3 keys to mental training for self-improvement
Psychology is a discipline that implicitly has been around for centuries, but formally barely has a hundred years. Throughout its short life, many branches have developed within the psychology itself, many complementary but contradictory. Psychoanalysis, Gestalt or behaviorism would be some of the approaches, but all of them proposed a similar function: solve mental problems .
There is a shared conception at a general level of psychology as a tool to solve mental problems. In fact, if we write "psychologist" in google images we will find most of the results representing this professional serving clients visibly affected and reclining in the classic as well as outdated divan.
On the one hand, this conception limits the work of the psychologist to his clinical setting, and we still have to break certain barriers when we found psychologists in schools, companies or sports teams , whose labors differ substantially among themselves. On the other hand, the most serious consequence of this conception is lived in consultation.
Psychology is more than treating disorders
And is that the vast majority of people who go to the psychologist as a last option, after taking enough time to the limit and after a decision fruit of despair. Evidently, this entails a greater effort on the part of the patient to get to solve their initial demand or "problem", and a greater number of sessions that mean a greater economic outlay.
Therefore, in recent times we are living a trend in psychology to prevent better than cure, from a point of view aimed at personal development. What are the areas of mental training necessary for self-improvement?
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Aspects of mental training to be managed in self-improvement
If we think of our friends, partners, children, partners or ourselves, we will realize that there are certain patterns of behavior related to mental health that, at a minimum, are susceptible to more efficient management . Some of the most common phenomena are:
1. Stress
Stress is an adaptive response to a demanding situation, which allows us to perform at an optimal level for a certain period of time . This last nuance is the key that separates this adaptive stress from a chronic or pathological one.
Symptoms such as sleep disorders or feeding, anxiety, headaches and back or hair loss are related to stress, and yes, it is true that many of us can not avoid living in a demanding environment, but the management of our cognitions , emotions and behaviors in this situation is what can make a difference.
- Related article: "Types of stress and its triggers"
2. Addictions
It is not necessary to be hooked on heroin to suffer an addiction. In fact, it is not necessary to be hooked on a substance . In the midst of the technological revolution, smartphones, video games or the Internet are a probable source of addiction, and if we are anxious not to have some stimulus, affect our work or social life or show symptoms of frequent irritability, we may need certain guidelines to "disengage".
3. Couple
Speaking of addictions, we can not stop referring to the one that occurs in the face of a love interest. The symptoms are similar to the previous ones, with the added danger that we do not control the stimulus object of the addiction. But if that seems hard, separate mention has the management of life as a couple once established. Assertiveness, empathy or time management they are skills to be taken into account, and if they are not given adequate attention, they can make our love life not as satisfying as we would like, as well as precipitate its end, in which we can fall into depressive states or, again, addiction.
- Related article: "The 14 most common problems in relationships"
Learning to take care of ourselves in time
Probably, at a very basic level, any reader of this small article will have been able to identify to a greater or lesser extent with some of the phenomena reported here. We have all spent that week sleeping badly due to stress, we have been furious at not being able to access our smartphone or we have gone through some rupture or stormy personal relationship.
It is true that we never know if those mental states can be the seeds that germinate in something more serious, but the point of this article is to show that it is not necessary to go so far, that if we can improve our day to day by going to a specialist , it is not necessary to wait for a problem , and in the same way that more and more people go to the gym without suffering injuries or ailments, the personal development does not stop being a mental training, a gym for our mind that we can go to optimize our level of satisfaction with life.
