TOWARD A HEALTHY SOCIETY: WHEN TRAUMA AFFECTS GROUP IDENTITY.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: The purpose of the article is to identify the essence and causes of collective trauma and reveal its consequences for group identity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The authors used an interdisciplinary approach along with the principles of objectivity, tolerance, and impartiality. The analysis of the texts was conducted according to the basic principles of hermeneutics, namely the inexhaustibility of the authentic text and immanent critique. In addition, the method of conceptual and categorical analysis was applied, as well as induction, deduction, generalization, etc. The data collection was carried out using PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar databases. Research papers were identified according to search terms: "trauma", "traumatic experience", "collective trauma", "traumatization", "stress", "historical trauma", "defeat", "the Holocaust", etc. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Collective trauma is a mental wound caused by the direct or indirect traumatic experience - a stressful situation that becomes a source of emo¬tional tension due to an unexpected threat to the life of a group of people. Collective trauma occurs, on the one hand, due to the awareness of helplessness in the face of danger and, on the other hand, due to the excessiveness of traumatic experience, which turns it into the eternal present and destroys identity. Historical traumas arise in the process of conscious exploitation of traumatic experience by political or other leaders in order to achieve emotional unity and group consolidation. Without appropriate processing, they can cause antisocial behavior of the traumatized persons that manifests in seeking revenge. Social partnership can help us to avoid the negative consequences of collective trauma and achieve social consensus.

MENTAL HEALTH AFTER TRAUMA: INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE DIMENSIONS.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: The article is devoted to uncovering the essence of the trauma, identifying the cause of its formation, and investigating the consequences for the person and the community. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The methodological basis of the given study is the interdisciplinary and hermeneutic approach, which was used in combination with the methods of retrospective, analysis, synthesis, and extrapolation, as well as the methodological apparatus of memory studies with its inherent intention of the problem of group identity formation. A prominent place in the process of writing the work played the method of critical literature review. Sources reflecting research on individual and collective dimensions of trauma were found in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Research articles were found using the keywords "trauma", "traumatic experience", "victim", "violence", "collective trauma", "cultural trauma", "memory", etc. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Modern studies of traumatic experience are inextricably linked with the scientific work of Sigmund Freud, who was one of the first to explicate trauma as a destroyer of "protection". This gave reason to modern researchers to consider it an emotional reaction of the psyche to mental, physical, or cultural violence directed against the identity of an individual or an entire community. Whether inflicted on an individual or a community as a whole, trauma invariably seeks testimony in order to produce meanings and mechanisms capable of preventing violence and preserving the mental health of both the individual and the community as a whole.

ON SOCIAL NETWORKS, DIGITAL MEDIA, AND MENTAL HEALTH.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: The paper attempts to investigate the impact of social networks and digital media on mental health and psychological well-being. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The data collection was carried out using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar databases. Research papers were identified according to the search terms "cyberspace", "cyberpsychology", "digital media", "virtual reality", "social networks", "mental health", "psychological well-being", "beauty", "beauty standards". The authors used integrative anthropological approach, interpretive research paradigm, and multidisciplinary analysis. CONCLUSION: Conclusion: The digital world is a relatively recent phenomenon, therefore, the potential relationship between its use and mental health and psychological well-being has not yet been adequately explored. Most of the research has been conducted over the last decades; and until now the scientific community has not been able to fully interpret the obtained results and come to final conclusions. As Timpano and Beard rightly pointed out, the future research should be focused on types and motivations for the use of social networks; identify potential mechanisms linking the social media use and mental health symptoms; reveal an impact of social networks on declines in face-to-face social interactions; understand the link of social networks with maladaptive coping strategies and health behaviors. The relationship between social networks, digital media use and psychological functioning is not straightforward and depends on many factors. However, we should not forget that there is nothing new under the sun. The same people act in both digital and physical spaces. And the psychological problems that are revealed in the digital universe are the same that "accompany" the actors of the digital communication process in the real, physical world. Anyway, we cannot avoid cyberspace, so we have to learn how to interact within this challenging world.

CULTURAL AWARENESS IN CONTEMPORARY MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICE.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To analyze cultural conditionality of mental health care practice; to explore the relationship between cultural awareness of mental health practitioners, their professional experience and professional status. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: It was hypothesized that cultural competence is expected to emerge with professional experience of mental health practitioners. The Sociocultural Awareness Questionnaire was administered to mental health care practitioners - counselors, clinicians, and therapists - (N=62), aged 27 to 65, with professional work experience from 1 to 25 years. The majority of the respondents were from Kyiv (Ukraine). RESULTS: Results: There is no significant correlation between the duration of the period of professional activity of mental health care practitioners and their ideas concerning cultural awareness (r = -0.084, p = 0.515). In the same way there is no statistically significant differences (U = 397.500, p = 0.866) in cultural awareness between two groups of Mental Health care practitioners based on a professional status criterion. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: No professional experience, nor status are the basis for the sociocultural awareness of mental health practitioners. The assumption that cultural competence is expected to emerge with experience has not been confirmed during the pilot study.