Psychological resilience is the process of maintaining the most optimal mode of work of the human psyche in conditions of constantly changing circumstances and their stressful effects. It is interesting that this personality character is formed in a person in the process of his development and is not genetically determined.
It depends on such factors as:
- the human nervous system;
- upbringing;
- experience;
- level of development, etc.
This means that, for example, if a person has suffered a lot, then his psyche will be much more stable than the psyche of someone who grew up with parents. But this is still not the final state, because a person who is constantly exposed to stress will react painfully to every problem, because his nerves have become pretty loose over time. These are two sides of the same coin.
In addition, psychological resilience is not a 100% guarantee of stability in general to everything. Psychological stability is more likely the flexibility of the human psyche than the steadfastness and stability of his nervous system. And the fundamental characteristic of psychological stability is precisely the mobility of the psyche in constantly changing conditions. Psychological stability, like instability, always “works” according to the scheme.
The scheme of work of psychological resilience / instability
Psychological resilience: first, a task appears that generates a motive that entails the implementation of certain actions aimed at its implementation. Then the difficulty is realized, causing the negative emotional state. After that, there is a search for a way to overcome this difficulty, as a result of which there is a decrease in the level of negative emotions and an improvement in the mental state.
Psychological instability: first, a task appears that generates a motive that entails the implementation of certain actions aimed at its implementation. Then the difficulty is realized, causing the negative emotional state. After that, there is a chaotic search for a way to overcome this difficulty, causing its aggravation, as a result of which there is an increase in the level of negative emotions and a deterioration in the mental state.
The main reasons for exposure to stressful conditions are the lack of effective ways to overcome difficult situations and the feeling of personal threat. Mentally unstable people often have this feature: chaotic behavior causes a stressful state and intensifies it, and this state, in turn, introduces even more chaos into the inner world of a person, which results in a feeling of complete helplessness in relation to difficult situations and one’s own behavior. Thus, the conclusion suggests itself that psychological stability is, first of all, self-control.
It is also important to remember that stressful situations can never be completely eliminated from life as they are a full-fledged component of it. And the goal of any person and Rebound Behavioral Health Center should not get rid of these situations, but to educate and cultivate psychological resistance to them.
Improving psychological resilience
The main law of improving psychological resilience is the acceptance of the fact that if a person is not able to change circumstances, then he is able to change his attitude towards them.
The increase in psychological stability is directly influenced by the conditions in which a person lives. For example, if a person by nature has a reactive type of nervous activity, i.e. he likes an intense lifestyle, a frequent change of scenery, increased activity, etc., then, most likely, he will not be comfortable living in a small town or sitting in one place in an office without the opportunity to throw out his energy. In order for the human psyche to be more stable, it is necessary that the way of his life be consistent with his natural predispositions.
Systematic unloading of the nervous system is another way to improve your psychological stability. Constant pressure and doing something not quite loved have an extremely negative effect on the human psyche. As a result, he becomes irritable, nervous, constantly tired. Only good rest can affect this. You need to regularly devote time to doing your favorite things, trips out of town, relaxing reading books, in general, doing everything that you really want to do. Or you can do nothing at all – just rest and relax.
The upbringing of a philosophical attitude towards life has a very good effect on psychological stability. A person’s mental health is closely interconnected with such qualities of his personality as humor, positive thinking, the ability to laugh at oneself, self-criticism. Only if a person can look at the events taking place and at himself without undue seriousness, not considering himself the “center of the Universe” and those to whom life or someone else owes something, only then everything that happens will not seem so painful and will stop constantly to touch to the quick.
Another effective method for building psychological resilience is a positive self-image. Here we mean that a person must cultivate a positive attitude towards his personality, accept himself as he is, be a positive character for himself. But you need to be careful not to cross the line, which leads to self-pity and the perception of the world from the position of the victim, otherwise the psychological instability will only worsen.