Psychological stability in psychology is a current topic of modern research. This is explained by the fact that resistance to the negative effects of external factors is the key to psychological health for both an adult and a child. In the life of every person, there are conflicts, problems in school, periods of crisis at work, and financial difficulties. Psychological stability helps an individual maintain the ability to think sensibly and find a way out of difficult situations.
What is mental toughness
Psychological stability is the ability to endure heavy loads and overcome fatigue, and maintain self-confidence. This character trait provides a person with rapid adaptation to new conditions, achievement of high sports results, timely elimination of academic debt, and career advancement.
In psychology, this is synonymous with stress resistance. The definition of psychological stability is based on a person’s ability to maintain an optimal level of performance in conditions of instability. Neuropsychic stability determines the level of resistance of the human body to various viruses.
Vitality should not be confused with callousness and rigidity. Stubborn and conservative individuals do not know how to be flexible. Outwardly, it may seem that such people demonstrate tolerance to the negative influence of circumstances by continuing to do what they were doing. But in fact, they cannot adapt to new conditions and choose a more effective model of behavior.
Also, one should not think that stress-resistant people are careless optimists who do not tend to experience negative emotions. A resilient person is a realist. He does not live by illusions; he tends to experience both positive and negative emotions. But he controls all emotions. Finding himself in a stressful situation, he mobilizes the body’s forces to transform it or looks for a way out of it.
Questions for the practical lesson
- What responsibility do citizens bear for violating fire safety rules?
- Describe the causes of fires in buildings.
- Describe fire hazards.
- Describe the primary fire extinguishing agents.
- What classes are buildings divided into according to fire hazard?
- What categories of industrial buildings and structures in terms of explosion, explosion and fire hazards do you know?
- What should you do in case of a fire at an enterprise?
- What is evacuation?
- What are the requirements for emergency exits and escape routes?
- What is meant by fire safety of a facility.
- What fire safety measures need to be carried out at the facility.
- What types of fire alarm systems are there?
List of recommended literature:
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Components of Mental Resilience
The components of psychological stability of an individual are:
- optimistic attitude;
- the individual's self-confidence;
- perseverance and determination;
- ability to adapt;
It is recommended to develop the components of psychological stability before the individual reaches adulthood.
How is this quality formed?
Many people are interested in the question: what needs to be done to gain psychological stability? This personal characteristic is formed in the process of acquiring life experience on the basis of a positive image of “I”.
Vitality increases when a person completes the process of forming a mature personality and developing a value system. Its level is higher in people with high self-esteem. Independent and proactive people have a high level of stress resistance. To become stress-resistant, you need to develop leadership abilities and abandon the position of victim.
What factors influence increasing psychological stability?
The main factors in the formation of mental toughness are:
- Type of nervous system. People with a weak type of nervous system find it difficult to endure troubles. Their level of stress resistance will always be lower than the level of expression of this quality in people with a strong type of nervous system.
- Conditions of education. The style of parent-child relationships determines all the social qualities of an individual. Thus, with a democratic type of upbringing, children’s resistance to stress is higher than with an authoritarian type of upbringing.
- Self-sufficiency and independence. If a person is accustomed to relying only on himself and his own strengths in everything, then in a critical situation he will analyze the situation and look for ways to resolve it.
- Life experience. Psychological resilience will be higher among those people who know how to analyze their actions and admit their mistakes.
- Ability to collaborate and live in a team environment. The ability to interact with people and build effective communications is the key to successfully resolving any complex issue.
- Positive self-perception, absence of intrapersonal conflicts. Self-acceptance opens a person's path to self-development. Admitting your mistakes is the first step towards building resilience to life’s troubles.
- Optimistic attitude. Everyone needs to remember that thoughts are material. We attract to ourselves what we think about.
- The meaning of life and the desire for self-expression. People who have a purpose in life find it easier to cope with life's difficulties. Through creativity, they are distracted from negative experiences, maintaining mental balance.
- Religious Beliefs. Faith helps a person to endure any trials in life.
Theoretical part
In the course of everyone’s life, extreme situations may arise that give rise to significant difficulties and at the same time require a person to act quickly, accurately and without errors.
Often people find themselves psychologically unprepared to act in extreme situations, although psychological stability in dangerous situations is a decisive factor for survival. In a moment of danger, people are affected by psycho-traumatic circumstances - a complex of super-strong irritations that disrupt normal mental activity. In this case, all categories of mental activity play an important role. To the extent that reality is reflected adequately in consciousness through sensation and perception, the resumption of this reflection in memory, generalization and processing of the properties of reality through imagination and thinking, decision-making is also adequate. Awareness of the situation and the adequacy of behavior in the event of an unexpected threat to life are sharply reduced and depend on the innate characteristics of the individual, his attitudes, the type of nervous system and a number of other psychobiological indicators. In dangerous situations, a person experiences emotional tension, i.e. stress. There is a direct relationship between stress and performance, the ability to deal with danger.
A person’s psychological involvement in a situation is associated with a number of psychological phenomena:
- understanding with an assessment: by a person of the situation and its individual factors;
- assessing the significance of the situation and attitude towards it;
- motivation for activity in a situation;
- mobilization;
- the adequacy of decisions, behavior and actions, which reveal the degree of preparedness for successful activity in the situation;
- mental state of a person;
- active manifestation by a person of self-regulation of his mental activity.
Extreme situations represent the extreme manifestation of difficult situations and require maximum strain on a person’s mental and physical strength to overcome them. It has now been established that the impact of an extreme situation can have three forms of manifestation.
First form of behavior
finds its expression in so-called impulsive, premature and untimely actions. Disorganization of behavior can be expressed in the loss of previously developed skills, failure to use past experience, haste and chaotic behavior.
Second form of behavior
, as a rule, is characterized by slowness of action up to mental stupor (numbness).
Third form of behavior
is expressed in appropriate activity, clear perception and comprehension of emerging complications, their correct assessment, increased self-control, and taking actions that are appropriate to the situation.
Thus, a person reacts to an extreme situation depending on how he perceives it and evaluates its significance.
A person in an extreme situation may experience the following symptoms: delirium, hallucinations, apathy, stupor, motor agitation, aggression, fear, hysteria, nervous tremors, crying.
Help in this situation consists, first of all, in creating conditions for nervous “relaxation”.
The main factors influencing the development and compensation of mental disorders in emergency situations can be classified as follows.
Directly during an event (disaster, etc.):
1. Features of the situation:
- emergency intensity;
- duration of emergency;
- suddenness of emergency.
2. Individual reactions:
- somatic condition;
- age;
- emergency preparedness;
- personal characteristics.
3. Social and organizational factors:
- awareness;
- organization of rescue operations;
- "collective behavior".
When carrying out rescue operations after the completion of a dangerous event:
1. Features of the situation:
"secondary psychogenies".
2. Individual reactions:
- personal characteristics;
- individual assessment and perception of the situation;
- age;
- somatic condition.
3. Social and organizational factors:
- awareness:
- organization of rescue operations;
- "collective behavior".
During the later stages of an emergency:
1. Social, psychological and medical assistance:
- rehabilitation;
- somatic condition.
2. Social and organizational factors:
- social structure;
- compensation.
Tasks
Students must come to class having studied the theoretical information for the practical lesson, as well as the lecture material on the relevant topic.
Recommendations for developing psychological resilience
Psychological stability is not given to a person from birth. This means that it can be increased. How to do it?
- You need to motivate yourself to achieve your goal. This can only be done with self-discipline. You cannot allow yourself to deviate from your plans or abandon your goal just because unforeseen circumstances have arisen.
- Build friendly family relationships. It is easier for a child to become psychologically resistant to any stressful situations if he knows that he can openly ask his parents: “What should I do?”, “What should I do?” Psychological stability is difficult to develop in children in families where they do not tell each other about their experiences and do not ask for advice.
- Avoid loneliness. Communication with friends distracts you from negative thoughts and instills confidence that all problems can be solved. True friends will not leave each other in trouble. Friendly support helps to cope with troubles.
- An unclear situation should be regarded as an opportunity for self-development. Such situations stimulate out-of-the-box thinking. If a person is not afraid of change, is ready to master new activities and explore the unknown, he will persevere through any difficulties.
- Master relaxation and meditation techniques. Living in constant tension exhausts the nervous system. Weak nerves are the first sign of emotional burnout and stress. To prevent negative consequences, you need to take care of your psychological health.
- Exercise regularly. Physical activity has a positive effect on the entire body. Many athletes say that training in the gym or stadium helps them find a solution to a complex issue.
- Maintaining a daily routine and a balanced diet. In order for a person to have the strength to overcome difficulties, you need to get proper rest and eat healthy food.
- You need to learn to see the positive components in any situation. If a person learns to notice the good in any situation, his worldview will change for the better. He will learn not only to enjoy the little things, but also to use the peculiarities of the situation to solve the problem. That is, the level of his psychological resilience will increase.
Rationalization method
Rationalization is a conscious change in attitude towards a situation that is traumatic to the psyche, while either the situation ceases to be traumatic, or an ambiguous attitude towards the situation is eliminated, thereby eliminating the conflict. It is considered unacceptable to refuse to search for a solution, to be in a state of a pendulum without a fulcrum. The conflict must be overcome only through your own efforts; interference in your internal affairs will lead to negative consequences.
An example of rationalization is given in Krylov’s fable “The Fox and the Grapes.” Remember the finale? The fox changed her attitude towards grapes: she decided that the grapes were not ripe, they were green, so she lost the desire to feast on them (although the real reason was that she simply could not reach the grapes), and the question was settled
A good confirmation of our fundamental phrase “it doesn’t matter what happens, it’s how I feel about it”
The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was concerned with the issue of overcoming negative emotions after a conflict and to prevent conflict. He developed a technique called “temporal contrast.” Epicurus advised comparing actually occurring unpleasant events with possible more unfavorable ones. “It could have been worse” is the main thesis of his teaching. The mechanism of struggle, according to Epicurus, with negative reactions: “all desires, the dissatisfaction of which does not lead to pain, are not necessary: the incentives for them are easy to dispel by presenting the object of desire as difficult to achieve or harmful...”.
- Try to reduce the significance (emotional coloring) of the event, compare your suffering and sorrows with more difficult trials.
- Tell yourself more often “how good it is that...”, “it’s amazing how...”.
- Eliminate expressions beginning with “sad that...”, “it’s a pity that...”, “unfortunately...
- Try to avoid conflict situations.
- If a conflict has occurred, think not about it (it is already a fait accompli), but about how to overcome it (the relationship between the words “why” and “how”).
Ways to overcome negative emotions are superbly described by the subtle psychologist and wonderful writer A.P. Chekhov in the humorous story “Life is Beautiful!”
Look for a volume by A.P. Chekhov and read about the mechanism of psychological defense according to Chekhov.
Found... Read... Isn't it all very clearly and aptly noted?
“Life is a most unpleasant thing, but it is very easy to make it beautiful... In order to feel happiness without limits, even in moments of grief and sadness, you need: a) to be able to be content with the present and b) to rejoice in the knowledge that “it could have been worse”... Follow my advice, man, and your life will consist of continuous rejoicing” (A.P. Chekhov).
Regarding the advice to “be able to be content with the present.” The advice is as old as life itself. Remember the test about a glass that is half full, one says it is half empty, the other says it is half full. How do you feel about a glass half full?
