The outbreak of the war in Ukraine caused some Poles fear, sometimes even a feeling of panic. People began to stockpile gasoline, food, Lugol’s liquid began to disappear from pharmacies. We’re still scared, we don’t know what the future holds. In addition, we are still following the sad and tragic media reports. What are the consequences and how to take care of yourself in this difficult situation, a specialist psychiatrist, head of the Department of Psychiatry, Combat Stress and Psychotraumatology of the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw, Colonel Radosław Tworus, MD, explained in an interview with Medonet.
- Dr. Tworus: We often tend to torture ourselves with information about events or situations beyond our control. Moreover, we also do not have the knowledge to properly interpret the messages reaching us, which are abundant
- This causes information stress, a condition that disrupts the way we think and perceive reality. “In our actions we start to rely on information with which we do not know what to do with”
- How can we take care of ourselves in such a situation? Dr. Tworus advises to limit access to disturbing news
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
- What’s going on in Ukraine? Follow the broadcast live
Col. Radosław Tworus, MD, PhD, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of the Military Medical Academy in Łódź, a specialist psychiatrist, head of the Department of Psychiatry, Combat Stress and Psychotraumatology of the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw, long-term consultant of the Military Health Service for psychiatry, lecturer at the Department of Psychology at the University of Warsaw.
The main scientific and research interests are the issues of aggression and violence, issues of forensic psychiatric opinion, medical certification in mental disorders, consultative psychiatry and mental disorders related to traumatic stress with a particular focus on mental disorders of the contemporary battlefield and mental disorders occurring in victims of accidents and catastrophes. , multi-organ injuries.
Author of over a hundred publications on the above-mentioned clinical issues. He manages and cooperates in the implementation of scientific and research projects concerning the diagnosis, treatment and psychotherapy of mental disorders resulting from traumatic events.
Monika Mikołajska / Medonet: It is more and more clear that there is a growing fear of war among some Poles: we have queues at gas stations and ATMs. A friend in Estonia told me recently that people there behave calmer. The question is, what is happening to us? Why are some people so nervous?
Col. Radosław Tworus, MD: I think it is in line with what is happening in our country. First and foremost, we are an information society. We have tons of sources to get our news from – radio, TV, internet, including social media. On the one hand, it would seem that this is something that should improve our knowledge of the world. On the other hand, however, there is a lot of information. They are often incomplete, have no objective confirmation, and it turns out in a moment that it was untrue or “not entirely” true. There are also a lot of short throws, information is duplicated. All this makes us experience the so-called information stress. Remember that not everyone has the appropriate knowledge, not all are able to filter and process information, which is a great ability.
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I also believe that, as in the coronavirus pandemic, in the situation of the war in Ukraine, we do not have a clear position of the Polish administration bodies, and there is no clear message to the public that the situation is under control. In fact, the one who manages the information has power. And unfortunately, probably every citizen experiences a certain chaos here and sees that there are a lot of contradictory messages. As a result, distrust is born in us, which overlaps with the existing lack of trust in the state among Poles and the abovementioned overload of information. As a result, we take chaotic actions to divert our attention from not coping with the situation.
The rest of the material for the video.
Which for example?
Some people buy gasoline. Some are stocking up food. Some are involved in helping – they decide to volunteer to help refugees, sometimes also to distract from their own thoughts.
Recently, one of my patients admitted that he was stocking up on gasoline. I asked him what he was doing this for. He replied: I don’t know to have. And in fact, only one of the dozen patients who are now stocking up on fuel gave me a consistent answer: if it is dangerous, I need gas to go with my family to the West.
Withdrawing money from ATMs, in my opinion, is also a signal of losing some confidence in the state. So I keep repeating that a well-organized state is a safe state that manages information in a coherent manner. Proper state policy is the most important element of a sense of security and peace in society. Crisis management is looking into the future – a bit like a fortune teller, with the main difference that we should have several variants of the course of events and an action plan for each of them. There is no room for improvisation here.
How do the mass of war information and information stress affect us (because it did not appear with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine)? What mechanisms are starting to work here?
Let me start with an example. We have a person who is not a farmer, does not build a house, does not replace the roof, owns an apartment in a block of flats and leads such a static lifestyle. When the man looks at the weather forecast, he complains that there will be rains or strong winds. Now, why does the weather bother him? Why does he experience that it will rain when he does not use this knowledge for anything? In general, we often tend to torment ourselves with information about events or situations beyond our control. Moreover, we also do not have the knowledge to properly interpret the messages reaching us. All of this, plus the abundance of information, make us generate false conclusions.
It’s like one of my patients. This man, not having adequate medical knowledge, went to three cardiologists. When he returned home, he said that each of the doctors had diagnosed him with a different problem. “One said I had coronary artery disease, the other said angina, and the third said pectoris.” As a result, he began to think that he was seriously ill. In fact, however, each of these cardiologists said the same, although each put it slightly differently. The patient, however, did not have the knowledge to properly understand this message.
The same is happening in our information society. We soak up the news coming from everywhere, and then we additionally process them in various types of social media, where almost everyone feels like an expert. Anyway, many experts on “everything” have appeared in the media recently.
Simply put, when we enter the ongoing information chaos, we are actually making our lives difficult.
Just like that. By using the resources of the information society, lots of different kinds of channels, we get news that we can’t really process properly. This causes the information stress I mentioned. He, on the other hand, disorganizes our way of thinking and perceiving reality. In our actions, we start to rely on information with which we do not know what to do.
How can we take care of ourselves in such a situation?
The solution is quite simple: if I listen to information with which I do not know what to do and more and more information come to me, and I know that I am not able to change anything here, it is better to cut myself off from it and do something nice, e.g. . go for a walk. And if I want to do something here, it might be a good idea, for example, to report to a refugee help desk and support them in some way.
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When we are planning some activities, it is worth asking ourselves what the purpose of this is. If I answer myself convincingly for myself and my loved ones, this is a clue what to do. However, it is best to take care of current affairs, family, friends, work. Because in this chaos of processing information with which we don’t know what to do, we may find ourselves neglecting many of our own important duties.
Do you need a psychotherapist’s support? You can have a psychological consultation today in the form of a convenient teleportation without leaving your home.
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