Creating a Prevention Wing of the Military in Ukraine
Mykola L. Didukh, D.Sc.
Abstract
In summer 2013 we started work with our team to establish a permanent coherence group – a prevention wing for Ukraine. We invited citizens who belonged to various security enforcement agencies to join us. We called them the “Peace Army for Ukraine.”
Since the Maidan square events in autumn-winter of 2013-2014 (Revolution of Dignity) we have been actively involved in minimizing the aggressive and tragic consequences by creating a coherence group near Kyiv of up to 95 people. However, the stress in collective consciousness has not disappeared completely due to insufficient size of the group. To solve new problems in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, we decided to create the desired group in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The first step in this process was to organize research on the effects of Transcendental Meditation on soldiers and officers in the rear and on the verge of separation. Thanks to great cooperation between G.S. Kostyuk Institute of Psychology of NAPS, the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and the Research Center of humanitarian issues of Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, we received results confirming the positive effect of TM practice on the individual (in preventing and overcoming effects of PTSD) and on the collective level of interaction in the military units.
The next step was a positive assessment of the results, done by Chief of General Staff – Chief of the Armed Forces, Army General of Ukraine Muzhenko V.M., and then obtaining the appropriate order for a deeper joint study of TM and its effects on soldiers and officers, including the collective consciousness. Currently work is underway to organize and conduct the experiment for further use of ТМ in the Armed Forces on a broad basis in order to create the necessary next group to address the root causes of conflict and violence in Ukraine.