Bulletin of National Defence University of Ukraine

The relevance of the study is conditioned by the need to expand contemporary approaches to psychological counselling of military personnel with combat experience. Along with post-traumatic, anxious and depressive manifestations, moral trauma and existential pain are important consequences of combat experience, which can cause loss of life meanings, violation of moral integrity, and a crisis of personal identity. This necessitates the application of counselling models aimed at symptom reduction with simultaneous integration of combat experience, the restoration of personal integrity, and the search of new meanings in life. The purpose of the study was to theoretically substantiate the potential of psychosynthesis in transforming the existential pain of military personnel through R. Assagioli’s concept of constructing an ideal model to facilitate the integration of combat experience in the process of psychological counselling. The methodological basis of the research was the methods of theoretical analysis, synthesis, comparison, systematisation, and generalisation of contemporary scientific sources on the psychology of combat trauma, moral trauma, existential psychology, psychosynthesis, and psychological counselling. A comparative analysis of psychotherapeutic approaches to working with moral and existential trauma was carried out, in particular, cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, scheme therapy, Gestalt therapy, logotherapy, and existential psychotherapy. As a result of the study, a conceptual model of transformation of existential pain of military personnel by means of psychosynthesis was proposed, the central element of which is the technique of constructing an ideal model. The stages of psychosynthetic counselling were substantiated, including awareness of existential pain through the phenomena of “wonder at pain” and “wonder at joy”, disidentification from traumatic experience, establishing contact with the True Self (Higher Self), activation of the will, construction of an ideal model, and integration of combat experience into a coherent system of personal meanings. It was shown that moral trauma and existential pain arise due to the actualisation of fundamental existential givens of human existence and are accompanied by a violation of moral identity, value system, and life prospects. In contrast to symptom-centred models of psychological assistance, the proposed approach is focused on the reconstruction of a holistic self-concept, integration of internal conflicts, and the development of personal potential. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying the proposed psychosynthetic model in consulting military personnel and veterans, and in programmes of psychological support and training of specialists

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