According to the author’s estimation, the line of conduct, as well as, psychic and psychological conditions of the heroes of Roman Senchin’s prose are similar in a lot of ways to the clinical picture of the post-traumatic syndrome. This syndrome is caused by the social, economic and moral consequences of the demise of the USSR. As a definitive formula that allows determining the phenomena of the social and political life of modern Russia, which are described in the prose works of Senchin, we suggest using the term t r a u m a - s u b s t i t u t i o n. It exactly reflects the contents of some line of conduct, views, judgments, and beliefs characteristic of a large part of Russian society. In essence, they are formed in response to the social, political and economic changes caused by the restructuring and in particular by the fact of the demise of the USSR. At the same time, collision with a real trauma, which is the unmasking of the catastrophic consequences of the totalitarian regime is still a matter of the future.