N. S. MNATSAKANYAN, PhD in Psychology, Chief Specialist, Department of Social Protection of Military Personnel, MOD, RA

SUMMARY

Any war leaves tragic traces in the families that survived its hardships. The loss of a parent, breadwinner, son, the mutilation and disability are a severe blow to the psyche of the injured persons. And any inconsiderate, unconcerned, inattentive treatment of them and regard for their grief can cause indignation, mental explosion and acute conflict.

Based on a long-term study via the methods of psychological conversation, participant observation and analysis of data from specialized literature, the author came to the following conclusion: both sides suffer from the psychotraumatic exposure of conflict situations emerging during the intercommunication of war-affected visitors and social service specialists. At the same time, based on the results of the analysis, the author developed the rules for communication between specialists and visitors, standardizing this process. These rules contain standards and requirements that include sections, paragraphs and subparagraphs.  The requirements include establishing a queue for receiving visitors; creating an atmosphere of confidentiality; assessing an instance and elucidating the task; proper direction of the visitor’s further actions; adequacy of exercising official functions; providing feedback.

To ensure effective contact with visitors, it is advisable for specialists to respect the following rules: monitoring verbal and non-verbal elements of communication; active listening; avoiding involuntary conflicts.

In addition, it is noted that specialists, professional knowledge apart, must have such personal qualities as stress tolerance, emotional ba­lance, ability to manage emotions, empathy, communication skills, etc.