Psycho-emotional health of a person. Psychological foundations of health. What are positive illusions

Mental health (also spiritual, spiritual, mental) is a state of well-being in which a person can realize his own potential, cope with ordinary life stresses, and work productively and fruitfully.

Why does this happen: when we finally part with the illusions of the past, we rush to the other extreme with even greater zeal - we connect all our hopes for the best exclusively with the future. As if it is there, in an uncertain future, that luck in everything awaits us. It seems that we could only wait out this timelessness, if only we could turn to better times! But in an effort to quickly reach the bright streak, we too energetically push away from the boring “today” - as if this is an absolutely unnecessary intermediate stage, nothing more than an annoying hitch on the path to success. By rushing the present, dreaming that it will pass as quickly as possible, we are unforgivably unfair to it. After all, it is not blurry memories of yesterday or unclear fantasies about tomorrow, but the present time with its reality that is our life.

    Stop living in anticipation. We constantly associate hopes for the best with the future, we are always waiting for something: a promotion, a wedding, a payday or a vacation at sea. You can even wait for the end of the week - the cherished weekend. But waiting for the future very often kills the present. We do everything in the name and for the sake of achieving the desired goal and we live “today” in a hurry, as if we are in a hurry to rattle off a boring tongue twister. Despite our busyness, “today” drags on for a long time, becoming an endless torture. We want the present to end as quickly as possible: we do not value it, since on the way to our goal it is only an obstacle that must be overcome as quickly as possible. But the present is our life, and we don’t want it to end as soon as possible!

    Don't get hung up on your dream. When defining your long-term or shorter-term goals and objectives, treat them as possible prospects, but not at all obligatory. You must be mentally prepared for failure, because... Sometimes success is no less a challenge than failure. Perhaps it is after the victory that you will feel devastation and, faced with the lack of new guidelines, you will understand: the happiest period for you was the period when you walked step by step towards your infinitely distant goal.

    Organize your life so that it contains motivations in equal proportions: “because it’s necessary” and “because I want it so.”

    Eliminate vanity from your life. You don't need to take on more than you can bear. This applies to work, household chores, and family obligations. After all, it is precisely the oversaturation of them that turns the day in the present into a kaleidoscope of successive pictures and makes each of us feel like a “squirrel in a wheel.”

    Do not rush. Switch from running to walking - it will be difficult if you are not used to it, but try. Remember the truth: those who are not in a hurry succeed.

    Give yourself pleasure. Pamper yourself, encourage yourself. For what? Yes, just like that, without any reason. This could be a piece of cake in a cozy cafe, or a leisurely exploration of new products in a store, a trip to the pool or beauty salon, or watching your favorite movie. It is important that this is not a burden. After work, you can relax and lie down on the couch at home with the latest issue of your favorite magazine. It is clear that after a working day at home, you will also have a lot of tasks that require immediate attention: washing, cooking, ironing, cleaning, schoolwork with your child, etc. but all this can wait at least an hour. Try these 60 minutes to live only for yourself. And after this hour - the holiday of disobedience - you will feel your second wind opening.

    Get rid of the guilt complex. Stop being nervous and punishing yourself if not all of the important things planned were done. You are not omnipotent, not everything is in your hands.

    Include one “unnecessary” task in your schedule For example, self-studying a foreign language that you may not need. Why independent? Because it’s more convenient: you don’t have to go anywhere, you don’t have to blush in front of the teacher because of unfinished homework, you are your own teacher and examiner. Learn to “savor” the present, enjoy the learning process without focusing on its result. We are all, or try to be, perfectionists - the triumph of the philosophy of success in modern society makes us hostage to this way of life. But it is not at all necessary that each of our activities has a utilitarian (having a practical purpose or material benefit) purpose - “I do this in order to...”. You do it not in order to, but because - because you enjoy the process. And the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge and skills will someday arise again.

    Perform one feat a day. Just like Baron Munchausen from everyone's favorite movie. In our context, a feat could be something that we usually don’t get around to, but which periodically reminds us of ourselves. So, if one day you remember to sew on a button, the next day you pop into the clinic to get help for the pool, and then call a repairman to fix the kitchen cabinet door, these will be your feats.

    Learn to do nothing. You may currently be going over events from the past in your memory or dreaming and making plans for the future. But at the same time, you will certainly enjoy every moment of the best of times - your present!

MENTAL HEALTH

A man should do more
worry about what doesn't matter
for then he will not be too strong
worry about something that is very important

Jack Smith

We use the word "mindset" when talking about certain aspects of inner well-being; It may seem strange that we rarely connect the concepts of “mood” and “mental health”. If the focus of a person’s internal vision is predominantly positive factors, then we can say with confidence that everything is fine with his mental health. If he sees the world mainly in gloomy tones, then it can be argued that he is far from doing well with his mental health.

WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?

Mental health represents our ability to work, love, and overcome stress with relative ease. When things get tough, mental health helps us maintain inner well-being. Most doctors agree that in a holistic concept, mental health is as important as physical health. We exercise and watch our diet in order to keep ourselves in good physical shape. We join health clubs, buy exercise equipment, and take pride in our perfect body shapes. What about mental health? What do you need to do to stay on top and mentally?

At 42, Warren was in excellent physical health thanks to regular exercise and a carefully balanced diet. However, his excellent form did not save him from the fact that one day his wife demanded that he sign the divorce papers and went to her mother. Warren felt so empty that he gave up both exercise and diet. Several months later, Warren's "welfare quotient" was extremely low, but nevertheless continued to fall. A friend with whom Warren had previously worked convinced him to attend a singles group at a local counseling and rehabilitation center. Through frank communication, the main topic of which was the emotional trauma caused by divorce and the possibility of restoration of personal status, Warren was able to regain his positive outlook and regain his former sense of well-being. During his studies, he realized that mental health and attitude to life are the same facets of “well-being” as physical education and diet.

Creating a positive attitude in life and maintaining an optimistic outlook on life play an important role in maintaining our mental health. If we focus our attention on positive factors, the barometer of our state of mind creeps up. We treat others well, work well and have fun. It is easier for us to withstand life’s difficulties and adversities, because we have more internal strength and we easily find solutions to problems that arise. Just as people who take care of their physical health cope better with surgery, those who have developed the skills to maintain a positive attitude find it easier to overcome periods of stress and depression. Prepared for life's adversities, they usually bounce back faster.

IN THE CIRCLE OF PROBLEMS

If an unexpected event occurs in our life that deeply hurts us, then it is quite natural that the negative part of our field of perception grows and begins to displace the positive one. Today, when people are faced with serious difficulties, it is not uncommon to hear them talk about the need to “work through the problem.”

"Sorry, Sally, I won't be able to come with you. I have some professional issues to work out."

“Without the help of a consultant, it would probably have taken me years to work through the problems.”

“Work through” is a wonderful word, meaning that a person faced with difficulties recognizes the need to mobilize positive potential and, if possible, replenish it. In other words, “working through” means the need to move some negative factors outside the field of perception and, to the greatest possible extent, strengthen elements with a positive sign. Here are two examples:

Despite the fact that Sally's income was significantly above average, she managed to get into quite a lot of debt. After analyzing the possibilities of obtaining a loan, she realized the depth of the financial “hole” in which she found herself. When Sally complained to her friend V about her troubles, he said: “Sally, you have not one problem, but two. Firstly, you have to get out of debt, which will take two or three years. Secondly, you have to work off the debt you have received. experience in such a way that it does not affect your attitude towards life or damage your career. You can cope with the problems, but you will have to change the way you live and spend your time. This would be worth doing not so much for the sake of your credit rating, but for the sake of maintaining a positive life attitude."

When Roland agreed to have heart surgery, he tried to flaunt his decision. “I felt like a cavalryman,” he would say later. But deep inside Roland knew that the operation would be a major turning point in his life, because it would mean a new diet, daily exercise, and a measured and orderly life. He didn’t even think about the fact that he would have to change his profession, or that some financial problems would arise. Two years later, in a conversation with a close friend, Roland said: “Now I know what it means to work through a problem. My hardest battle was for my attitude in life. Now I know that I can do everything, except maybe play golf.” .

DO POSITIVE ILLUSIONS GIVE MENTAL HEALTH?

Good news! There is something else we can do to expand the part of the perceptual field that contains plus elements. Perhaps not everyone will be delighted with my news, but for me the information received turned out to be a real breakthrough, because it concerns both attitude to life and mental health.

Dr. Shelley Taylor, a social psychologist, has conducted landmark research on the human field of perception. In her book Positive Illusions, she argues that a healthy brain is able to protect itself from negative information and focus on positive information, which our positive illusions contribute to some extent. Based on the findings of Shelley Taylor, we can say that if we fantasize or daydream, and “insert” our dreams into the positive part of the field of perception, then we thereby add positive factors there and our life becomes better. To maintain a positive attitude, some dreams are no less important than the positive factors of real life.

WHAT ARE POSITIVE ILLUSIONS?

Positive illusions are pleasant visions that our consciousness creates that do not necessarily exist in reality. If you hear about someone: “He lives in a dream world,” you should not be hostile to such a person. Perhaps he does not find in real life a sufficient number of positive factors for his field of perception and creates them for himself. Probably, for him, fantasies are the only way to maintain a positive attitude.

Most people indulge themselves with such illusions. Here's one example:

John grew up in Texas and as a child wanted to become a real cowboy, but he graduated from college and works as an engineer. For over forty years he has been reading Westerns to indulge his childhood dreams. One evening, while talking to a friend, John said: “I may have been born 50 years too late, but at least I can dream about the past and thus reduce the stress of modern life. That's the great thing about reading. You can live a double life. Imaginary Reality helps to maintain a positive attitude towards the present, at least for me.”

IMAGINATION HELPS TO COMING TO YOURSELF FASTER

Imagination can be interpreted as the process of creating fantasies in which you always end up as the winner. This psychological technique is used to expand the positive part of the perception field.

Let's say your doctor tells you that you are seriously ill and prescribes a medicine that might help you. After instructing you on how to take the pills, the doctor says: “Your attitude plays an important role in how quickly you recover. The more often you imagine yourself as an absolutely healthy person, the more intensely you wait for a complete recovery, the better.”

With a little research, you will soon realize how much help your imagination can be.

Possibility No. 1. If you visually imagine that on the side of the disease there are many small aggressors “fighting”, trying to break through to your “bastions”, and the medicine is an army of miniature fighters who, winning, save you, thereby you “include in the work "imagination. The task is to, while taking the pills as prescribed by your doctor, imagine a picture in which your “fighters” counterattack enemy forces and win, restoring your health. Your consciousness helps the medicine work and speeds up recovery.

Possibility #2: You decide that you will support the drug by imagining a party that you can afford when you are fully recovered. The planned holiday does not necessarily have to be translated into reality. It may be fantastic, but it should still be your goal. The idea of ​​the proposed technique is that by imagining yourself as an absolutely healthy person, the main character of the “holiday,” you increase the effectiveness of the medications.

Life attitude is a powerful force, and most people are convinced that it is an effective means of restoring health.

Inserting positive illusions

POSITIVE ILLUSIONS HELP
COPE WITH NEGATIVE FACTORS

By creating positive illusions in order to ensure the predominance of positive elements over negative ones in the field of perception, we help improve mental health. And we don't need any excuses.

From the point of view of an outside observer, June's life is dominated by negative factors. She lives alone, performs a strictly regulated routine job, travels little, and also has serious hearing problems. But June looks at her life a little differently. She believes that the positive factors in her life greatly outweigh the negative ones. How can this be? June reads a lot and constantly tries on the roles of the characters she likes most. In other words, reading helps her create a flow of positive illusions that balance out the negative factors of reality. In addition, June takes part in the work of a local theater troupe, where she plays “tiny roles.”

Jason was hit with one blow after another. Due to the machinations of ill-wishers, he lost his job. Then my wife died of cancer. Jason's life is full of troubles, but he still remains optimistic. What helps him withstand the blows of fate? Jason has always loved the sea very much, and now he dreams of sea adventures, with their help displacing everything negative from his field of perception. He joined the Sea Scouts Club, which gives him the opportunity to run a boat, work with navigational instruments and sometimes go out to sea near his home.

It can only be beneficial for our mental health if we, like June and Jason, travel, at least in our dreams, imagine ourselves as celebrities, imagine romantic adventures and mentally realize other, as yet unfulfilled desires of consciousness. But, most importantly, we have a different attitude towards the negative factors that we encounter in real life, because illusions give us that necessary positive charge that corrects the focus of inner vision, our attitude in life.

Sometimes, in order to act effectively in real life, we simply need to tune our brains to positive illusions that will balance the severity of life's adversities. This need arises when, at a given moment in time, real positive events are not enough to compensate for negative factors.

Barry is a widower whose active life is limited by a leg injury; he collected more than 100 videotapes of his favorite films. Formerly an outstanding dancer, Barry's favorite films are musical films starring Fred Astor and Gene Kelly. When Barry feels that his field of perception needs to be replenished with positive emotions, he turns on music, imagines himself as a young man, and in his memories dances with June Powell and other partners. In this case, the source of support for a positive attitude is the VCR. Barry now has many friends with whom he exchanges videos.

POSITIVE ILLUSIONS AND SOLVING REAL LIFE PROBLEMS

Won't people who are too passionate about their dreams have to pay a significant price later if they encounter serious problems in real life? Are they avoiding reality, thereby shifting all responsibility onto the shoulders of others? This may be true, but there is no evidence that such abandonment occurs on a large scale. Of course, such a problem can arise if a person goes too far in his fantasies. We've all heard of hermits and alcoholics who avoid the difficulties of real life. However, most people only strive to balance the positive and negative, which helps them cope with critical situations that arise.

Cedric leads the hectic life of a lawyer in the big city. From early Monday morning until late Friday evening, he, his secretary and two assistants are busy resolving emerging crises. To compensate for the effect of a negatively charged flow of impulses, on Saturday morning Cedric, his wife and dog leave for a secluded place on a lake 100 kilometers from the city. There they lead a solitary, fantastic life. No television, no newspapers, no telephone. Cedric. a naturalist at heart, wanders through the wild, writes poetry and imagines living in prehistoric times. His wife paints watercolors. It seems to them that they are leading a double life - real and imaginary. Cedric believes that both lives complement each other perfectly.

CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASIES

Below are five possible benefits of our fantasies and illusions. See what you agree with and what you don't.

Agree

Disagree

A few illusions added to the positive part of my perceptual field will help me cope with the negative factors that I encounter in real life.

Since I have a hobby (wood carving, modeling, sewing, etc.), which keeps my hands busy and my mind free, I dream well. Dreams help me maintain a positive attitude, a positive attitude towards life.

If reality opens the floodgates and a stream of negative factors rushes into the field of perception, then turning to fantasies and illusions helps me restore its positive part and maintain a positive attitude.

If I do not abuse fantasies and illusions, then life in “parallel” worlds will allow me to achieve professional success and make a career.

In a world full of confusion and negativity, illusions and fantasies, to some extent, help me maintain mental health and balance.

USING OBJECTIVES

Next, we will show how important setting a specific goal is in creating and maintaining a positive attitude. Now it’s quite simple to understand: each of us uses our own way of creating illusions and formulating goals in order to expand the positive part of the field of perception, maintain mental health and the ability to respond to external events.

Everyone who is mentally healthy finds one way or another to keep positive factors in focus.

If the creation of positive illusions and fantasies contributes to mental health, one should not abandon the techniques found, although the facts of real life should always come first.

CONCLUSION

1. There is an undeniable relationship between mental health and the ability to maintain a positive attitude.

2. Positive illusions and fantasies, if not abused, can be used as “inserts” that enhance the positive part of the perception field.

3. Those who manage to create additional positive factors and negate the impact of negative ones, in fact, form an “immune system” for protecting mental health.

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The psyche refers to the sphere of emotions, feelings and thinking of general health. The valueological aspect of mental health is the management of the state of the psyche with elements of self-knowledge and mental health. Mental health is associated with the third purpose of human existence - the need for self-realization as an individual, that is, it ensures that sphere of life that we call social. A person realizes himself in society only if he has a sufficient level of mental energy, which determines his performance, and at the same time, sufficient plasticity and harmony of the psyche, allowing him to adapt to society and be adequate to its requirements.

According to modern ideas, based on the works of K.G. Jung, the human psyche has a conscious (consciousness itself) and an unconscious part. The first includes only about 10% of mental material. The unconscious part of the psyche is the subconscious and superconscious. The subconscious is that mental experience that a person has already gone through, but carries it within himself; it is connected to our biological existence. Superconsciousness is the highest levels of the psyche, something to which a person is still moving, but feels it within himself. The conscious part of the psyche, according to C. G. Jung, has an Ego (our idea of ​​ourselves) and a Personality (how we present ourselves to society). In the structure of the subconscious, two particularly important levels are distinguished - Shadow and Anima (Animus) - the feminine in a man and the masculine in a woman. In the Shadow are those sides of our qualities that we do not want to demonstrate in society, that we do not like. If a person does not like some behavioral manifestation in another, this means that he hides the same tendency in the depths of his subconscious. In the Shadow all the consequences of mental stress, psychotrauma and psychocomplexes are recorded.

Superconsciousness, according to C. G. Jung, is represented by the Self, i.e. human essence without masks, the True Self, an irrational sense of self, unrelated to the personal sphere.

Any mental health disorder (by analogy with physical health) is associated, on the one hand, with innate characteristics of the psyche, and on the other hand, with factors influencing during life - excessive mental stress and psychotrauma. Both can cause a low level of mental energy and, consequently, low performance, as well as disharmony, inappropriate behavior and deformation of the “I-concept”.

Character is a set of stable individual characteristics of a person that develops and manifests itself in activity, communication and determines its typical modes of behavior. Excessive enhancement of individual traits, expressed in the selective vulnerability of the individual, is called accentuation. Personality accentuation is associated mainly with temperamental characteristics, takes shape in adolescence, then gradually smoothes out, appearing only in acute traumatic situations.

The following types of accentuated characters are distinguished:

a) cycloid - prone to sudden changes in mood depending on external influences;

b) asthenic - easily tired, anxious, indecisive, irritable, prone to depression;

c) sensitive - very sensitive, timid, shy;

d) schizoid - emotionally cold, fenced off, with little contact;

e) stuck (paranoid) - highly irritable, suspicious, touchy, ambitious, with high persistence of negative affects;

f) epileptoid - characterized by poor controllability, impulsive behavior, intolerance, conflict, viscosity of thinking, pedantry;

g) demonstrative (hysterical) - characterized by a tendency to childish forms of behavior, which is expressed in a tendency to repress unpleasant facts and events, deceit, fantasy and pretense, adventurism, vanity, lack of remorse, “flight into illness” when a need is not satisfied in recognition;

h) hyperthymic - with a constantly high spirits and a thirst for activity, but does not complete the task, is scattered, talkative;

i) disthymic - overly serious and responsible, focused on dark thoughts, not active enough, prone to depression;

j) unstable - overly susceptible to the influence of the environment, the company.

The above character traits can manifest themselves not only in acute traumatic situations, but constantly, which impedes adaptation to the social environment. In these cases we are talking about character pathology, i.e. psychopathy. The names of psychopathy are basically the same as accentuations. Psychopathy belongs to borderline states.

It is almost impossible to cure psychopathy, since it is based on temperamental characteristics. Human temperament is difficult to correct (but it can change somewhat with age). Sometimes psychological work aimed at social adaptation of such an individual gives a positive result. Character can be subject to some correction through the awareness of negative forms of behavior and the development of positive ones through a change in the value system.

The second aspect that disrupts mental health is acquired in the process of life. It includes mental stress associated with emotional and intellectual overload, and psychotrauma. The second is often combined with the first. The type of human response to mental stress depends on his mental constitution.

"Stress" means "tension", tension in the system during its adaptive restructuring. This term was proposed by the outstanding Canadian scientist G. Selye, who created the scientific concept of this condition. A stressor is any factor that is unusual in the strength and duration of its effect on a person. If it is of a stress-psychic nature, then the stress is called mental, or psycho-emotional.

Stress is a manifestation and at the same time a tool for a person’s adaptive restructuring under the excessive influence of both physical and mental factors on him. The complex of stereotypical nonspecific reactions that accompany stress and ensure adaptation to changed conditions, survival during restructuring and elimination of the consequences of overload was called by G. Selye the “general adaptation syndrome.”

The goal, the result of mental restructuring is the adoption of a new concept of life that corresponds to new conditions, i.e. conceptualization. After understanding what happened, changing views in the name of life in the future, i.e. after “redistributing mental material,” stress fades away. An analogue of this process at the physical level is the formation of a “structural trace of adaptation” (according to F.Z. Meyerson, 1981) in the form of hypertrophy and hyperplasia of organs and tissues working under increased load.

The conceptualization process has stages. The first stage is ignoring the traumatic factor, trying to get out of the situation with minimal loss of energy. This type of reaction is characteristic of all people, but is dominant in children and infantile, demonstrative, hysterical personalities who are not involved in deep psychological experiences. The second stage is excitement. It is characterized by a chaotic manifestation of activity aimed at overcoming and eliminating a traumatic situation. As a dominant form of response, it is characteristic of behaviorally active individuals. This activity is always accompanied by the so-called age regression, a return to childhood forms of mental manifestations. Therefore, demanding a decision, speaking in the language of logic and conviction with a person in such a state is pointless. He only understands the language of touch (sensory contact is needed) and emotions.

The third stage is characterized by a depressive state. This depression is associated with a loss of mental energy and is essentially reactive. It is expressed in depressed mood, low self-esteem, and poor physical activity. At the same time, intensive mental work is carried out aimed at understanding what happened and finding ways out of the current situation. This form of reaction is dominant in people of a melancholic, philosophical disposition. Helping a person at this stage of the adaptation process consists of replenishing the energy deficit through psycho-emotional (sympathy, understanding) and energetic resonance.

The fourth stage is conceptualization. Making a decision, a new concept as a guide to further action and perception of life leads to the extinction of stress. When adaptive restructuring is completed, stress as its tool is no longer needed. The best conceptualizers are people of a philosophical bent. They, in comparison with “people of action” who dissolve in the momentary nature of life (usually people of a picnic constitution), come out of traumatic situations faster and better. At the same time, having often an asthenic somatic constitution, representatives of this type have difficulty adapting to physical activity.

The above dynamics of adaptive restructuring are especially clearly manifested in acute mental stress and psychotrauma (a demonstrative example is the behavior of victims of the earthquake in Armenia). With not very strong, but constant mental stress, which gives a cumulative effect, this dynamics is less clearly expressed. The adaptation process, which often drags on for years, in an initially normal person leads to chronic stress, which is manifested by a neurotic state (neuroticism). The most common forms of this manifestation are emotional instability, poor health, anxiety, irritability, decreased self-esteem, and autonomic disorders. The accentuated personality reacts with neurosis. Neurosis is a form of mental adaptation (with the manifestation of signs of maladaptation) of an accentuated personality. It is always conditioned constitutionally, associated with the characteristics of the psyche, and not with the nature of the traumatic situation. The form of neurosis in a person does not change throughout his life. The neurotic form of response is established in childhood as a manifestation of overcompensation of some quality when significant relationships with the microenvironment are disrupted and has a childish connotation.

There are three main forms of neurosis.

1. Neurasthenia. The most common form of neurosis, expressed in mental exhaustion, negative emotional background, irritability, touchiness, and tearfulness. Passive defense reactions are excessively expressed. At the same time, volitional activity is reduced, and a feeling of futility arises against the background of over-responsibility.

2. Hysteria. It occurs in infantile, hysterical individuals with poor mental adaptation (often with a pyknic somatic constitution). Its forms reflect two well-known animal (and children's) types of reactions in the face of danger - “imaginary death” (freezing) and “motor storm” (frightening, avoidance, attack). Various forms of this behavior are pathologically recorded (sometimes partially) in people of a hysterical type. Partial fixation can manifest itself as functional paralysis and paresis, disorders of pain sensitivity, coordination of movements, speech disorders (stuttering, soundlessness up to complete muteness), etc.

3. Obsessive-compulsive neurosis. It occurs more often in asthenics, people of a melancholic nature. Characterized by phobias and increased anxiety, which leads to the repetition of certain actions (for confidence). In this case, the mood tends to decrease, and autonomic disorders occur.

To substantiate the principles of prevention and correction of mental stress, we will focus on its mental and physiological mechanisms.

The mechanism that triggers mental stress is emotion. Negative emotions are stronger and longer lasting than positive ones. A negative emotion is a motivator for achieving a goal, satisfying a need, and occurs during frustration (dissatisfaction of a need), a situation of choice, or under excessively strong mental stress. Needs can be at different levels. At the biological, or basic, level, this is the need for safety, food, satisfaction of sexual and parental instincts. At a higher level there is a need for emotional and intellectual resonance, a personal territory of authority, creativity, etc.

A positive emotion is a signal of need satisfaction. Sometimes, due to excessive manifestation, it can become stressful for the body and turn on psychophysiological mechanisms characteristic of negative emotions. Stress can be accompanied by negative emotions, or it can go away with a positive attitude while maintaining the ability to choose, control the situation and anticipate consequences. The first form was called distress, the second - eustress. Eustress, unlike distress, has a stimulating effect. Its neuroendocrine mechanisms also have features in the form of activation of synthesis

Stress in modern man has changed its character. Problems have become less obvious, more sophisticated, and their existence has lasted longer. This is a person's struggle with himself, problems of choice and responsibility, multiple and contradictory demands made by life. Modern man having a very tense

social life, at the same time, unlike the man of the past, is faced with a shift in priorities in the family. They still expect authority and firmness from him, and at the same time they demand affection and tenderness, concrete participation in family affairs. The woman is in a similar situation. She is trying to combine a social career with her role as a mother and wife.

There are differences in stress between men and women. They relate to both causes and forms of manifestation. In women, the causes of stress are more often associated with the fast running of the “biological clock”, the need to simultaneously fulfill one’s biological and social functions, loss of external attractiveness and children leaving the family. Men who are more focused on social prestige constantly evaluate their achievements step by step and set new goals. The more common causes of stress in them are lack of recognition of social and personal advantages, as well as a decrease in muscle strength.

In the manifestations of stress in men, due to their greater sympathotonicity, vascular disorders (hypertension, myocardial infarction, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis) dominate. In addition, alcoholism and smoking (as forms of escape from negative emotions), gastric ulcers, and functional disorders of the sexual sphere are characteristic. Women are more vagotonic, more sensitive and emotional. They more often suffer from digestive disorders, dysphagia, and are more susceptible to fear and depression. Dysfunctions associated with the reproductive sphere (diseases during menstruation and pregnancy, stress associated with childbirth) deserve special attention in initiating and creating the background for the development of stress in women. The psychological manifestations of stress in men and women are also different. Men are more inclined to attack and defend; their ability to make decisions is almost unimpaired. For women, disorganization, absent-mindedness and difficulty in making decisions, and a tendency to depression are in the first place. psyche health character mental stress

Prevention of mental stress and correction of its consequences. This aspect of the valeologist’s activity includes the following principles.

1. Increasing resistance to mental stress. This includes the so-called preventive conceptualization, which consists of psychologically preparing a person to face stressful situations, arming him with the appropriate philosophy, as well as acquiring skills to manage his mental state (all kinds of psychosomatic training).

2. Reacting negative emotions. It can be immediate or in a later simulated situation. Currently, there are well-developed techniques that allow one to get rid of mental stress through light trance states through catharsis. Depending on the type of psychosomatic constitution, the forms of response can be different: aggression with motor excitement (more often in choleric people, people with an athletic constitution), verbal excitement with swearing (more often in sanguine people with a pyknic constitution), tears (in people of a melancholic nature).

3. Psychocorrection. In case of acute short-term stress, it includes: a) a set of movements corresponding to the psychodynamics of a person, which must be sufficiently rhythmic (rhythm restores a sense of security and control of the situation) and sufficiently difficult (to promote the utilization of catecholamines); b) relaxation in all possible ways; c) self-hypnosis; d) the use of external relaxing influences (music, smells, natural factors, etc.).

Chronic stress, which is the result of a person’s entire life, requires the elimination of stress-producing moments and stereotypes, changes in lifestyle and behavior patterns, and replacement of thoughts and feelings with more positive, constructive ones. It is advisable to create an environment that will serve as a “support network.”

4. Pharmacological correction. It involves the use mainly of sedatives, peroxidation inhibitors (to reduce damage to cell membranes) and β-blockers (to prevent heart damage).

People who have experienced acute stress or are in chronic stress are subject to general health improvement.

If the psycho-emotional stress caused by psychotrauma was not responded to, but was immersed in the subconscious, then it can become the basis for the formation of a psychocomplex. A psychocomplex is an unconscious formation that determines the structure and direction of consciousness. It, as already noted, is formed mainly in the early stages of life, including the prenatal period, and accompanies a person throughout his life, deforming his mental manifestations to one degree or another. The only way to get rid of psycho-complexes is to extract them from subconsciousness, react in a model situation and become aware. This is only possible when using a trance state.

Temperament is the first stage or, rather, even the foundation of the edifice of the psyche. Following it, character is usually called as an expression of a holistic personality characteristic, as the main integrating mental component that unites all other secondary personality properties.

Mental type is a more individualized concept, it contains many subtle individual shades of personality: just as human faces and constitutional features are unique, so are mental types individually diverse. At the same time, both in the human face and in constitutions, we have learned to identify repeating series of typical features and to combine this diversity into integrating categories. Psychology, obviously, is at the very beginning of understanding and interpreting the entire diversity of mental types, but after the well-known studies of E. Kretschmer, we can speak in any case about one axis along which this diversity is grouped.”

General adaptation syndrome develops in several stages. In this case, stages may sequentially arise: 1) anxiety (mobilization, or emergency stage); 2) resistance; 3) exhaustion.

In the first stage, the body’s defenses are mobilized, which ultimately contributes to the restoration and development of the second stage. At the same time, the body’s resistance can be increased in relation to other irritants (so-called cross-resistance). However, depending on the circumstances, increased sensitivity (cross-sensitization) may occur. In the second stage, recovery occurs. But if action pathogenic irritant continues, and the body's defenses dry up, the third stage begins - the stage of exhaustion.

As an illustration of the staged development of OSA, we can cite fluctuations in weight indicators in rats that were subjected to daily strictly dosed pathogenic stimulation with electric current. In the stage of mobilization, due to the catabolic influences of the general adaptation syndrome, a drop in the weight of the animals occurred; in the stage of resistance, despite ongoing irritation, the usual weight gain for rats occurred. During this period, rats not only developed “accustomment” to the daily action of the stimulus, but they were, as experiments showed, more resistant to hypoxia, to toxic doses of corticotropic hormone of the anterior pituitary gland (ACTE) and other pathogenic influences. However, continued irritation then led to the development of a stage of exhaustion and a new drop in the weight of the animals.

The initial link (trigger mechanism) of the body's adaptation to unusual conditions is quickly and short-term reflex processes (protective reflexes, various vasomotor, secretory, trophic reflexes).

Through afferent pathways (adrenaline, histamine, breakdown products of damaged tissue, etc.) the subsequent activation of hormonal reactions occurs, ensuring a longer action of emergency adaptive mechanisms. The inclusion of the endocrine glands in the adaptation reaction, as shown in experiments, is carried out through the hypothalamus, therefore it is more correct to talk about the role of the system: hypothalamus - anterior lobe of the pituitary gland - adrenal cortex. The reactivity of this system largely depends on the cerebral cortex, reticular formation, and the tone of the autonomic nervous system. There is also a feedback connection: hormones - nervous system. Hormones of the pituitary gland and adrenal cortex play a large role in disease outcomes and the development of the resistance stage. Thus, with insufficiency of the adrenal cortex, various injuries (for example, trauma during surgical operations) can be extremely dangerous for the patient’s life if appropriate hormonal therapy (cortisone, etc.) is not taken in a timely manner.

At present, it is difficult to explain by what mechanisms the increased hormonal activity of the anterior pituitary gland and adrenal cortex increases the body's resistance. Here, metabolic changes (hyperglycemia), increased detoxifying properties of the body, protective substances released during the breakdown of lymphocytes, changes in the function of the reticuloendothelial system, liver, changes in the cellular composition of the bone marrow, influence on the reactivity of the cardiovascular system, etc. may play a role. .

Strength, balance and mobility of nervous processes, which characterize the types of higher nervous activity of people, are the physiological basis of their temperaments. Temperament is a manifestation of a type of higher nervous activity in behavior, in human activity. The manifestation of a strong, balanced, fast type of nervous activity is a sanguine temperament. The characteristics of the nervous activity of the strong, balanced, slow type are the physiological basis of the phlegmatic temperament. A strong unbalanced type of nervous activity corresponds to choleric, and a weak type corresponds to melancholic temperament.

Specific manifestations of the type of higher nervous activity in behavior are diverse. They affect not only the external behavior, but seem to “permeate” all aspects of the psyche, significantly making themselves felt in cognitive activity, in the sphere of feelings, in the motives and actions of a person. Types of higher nervous activity are found in the functioning of both signaling systems (in their interaction).

Manifestations of strength, balance and mobility of the basic nervous processes - features of human temperament - can also be noticeable in the nature of mental work, in the features of speech, etc. However, the endless variety of behavior and the entire content of the mental life of people have their physiological basis not in features such as nervous activity, but a system of temporary, conditional connections formed in the course of human life and activity. The properties of the type of nervous activity - strength, balance and mobility of nervous processes - affect only the dynamic features of people's behavior and activity.

It was said above that the type of nervous system is not something immutable; this means that a person’s temperament can change under the influence of living conditions and activities. Features of temperament are determined not only by the natural properties of the nervous system. They depend on the influences to which a person is constantly exposed during his life; they depend on upbringing and training. Temperament often changes with age.

With any type of higher nervous activity, with any temperament, it is possible to develop all socially necessary personality traits. Some types of temperament cannot be assessed positively and others negatively. Each temperament has its positive and negative sides. If it is easier for a choleric person than for a phlegmatic person to develop speed and energy of action, then for a phlegmatic person it is easier than for a choleric person to develop endurance and composure. The liveliness and responsiveness of a sanguine person, the calmness and lack of haste of a phlegmatic person, the energy of a choleric person, the depth and stability of the feelings of a melancholic person - all these are examples of valuable qualities of different temperaments.

At the same time, with any temperament there is a danger of developing undesirable personality traits. Under certain conditions, a sanguine temperament can lead to a tendency to "throw away"; phlegmatic - may cause some lethargy, indifference to the environment; choleric temperament can make a person unrestrained and harsh; in the presence of melancholic temperament traits, a tendency to become completely immersed in one’s own experiences and excessive isolation may develop. Awareness of the positive and negative aspects of temperament and the development of the ability to manage them constitute one of the important tasks of education.

Peculiarities of temperament affect, as we noted, the characteristics of mental work. However, one or another temperament, which gives originality to the manner (“style”) of mental work, does not at all predetermine the possibilities of a person’s mental development. Features of temperament, which require an individual approach to a person, can only determine the ways and means of mental development, but not the level of achievement.

As an illustration, we present some data from the characteristics of two students of the same X grade, Arseny Sh. and Pavel B., who graduated from school with a gold medal (from the work of Leites). Both of them studied diligently throughout the years and enthusiastically participated in the social life of the school. Both decided to enter the physics department of the university. Over the years they grew and developed together. And yet both were very different.

Arseny is tirelessly active, active; one cannot notice in him a state of relaxation or interruptions in his studies. He can easily handle taking care of several things at once; the complexity and variability of all kinds of circumstances do not weaken his energy. Paul's mental activity proceeds differently. Completing lessons takes a long time; Any task, even the simplest one, requires preparation and thought. Every small obstacle or unforeseen circumstance holds his attention for a long time.

It is significant that Arseny, who, unlike Pavel, works and acts very intensively, is able to rest in a short time. A transition from school to home, a short conversation on an unrelated topic, and most importantly a change in classes are sufficient to restore his strength. Pavel's nervous system is much more depleted. He gets very tired at the end of the school day and needs to either sleep or have at least an hour of relative rest to recuperate for mental work.

A characteristic difference in the characteristics of the mental work of young men is manifested in their attitude to the assimilation of new material and to the repetition of what has been learned. Arseny listens with great interest to the explanation of the new. Reading an educational book gives him the greatest satisfaction when he reads the book for the first time. The very difficulty of learning something new gives him pleasure; something new puts him in a state of vivacity and slight excitement. On the contrary, repeating what has been covered (at the end of the topic, at the end of the quarter or at the end of the year) does not evoke a positive attitude in him; During revision lessons, he tends to get involved in extraneous activities.

Pavel has the exact opposite picture: he especially likes repetition. He is interested in new things, he is one of the thoughtful and inquisitive students, but learning new things is always tiring for him. He cannot follow the explanations as closely as Arseny; he needs to relax his attention and be distracted from time to time. In addition, he is not capable of immediately thinking as decisively as Arseny without preparation; he needs to first become familiar with the material. New facts, new words, new directions of thought excite him and slow down his activity. Therefore, when explaining something new, he is in a somewhat anxious, slightly confused state. He behaves differently when repeated. He has already gotten used to the previous material and feels like he is in charge here. Already possessing mostly facts and ideas, he can surprise with the clarity and accuracy of his thought.

Familiarity with the biographies of young men and observational materials made it possible to draw tentative conclusions about their temperaments. Arseny, apparently, is close to the strong and mobile type of nervous activity; he exhibits features of sanguine and choleric temperaments. Pavel clearly gravitates towards the weak type; he has noticeable features of a melancholic temperament. It is very instructive that weakness in the type of nervous activity did not prevent Pavel from being an excellent student, developing significant mental abilities, and graduating from school with a gold medal. Pavel often amazes with the “matureness” of his judgments, the thoughtfulness, and maturity of his answers. The difficulty of his mental work has its reverse positive side - a special depth and thoroughness of thinking. Ultimately, the superiority of Arseny Sh. over Pavel B. is relative: Of course, the speed of reactions and the ease of transition to a new mental load are the most valuable properties. But Arseny immediately reveals the maximum of his capabilities. Pavel, on the other hand, slowly and hesitantly moves towards solving problems, lingering for a long time on the same questions, is gradually able to understand the problem more clearly and subtly, more completely and correctly. Paul's mental work is relatively unproductive; he manages to do much less than Arseny, but from a qualitative point of view his achievements are not inferior to Arseny’s achievements, and in some cases surpass them. The very difficulty in the development of thought, associated with the peculiarities of the type of nervous activity, becomes in some cases a prerequisite for especially in-depth and careful work of thinking.

When speaking about the significance of the type of higher nervous activity of people, we must keep in mind the social essence of man. Only for an animal is the strength or weakness of nervous processes of decisive importance. A person, being a member of society, can rely on social experience and consciously regulate his behavior and activities. A weak type of nervous system sometimes requires additional effort and special organization to achieve the intended goals, but the level of problem solving for which the weak type mobilizes all his strength may turn out to be an achievement of the highest order. A person may be weak as a natural being, but this does not deprive him of the opportunity, through the influence of society - education above all - to become a strong and valuable member of society.

Among outstanding people in any field you can find representatives of different temperaments. Among the greatest Russian writers, for example, we can note in Pushkin the striking features of a choleric temperament, in Herzen - sanguine, in Gogol - melancholic, in Krylov - phlegmatic.

The social conditioning of human higher nervous activity requires a special approach to determining and assessing the properties of the type of nervous activity in people. It is impossible to approach such an important indicator as, for example, the strength of nervous processes with the same yardstick as in animals. For a person, the strength of a stimulus is determined not so much by its physical characteristics (brightness, loudness, etc.) as by its social significance. A message about an important event, spoken in the quietest voice, can make a strong impression on a person. The strength of nervous processes in humans depends to a great extent on the social significance of the influences.

All manifestations of a person’s temperament bear the imprint of social influences, social norms and requirements. The type of higher nervous activity is only the natural foundation of individual differences between people, on which a grandiose superstructure arises from the most complex systems of temporary connections formed in the course of life, primarily under the influence of social influences to which a person is constantly exposed.

Therefore, it is so difficult to judge the type of nervous activity based on behavioral characteristics. Even in animals, as indicated, temporary connections can mask manifestations of the nervous system type. In humans, the importance of life experience and upbringing is especially great. Excessive ease of changing interests and hobbies, lack of restraint, indifference to the environment, timidity and other negative qualities of a child (as well as an adult) may not be traits of temperament, but the result of the attitude of people around them: ingratiation and encouragement of whims - in some cases, excessive severity and suppression independence - in others. A student at school may seem lethargic, helpless, give the impression of being a representative of a weak type, but not really be one. His behavior may be caused, for example, by the fact that he has fallen behind in academic subjects or he has developed the wrong relationship with the team.

Only long-term and multilateral observations make it possible to establish the characteristics of the type of nervous activity of students. With a short-term acquaintance, you can only get individual, more or less vivid impressions about the student’s temperament. Such observations are, however, not reliable and do not reveal the most important properties of the type. Only knowing well the entire life path of a student and the conditions of his life, comparing data on his behavior and activities in different circumstances, can one distinguish a random manner of behavior from personality manifestations, through which the most stable features such as nervous activity are really visible.

At the same time, the teacher does not need to decide at all costs which of the four main temperaments the student belongs to. In most cases, such a problem cannot have a definite solution. It is much more important to learn to judge the basic properties of a type - the strength, balance, mobility of the student’s nervous processes.

A sign of the strength of the excitatory process can be sustained activity, the possibility of prolonged and intense effort in mental and physical work, especially when working with new and complex material. The strength of the inhibitory process is noticeable in the stable concentration on work, as well as in the ability to easily carry out the necessary delays in movements and actions. In the most general form, the strength of nervous processes is evidenced by the volume and productivity of activity available to a given student in a certain, fairly long period of time.

Indicators of weakness of nervous processes can be constant lethargy and relaxation in some cases, slight excitability with rapid exhaustion in others. The balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition can be judged by the uniformity of work performance, by the student’s endurance and self-control.

Imbalance, a predominance of excitement, manifests itself in increased emotional excitability and nervous breakdowns. The mobility of excitation and inhibition can be detected at moments of switching from one activity to another.

The individual psychological characteristics of a student can be correctly assessed only if his attitude to learning is taken into account.

An important methodological technique for studying students is their constant comparison with each other, which should, however, only be done under equal conditions for them.

Knowing the traits of a student’s temperament allows us to more correctly understand some of the features of his behavior and activities, and makes it possible to vary the methods of educational influences as necessary. It is known, for example, that a stern remark and a raised tone have a disciplinary effect on a child with a strong nervous system, but on children with weak nervous processes they can have, on the contrary, a harmful effect: they can slow down children so much that they can no longer reveal their knowledge and skills. , will lose confidence in their abilities, etc. (Merlin's research).

Teachers know that changes to the school schedule and the replacement of one lesson with another disrupt the normal functioning of the class. Some students adapt to this kind of change easily and quickly, while others learn slowly, although both can be very diligent. When explaining such facts, differences between students in temperament should also be taken into account. Children with some inertia of nervous processes cannot immediately engage in new activities; it is difficult for them to switch from one activity to another, even in a lesson on the same subject (for example, when moving from listening to an explanation to writing, etc.). At the same time, in children with high mobility of nervous processes, frequent changes in activity often only maintain a working state in the classroom.

The subject of special care for teachers is most often children in whom arousal processes predominate, as well as children with temperamental characteristics that indicate the weakness of their nervous processes (mainly weakness of arousal). The former must be systematically restrained from violent reactions, taught restraint and self-control, and instilled in them the habit of calm and steady work. In the latter, it is necessary to develop confidence in their abilities, encourage their activity, and demand actions related to overcoming difficulties. Children with a weak nervous system need a clear routine and a certain rhythm of work. Supporting a stereotype is easier nervous work than creating it, so a familiar routine facilitates the flow of nervous activity.

It has already been said above that temperament is one of the most stable characteristics of a person. However, very significant, fundamental changes in behavior and activity are possible as a result of the formation and strengthening of new systems of conditional connections. Experiments with conditioned reflexes convincingly demonstrate that it is impossible to indicate the limits of the plasticity of nervous activity and that this plasticity lies not so much in the ability of the type to change, but in the fact that even with a very stable type there is an unlimited possibility of the formation of temporary connections and thereby human development.

People's behavior is determined not by temperament, but by social conditions of life, by the system of a person's relationship to reality. Temperament affects behavior and activity, but does not determine them. The same person in different circumstances, in relation to different aspects of life, can manifest himself differently. Systems of temporary connections seem to “overlap” temperament. The type of nervous activity and temperament must be constantly taken into account; it cannot be ignored. But you need to be aware that temperament still has a subordinate significance. It is only one of the prerequisites for the development of those most important personality traits that make up a person’s character.

Definition of the concept "neurosis". Etiological factors and mechanisms of formation of neuroses

The term "neurosis" was first introduced into everyday practice by William Cullen in 1776 (W. Cullen 1710-1790). At the same time, the adjective “neurotic” entered the psychiatric lexicon. At the time, the term meant “a generalized lesion of the nervous system that is not caused by any localized disease or febrile illness.”

From the original definition, only the idea of ​​neurosis as a mental disorder devoid of an organic basis has been preserved. In the 30s of the twentieth century. 3. Freud's ideas that many forms of neurosis have clear psychological causes are becoming widespread in psychiatry. For this reason, he called them psychoneuroses, including hysteria, anxiety and obsessions. Trying to establish the causes of psychoneuroses, Freud came to the conclusion that the origins of many of them lie in those processes that also determine personality development. This line of reasoning led to the term “neurotic character,” which denoted a personality whose nature was similar to that of neuroses. The relationship between neuroses and personality type was also emphasized by other researchers (K. Jaspers, K. Schneider, Lufborrow). They believed that neurosis was a reaction to stress that arose in a certain type of personality. In connection with this approach, a new term “pathological emotional reaction” was introduced, but the relationship between personality type and type of reaction is far from clear.

A fairly complete definition of neuroses, reflecting the views of Russian psychiatry, was given by V.A. Gilyarovsky: “Neuroses are painfully experienced and accompanied by disorders in the somatic sphere, breakdowns of personality in its social relationships, caused by mental factors and not caused by organic changes, with a tendency to active processing and compensation.”

This definition emphasizes the main criteria for identifying neuroses: a psychogenic factor as a cause, vegetosomatic manifestations, personal character and a tendency to process the resulting disorders in accordance with the social significance of mental trauma.

Neuroses are reversible mental disorders caused by the influence of psychotraumatic factors, occurring with the patient’s awareness of the fact of their illness, without disturbances in the reflection of the real world, and manifesting themselves mainly as psychogenic and somatovegetative disorders.

Neuroses are the most common psychogenic pathology. In recent decades, the number of patients with neurotic disorders has been steadily increasing, especially in economically developed countries.

Neuroses develop as a result of exposure to prolonged mental trauma, often against the background of overwork, lack of sleep, or previous somatic illness. But they do not lead to disturbances in reflective-cognitive activity, gross changes in mental functions, and do not disrupt the adaptation of patients to the life situation.

Changed interpersonal relationships also led to changes in symptoms, for example, frequent depression. This circumstance explains the growth of depressive “neuroses” in modern society. The founder of the individual approach in psychology, Alfred Adler, who identifies neurosis as a separate category, wrote that if the goals that a person sets for himself, or the methods for their implementation, do not correspond to the person’s capabilities, these goals acquire the features of fiction, becoming unattainable and neurotic. The neurotic, as Adler puts it, is “pinned to his fictions.” Symptoms of neurosis play a protective role and are an escape from reality. By protecting a person from contact with life’s problems and not allowing him to understand the secret of his low self-esteem, neurosis is a kind of mental compensation. A person suffering from neurosis may feel good because he “does not see” reality. According to K. Horney, the source of neuroses is disrupted interpersonal relationships. Horney, believing that the main goal of neuroses is to obtain security, puts the concept of anxiety and fear at the forefront. The desire for security is one of the neurotic tendencies, characterized by rigidity, manifested in a person’s desire to obtain this security by any means. “Walking” along such a canalized path, a person loses the ability to see the nuances of the world around him, losing much of what he could usefully participate in to preserve his psychophysiological value.

The conditions for the emergence of neuroses are now even greater than several years ago. A neurotic breakdown is, in principle, possible in any person, but its nature and form are determined by a number of factors:

1. Factors of biological nature - heredity and constitution, previous diseases, pregnancy and childbirth, gender and age, body type, etc.

2. Factors of a psychological nature - premorbid personality characteristics, mental trauma of childhood, traumatic situations.

3. Factors of social nature - parental family, sex education, education, profession and work activity.

4. Generally debilitating hazards - prolonged lack of sleep, unhealthy diet, physical and mental stress.

The etiology and pathogenesis of neurotic disorders are determined by the following factors.

Genetic are primarily constitutional features of the psychological tendency to neurotic reactions and features of the autonomic nervous system. The former are proven based on the results of psychological tests (degree of neuroticism), the latter by determining the tendency of the autonomic nervous system to respond to stress. According to the authors, complete concordance is determined in 40% of monozygotic twins and in 15% of dizygotic twins.

Factors influencing in childhood. Research conducted in this area has not proven an unambiguous effect, however, neurotic traits and the presence of neurotic syndromes in childhood indicate an insufficiently stable psyche and a delay in maturation. Psychoanalytic theories pay particular attention to the influence of early childhood psychotrauma on the formation of neurotic disorders.

Personality. Childhood factors can shape personal characteristics, which subsequently become the basis for the development of neuroses. In general, the significance of personality in each case is inversely proportional to the severity of stressful events at the time of the onset of neurosis. Thus, in a normal personality, neurosis develops only after serious stressful events, for example, wartime neuroses.

Predisposing personality traits are of two types: a general tendency to develop neurosis and a specific predisposition to develop a certain type of neurosis.

Neurosis as a learning disorder. There are two types of theories presented here. Proponents of the first type of theory recognize some of the etiological mechanisms proposed by Freud and try to explain them in terms of learning mechanisms. Thus, repression is interpreted as the equivalent of learning to avoid; emotional conflict is equated to an approach-avoidance conflict, and displacement is equated to associative learning. Theories of the second type reject Freud's ideas and try to explain neurosis based on concepts borrowed from experimental psychology. In this case, anxiety is considered as a stimulating state (impulse), while other symptoms are considered a manifestation of learned behavior, which is reinforced by the decrease in the intensity of this impulse that they cause.

Environmental factors (living conditions, working conditions, unemployment, etc.). Unfavorable environment; at any age, there is a clear relationship between psychological health and indicators of social disadvantage, such as low-prestige occupation, unemployment, poor home environment, overcrowding, limited access to benefits such as transport. It is likely that an unfavorable social environment increases the degree of distress, but is unlikely to be an etiological factor in the development of more severe disorders. Adverse life events (one of the reasons is the lack of protective factors in the social environment, as well as unfavorable factors within the family).

All these factors were summed up quite clearly in the theory of the “barrier of mental resistance” (Yu.A. Aleksandrovsky) and the development of a neurotic disorder in cases where this barrier is insufficient to counteract psychotrauma. This barrier, as it were, absorbs all the features of a person’s mental makeup and response capabilities. Although it is based on two (divided only schematically) foundations - biological and social, it is essentially their single integrated functional-dynamic expression.

Morphological basis of neuroses. The dominant ideas about neuroses as functional psychogenic diseases, in which there are no morphological changes in the brain structures, have undergone significant revision in recent years. At the submicroscopic level, cerebral changes accompanying changes in IRR in neuroses have been identified: disintegration and destruction of the membrane spiny apparatus, a decrease in the number of ribosomes, expansion of the cisterns of the endoplasmic reticulum. Degeneration of individual cells of the hippocampus has been noted in experimental neuroses. Common manifestations of adaptation processes in brain neurons are considered to be an increase in the mass of the nuclear apparatus, mitochondrial hyperplasia, an increase in the number of ribosomes, and membrane hyperplasia. The indicators of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in biological membranes change.

Various events in the surrounding world, an avalanche-like flow of information, changes in social status and relationships between people - all this affects the human psyche and causes various forms of response to negative influences. And under certain conditions, all this can turn into factors that create additional painful tension in the mental life of a particular person.

Being a functional pathology, neuroses with adequate modern therapy, as a rule, are completely cured.

1. The main scientific directions of the problems of neuroses and neurosis-like conditions

In theoretical terms, scientific directions coexist that try to interpret neurosis from both psychological and biological (neurophysiological) platforms. In addition, Western psychotherapeutic schools of the “new wave” take an antinosological position, preferring not to put forward or declare theoretical postulates for understanding the origin of neurotic symptoms and not to conduct a differential diagnosis between a clinical symptom and a psychological phenomenon. Such an antinosological platform can most clearly be demonstrated by the example of Joseph Wolpe’s statement that “neurosis is a bad, persistent habit of maladaptive behavior acquired in the process of learning.” From this it is concluded that neurosis can hardly be attributed to clinical symptom complexes and nosological units, which must have a specific etiological agent, patterns of pathogenesis (neurosogenesis) and outcome. The antinosological platform is akin to a generally antipsychiatric approach to the assessment of mental manifestations, reflected in the famous statements of R. Laing: “There is no point in contrasting “normal” and “abnormal.” Patients in psychiatric clinics are no less “normal” than members of their families, and “schizophrenogenic families” are no different from an ordinary family in modern society. Madness is a characteristic of interpersonal relationships that arise depending on the intelligibility or incomprehensibility for us of the judgments and actions of another person.”

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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...

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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...

Many people are very confused about how a person's worldview affects their mental health, and whether it does so at all. Because of this, their ability to solve their problems and achieve heights of happiness and effectiveness in their activities decreases. The purpose of this conversation is to help those interested in this topic understand it, to sort everything out.

SIGNS OF MENTAL HEALTH

First, let’s define who we consider to be a mentally healthy person. Let us distinguish two levels of mental health.

First level: medically healthy person. That is, a person who is considered healthy by medicine (psychiatry). Signs of this type of mental health are the absence of symptoms of mental illness: sleep disorders, hallucinations, phobias, despondency, etc. Approximately 90% of the population of developed countries has this type of health.

Second level: perfectly healthy person. Here are some signs of such a person:

- is medically (mentally) healthy;

- has peaceful, warm relationships with most people around him;

- knows how to truly love;

- free from any addictions (dependence on the opinions of others, love addiction, Internet addiction, etc.);

- is happy almost all the time;

- does not suffer from negative emotions (malice, anger, hatred, envy, resentment, vindictiveness, despair, etc.);

— easily endures any trials or tragic events (quickly recovers from them);

- has a sober idea of ​​himself and the world around him;

- develops with internal flexibility and the ability to change.

From this it is clear that ideal mental health, on the one hand, is the lot of very few people, on the other hand, it is a state to which every person should strive, since it is in it that a person is truly happy and successful.

THE NATURE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND UNHEALTH

Psychiatry, in simple terms, divides all mental problems according to their origin into two categories: biochemical origin (when the functioning of the brain is disrupted at an organic level) and mental (when a person’s thinking is disrupted without organic reasons).

Moreover, since the causes of biochemical disorders are unknown (except in cases of trauma, wounds and the consequences of physical illnesses), as it is unknown, for example, why this or that person got cancer, no one can guarantee that the biochemical mechanisms of mental illness are not associated with mental illness. human activity, with his thinking. Therefore, psychiatry does not deny, but we directly affirm, that a person’s thinking and actions are the determining causes of his mental health and illness.

TWO BEHAVIORAL FACTORS OF MENTAL HEALTH AND UNHEALTH

In all the diversity of human behavior (and thinking is part of behavior), there are two factors that have the greatest impact on our mental health:

1. The ability to soberly assess oneself and one’s place in the world (sober self-esteem);

2. The ability to control one’s mental and emotional activities (self-control).

The significance of these two factors is colossal for our entire life, and it is amazing that most people do not make any effort to develop these abilities.

Sober self-esteem- this is the closest to the actual idea of ​​oneself, of one’s qualities, capabilities, responsibility, one’s interaction with people and the universe, etc. Extreme deviations from sober self-esteem are delusions of grandeur and excessive self-deprecation. In psychiatry, there is such a thing as “criticism,” that is, a person’s ability to critically evaluate himself. It is “criticism” that helps us to know ourselves. People who are seriously ill at heart often consider themselves normal, and almost everyone around them as sick: they are not able to look at themselves critically. This is a case of lack of "criticism".

But if we do not consider ourselves Napoleons and sometimes acknowledge the criticism of our wife (husband), this does not mean that we have a sober self-esteem. It can be said without any exaggeration that every person’s self-esteem is distorted, and for the vast majority of people it is severely distorted.

How is this known?

This is known because sober self-esteem does not come for nothing; it has to be obtained through mental labor. But few people do this work, and those who do it are surprised to discover that this process is endless. It seems that you already know everything about yourself, but a few years pass and a new level of understanding opens up. After a few more years of work - the next one. And so on endlessly. Knowing ourselves is the most difficult task, because we cannot get out of our skin and look at ourselves from the outside.

But these efforts pay off handsomely. All people who have experienced even the slightest mental illness know that in moments of illness, the idea of ​​things seems to “float.” The idea of ​​people changes (they suddenly begin to seem bad, or aggressive, or not loving us), about themselves... It’s scary, there’s nothing to grab onto. So, a sober idea of ​​ourselves and the world is precisely the “anchor” that keeps our consciousness at the “pier”. This is the compass that shows us where is south and where is north. This is the map on which we accurately see the path from our point A to the desired point B.

Sobriety and mental health are things that influence each other. Sobriety protects our mental health. Movement towards illness is accompanied by a decrease in sobriety. It is precisely because of the mobility of our consciousness that constant mental efforts are required in order not to degrade, not to lose our health, but, on the contrary, to strengthen it. Human consciousness is like a car on a highway going uphill: either we go up or we slide down: due to the mobility of consciousness, it is impossible to “turn off the engine and put the handbrake on.”

The second factor self-control is our ability to control our mental activity. First of all, emotions. Emotions (passions) are precisely that force, those waves that gradually carry our consciousness away from the calm haven of health into the raging sea of ​​illness. It is emotions that deprive us of sobriety. The strength of emotions and the strength of reason - who usually wins this fight determines the degree of our self-control. If we know how, first of all, to monitor our emotional state and then curb those emotions that drag us where we shouldn’t, then we know how to control ourselves.

Many people don’t even think about the fact that not all of our emotions are good for us and therefore they need to be controlled somehow. This misconception is especially common among women. Having not experienced truly bright and beautiful states, such people are content with second-rate emotions as something that makes them feel alive and, perhaps, even loving (although this is not love at all). And therefore, the idea that passions are not so wonderful, and maybe even destructive, is not easy for such people to perceive, because from this follows a rather bleak assessment of the experience...

And here it all depends on whether a person turns on “criticism” or not. If it does not turn on by itself, testing begins. Breakups, problems in relationships, problems at work. For many people, trials help them reconsider their lives and their worldview. Even if the tests do not help, further “swimming away” may even lead to biochemical damage. After this, it is very difficult to help a person. Psychiatry can only offer pills, and pills do not cure, but only “treat”. After all, any problem can be solved by eliminating its cause, but how can pills make a person self-critical or help him develop the skill of self-control?

Therefore, it is better to take care of your mental health while you still have it. If we take care of our health correctly, it will improve as we exercise, and at the same time our level of happiness and effectiveness in all our activities will increase.

And now we come to the main question: which worldview provides a more reliable foundation for our self-care?

There are a lot of worldviews, which, by the way, confuses many. Without trying to embrace the immensity, we will consider only two worldviews - atheism and Orthodoxy. And only two factors are precisely these most important factors of mental health: sobriety and self-control. That is, let's try to figure out which of these two worldviews will better help us look at ourselves soberly and control our mental activity.

WHO ARE ORTHODOX AND ATHEIST?

But first, let's define the terms.

Atheist we call a person who does not believe in the existence of God and the immortal human soul. He usually considers his mental activity to be a product of electrical and chemical products in the brain.

Orthodox we call a person who not only considers himself Orthodox (there are many who mistakenly think so), but also leads a full-fledged Orthodox spiritual life. That is, he reads spiritual literature, wages spiritual struggle, regularly resorts to the sacraments of the Orthodox Church and prays.

Why are we talking here specifically about the Orthodox, and not about Christians in general? Because with unity in the main thing between Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants, only Orthodox read real spiritual literature and engage in spiritual struggle (that is, work to improve their soul). In Russia, church shops are bursting with thick volumes of serious spiritual literature, but in the West, in the churches of Catholics and Protestants you can see only a meager set of several thin brochures. And without knowledge, it is impossible to successfully wage a spiritual struggle. And this has implications for the topic we want to discuss.

Also note that there are different people everywhere, there are exceptions. Naturally, when we talk about atheists and Orthodox Christians in general, we will talk about average, typical representatives of our worldview.

SOBE SELF-ESTEEM

Sober self-esteem is developed if a person has the following three qualities:

1. The desire for self-knowledge.

2. The desire for self-improvement.

3. Common sense ideas about the world and human nature.

Let's see how things stand with each of these three qualities in an Orthodox Christian and an atheist.

The quest for self-knowledge.

An essential part of everyone's spiritual practice Orthodox are repentance and confession. That is, control of one’s own bad thoughts and actions in order to eradicate them. Moreover, all Orthodox Christians know that the area in which we commit the most sins is communication with people, since it is in communication with people that vanity, envy, hatred, condemnation and many other vices manifest themselves in us. It is conflict, painful situations that show us who we are.

The very language of Orthodox people speaks of their correct attitude towards what atheists call crisis, misfortune, grief. The Orthodox call this all a test. Why a test? Because all these situations test, test us and are able to show us such depths of our personality that we did not know. Orthodox Christians, when faced with a test, approach it constructively (from a psychological point of view) and benefit from it for their self-knowledge and self-development.

Among atheists Of course, there are also people who understand the importance of self-knowledge. And there are even those who are aware of the constructive side of crises and take advantage of it. But there are few such people among atheists, since the beliefs of atheists imply that a person does not have an immortal soul, which means that the issue of its improvement is not on the agenda. Atheists devote most of their efforts not to improving the inner self, but to various external goals.

Atheists become interested in their own “I” only when problems arise. The rest of the time, to a much greater extent than Orthodox Christians, they are focused on self-justification, on not seeing, not recognizing their weaknesses: for the most part, they do not understand why they need to know themselves.

The desire for self-improvement.

With self-improvement, everything is approximately the same as with self-knowledge. For Orthodox self-improvement is the main thing in life, and for atheists is not on the agenda, or we are talking about improving certain qualities and skills to solve pragmatic problems: career, improving family relationships, eliminating mental discomfort, etc. (We are not talking here about “self-improvement” in the physical plane, which atheists are prone to to a greater extent than the Orthodox - maintaining physical shape, cosmetics, clothing, decorating homes, etc. - since this is not relevant.)

That is, atheists are engaged in collective self-improvement of their personality much less than Orthodox Christians. But this is not their only problem.

Here it is important to understand in general how self-improvement has to do with sober self-esteem. Here's what it is. The stronger the passions and emotions in a person, the more difficult it is for him to look at things soberly. Improvement in the understanding of the Orthodox lies precisely in liberation from passions - in their opinion, this path leads to joy and love. The Orthodox have a coherent and effective system for overcoming passions. Therefore, the self-improvement of Orthodox Christians brings them closer to a sober view of themselves.

And atheists, even when engaged in certain types of self-improvement, almost never strive to free themselves from passions. Moreover, unlike the Orthodox, they do not have the tools for such liberation. Therefore, the self-improvement of atheists is not only a rarer phenomenon than the self-improvement of Orthodox Christians, but also has an insignificant positive effect on the degree of a person’s sobriety.

And the self-improvement of atheists has a negative impact on the degree of sobriety very often. All sorts of “trainings to increase self-esteem,” trainings and books on seduction, career books and trainings, etc., further remove a person from a real understanding of himself and his place in the world.

Common sense ideas about the world and human nature.

Let us consider two aspects of worldviews that most influence a person’s mental health.

The first aspect is a person’s idea of the meaning of earthly life. For Orthodox For a person, the meaning of life is to improve the soul, and the main sign of perfection is a person’s ability to truly love. We have already talked above about how necessary the desire for improvement is to gain a sober view of things. The worldview of the Orthodox puts this goal in first place.

What about atheists? Since there is no soul, then its improvement cannot be the goal. Therefore, the goals of life of atheists are different. Typically, an atheist lives with one or more of the following conscious or subconscious goals:

- maximum pleasure, interesting sensations,

- minimum suffering, pain, fear,

- fame and envy of others,

- success at work, significant deeds,

- success in family life.

Of all these goals, only the second (a minimum of suffering, pain, fear) can somehow motivate an atheist to true self-improvement. Therefore, in general, the atheistic idea of ​​the meaning of life contributes to sobriety much less than the goal of life of the Orthodox.

The second aspect is the degree of human pride. Pride is the main cause of depression, suicide and, in general, all human vices and mental illnesses. And vice versa, the less pride a person has, the closer he is to a sober idea of ​​himself.

What is pride? Pride is the desire (passion) to single-handedly and completely control all the circumstances of one’s life and the lives of the people around us. That is, this is an exaggerated idea of ​​​​one's importance. Signs of pride are a person’s painful reaction to the fact that some of his plans have failed, another person (close or not) did not act as the proud person would like, general gloom, depression.

From what has been described, it is clear that pride is, in a sense, the desire to put oneself in the place of God. AND atheist has such an opportunity - after all, for him there is no God, all events are random, the world is complete chaos, and human society is a jungle where the strongest wins. In all this “mess,” the only chance to somehow find ground under your feet is to become a “god” yourself, to begin to command people and circumstances. At least in your imagination. This is why pride is so characteristic of atheists.

Orthodox but they cannot put themselves in the place of God for a very simple reason: they know that God exists, the place is not free. In addition, in Orthodoxy, pride is the gravest sin, and its opposite, humility, is one of the most desirable things to work on oneself. Orthodox Christians know how to notice pride in themselves and overcome it, and they attach great importance to this work.

Please note that we are not trying to judge here whose worldview is more objective (this issue cannot be resolved by simple reasoning), we are only talking about which worldview is more conducive to mental health. That’s why we call it “sound idea” and not, for example, “correct idea.” And an analysis accessible to the logic of any person shows that, at least, the Orthodox worldview contributes to a sober view of oneself to a much greater extent than the worldview of the average atheist.

SELF-CONTROL

So we get to the second of the two main behavioral factors of mental health - self-control or the ability to manage one’s emotional and mental activity.

Self-control lies in the supremacy of the mind and will over emotions. The mind of a self-controlled person constantly analyzes emotions and, when destructive, negative emotions are detected, takes certain measures to reduce their level. If a person does not control himself, he not only immediately suffers from negative emotions, but also becomes more and more weak in relation to them, that is, emotions and passions take on more and more confident power over him - and so on until mental illness. It is also significant that in a negative emotional state a person cannot make the right decisions and fully interact with other people.

So, self-control consists of two things:

1. The ability to analyze existing emotions, that is, to notice them and evaluate them;

2. The ability to curb them, that is, weaken them, and ideally change them to the opposite positive emotion at the moment.

Let's start with the first ability - analyze emotions.

Analyze means checking with a certain “reference book” to identify the type of emotion, as well as measuring the strength of the emotion.

What “directory” of emotions is available an atheist? The most that is available to him is ideas from psychology. But the problem is that psychology is a collection of rather heterogeneous theories. Some of them are generally based on the fact that all emotions are good, there are no negative ones.

Therefore, the most reliable measure of an attentive atheist is his own feeling - unpleasant or pleasant. Everything is clear with the unpleasant ones - even an atheist can’t make a mistake here. But with pleasant people it’s more difficult. For example, sleeping with someone else's wife (or husband) is quite pleasant, but overall the sensations are mixed. Or, for example, taking revenge on someone for something seems nice, but the feeling is also not without a fly in the ointment. Or when you are praised, it’s nice, but is it really a positive emotion?.. In a word, already at the analysis stage, an atheist has many chances to make mistakes.

Orthodox much easier. In addition to a reliable “reference book” - a harmonious and holistic system of ideas about passions and the virtues opposite to them, Orthodox Christians have such a skill as “discerning thoughts.” Since all life situations cannot be included in one reference book, the science of “discernment of thoughts” helps a person understand his feelings and accurately determine whether a thought or feeling is positive (from God) or negative (from the evil one).

With ability curb negative emotions still more interesting.

If you atheist, think and remember what means you have to destroy the negative emotion that gave you unpleasant moments. It could be resentment, a feeling of envy, hatred, a desire for revenge, a feeling of injustice, despair, etc. What did you do in such situations to regain your good mood?

Most likely, nothing that will help you. Usually a person who does not know how to control himself simply follows his emotions (that is, literally follows his emotions - like a dog following its owner). If you are tormented by envy, you dream about how to acquire something that causes envy or how the object of envy that belongs to someone else will be destroyed. If we are tormented by resentment after an unpleasant word addressed to us, we dream of how we could respond and defeat the enemy. If we are overwhelmed by hatred, we imagine punishment on the head of the one we hate. And so on. Over time, the emotion passes, but does not disappear completely: a residue from it, as a rule, remains. And accumulating in thousands of layers, such precipitation gradually deprives us of the ability to rejoice and love.

Atheists simply do not have effective means of dealing with negative emotions. All that is available to them is persuasion and some verbal formulas. The best of these formulas, “I forgive you,” addressed to the person who is the object of our negative emotions, brings relief. But firstly, few atheists use it, secondly, it is still not the most effective method, and thirdly, it cannot be applied in all situations. For example, what should one do when one is tormented by despair and a feeling of hopelessness? Who is there to forgive?

How can an atheist fight a negative emotion if he has no idea why or where it comes from? Most atheists think that their negative emotion is a natural, the only possible reaction to one or another external event. They said an unpleasant word to me - I was offended. My deeds were not appreciated as they deserved - I was upset. They divorced me - I fell into depression. That is, my emotions are controlled by external events, not by me.

U Orthodox a completely different look. They know that the cause of their negative emotions is in themselves, in their passions that have not yet been overcome. I am dependent on other people’s opinions - and therefore I was offended by the unpleasant word. I'm vain - and that's why I was upset when I wasn't appreciated. I’m proud—and that’s why I couldn’t get through the divorce constructively within a reasonable time frame and fell into depression.

And once a person sees the cause of his negative emotions, and sees it in himself, then he has the opportunity to overcome this emotion, if only there was a method. And the Orthodox have such methods, and they are absolutely effective. If you have the skill, victory is achieved quickly and easily, and this does not require any special abilities. Thus, the author of this article, before becoming a church member, suffered greatly from various kinds of emotions, and over the past 10 years he has extremely rarely encountered cases in which victory over a negative emotion cost significant work.

CONCLUSIONS

Let's summarize. If we consider a person’s sober view of himself and his ability to self-control as the two most important factors of mental health, then the Orthodox worldview contributes to health to a much greater extent than the atheistic one. And this is confirmed by practice - among the Orthodox, the proportion of suicides and mentally ill people is lower.

Why then do many atheists look at the Orthodox as not entirely normal, and even came up with the expression “Orthodoxy of the brain”?

Precisely because of his distance from a sober view of things. Remember, we talked to you at the beginning about how mentally ill people usually consider themselves normal, and those around them as sick? This is the same case, only we are not talking about a serious illness, but on average about some deviation from the ideal state of mind.

Orthodox Christians, on the contrary, usually soberly realize that they know themselves poorly, that they cannot judge things quite objectively, that the path to ideal health is still far away. In general, they exhibit a high degree of that very “criticism” that psychiatrists love so much.

WHAT IS THE PRACTICAL USE OF THIS CONVERSATION?

One of the atheists may ask: “Well, okay, let’s say everything is so, I don’t look at things soberly, I’m not completely mentally healthy. But what will this discovery give me? I’m an atheist and I can’t suddenly turn into a believer, and I don’t really want to.”

Of course, you cannot suddenly become a believer. This is not a journey of one day and it is accomplished not by talking or reading, but by actions. But any path always begins with the first step, and it is often the most difficult.

Your first step - albeit not towards Orthodoxy, but towards ideal mental health (and therefore happiness) - which you can take right now, and it will not require special sacrifices from you - is to change your attitude towards self-knowledge and knowledge in general. Stop being afraid that you may learn something unpleasant about yourself, or something new about the structure of the world. Stop considering your idea of ​​things to be perfect and final - it is definitely not perfect simply because no one has it perfect, and it is not final simply because you are still alive. Learn to see new information (primarily about yourself) not as a threat to your status quo, but as an opportunity to develop yourself and improve your inner state.

AND FINALLY, ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF THE ORTHODOX. Appeal to some readers

If, after reading the article, you only caught that the Orthodox consider themselves better than others, and the reason for this is their conceit, re-read the material from the beginning and try for yourself to refute the logical reasoning given in the article.

Clue. We draw your attention to the fact that the article is not about people - Orthodox and atheists, but about the tools that promote sanity that both have at their disposal. If you want to establish your opinion about the inadequacy of the Orthodox tools, your task is to think about what is written and find errors or untruths in it. If you are able to think logically, this should probably be easy for you.

 ( Pobedesh.ru 79 votes: 2.65 out of 5)

Previous conversation

See also on this topic:
Antidepressant No. 1 ( )
Can a depressed person help himself? ( Psychiatrist Dmitry Kvasnetsky)
The easiest and fastest way to mental illness ( )
Sadness is light and black or is it a sin to be sad? ( Priest Andrey Lorgus)
Schizophrenia is the path to the highest degree of non-covetousness ( )
Depression as a passion. Depression as a disease Psychiatrist Dmitry Avdeev)
Depression and TV ( )
The role of psychiatry and the Church in overcoming depression ( Psychiatrist, priest Vladimir Novitsky)
Any diagnosis in psychiatry is a myth ( Psychiatrist Alexander Danilin)
Depression. What to do with the spirit of despondency? ( Boris Khersonsky, psychologist)




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