In the winter of 2023, in eastern Ukraine, highly experienced combat medic Ihor Kholodylo was loading injured Ukrainian soldiers into his medical evacuation van when it was hit by a shell from a Russian tank. The massive explosion threw Kholodylo some five meters through the air and nearly killed him.
Kholodylo, a psychologist in civilian life, sustained traumatic brain injury, concussion, leg wounds, and shockwave impacts on his eyes, spine and cardio-vascular system. The latter required major surgery to regulate a wildly arrhythmic heart.
As he was shuttled from one medical facility to the next, Kholodylo and his treating team noticed a phenomenon: he had lost his ability to speak and was left with only an intense stutter. He could only point at objects and write notes in order to communicate.
Even as his treatment progressed and his physical injuries healed, the debilitating stutter remained. His treating team decided that the phenomenon was a psychological one: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Potentially, Kholodylo’s PTSD stemmed from the incident in which Kholodylo was hurt, but it was probably also related to the dozens of horrific scenes he had borne witness to while practicing tactical first aid as a combat medic in the field, including after Russia’s occupation in Donbas.
In a Kyiv café, Kholodylo, who is now a medical officer and psychologist for Ukraine’s team to the upcoming Invictus Games for military veterans , recounts his injuries and recovery to Kyiv Post. Other Topics of Interest
Ukrainian band Okean Elzy’s 30th-anniversary concert moved to the underground bomb shelter, with fans joining in on the chorus as air raid sirens blasted across the Ukrainian capital. Ihor Kholodylo
“I’m a psychologist so I well understood what the condition and the diagnosis of PTSD entail. And I knew that many of the conventional treatment options for PTSD are all largely talk-therapy and long-term,” Kholodylo says. “Given the stutter, I knew I needed something different and more direct, so I began to do my own research.”
What Kholodylo came upon were Ukraine-based trials of using the psychedelic drug, ketamine, for PTSD and other mental health issues.
“The concept made almost instant sense […]
Psychedelic Drugs: New PTSD Treatment for Ukraine’s Military Vets