NEUROVISUALIZATION OF EMOTIONAL STRESS AND EMOTIONAL BURNOUT OF FORENSIC EXPERTS DURING THE WAR
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/forensic.science.2026.3.3Keywords:
EEG, martial law, burnout, hemispheric activation asymmetry, NeuroComAbstract
Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies were conducted on employees of National Scientific Center “Hon. Prof. М.S. Bokarius Forensic Science Institute” during martial law. Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies using the NeuroCom hardware and software system revealed emotional burnout characteristics. Hemispheric activation asymmetry was also detected. The war in Ukraine is forcing people to fear for their lives and the close people’s lives. Lots of people have lost close people and property, and lots of them have been forced to flee their country. The awareness of danger increases emotional stress. Job loss, difficult working conditions, and the loss of friends and family increase the tension. The way how people respond to difficult life situations, that is, their susceptibility to stressors, depends on their childhood environment, the mother’s prenatal environment, and individual predispositions shaped by their nervous system and heredity. All these factors are interconnected. Chronic stress more often occurs when stressors act in combination, for example: low wages, a natural disaster, and the illness of close people. Burnout syndrome is a progressive, specific response to stress that rapidly depletes a person’s biological resources. Burnout occurs due to prolonged emotional stress, an unbalanced workload, and a lack of adequate recovery. Thus, it occurs in people in certain professions, students (academic burnout), parents (lack of support, childcare, sleep deprivation), volunteers, activists, and those under high social pressure (criticism, fear of judgment, prolonged caregiving for a sick relative, constant demands or family conflict, migration to another country). Burnout research allows us to identify early characteristics of its onset and develop appropriate measures aimed at preventing burnout before it becomes severe. This includes creating conditions in which burnout occurs much less frequently or progresses much more slowly: changes in the work environment, prevention of interpersonal conflicts, improvement of working conditions, early identification of at-risk employees, regular monitoring (anonymous surveys) of stress and burnout levels, and analysis of sources of stress at work.
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