Post-traumatic stress and protective-coping behavior among the population living in conditions of prolonged emergency

From 1994 to 1996, then from 1999 to 2009, the population of the Chechen Republic (CR) was forced to live in a war zone. The results of the various studies by experts point to a high prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the population living in the area of combat operations. However, the problem of coping with stressful situations and the development of protective behavior among representatives of this part of the population of Russia, until recently, little has been studied. In this paper we verified the assumption that the severity of PTSD symptoms is determined by the type of protective coping. Results of the study by representatives of the Chechen Republic (N = 263) revealed, on the one hand, the most preferred coping styles in heavy and chronic stress, on the other, the relationship of these styles to the level of post-traumatic pathology.