In military personnel, there are always enough reasons for its appearance, but most often the immediate impetus for this condition is the death of comrades or the need to use a lethal weapon with the corresponding consequences. During a traumatic event, a soldier experiences intense fear and loss of control over the situation. In this case, PTSD itself develops after about a month. But in the first 72 hours, the soldier has symptoms of an acute stress reaction, and in the following days - acute stress disorder.

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in the military are as follows:

regular memories of the traumatic event, which often occur as flashbacks;
hyperarousal, sleep problems;
the need to control everything, excessive vigilance;
night terrors, often associated with a traumatic situation;
memory impairment;
loss of interest in usual activities;
unstable emotional state;
alienation from other people, even relatives and friends.
In many military personnel, PTSD leads to co-occurring disorders, such as depression or drug or alcohol addiction. In addition, they have a significantly increased risk of suicide.

Specialist psychologists of the PD and PPV DU TMO of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kirovohrad region use such methods of combating adaptation disorders in military personnel as the desensitization technique. Desensitization and eye movement trauma treatment (EMDR). EMDR therapy helps to process traumatic memories and other adverse life experiences that cause negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, so that they cease to be psychologically burdensome for a person. During this therapy, the individual focuses simultaneously on trauma-related images, memories, emotions, thoughts, and bodily sensations. It includes eye movements from side to side. Thus, in a typical session, the therapist asks the patient, without turning his head, to follow with his eyes the movements of the fingers (of the doctor), which are carried out in his field of vision from one side to the other, while remembering the past traumatic experience.

EMDR combines several stages that must be performed in a certain order, namely: taking an anamnesis and assessing the patient's previous condition, carrying out the actual desensitization, choosing positive cognitions, checking for residual effects of the trauma, ending the session, and reassessing the patient's condition. Usually one such session lasts from 60 to 90 minutes. The session can be repeated as many times as necessary. The goal of EMDR therapy is to reduce the level of distress and strengthen the adaptive beliefs associated with the traumatic experience.