‘If things were bad before, they will be worse’: can families recover from the stress and strain of war?

Marina, who has struggled with the separation since her husband of 22 years, an army medic, left her to help defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion. ‘We worked to find ways to communicate but it was really hard for me to understand why he wasn’t here’ Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The Guardian

When her husband went off to help defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasion in 2022, Yulia stayed at home with their toddler. She describes being overcome by a feeling of “numbness”.

“I’d been left alone with a small child. The worst thing for her was the thought that her father had left her and would never come back. The worst time was when she blocked her father when he tried to call.