Psychosocial Consequences of War: Conference gets underway at ASPU
21.10.2022
Psychosocial Consequences of War: Conference gets underway at ASPU

A two-day international conference entitled "Psychosocial Consequences of War" started at ASPU on October 22 upon initiative of the Chair of Psychology named after Academician Mkrtich Mazmanyan of the Faculty of Education Psychology and Sociology. The event brought together representatives of scientific and educational institutions from Armenia, Arsakh, Russia and Ukraine.

ASPU Rector Srbuhi Gevorgyan thanked Armenian psychologists for using their professional abilities in practice and providing necessary support to the relevant groups, irrespective of the stressful situation. She stressed the importance of the conference from a scientific and practical perspective, expressing confidence that the published works will be helpful for the specialists of the field in the first place.

Srbuhi Gevorgyan says war is first of all a social-psychological phenomenon. "We are dealing with post-war phenomena; there is a problem of restoring equivalence of person, group and society. From the point of view of carrying out professional activity, serious psychological measures are needed to raise the fighting spirit in the army: this is of primary importance."

Ruzanna Petrosyan, Dean of the Faculty of Education Psychology and Sociology, says they are marking the 100th anniversary of the University in the conditions of serious socio-political and socio-psychological challenges. The conference is a unique platform and opportunity to discuss the existing psychological problems and find solutions.

She says one of the important issues to be discussed at the conference is psychological and social consequences of war, provision of adequate psychological assistance and psychological safety of the population. "As in previous years, today too our partners are doing tremendous work by providing the necessary psychological support,” Ruzanna Petrosyan stressed.

Levon Sargsyan, Chair of Psychology named after Academician Mkrtich Mazmanyan, regretted to say that the title of the conference continues to be relevant.

He says the idea of holding the conference was born back in 2020, during the days of the 44-day war in Artsakh, when a group of psychology specialists of the Faculty of Education Psychology and Sociology carried out professional activities within the framework of various programme.

Levon Sargsyan considers the publication of the 1st issue of the "Psychosocial Consequences of War” journal to be one of the targets of the conference.

Also, the results of practical work and scientific research aimed at maintaining psychological health of people and providing psycho-social support were presented during the conference.

Hrant Avanesyan, Professor at Yerevan State University, and Vladimir Gasparyan, Associate Professor at Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi, dwelt on major challenges in psychology in the report entitled “Peculiarities of Organization of Psychological Services, Their Role and Functions during and after the 44-day War [in Artsakh].”

Professor Avanesyan believes that practice and science should go hand in hand, but practice should be based on scientific evidence.

Marianna Harutyunyan, ASPU Vice-Rector for Human Resources and International Cooperation, Associate Professor of the Chair of Logopaedics and Rehabilitation Therapy, presented a topic entitled “Interpretation of Occupational Therapy Interventions in Treating Wounded Soldiers.”

The latter says the topic is relevant especially considering the increasing numbers of wounded soldiers in the 2nd war in Artsakh in autumn 2020, the scarcity of published studies and articles, and the strict restriction of materials on integrating occupational therapy in treating wounded soldiers.

She says ergotherapy interventions contribute to not only development and improvement of upper limb function, but also help visitors to relearn and develop skills lost due to injury, contribute to the upper limb recovery, etc.

Natalia Rybalchenko, a representative of the State Academic University for the Humanities (Moscow), presented the results of studies on the vitality and psychological well-being of war veterans. Vitya Yaramishyan, Vice-Rector of Artsakh State University, spoke about the importance of copying with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the participants of the 44-day war, and ASPU Professor Mels Mkrtumyan focused on the socio-psychological characteristics of organizing psychological first aid for war participants.

The conference continued in subgroups, with leading experts the field presenting their works on the topic.

The conference will continue on Saturday, October 22, in an online format.

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