Stress resistance is a set of personal qualities of a person that help him remain calm in critical situations. This term can be denoted by other words: self-control, restraint. The concept of stress in psychology was first used by G. Selye. He used this word to denote the internal tension that a person experiences in certain situations.
What is stress tolerance?
A person who succumbs to negative emotions cannot fully work and focus on a specific task. Stress resistance is the ability of an individual not to succumb to feelings in a critical situation. Not all people are able to maintain composure and calmly endure psychological stress. Developing stress resistance with the help of psychologists is necessary if negative emotions affect a person’s quality of life and professional achievements. In mild stages of anxiety, an individual can cope with the problem with the help of books and self-hypnosis.
In stress-resistant people, negative emotions are quickly replaced by common sense. This allows them to better concentrate on the task at hand and make adequate decisions in critical situations. It is no coincidence that employers indicate this character trait in the list of requirements for a candidate. Individuals who know how to restrain their emotions are characterized by optimism, goodwill towards others, and calmness. There are other signs by which you can distinguish a stress-resistant person.
What are its advantages
Astheno-depressive syndrome - what is it?
Psychologists believe that the development of stress resistance is an important area of psychocorrectional work. If an adult or child has this quality, it means they have the following advantages:
- A stress-resistant person has an optimistic attitude;
- Preservation of mental and physical health;
- Forming resistance to stress factors gives life harmony, since balanced mental activity allows you to enjoy any activity;
- An easy attitude towards people makes it comfortable for a person to communicate with superiors, colleagues, and subordinates;
- Man is inclusively included in creativity.
Inclusive creative process
Signs of stress resistance
The concept under consideration cannot be classified as permanent. The formation of stress resistance is influenced by internal and external factors: genetic predisposition, family atmosphere, social circle, volitional qualities, life experience. The main sign of self-control is the ability to withstand psychological stress in peak and extreme situations.
Traits of a person who can control their emotions:
- ability to predict life situations;
- thoughtful decision making;
- the ability to continue working for a long time;
- developed volitional qualities.
Reasons for low stress resistance
A defensive reaction to external stimuli is a natural process. However, in some individuals it manifests itself excessively. The reasons due to which low stress resistance develops include:
- Hard childhood;
- violence from loved ones and peers;
- character traits;
- health problems;
- psychological disorders;
- lack of life experience.
Individuals who have been subjected to violence endure critical situations the hardest. They feel insecure throughout their lives and panic in difficult situations. The defensive reaction of such people is manifested by an attempt to avoid difficulties without trying to overcome them. The level of stress tolerance may change with age. Children and adolescents have a harder time enduring difficulties and accepting criticism addressed to them.
Types of stress resistance
In psychology, according to the criterion under consideration, all people are divided into 4 types, depending on their reaction to current events:
- Stress-resistant
. They cannot adapt to new conditions and adapt to situations. Any unfamiliar event or thoughts about it cause panic. - Stress trained
. Individuals are ready for small changes in their lives, but failures provoke depression and breakdowns. . - Stress-inhibitory
. Ready to change once and suddenly. If a series of failures follows each other, then a person loses heart and becomes unable to solve important problems. - Stress-resistant
. Such people are calm about changes and know how to find benefits for themselves in extreme situations. A stress-resistant person can succumb to emotions only in the most difficult situations: the death of a loved one, serious health problems.
Individual strategy and tactics of stress-resistant behavior.
Negative emotions, especially such as anger, aggression and irritation, take up a lot of mental strength, and therefore it is advisable to fall into such a state as little as possible, which seriously complicates entrepreneurial activity and, naturally, does not provide the opportunity to create a positive business image. In this regard, it makes sense to consider technical techniques and methods for their suspension.
1. Always separate the person and the problem. Focus on her. After all, she is more important. This will switch you from an emotional level to a rational one. Then it is simpler and easier to resolve the contradiction. In addition, such a switch frees one from affect, a violent emotional reaction, in which consciousness is switched off and the process of behavior is not controlled.
2. Imagine another person in your place. How would he behave in this situation? Play the role of this person. This will help you forget about yourself and cool down your anger.
3. You can imagine such a picture. There is a glass wall between you and your partner. You see his irritated gestures, but you don't hear what he says. There will be no need to respond with a “growl.” Select some detail in his wardrobe (a poorly sewn button, a tie that has gone to one side, etc.), look at it carefully, and say thoughtfully: “You will lose a button, but there are no such things on sale.” You will hear in response: “What the hell is a button!” Show: “This one.”
4. You are seething with anger, you are ready to express offensive words to your partner, but overcome yourself: calmly, you are confident, you control yourself. Smile or fake a muscular smile. Imagine how funny your smile is. The following THREE SELF-CALMING METHODS are also very useful.
1. RATIONALIZATION OF ANGER. This method requires, first of all, to comprehend the reason that gave rise to anger and give it a different meaning. You were ruled by your emotions and your mind was asleep. Wake him up. Learn the lessons. Look for anything positive about what happened. It's always there. Find it, and the situation will look a little different. In anger, as a rule, a person achieves almost nothing. And you also achieved nothing by giving free rein to your emotions. Ask yourself: “Is what I haven’t achieved very important to me?” After such questions, you should feel funny if you have humor. Analyze whether your partner had the same motives and intentions that you think about? Did he really want to humiliate you with his words or actions?
Check yourself again and mentally ask yourself if you have done everything to prevent your partner from behaving rudely and offensively. Apparently, he was dissatisfied with your actions, to be honest. Tell yourself: “Yes, this guy must have tremendous restraint and great respect for me so as not to lose his temper.”
2. VISUALIZATION OF ANGER. His technique is aimed at experiencing an event that will cool down the anger. For example, some person offended you. You are angry with him. But if you could see this person in some humiliating situation, you would have a feeling of satisfaction (“Serves you right”), perhaps even pity for him. And your anger would most likely disappear.
The visualization technique teaches how to play out the entire conflict situation in the imagination, as if on an internal screen, and thereby extinguish anger. To visualize, you need to relax, focus on internal sensations and normalize your breathing. The following options for visualizing anger can be recommended:
1) reduce the height of the person who caused your anger. Let him be a dwarf, a gnome or a bug;
2) try to see this person in a funny way;
3) imagine anger in the form of a beam of energy that goes through you into the ground;
4) come up with a scene of imaginary revenge against your offender and enjoy revenge (only in the imagination, of course).
3. RELAXATION (strength of connection between the nervous and muscular systems). Her technique is based on relaxing the muscular system, followed by relaxation of the nervous system. Using this technique, you must act in the following sequence.
1) First, try to soften your anger and calm down your aggressiveness. Let them come out of you and don't hold them back. Take this time to do some physical work.
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2) Then relax as much as possible, do a little auto-training and muscle a smile on your face. Let it look like a grimace at first. Look at yourself in the mirror. Your appearance will really make you smile, but not artificially, but real, but, admittedly, very ironic.
3) To calm down faster, do not walk quickly around the room. Better stop and focus on your inner feelings. Watch your breathing. Try to make it as deep as possible.
4) Do not rush to answer your, apparently also heated, partner. Pause as long as possible. Such a pause will allow you to calm down faster, concentrate better and choose a worthy answer. At the same time, do not seek to take revenge on your partner or hurt his pride with any word. Remember the need to “save face” both for yourself and for him.
As you know, negative emotions have a greater impact on our hearing. Therefore, in tense situations, you should focus your attention not on negative auditory sensations, but on visually perceived objects.
The opponent who annoys you keeps saying something that causes a negative emotion. To isolate yourself from the impact of his speech, try to see his face as clearly as possible, in all details, as if you were then going to draw his portrait from memory.
You should look silently, very carefully, but not “stare”, but look at it in order to see. During this deliberate pause, when you are silent, try to see as many details of the situation around your heated opponent as possible.
Whoever your opponent is - boss or subordinate, senior or junior - your sudden, unexpected silence will certainly cause him bewilderment: his emotional tension will begin to weaken.
Consciously maintaining calm is always a manifestation of fortitude and therefore gives a huge advantage, having great power of influence. It is only necessary that your silence and examination are not perceived by your opponent as a manifestation of hostility and an ironic attitude towards him
4) come up with a scene of imaginary revenge against your offender and enjoy revenge (only in the imagination, of course).
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Levels of stress tolerance
This criterion is used to judge the psychological endurance of each individual. This characteristic is individual for each person. In total, there are three levels of stress resistance, which determine the effectiveness and speed of problem solving:
- High
. Distinctive features of this type of personality: efficiency, self-control, equanimity. Their behavior is not affected by external factors. - Average
. Individuals are characterized by fortitude and the ability to overcome difficulties. They are looking for a way out of the current situation with the best outcome for themselves. - Short
. Such individuals cannot demonstrate stress-resistant behavior even in a simple situation. They have to work hard on themselves to adapt to reality.
Options for solving the problem
There are no exercises that will help develop this important quality and will suit absolutely everyone without exception.
- Stress resistance is greatly influenced by all kinds of human diseases. Sick people are the most exposed to stress, but healthy people have strong immunity and, accordingly, good resistance to stress. Therefore, it is worth providing yourself with painkillers, in case your head or any other organ suddenly starts to hurt.
- Be sure to adjust your diet.
- To increase your stress resistance resources, you can go in for sports. Physical exercise, such as jogging in the morning or exercise, will have a positive effect on the body's resistance to stress.
Diagnostics of stress resistance
There are several methods that are used to determine the type and level of self-control of an individual:
- Standard testing
aimed at identifying individual mental differences between people. They present a list of questions to which the test taker must give correct answers. Tests are divided into groups depending on the content and objectives of the study. - Questionnaires
. With their help, psychologists obtain data from the words of the subject. Survey tasks are presented in the form of questions and statements with no correct answers. - Observations
. Used to diagnose self-realization in the absence of standard research methods. Observations involve posing a problem and determining the psychological qualities of an individual at the time of its solution. - Conversation
. It is used to collect primary data about the subject based on verbal communication. With its help, you can determine the level of resistance to stress, motives, and stable inclinations of the person being tested.
How to become stress-resistant?
There are several ways to increase your level of self-control. They can be used in combination or one at a time. The best ways to increase stress resistance:
- Tune in to positive thinking.
- Change your attitude towards what is happening.
- Let go of negative emotions.
- Dose physical activity.
- Have a full rest. The nervous system cannot function normally for a long period of time.
- Take B vitamins periodically, as they are involved in the functioning of the nervous system.
How to develop and increase stress resistance
Every person should remember: stress resistance can be developed at any age. The child’s life experience is still too small to solve all his problems on his own, so parents are the main teachers for him in this.
The prerequisites for the development of stress resistance in a child are already contained in the characteristics of adults’ response to his problems. If the mother listens carefully to him, helps him express the child’s feelings in words, and suggests what needs to be said or done in this situation, then the child develops a strong conviction: there are no hopeless situations. If parents ignore the child’s complaints about his peers, brush aside his problems, or say that the situation was the child’s fault, then next time he simply will not tell them about his difficulties. He will wait for the situation to resolve itself. His passive behavior pattern will remain with him for many years.
It is optimal to develop stress resistance in adolescence. If the emotional background of a child in childhood is stable, his relationship with his parents is of a trusting nature, this is the key to his successful socialization in the future.
Effective methods for developing stress resistance are:
- Normalization of work and rest schedules. Measured loads and proper rest allow you to restore wasted strength and prepare to solve new problems.
- Proper nutrition. The menu should be balanced and varied. The food you eat must contain a sufficient amount of vitamins.
- Relaxation. In order to calmly perceive unexpected events, you need to relax. This can be done using breathing techniques, listening to soothing music, and meditation.
Relaxation
- Systematic physical education and sports help not only keep the body in good shape, but also relieve emotional stress.
- Creative activities. It is recommended to set aside time every day to do what you love. This helps to abstract oneself from everyday problems, gives a person aesthetic pleasure, and teaches one to notice beauty.
- Psychological consultations and trainings. Psychotherapists determine the causes of nervous excitement and help eliminate their consequences with the help of special exercises.
- Herbal medicine and medication. If prescribed by a doctor, you can reduce the level of psycho-emotional stress by taking infusions and decoctions of herbs or tablets.
- Aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is an effective means of normalizing emotional background and relieving mental stress. Inhaling the scent of pine, citrus or eucalyptus can improve your mood.
- Free expression of emotions. If you want to cry, you need to give yourself the right to do so. If there is a need to relieve muscle tension, you need to tear paper or hit a punching bag. Each person chooses the method of releasing negativity that is most effective for him. The main thing is not to accumulate negative energy, to give it an outlet.
Stress resistance is the key to good health, effective work and excellent mood. To develop it, you need to learn how to get rid of negativity, develop positive thinking and an optimistic attitude. If you cannot cope with stress on your own, do not hesitate to seek help from specialists.
Stress resistance training
How to cope with stress?
An individual can independently reduce the severity of unwanted emotions. Psychologists have developed recommendations aimed at increasing stress resistance:
- do not make decisions in a fit of anger;
- talk with loved ones about problems;
- sometimes give in and agree with others even in cases where they are wrong;
- break down each task into microtasks and complete it step by step;
- don't try to be perfect for everyone;
- take breaks to reduce moral stress;
- do not change other people;
- treat competition adequately;
- do not withdraw into yourself in critical situations.
