How one hospital in Lviv is fighting Ukraine's mental-health crisis

LVIV, Ukraine -

For 12 months the triggering images of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine have dominated front pages and nightly newscasts. But inside an emergency hospital in Lviv, innocent civilians -- as well as soldiers -- are fighting another elusive battle.

Citizens are experiencing extreme bouts of depression while military members are showing an alarming level of anxiety, according to Dr. Oleh Berezyuk, who’s leading a team of psychologists and psychotherapists in an endeavour to try to heal the hearts and minds of those suffering from the toll of war that is entering its second deadly year.

“The trains arrive Thursday, or Friday or Saturday” with new patients every single week, Berezyuk says. CTV National News joined the Ukrainian doctor and his team of 10 on their weekly rounds. Each room – some containing up to six beds -- we visited is home to a minimum of four patients who are individually dealing with their own traumatic experience.

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Partway through the rounds we come across a couple convalescing together in a room. Maxim and his wife Valerie are recovering after they both stepped on landmines in their hometown of Bakhmut. As tears stream down his face Maxim says, “I’ve lost my home. I nearly lost everything.”

As Berezyuk speaks with the couple, an air raid siren sounds through the hospital and across Lviv. The potential of an incoming missile puts a stop to the bedside therapy session but only for a brief moment. Sirens no longer faze Maxim. But he admits the sounds of carts and wheelchairs in the hospital are a trigger, sounding like “incoming fighter jets.”

Maxim and his wife Valerie are recovering after they both stepped on landmines in their hometown of Bakhmut. (Photo: Adrian Ghobrial)

Twelve months of war has ushered in a mental health crisis across Ukraine and it's on full display as we join the team of doctors. Their patients have arrived from villages under siege and from the battlefields in the east.

We meet a 72-year-old man named Yuri, as he works his way through a crossword in the daily paper. The morning sun shines down onto the bed where he sits. The senior citizen from Bakhmut lost part of his right leg when a missile landed beside him while he was outside. The crossword he has nearly completed is actually part of his daily therapy, following four months of mental health treatments.

“Reading or crosswords, or just counting, subtracting seven from 100, the rational exercises are a treatment for PTSD,” says Berezyuk.

What's happening in this hospital might not seem progressive to North Americans but it is for Ukraine. This is the only emergency hospital in the country offering mental health support for its patients. Previously, therapy had only been offered at Soviet-era psychiatric facilities. The crucial work being done here is funded, in part, by donations from Canadians through the Red Cross.

We asked Berezyuk if it’s fair to assume that everyone in Ukraine is suffering trauma on some level.

Both a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Berezyuk quickly responds, "Absolutely, yes. You yourself already have trauma after today’s walkthrough. You have seen all these patients. But as you’ve heard me say to them, you have to think about your future, what are you going to do tomorrow. This is part of the treatment.”

If tomorrow doesn’t look promising, Berezyuk says it's OK, “we must still look ahead.”

So many of those we met are holding out hope for a future that will see their families reunited, and the healing of their wounds from within.

Watch the full report Wednesday night on CTV National News