For me, mental digestion is a convenient and simple, and most importantly, effective way of solving life’s problems. It took shape about ten years ago, when my family and I moved from one city to another. Everything has completely changed. New job, new friends – everything is new. New job, new friends – everything is new. It was necessary to rebuild, adapt and relearn, just to survive. A TOOL was required for survival. Experience in psychology, yoga, NLP, etc. I have...
I think anyone reading this article is familiar with what mental pain is. And probably not only in theory.
Mental pain is sometimes the result of psychological trauma - fresh or previously received.
Psychological trauma is considered to be a person’s reaction to a significant event that initiates emotional negative experiences of sufficient duration and varying degrees of intensity.
Some people experience feelings resulting from psychological trauma more often, others less often. This...
It would seem, what is the connection between memory deterioration and problems at work or between excess weight and increased nervousness? It turns out it's straight. And the saying “all our diseases are from nerves” is not without meaning, because physical health really depends largely on mental health.
To find out why “mental” problems arise and how to overcome them, we “attended an appointment” with a psychotherapist of the highest category, candidate of medical sciences Grigory Rozhkovsky.
Save our souls...
Back to school soon
One can say different things about school to a child who has not yet crossed its threshold.
School is wonderful! This is a very interesting life! You will learn something new every day... Your mind will develop... Learning is good, useful, joyful.
This is possible. But it also happens differently.
- When you go to school, you won’t have time for toys. You'll sit down for your homework! See, behave well at school. If the teacher complains about you, it won’t be enough for you!
But more often than not, parents don’t...
Scientists have long proven that good-natured people, cheerful people and optimists visit doctors much less often than angry people and beeches. A group of Swiss researchers led by Peter Brugger went even further in their research...
If you want to be healthy
Scientists conducted a very interesting experiment. We recruited a group of absolute optimists and pessimists from among the volunteers, gave both of them a flu shot and began to wait. A month later it was discovered that pessimists produce much less...
It would seem that everything was developing dynamically... The usual schedule: work-home-work-home. On weekends I have no energy or desire to go anywhere.
A sudden desire to cook and interest in cooking, which previously, if it appeared, disappeared after a couple of weeks. And now it’s been more than 1.5 months, and it hasn’t even disappeared.
I’m 22. I recently took my first vacation – a work holiday, and a fairly well-deserved one. I thought: I’ll sort out some things, get some sleep, go somewhere. Or maybe I won’t go. I will turn off my phones and seek solitude. This...
“It seems to me that in order to get closer to it, you need to part with some false ideas that exist in the modern world. For example, that material benefits (a higher salary or an expensive car) can bring happiness and peace of mind into our lives.
Inner comfort and emotional satisfaction are much more important than external well-being - the source of happiness is within us, not outside. This is easy to understand by reflecting on your own experience. Mental, emotional...
Emotionally healthy people control their emotions and behavior. They are able to cope with problems in life, build strong relationships and recover from setbacks. But working on your mental and emotional health requires the same effort as working on the beauty and health of your body.
What is mental or emotional health?
Mental or emotional health is a measure of your psychological well-being. You can judge how good this health is...
With good and mighty power!
Oh, and you are beautiful, beautiful maiden,
Do us the honor and shine with your beauty,
Red beauty, wise thought!
In short, great, dear! You live healthy, fun and magical, practically. Here is such a linguistic riddle, on the one hand a greeting, on the other hand a wish for health, on the third an assessment of the quality of what is happening.
This is how I greet and say hello to those with whom I have already communicated...
Psyche is the ability of the brain to perceive and evaluate the world around us, to recreate on this basis the internal subjective image of the world and the image of oneself in it (worldview), and to determine, based on this, the strategy and tactics of one’s behavior and activities. The image of the world that a person develops differs from the true, objectively existing one primarily in that it is emotionally colored. A person is always biased towards building an internal picture of the world, so in some cases a significant distortion of perception is possible. In addition, perception is influenced by a person’s desires, needs, interests and past experiences (memory). Based on the forms of reflection in the psyche, two components can be distinguished: consciousness and the unconscious (unconscious). Consciousness is the highest form of reflective ability of the brain. Thanks to him, a person can be aware of his thoughts, feelings, actions, etc. and, if necessary, control them. A significant share in the human psyche is the form of the unconscious or unconscious. It represents habits, various automatisms (eg walking), drives, and intuition. As a rule, any mental act begins as unconscious and only then becomes conscious. The psyche manifests itself in the form of mental processes or functions. These include sensations and perceptions, ideas, memory, attention, thinking and speech, emotions and feelings, and will. These mental processes are called components of the psyche. In different people, mental processes manifest themselves differently and are characterized by a certain level of activity. Such manifestations of activity that create a certain background are called mental states. These are inspiration, passivity, self-confidence and doubt, anxiety, stress, fatigue, etc. Each personality is characterized by stable mental characteristics that manifest themselves in behavior and activity - mental properties: temperament, character, abilities, etc. Each person is a unique individual. He acts as an individual when he achieves self-awareness and understanding of his social functions. Personality should be viewed as a fusion of biopsychosocial foundations. Man is constantly faced with new tasks, which he has solved throughout his not very long history on the basis of his unique genetic program.
Emotions are a person’s subjectively experienced attitude to various stimuli, facts, events, manifested in the form of pleasure, joy, displeasure, grief, fear, horror, etc. The emotional state is often accompanied by changes in the somatic and visceral spheres.
The formation of emotions follows certain patterns. Thus, the strength of an emotion, its quality and sign (positive or negative) depend on the strength and quality of the need and the likelihood of satisfying this need. A low probability of need satisfaction leads to the emergence of negative emotions, while an increase in the probability leads to positive emotions. It follows from this that emotions perform a very important function of assessing an event, an object, or irritation in general. In addition, emotions are regulators of behavior, since their mechanisms are aimed at strengthening the active state of the brain (in the case of positive emotions) or weakening it (in the case of negative ones). And finally, emotions play a reinforcing role in the formation of conditioned reflexes. A negative assessment of any impact on a person or his psyche can cause a general systemic reaction of the body - emotional stress (tension). It is triggered by stress factors, which include influences and situations that the brain evaluates as negative if there is no way to defend against them or get rid of them. Due to social motives of behavior in modern man, the so-called emotional stress caused by psychogenic factors, such as conflicting relationships between people, has become widespread. The increase in stress is humanity’s price for technological progress. The physical activity of a modern person is not sufficient to relieve tension (stress) or its consequences. Emotional sensations indicate a lack or excess of any factors. All living beings have needs. Living systems selectively respond to needs, to what the body currently lacks. Need activates the body, stimulates its behavior aimed at finding what is required. It brings individual mental processes and organs into a state of increased excitability and maintains the activity of the body until the state of need is satisfied. The needs of humans and animals are not the same. Even the needs of human physical existence are subordinated and transformed depending on higher, specifically human forms of existence.
There are two points of view on the nature of human needs:
Human needs are innate (Maslow A.);
Human needs are formed in the process of a person’s assimilation of culture and personality development; the development of needs occurs through the expansion and change of the range of their objects.
As individuals, people differ from each other in the variety of needs they have and their special combination. Human needs are formed in ontogenesis based on innate prerequisites. A prerequisite for the formation of needs for a particular activity is the experience of this activity, which in the early stages of development is carried out in joint activities with adults, or can serve as the satisfaction of some other need.
The formation of basic human needs is associated with consciousness. In human behavior, the biological component is represented by innate needs, which are divided into three main groups.
Vital or biological needs are the needs for food, water, sleep, comfortable temperature, which determine the individual and species existence of a person. The biological need also includes the need to save energy, which encourages a person to look for the easiest way to achieve his goals. One person spends less of his physical and mental strength by doing something consistently and painstakingly; it is more profitable for another (i.e., he will spend less physical and mental strength) to invent something that frees him from painstakingness. The need to save energy can acquire a self-sufficient significance, and then laziness will prevail in a person.
Social needs - the need to occupy a certain place in a social group, to follow the norms accepted in a given society. Long-term unsatisfaction of needs leads to neuroses and hypertension. Satisfaction of social needs is reflected in the division of society into groups, layers, etc. within the framework of microsocieties and macro-formations, their own norms of behavior are formed, which are consolidated in the public consciousness through legislation, morality, and ideology.
The needs associated with understanding the world around us are unique to humans.
Bearing in mind the main groups of needs, recently three essential components of a person are increasingly distinguished: biological, psychological and social. The psychological component is realized for the most part through the area of the unconscious. A person is aware of only about 15% of the information received both from the outside world and from the “inner world” of a person. The psychological component has a biological basis. Through the mechanism of neuropeptide production, a certain emotional coloring is given to the probable collision of the manifestation of a particular human need with information from the outside world, facilitating or complicating the realization of this need. The person who, in addition to physical and organic needs, has the most varied needs. There are also material, spiritual, social ones.
A special type of emotional stress is informational. Progress has changed the information environment and given rise to an information boom. The amount of information accumulated by humanity approximately doubles every decade, which means that each generation needs to assimilate a significantly larger amount of information than the previous one. However, this does not change the brain, nor does the number of cells of which it consists increase. Information overload in itself does not pose a threat to the psyche, because The brain has enormous capabilities to process large amounts of information and protect against its excess. But if the time needed to process it is limited, this causes severe neuropsychic stress - information stress. Thus, numerous circumstances of modern life lead to excessively strong psycho-emotional stress in a person, causing negative reactions and conditions leading to neuroses - disruptions of normal mental activity.
What makes a person human? Sages and philosophers from around the world have tried to answer this question for many millennia. There were many answers to this question, but now everyone agreed on the main thing: what makes a person human is his spiritual essence, the soul, if you believe in God, moral spiritual consciousness, if you believe the materialists.
If we remember what we were taught at school or in college, we will remember that life’s needs come first (breathe, eat, drink, sleep, and so on), but then we want respect, recognition of our merits, professional growth, self-realization , authority. Moreover, all this should be precisely for our human qualities, and not for some kind of convenience or material benefits.
The modern world is a world of stress and speed. A person lives in a world of information, and not always positive. He must keep up with progress, increase professionalism, hurry up, otherwise he will be pushed out, trampled, overtaken.
Psychologists say that a person is adequate when he reasonably perceives everything that happens to him and in the world around him. Each person must be able to cope with stress, be able to communicate with others in any situation, maintain self-control and calm, and control oneself. And many even eminent doctors believe that all diseases are caused by nerves. And if you read the statistics on the state of health of the population of our country, you can come to the conclusion that we are all constantly in a state of stress, psychological exhaustion and, as a result, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
How to maintain mental health in the modern world?
Work should be loved and desired, then it will not be a burden.
Find an outlet for yourself - a hobby that will allow you to get away from stress, relax, and even forget.
Find and determine the purpose of life for yourself. Don’t forget that the meaning of life is different for everyone, so don’t try to copy someone and don’t impose your point of view on others.
Try to regulate your life to the best of your ability (keep a daily routine)
Not only enjoy working, but also enjoy relaxing.
Try to get rid of all bad habits.
Live and think positively (Everything that is not done is for the better).
Come to God. No wonder they say: "Don't tell God you have a problem. Turn to the problem and say you have God."
Mental health
We all know what health is; this concept is most succinctly reflected by the phrase “absence of disease.” A person who does not have any dysfunction of organs and systems or diseases can be called healthy, but in relation to mental health it loses its meaning, because this definition is not limited to the absence of pathology.
Mental health is a state of psychological and social well-being in which a person realizes his potential, effectively resists life’s difficulties and stress, carries out productive conscious activities and contributes to the development of society.
First of all, this is realized due to the stable, adequate functioning of the psyche, as well as the basic mental cognitive processes: memory, attention, thinking. There are no clear standards for the concept of mental health, since each of the components can be interpreted subjectively.
Undoubtedly, there is an approved list of mental illnesses, but, as mentioned earlier, their absence does not guarantee complete health, which is why one is interpreted ambiguously. Despite this, there are certain determinants - social, psychological factors, the presence of which allows one to assert good health.
The functional state of the psyche is determined by such aspects as:
1. Mental performance. Cognitive processes at a high level are an indicator of health.
2. The desire to carry out conscious activities. Training, professional, creative activity, self-realization in a different capacity is evidence of the presence of interests and motivation.
There are several opinions about what may indicate mental health and which components of it are mandatory. Most researchers recognize the following features.
What is mental health characterized by?
1. The ability to build relationships with others. These relationships are mostly positive, trusting (with a narrow circle of people). This category also includes the ability to love - to accept a person as he is, to avoid idealization and unfounded claims, to effectively resolve conflict situations, and the ability not only to take, but also to give. This applies not only to marital relationships, but also to child-parent relationships.
The important point is the health of the relationship itself: it should not be threatening, violent, disturbing, or destructive. Healthy relationships are all about productivity. This also includes “environmental friendliness” - the ability of a person to choose a mostly comfortable environment for himself.
2. Desire and ability to work. This is not only professional activity, but also creativity, a contribution to society. Creating something that is valuable for the individual, his family, and society is important for a mentally healthy person.
3. The ability to “play.” Play is a fairly broad concept in relation to an adult, so it is important to explain what it includes:
3.1. free use of metaphors, allegories, humor - playing with symbols;
3.2. dancing, singing, sports, some other types of creativity - to be not an outside observer, but an active player.
4. Autonomy. A healthy person does not do what he does not want to do. He makes his own choices and bears responsibility for them, does not suffer from addiction, and does not try to compensate for the lack of control over one area of life with hypercontrol in another.
5. Understanding ethical standards. First of all, a healthy person is aware of the meaning and the need to follow them, but is flexible in this regard - in certain circumstances, he can afford to change his line of behavior (within reason).
6. Emotional stability. It is expressed in the ability to endure the intensity of emotions - to feel them without allowing them to control oneself. In any circumstances, be in contact with the mind.
7. Flexibility in the use of protective mechanisms. Every person faces unfavorable life circumstances, and, being the bearer of such a delicate construct as the psyche, uses means of protecting it. A healthy person chooses effective methods and in different situations makes a choice in favor of the most suitable one.
8. Awareness, or, in other words, mentalization. A mentally healthy person sees the difference between true feelings and other people’s imposed attitudes, is able to analyze his reactions to the words of another, understands that the other person is a separate person with his own characteristics and differences.
9. Ability to reflect. Turning to yourself in a timely manner, analyzing the reasons for certain events in your own life, understanding what to do next and what this will entail - these skills also distinguish a healthy personality.
10. Adequate self-esteem. One of the components of mental health is realistic self-esteem, self-perception according to actual character traits and characteristics, treating yourself with warmth, a real understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your character.
As a rule, the absence of one or two points is a rare case, since this leads to the destruction of the entire “structure”. Thus, inadequate self-esteem provokes high or low expectations and interferes with building harmonious relationships with others and reflecting effectively. Emotional instability does not allow one to show awareness in a given situation, control oneself, and also affects the ability to work.
In fact, the presence of all points is quite rare and only in a certain environment; this does not mean that people are generally mentally ill. In relation to the psyche, the “health-deviation (tendency)-borderline state-illness” scheme is more applicable, therefore many “omissions” are formed at the stage of a tendency towards certain disorders, and the disease itself is still far away. However, the psyche is a rather unstable construct, and even in the absence of disorders throughout life there is a high risk of developing negative tendencies, so it is very important to pay enough attention to mental health.
How to improve mental health?
1. Food- the basis of physical health, which, as we have found, has an impact on the psyche. Excessive amounts of food, foods containing large amounts of sugar, fat, and those that provoke hormonal imbalance in the body can have a significant impact on the mental state. There are a number of diseases known that provoke emotional instability - pathologies of the thyroid gland and the metabolism of its hormones, reproductive diseases, heart disease, etc., and in this case it is very difficult to remain calm and analyze one’s own thoughts and behavior.
2. Physical activity. It not only develops the above-described ability to “play”, but also has a positive effect on health. Full-fledged exercise allows you to saturate the body, and, importantly, the brain with oxygen, cause the release of “happiness” hormones, tune in to the right mood and eliminate a depressed state.
3. The desire to understand oneself. This is an important component that is formed by several processes:
3.1. accepting your strengths and weaknesses - openly admitting to yourself what you like and don’t like;
3.2. learning to control your emotions - for this it is important to understand the reason for their occurrence;
3.3. identifying hidden talents and potential for solving certain problems - for this it is important to start trying yourself in several areas of activity, doing what is interesting.
4. Overcoming addictions. First of all, obvious physical ones - smoking, alcohol abuse, even in some cases unnecessary “automatisms” - all this has no place in the life of a healthy person. Here you need to act very carefully, perhaps with the help of a specialist, especially if the dependence has become stable and severe.
Psychological addictions are more complex relationships, and therefore also require specialist intervention. As a rule, they are represented by a painful relationship with another person.
5. Stress resistance. Stress management is part of the point on learning to control oneself and emotional manifestations, but it is highlighted in a separate category because it also includes learning relaxation techniques. What good is it if a person understands what events caused certain emotions in him if he cannot do anything about these events? He can only effectively resist unfavorable factors, and this is the key to success.
6. Change your way of thinking. By completing each of the points, a person, without noticing it, already starts this process. However, changing your thinking from negative to positive is a comprehensive process that requires daily effort. Important:
6.1. If possible, protect yourself from negative information - stop watching sentimental programs, communicate with negatively minded people, etc.;
6.2. look for positive aspects in surrounding circumstances;
6.3. stop criticizing everything from neighbors and bosses to the government;
6.4. do not give in to despondency, no matter how difficult the circumstances may seem;
6.5. do not compare yourself with anyone - except with yourself yesterday and today;
6.6. positively perceive life in all its manifestations.
It should be remembered that positive thinking is based not so much on the events of the world around us, but on the reaction to them, and we have the power to change it.
The article was prepared by psychologist Margarita Vladimirovna Poltoranina
“Joy and health to you!” - When people wish their friends joy, they wish them mental health!
Mental health is an internal state when the soul is open to people and the world, cheerful and joyful, does not suffer from pain and does not suffer from enmity. This is a good mood, vigor and energy, interest in life and an inner feeling of “Good”. A mentally healthy person is adequate, positive and friendly. He lives in a high emotional tone, he likes a reasonable level of life tension, life world for him - beautiful and beloved.
Mental health is not happiness itself, but a prerequisite for it. Short experiences of happiness are possible even against the background of mental illness, Lasting happiness is possible only for a mentally healthy person.
It should be taken into account that for many people mental health is enough, and the experience of happiness is pleasant for them, but nothing more. Like a man, for example, he wants to eat something meaty, but cakes are tasty for him, but rather unnecessary.
The opposite of mental health is an unstable, low or downright bad mood, ease of falling into negative and the difficulty of getting out of negativity. Resentment, fears, irritation, fatigue, inability to bear life's stress... Low emotional tone, hostility, anger, lack of interest in life, problematic psychosomatics and problematic psychological defenses are signs of weakened mental health. Neurosis And depression- already obvious mental illness, although, perhaps, still within the framework of a healthy psyche.
Young children are usually very mentally healthy. But a human child is, as a rule, neurotic. A tendency to take offense, blame, and the inability to control one’s feelings and desires are not indicators of mental health.
The importance of mental health should not be underestimated, but neither should it be overestimated. Brilliant intellect, leadership talents, courage and other virtues can either adorn a mentally healthy person or be absent from him. A mentally healthy person is not necessarily a genius and a saint. This may be a soulless person with low intelligence and disgusting manners.
Yes, it can be. But more often than not, good manners and mental health are interconnected. A mentally healthy person acquires good manners more easily; good manners contributes to good mental health.
What is the path to mental health?
Mental health can and should be developed. Mental health is promoted by the habit of healthy lifestyle , ability to rest , positive outlook, responsibility without feelings of guilt, adulthood and, oddly enough, extroversion. But introversion, even more so soul-searching, anxious visits to doctors and psychotherapists absolutely do not improve mental health. There is an alarming sign - the more a person knows about the existence of mental illnesses and childhood traumas, the more he usually finds them in himself.
Like Jerome-Jerome: “And I also realized that my liver is not fine...”
But simple exercise and a shower in the morning, bedtime and getting up early, good workouts and regular physical activity, a hardened body, the habit of thinking well about people and not reducing life to the navel of the earth for your beloved and to your deep and serious traumas of an unhappy childhood, openness to the world and people, caring for the people around them is very conducive to health.
And who likes more difficult tasks than just gaining mental health, think about his personal life missions . Productive thinking!
