicide at
different stages of participation in hostilities in the East of Ukraine in 2014-
2019.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Participants

Due to the limitations existing in the documents of the NGU, data
on the number of suicides and generalized values based on the complex
results of psychodiagnostic studies in the control sample of military
personnel will not be presented in the article. To compare the results

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obtained in the process of analyzing the materials of the psychological
selection of servicemen who committed suicide, a control group of NGU
servicemen (N = 983) who served in the same period (2014-2019) was
compiled. The indicators of their personal characteristics according to these
questionnaires were used for comparison with the results that persisted
when persons who committed suicide in the future entered the military
service in 2014-2019.

2.2 Instruments

Posthumous pathopsychological study of materials from the official
investigation of suicides by Ukrainian NGU servicemen during the period of
hostilities in 2014-2019 was used to systematize the main factors and causes
of suicide.

The results of the psychological selection of servicemen prior to
their conscription into military service (by mobilization or contract) were
used to determine the personality types of suicides. The battery of
psychological tests included 6 Questionnaires. They were implemented in
electronic form for testing and processing the results obtained in the
Automated Psychodiagnostic Complex (APC) “Psychodiagnostics”
(Vorobyova et al., 2016). Peculiarities of motivation for choosing a
profession of a serviceman of NGU was determined using the
“Questionnaire for studying the motivation of professional choice”
(Moskalenko & Kobzin, 2004, as cited by Vorobyova et al., 2016, pp. 216-
218). To determine the character traits that worsen adaptation to new
conditions and circumstances of life, the “Determination of the type of
accentuation of character traits and temperament” Questionnaire was used
Schmieschek (1970, as cited by Vorobyova et al., 2016, pp. 219-222) used
the theory of personality accentuations by K. Leonhard (as cited by
Vorobyova et al., 2016, pp. 219-222) to develop the Questionnaire. To
determine the characteristics of the temperament of servicemen, the “Self-
assessment of the structure of temperament” Questionnaire was used
(Smirnov, 1989, as cited by Vorobyova et al., 2016, pp. 210-211). The
definition of a defect in the emotional-volitional sphere, the risk of
committing suicide, ways to overcome difficulties, obstacles facing a
serviceman, was used “Questionnaire of suicidal risk” (Shmelev, 2008, as
cited by Vorobyova et al., 2016, pp. 223-224). Features of mental resilience,
adaptation of the personality to new conditions, its tolerance to changes
were studied using the “Multilevel Personality Questionnaire ‘Adaptability’”
(Maklakov & Chermyanin, 1992, as cited by Vorobyova et al., 2016, pp. 264-
276). A generalized characteristic about the formed personality traits in the

The Main Factors and Personality Characteristics to Predict…
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process of human life was obtained using the Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire (16-PF Questionnaire, Cattell as cited by Vorobyova et al.,
2016, pp. 254-263). These Questionnaires have positively proven themselves
in the practice of psychological selection of military personnel in Eastern
Europe and made it possible to present an overall assessment of all spheres
of personality.

2.3 Procedure

All procedures carried out in the study conformed to the ethical
standards of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. The
cluster analysis was used to correlate the data of psychodiagnostic studies to
a homogeneous group, significantly different from one another. To
represent the data, we used the main descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean
M, standard deviation SD). To reliably detect significant differences between
comparative groups the t-Student criterion was used (significance level
p <0.1, p <0.05, p <0.01); for the different groups studied – the Fisher
criterion. Mathematical data processing was carried out using SPSS 17.0.

3. Results

Since 2014, servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, NGU and
other formations have been participating in hostilities in the East of Ukraine.
At the beginning of the war (2014-2016), mobilized, volunteers took part in
the hostilities, who significantly differed in professional experience and
training from military contract servicemen. Analysis of the socio-
demographic data of servicemen who committed suicide showed that all of
them in 2014-2016 served for less than three months, the vast majority of
them were mobilized or volunteers.

Analysis of psychodiagnostic data preserved in the APC showed that
over 90% of suicides had similar indicators, according to which they
significantly differed from the control group of military personnel. The
suicide servicemen had a low level of mental resilience and adaptive abilities
according to the “Adaptability” Questionnaire. According to the
“Determination of the type of accentuation of character traits and
temperament” Questionnaire, they significantly differed from the control
group in the vast majority of scales describing the types of character and
temperament accentuations: “Demonstrative” (17.50 ± 3.66, t = 3.31,
p≤0.01), “Pedantic” (12.50 ± 1.77, t = 4.09, p≤0.01), “Stuck” (14.00 ± 1.51,
t = 5.25, p≤0.01), “Cyclothymic” (12.00 ± 3.21, t = 2.86, p≤0.01),
“Unbalanced” (8.63 ± 4.37, t = 2.25, p≤0.05), “Dysthymic” (7.13 ± 2.75, t =
2.45, p≤0.05). According to the “Suicide Risk Questionnaire”, all suicides

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resorted to controlled reactions regarding the questions concerning the
“Maximalism” scale, and the average score in the group on this scale was 0.
According to the 16-PF Questionnaire, no statistically significant differences
were found with the control group.

The results of the analysis of the investigation materials showed that
the mobilization servicemen and volunteers who committed suicide in 2014-
2016 did not have enough mental resilience and personal adaptive potential
to overcome problems during the period of participation in hostilities. Thus,
the accentuated character traits of these servicemen potentially formed the
risk of more frequent getting into problem and conflict situations. They
were unable to let go of control over the situation, even if for objective
reasons it could not be controlled. They reflected on their own failures, as a
result, periods of depressed mood appeared and increased, melancholy
manifested itself, and also other depressive symptoms appeared. Analysis of
the materials of the investigations showed that the majority of suicides were
committed against the background of the “debut” of the first prolonged
(over a day) alcohol abuse.

Based on the results of psychodiagnostic materials and official
investigations, a generalized socio-psychological portrait of a Ukrainian
serviceman who committed suicide in 2014-2016 was compiled. This is a
soldier volunteer or called up for mobilization, who signed the first military
contract service to improve the material situation and conditions of service,
arrogantly believing that over the next three years he will be able to serve in
combat conditions on an equal basis with professional military personnel.
His idea of military service and combat operations was far from reality, he
hoped that the physical and mental resources available to him would be
sufficient to maintain control over the situation. And even having received a
combat stress trauma, he continued to be guided by idealized notions of
“unworthy behavior” for a serviceman (demonstrating his weakness) – he
excluded the possibility of seeking help from comrades or specialists, hiding
his feelings and fears from them. Spending his last mental resources on
bravado, he completely depleted himself, and the decrease in fear of death
and physical pain due to participation in hostilities allowed him to choose
suicide as the only correct way to get rid of suffering and maintain “self-
esteem”.

Since 2017, for military personnel (mobilized, volunteers, military
contract service), a prerequisite for participation in hostilities has become the
conduct of enhanced special professional and psychological training in the
field, including using the acquired combat experience in Ukraine and the
experience of foreign specialists. It included both the improvement of

The Main Factors and Personality Characteristics to Predict…
Ihor PRYKHODKO et. al.

professional skills and psychological techniques of self-regulation, adaptation
to combat stressors and other activities. It should be noted that since that
period, the overwhelming majority of NGU servicemen were not involved
in active combat operations and continued to perform law enforcement
functions in the combat zone. Nevertheless, the number of suicide soldiers
in 2017-2019 did not decrease.

Using psychodiagnostic data preserved in the APC, and materials
from investigations of suicides of servicemen, we determined the personality
characteristics of servicemen-suicides in the period 2017-2019. In the sample
of suicides of the second period (2017-2019), two groups are distinguished.
The first is quite similar to the group identified in the first period (2014-
2016), however, the indicators of accentuations in the servicemen of this
group are smoother – they are between the indicators of the control group
and the indicators of the suicide group 2014-2016 with the preservation of
the leading genus demonstrative accentuation. The control of answers to the
questions of the “Suicidal Risk Questionnaire” already extended not to one
scale, but to half of the scales: thus, the scales “Demonstrativeness”,
“Affectivity”, “Uniqueness” were added. The military service experience of
persons who committed suicide increased and became more than one year;
they were all military contract servicemen. Most of them had a long history
of alcohol abuse and committed suicide while intoxicated. We point out that
these servicemen could not have been identified as a separate group if it had
not been for the selection of the first group of persons who committed
suicide in 2014-2016, in which the suicidal portrait was more prominently
presented. These servicemen had more favorable conditions for adaptation
to combat conditions; the accumulation of stress factors in the development
of the suicidal crisis was much slower. However, in spite of the external
manifestations of adaptation, these servicemen did not actually have a
significant positive change in their personal adaptive potential. Such
problems in psychological preparation may have been associated with
insufficient psychological intervention. Thus, the psychologists of NGU at
that time focused on the psychological informing of the military personnel
about the stress factors of the combat situation, the development of
productive coping-strategies for overcoming combat stress in servicemen,
etc. (Prykhodko et al., 2019). However, psychologists did not test the
destructiveness of the very structure of adaptation of servicemen; the
behavior of the servicemen who committed suicide did not differ from
others, and they did not complain about their negative mental state.
Although psychologists had to pay attention to the increase in alcohol abuse
by the servicemen of this group (they told those around them that it was

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necessary to “relieve constant tension”). Nevertheless, both the 2014-2016
suicide servicemen and persons of this type who committed suicide in 2017-
2019, despite their mental suffering, tried to the last to play the role of
“courageous servicemen” who could endure all difficulties and successfully
cope with combat stress (Melnyk et al., 2019).

For the second group of servicemen-suicides of the period 2017-
2019, a decrease in almost all indicators of motivation was characteristic,
according to which they differed at a statistically significant level from the
control group: “Motives associated with objective socially set goals and the
content of the profession” (19.25 ± 3, 86; t = 1.91, p≤0.1), “Independent
choice of profession” (14.75 ± 4.35; t = 3.07, p≤0.01), “Non-independent
choice of profession” (7, 25 ± 4.35; t = 3.79, p≤0.01), “Motives associated
with the external prestige of the profession and material well-being” (15.50
± 4.36; t = 2.01, p≤0.05), “Motives associated with the romantic
attractiveness of the profession” (12.25 ± 6.24; t = 1.72, p≤0.1) and
“Motives associated with the desire to compensate for characterological
shortcomings” (16.50 ± 3 , 32; t = 1.81, p≤0.1). This decrease in motivation
was interpreted as evidence of energetic weakness or exhaustion.

In addition, the servicemen of this group had the lowest indices
among all compared groups on such scales of the “Self-assessment of the
structure of temperament” Questionnaire as “Activity” (16.50 ± 5.68; t =
1.85, p≤0.1), “Rate of reaction” (9.88 ± 3.94; t = 1.73, p≤0.1) and
“Extraversion-introversion” (14.63 ± 5.93; t = 1.93, p≤0.1). These low rates
suggested that these soldiers were unable to respond in a timely manner to
changes in situations and the environment. In this group, indicators on the
scale “Hyperthymic” (15.00 ± 3.46; t = 2.03, p≤0.05), “Demonstrative”
(11.14 ± 2.54; t = 3.23, p ≤0.01) were also significantly smaller than in the
control group, and higher on the scales “Dysthymic” (12.86 ± 6.41; t = 1.87,
p≤0.1), “Cyclothymic” ( 12.00 ± 5.48; t = 1.77, p≤0.1) and “Unbalanced”
(9.00 ± 3.87; t = 2.98, p≤0.01) types of accentuation. Such indicators
suggested that in these servicemen, the hyperthymic phases (periods of
forced activity) were replaced by irritation and dysthymic phases, which may
indicate the presence of asthenic-depressive symptoms.

In confirmation of depressive symptoms, there are significantly
higher indicators on such scales of the “Suicidal Risk Questionnaire” as
“Helplessness” (32.73 ± 13.48; t = 2.27, p≤0.05), “Social pessimism” (53.18
± 9.05; t = 2.90, p≤0.01) than in the control group. In addition, this group
showed significantly lower indicators on the scale of “Hourly perspective”
than in the control group.

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Ihor PRYKHODKO et. al.

Comparing the personal characteristics obtained using the 16-PF
Questionnaire, we note that the servicemen of this group significantly differ
from the control group in less sociability (“A” (isolation-sociability) 7.55 ±
1.86; t = 1.92, p≤0.1), courage (“H” (timidity-courage) 6.45 ± 1.97; t = 2.87,
р≤0.01), greater sensitivity (“I” (stiffness-sensitivity) 6.00 ± 1.41; t = 2.29,
p≤0.05) and gullibility (“L” (gullibility-suspiciousness) 3.45 ± 1.81; t = 1.71,
p≤0.1). They have lower indicators on self-control scales (“Q3” (low-high
self-control) 6.55 ± 1.51; t = 2.09, p≤0.05), are more tense (“Q4”
(relaxation-tension) 4.36 ± 1.21; t = 2.57, p≤0.01) and fit worse into group
interaction (“Q2” (conformism-non-conformism) 5.36 ± 1.29; t = 2.36,
p≤0.05).

An analysis of socio-demographic data and the results of
investigations showed that the second group is not homogeneous and,
according to similar indicators, it contains a different psychological content.
The overwhelming majority in the second group (approximately 75%) are
solders who, having no contraindications in terms of mental and physical
health, were called up for military service. However, during the first weeks
or 1-2 months of services committed suicide or attempted suicide.
According to the materials of investigations, most of the servicemen were
brought up in dysfunctional (destructive) families (incomplete, needy, there
were conflicts with their parents or were subjected to violence by their
parents). Some of the servicemen in their inner circle showed an intention to
commit suicide; some of them had demonstrative attempts at suicide before
serving in the army. These servicemen reacted to alcohol consumption with
relaxation, drowsiness or lethargy; therefore it was unusual for them to
commit suicides while intoxicated. The completed suicides in this group
were unexpectedly violent, but without the use of weapons.

A third of the second group are military personnel with significant
experience of military contract service, some of them had up to 8 rotations
in the combat zone, all of them committed suicide while on vacation at
home. Most were single with a long history of alcohol abuse, although they
were sober at the time of committing suicide and had no obvious reason
(acute problem) to commit suicide.

4. Discussion

The study allows us to assert that the suicides of servicemen
committed in combat conditions are not a homogeneous phenomenon.
They are interconnected both with the stage of the conduct of hostilities in
which the military unit took part, and with professional and psychological
training, as well as with the social and personal characteristics of servicemen.

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The overwhelming majority of suicides among military personnel in the first
period of hostilities (2014-2016) should not have occurred if it were not
professionally and psychologically sufficiently trained and the volume of
conscription for military service has not increased.

As shown by the results of our study, in positional and defensive
warfare, the number of suicides among professional military personnel was
zero in the first two years and gradually began to increase over the next 3-4
years of hostilities due to an increase in the number of people with depletion
of physical and mental resources. American researchers also point to a small
number of military suicides during the “Just War”, they found after the
Second World War the historically minimal number of suicides in the US
military at 5 people per 100 000 (Smith et al., 2019).

German researchers have determined that military personnel with no
deployment experience are at twice the risk of committing suicide compared
to those with more than one deployment experience (Willmund et al.,
2019a). In addition, authors found that at risk among military personnel
were single men older than 45 years old with a short service life (up to two
years) and a low level of education. The revealed features are quite similar to
the general characteristics of Ukrainian servicemen mobilized for military
service in connection with the hostilities in the East of Ukraine – older age,
insufficient military experience and low educational level.

The features of the “Demonstratively-Maladaptive” subtype of
suicides are to a certain extent similar to the results of other researchers. In a
study by Krafft, Hicks, Mack, & Levin (2019), it was determined that
psychological inflexibility is a predictor of suicidal thoughts with an increase
in their intensity and they are interconnected with distress, cognitive
synthesis and the progress of values. In contrast to the “Demonstratively-
Maladaptive” subtype, whose representatives almost immediately fell into
the stressful conditions of hostilities, persons with a “Demonstratively-
Disguised” subtype served in the army for more than one year before their
conditions of service became stressful and led to an exacerbation of the
suicidal crisis. Having served for a long time, the servicemen of the second
subtype no longer had a romantic idea of military service and tried to avoid
or delay the time of a business trip to the combat zone. In such conditions,
the development of a suicidal crisis was rendered not only by combat stress,
physical overload, and constant tension from the expectation of being sent
to the combat zone, but also by the accumulation of negative experiences
about the feeling of one's own inconsistency with the expectations of one's
reference group. These servicemen committed suicide both immediately

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Ihor PRYKHODKO et. al.

before being sent to the combat zone and while waiting for it for a long
time.

The cause of mental and physical exhaustion with further
demotivation in combatants could be symptoms of PTSD. Alcohol abuse,
identified in the study, can both enhance these processes and become an
independent factor in physical and mental exhaustion, as well as leveling the
motivational sphere, especially when there is a tradition of relieving stress
with alcohol in a soldier's environment. All these processes led not only to
demotivation, but also to the loss of a close environment, as a result of
which the soldier became lonely, which is also an established fact of our
study. Someone had a reason for suicide, a slight display of disrespect from
others, which, probably, in a sober state became the impetus for
experiencing shame. This conclusion is supported by a study by Cameron,
Shea, & Randall (2020), in which the authors found that in veterans who
used psychoactive substances and showed signs of depression and
hopelessness, acute feelings of shame can increase the suicidal risk.

Post-deployment studies of U.S. National Guard personnel have
found that good intimate relationships are associated with all mental health
indicators – PTSD, depression, and anxiety (Blow et al., 2019). Therefore,
interventions that promote the strengthening of intimate interpersonal
relationships have the potential to reduce military suicide rates.

The loneliness identified in our study is one of the factors of suicidal
risk in military personnel who took part in hostilities and during
deployments (Willmund et al., 2019a). O'Donnell et al. (2019) using data
from the National Violent Death Reporting System of 1362 veteran suicides
between the ages of 18 and 34 between 2005 and 2014, the researchers
found that 15% of the veterans had signs of PTSD. Individuals who were
25-34 years old had a 30-fold increase in reported PTSD, but younger
people did not. In their findings, the researchers emphasize that the presence
of PTSD in veterans aged 25-34 is a significant risk factor that should be
considered by health care professionals, regardless of the presence (absence)
of other risk factors.

5. Conclusions

The main factors of committing suicides by Ukrainian military
personnel during the period of participation in hostilities in the East of
Ukraine in 2014-2019 were: problems of adaptation to combat conditions;
insufficient level of professional and psychological training to perform
missions in combat conditions; acute stress reactions to participation in

BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020
Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3

hostilities; physical and mental exhaustion; demotivation; dysfunctional
families; loneliness or breakup with a beloved woman; offenses and
disciplinary actions; alcohol abuse.

The main types of personality of servicemen who committed suicide
in different periods of hostilities were: in 2014-2016 “Demonstratively-
Dependent”, which has two subtypes “Demonstratively-Maladjusted” and
“Demonstratively-Disguised”; in 2017-2019 “Asthenic-Depressive”, which
has two subtypes “Constitutionally-weak” and “Exhausted-Demotivated”.
Manifestation of PTSD symptoms, physical and emotional exhaustion,
demotivation, indifference of society can significantly increase the risk of
suicide by military personnel and veterans in the postwar period. The
division into periods of suicidal activity of servicemen suggests that the
identified types (subtypes) of personality become suicidal only in special
(extreme) conditions with impaired adaptation and self-realization. In fact,
they are a specific variant of the manifestation of a person's psychological
instability to stress. Therefore, to understand the prediction of suicide by
servicemen, it is important not only to determine belonging to the type of
personality, but also to determine the situation in which it is: as a crisis,
conflict, extreme with a great risk to life and health.

Note that the reasons for committing suicides and the distinguished
typification of servicemen-suicides associated with different periods of
participation in hostilities are not exhaustive. However, the results obtained
prove that there is a list of the main factors that can be predictors of the risk
of committing suicide in combat conditions, and military suicides are not a
homogeneous group.

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