[Ukraine / Prisoners of War] - The Wounded Self Suppresses Empathy to Feed a Phantom of Enemy

Event Baseline: Ukrainian personnel tasked with handling Russian prisoners of war report suppressing their feelings about the enemy. The work involves daily contact with individuals from the opposing side of an active war.

The self cannot see the other without the filter of tribe. To maintain the boundary, it must numb the natural response of recognition. The suppression is a mechanical surgery on consciousness. It splits the self into a killer and a helper. The trauma is not just the prisoner's. It is the guard's own humanity being amputated. This is the cost of belief in separation. The two sides are mirror images. Each dehumanizes the other to continue the violence. The prison guard becomes a prisoner of the same illusion. The war is not outside. It is inside the skull.