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Fomych M., Diachkova O. Experiencing the ambiguous loss as a risk factor of psychological maladaptation among the state emergency service personnel

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Mykola Fomych – Ph.D. in Psychology, associate professor, Head of Department of Psychology of Activity in Special Conditions, National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine

ORCID 0000-0003-1253-2656

 

Olha Diachkova – Ph.D. in Pedagogy, associate professor, assistant professor of Department of Psychology of Activity in Special Conditions, National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine

ORCID 0000-0001-5164-3522

 

DOI - https://doi.org/10.52363/dcpp-2026.1.18

 

Keywords: ambiguous loss, enforced disappearance, psychological maladaptation, State Emergency Service personnel, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychopathology. 

The article presents a theoretical and analytical review of the problem of experiencing the ambiguous loss as a risk factor of psychological maladaptation among the personnel of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Ambiguous loss is considered as a specific type of psychotraumatic experience that arises under the conditions of a lack of reliable information about the status of a lovely one and the impossibility of completing the grieving process.

It takes the form of a prolonged, unresolved psychological process that contains a state of chronic uncertainty and emotional tension in the situations of enforced disappearance.

This paper presents the key psychological effects of ambiguous loss include anxiety, depressive states and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. These conditions are appropriately defined as psychopathological features, among which person’s maladaptation occupies a leading position. Such maladaptation looks like as a natural response to the impossibility of psychological coping with the loss, rather than as a purely individual pathology.

In the professional context of State Emergency Service personnel, these manifestations look like as a significant factor in the disruption of psycho-emotional balance, reduction of adaptive resources and impairment of socio-professional possibilities.

It was found out that ambiguous loss is a systemic psychotraumatic factor that requires the separate scientific consideration. The necessity of developing the specialized approaches to psychological support for people experiencing this type of loss, as well as improving the psychological assistance in the extreme professional conditions, is substantiated.

 

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Date of first submission of the article to the journal: 21.02.2026

Date of acceptance for publication after peer review: 18.05.2026

Date of publication of the article: 31.05.2026

 

Publisher National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine, 2026

This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.en

 

How to cite: Fomych M., Diachkova O. Experiencing the ambiguous loss as a risk factor of psychological maladaptation among the state emergency service personnel. Disaster and Crisis Psychology Problems. 1(11). 2026. P. 219-228. https://doi.org/10.52363/dcpp-2026.1.18 

 

Випуск 1(11)-2026

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