Is Ukraine facing a mental health crisis?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than half of Ukrainians say they suffer from some kind of mental health issue as a result of the war. Volunteer paramedic, Olha Mamusheva, joins us to discuss her mental health working on the frontline. And journalist Olena Kuk explains why she helped set up ‘Svidok’ – an online war journal where people can share their feelings anonymously.
Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Cordelia Hemming and Julie Ball. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Richard Fenton-Smith.
If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this episode you can visit BBC Action Line on www.bbc.co.uk/actionline Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:04.6 | Hello, it's 940 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:09.8 | And it is four weeks since we spoke to actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry about |
| 0:15.4 | mental health in Ukraine. It became so apparent that what was being fought for |
| 0:20.0 | was much more than territory or if it was a territory it was a territory of the mind and the |
| 0:24.8 | spirit of a freedom and an openness and the desire to be able to talk openly and talking about |
| 0:32.4 | mental health is a very very healthy |
| 0:35.2 | ironically sign of that openness. So many people got in touch following that |
| 0:40.3 | episode. Let me give you some examples. Stephen on |
| 0:43.2 | discord said this podcast really resonated getting inside the mind of someone who |
| 0:48.9 | struggled mentally and dealing with it. Bravo to all for recording such a taboo subject. |
| 0:54.8 | Sasha also and discord said it's such a pertinent issue. |
| 0:59.2 | I doubt that there are many Ukrainians who will be free of mental health issues after this full-scale invasion, |
| 1:06.4 | even with those who left their country in early 2022. |
| 1:09.8 | Sometimes recognizing you have a problem can be a difficult thing. |
| 1:13.4 | Then asking for help can be even more difficult. |
| 1:16.5 | Sasha, I can't really agree more. |
| 1:18.6 | Also, many others got in touch, |
| 1:20.2 | Catherine in Litchfield here in the UK, |
| 1:22.1 | Andy in Brisbane in Australia and James in Maryland |
| 1:25.6 | in the United States. |
| 1:26.6 | And Vittala, you have got a report on this very issue out this weekend, haven't you? |
... |
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