Trauma, guilt, and mental health in Ukrainians displaced by the 2022 Russian invasion residing in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals displaced due to war face many potentially traumatic experiences (PTE). Trauma-related guilt mediates the relationship between PTE and functionally impairing posttraumatic distress, though its presence and role in mental health outcomes has not been studied in Ukrainians currently displaced due to the 2022 Russian invasion. The present study sought to examine the presence and role of PTE and trauma-related guilt in mental health outcomes in Ukrainians currently displaced due to the 2022 Russian invasion. METHOD: We assessed this relationship using cross-sectional statistical mediation analysis in a sample of 175 Ukrainian (73.1% female) evacuees in the United States. RESULTS: A multiple regression of trauma-related guilt inventory cognition subscales predicting posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and somatic symptom severity revealed hindsight bias and wrongdoing to be significant independent predictors but not lack of justification. The total indirect effects of PTE on posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and somatic symptoms through hindsight bias and wrongdoing as mediators were significant and suggested that both may independently partially mediate the relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Results align with research in other populations, suggesting that trauma-related guilt, especially in the form of beliefs of wrongdoing and hindsight bias in this case, may be an important treatment target in Ukrainian evacuees in the United States and that it should be studied in other war-displaced populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).