§ 3. Borderline mental states Mental states that are between the norm and pathology ( weak forms mental disorders) are called boundary states. These states include: reactive states; neuroses; psychopathic states;

4.2 Mental states of people who have lost their jobs “When God closes one door, He opens another; but we often do not notice it, staring at the closed door ... ”Helen Keller (Helen Keller, 1880-1968) deaf-blind American writer, teacher and

Conversation on the topic “Mental states” Any mental state, says the psychotherapist, is a relatively stable and at the same time dynamic formation. It is best suited to the concept of "a state that continues in this moment time." This moment

In one area of ​​mental activity, the term "state" is not used so often and so appropriately as in emotional life. In emotions, a tendency is clearly manifested to specifically color the experiences and activities of a person, to provide them with a temporal orientation and to create a qualitative specificity of the mental. Emotional states include moods, affects, passions, anxiety, fear, stress.

A person, analyzing his actions, uses the concept of "state". Who is not familiar with the expressions: "I was in such a state that I could not work ..." or "I am now in such a state that I can move mountains"? It's about about the mental state of a person as one of the main categories of psychology, along with mental processes and personality traits.

The allocation of the sphere of mental states fills a gap in the system of psychology between mental processes (sensation, perception, thinking, memory, imagination) and the mental properties of the individual (orientation, abilities, temperament, character). Unlike mental processes as a dynamic component of the manifestations of the psyche and mental properties as fixedness, the repetition of manifestations of the mental mental state is a static component of the psyche. However, these components should not be considered at the level of a linear relationship:

After all, the mental state affects the course of mental processes, it can turn into a property of the individual, which, in turn, determines the emergence of the state. Therefore, the connection of the components of the psyche is as follows:

An essential feature of the mental state is that it characterizes mental activity, giving it specificity. Characterization always emphasizes specific features. The specificity of the state, first of all, means the specificity of the course of mental processes. So, the state of absent-mindedness is often characterized by deviations in the field of sensation and perception, memory, thinking, weakening of volitional activity, and often specific emotional experiences (sadness, irritation). Without mental processes, there can be no mental states, but the latter are distinguished by greater integrity and trivity. Mental processes can go into mental states. For example, the process of perceiving a work of art from the impression of it can go into a mental state - anxiety or joyful excitement.

The mental state is closely related to the individual properties of the individual, since it characterizes mental activity in general, and individually. The state of fear in one person can manifest itself in mental arousal, and in another - in mental stupor, inhibition of mental activity. Just as mental properties are reflected in mental states, mental states can translate into mental properties. If a person very often experiences a state of anxiety, the formation of a personal property - anxiety is possible. But the correspondence between a mental state and a personality trait is not a rule. So, next to "swiftness" as a stable property of the choleric type, there is "swiftness" as a state that can occur in every person and does not constitute a characteristic property of behavior.

Mental states can positively influence the activities performed (labor, educational, sports), the communication process, or they can disorganize them, that is, exercise a regulatory effect, since the occurrence of a particular state is associated with a change in activity, which, in fact, led to the release this category of mental, attracted attention to it.

The state as a philosophical category covers the inconsistency of changes and the reflection of this inconsistency. In psychology, this concept is associated with the inconsistency of mental reflection - its stability and changeability. Mental phenomena are realized through states in which the attitude of the individual as a subject is manifested. The determining factor for the mental state is the attitude of the individual, this is the pivotal moment of the formation of the state, its system-creating factor. Through the attitude to reality and oneself as the subject of this activity, a certain manifestation of the mental world of the individual is realized.

The mental state is the "deepest" moment of the mental. This is not just a link between the mental process and the mental property of the individual, it is a reflection of the relationship of the individual to their own mental phenomena, the relationship as a consolidation of integrity, constancy And at the same time changes in the mental reflection of the relationship of the individual with the world. The mental state is understood not as the state of the body, but as the "state of the soul", its various responses to its own feelings and presentations. The mental state is an integral characteristic of mental activity, which captures the moment of stability and specificity during mental processes, it is a form of response that reflects the attitude of the individual to his own mental phenomena at a certain point in time under certain conditions (T. S. Kirilenko, 1989).

Rice. 50. in

The mental state is like a dead slice of the mental. The state seems to dissolve in mental processes and mental properties, and at the same time, mental processes and mental properties are dissolved and removed in states (Fig. 50).

Each mental state is an experience of the subject and at the same time his activity of various systems, it has an external expression and manifests itself in a change in the effect of the activity performed. The study of the mental state always includes three levels (Fig. 51). Only by the totality of indicators reflecting each of these levels, it is possible to conclude that a person has a particular condition. Neither behavior nor various psychophysiological indicators, taken separately, can reliably differentiate one state from another. Leading place in the diagnosis of states, it is assigned to experiences associated with the attitude of the individual. Isolation of the latter as a system-forming factor of the mental state of the individual makes it possible to consider the mental state precisely as a qualitative characteristic of the psyche of the individual, which combines the mental processes and properties of the individual and influences them.

Rice. 51. in

The state fixes a certain static moment in the characteristic of the mental, it is something integral. For example, the state of the struggle of motives, although related to the will, contains significant cognitive and emotional elements, and all of them are not summed up, but create an integral structure. In any mental process, cognitive and affective components, and in any mental state, they are transformed into levels of response, the depth, strength and other features of the manifestation of which cause the emergence of a whole range of states that require their own classification.

Mental states can be classified as manifestations of mental processes:

emotional states - moods, affects, anxiety, etc.;

volitional states - determination, confusion, and the like;

cognitive states - concentration, thoughtfulness, etc.

Among the manifestations of consciousness, there are states of more (determination) or less (inattention) conscious in a continuum from sleep to wakefulness; pathological - associated with a disorder of the affective, motor or cognitive sphere; changed states - different kinds meditative and hypnotic states, an ideal state for performance in sports; artificially induced mental states, which were studied for therapeutic purposes by N. P. Bekhtereva through the impact on the deep structures of the brain. Artificially induced states are accompanied by experiences of unusualness, partial uncontrollability of mental activity. It can be pointless fears or joy, or "a super-optimal mental state of special clarity of perception, awareness of the meaning of events", or "inactive lethargy", or the release of states that were previously suppressed in consciousness.

Mental states are distinguished both in depth and duration. Passion as a mental state is deeper than mood. Each state is temporary, it can intercede for another. For practical purposes, instantaneous (unstable), long-term and even chronic, or operational, current and permanent states are distinguished. Each state, for example, anxiety and thoughtfulness, under certain conditions, can be both operational (unstable), current (long-term), and permanent (chronic). The transition of states from current to permanent can be both positive (a state of training in sports, determination) and negative (a state of fatigue, confusion) character.

The complexity of distinguishing between types of mental states lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to place them within the same scale, to classify according to one attribute, each of these states has its own continuum of manifestations and a set of attributes (level of awareness, dominance of mental processes, duration, adequacy or inadequacy of the situation, and etc.).

Moods, affects, passions are considered as forms of manifestation of the affective sphere, affective processes that differ in duration: from a short-term affect to a current mood, long-term condition and to passion as permanent, chronic condition. According to the level of awareness, the order of placement changes: from passion as the most conscious state to mood and accent as the least understood. With respect to the dominance of mental processes with their complexity and content, these states are located from affect, where emotions, moods and passions dominate as a unity of emotion and will.

Connection emotional states and properties are most clearly manifested in a state of anxiety. The term "anxiety" affects the emotional response to a possible mental threat, in contrast to the term "fear", which denotes a reaction to real threat, the threat of violation of the functions of the body and the activities performed. An alarm condition occurs due to possible troubles, unforeseen situations, changes in the familiar environment and is expressed by specific experiences - excitement, fear, disturbance of peace, and the like. Anxiety can manifest itself in communication (the ability to predict success decreases), in behavior (inconsistency of the subjective model with reality) and is accompanied by the manifestation of inadequately high anxiety, which leads to disruption of regulatory processes. Then anxiety is fixed as a personality trait and becomes a dominant character trait.

Anxiety as a personality trait is the most significant risk factor that contributes to neuropsychiatric illness. High anxiety reduces efficiency intellectual activity, slows it down in stressful situations, for example, during exams, tests; reduces the level of mental performance, causes uncertainty in one's abilities, is one of the reasons for the negative social status personality, because her behavior is characterized by emotional imbalance, irritation and can lead to emotional stress.

The concept of stress was introduced in the 1950s. Canadian scientist G. Selye to determine the generalized reaction of the body - the "general adaptation syndrome" - as responses to any adverse effect. Response to extreme impact has certain stages:

1) "shock phase" is characterized by sharp drop body resistance,

2) the "resistance phase" mobilizes the adaptive capabilities of the body in accordance with new conditions;

3) "phase of exhaustion", which corresponds to a persistent decline in body reserves.

The cause of stress can be a surprise that disrupts the usual course of life. G. Lazarus, developing the doctrine of stress (1950, 1970), put forward a concept according to which the concepts of physiological stress associated with a real stimulus are distinguished, and mental, emotional stress, in which a person, on the basis of individual knowledge and experience, assesses the upcoming situation as threatening, difficult. If in cases of physiological stress, the adaptation syndrome occurs at the moment of contact with the stimulus, then in the case of emotional stress, adaptation precedes the situation, occurs in advance. It is because of this that emotional stress can be appropriate. But work in a stressful situation necessarily leads to additional mobilization of internal resources, cannot adverse effects. Typical diseases of "stress etiology" are cardiovascular pathologies, stomach ulcers, psychosomatic disorders, depressive states- characteristic of modern species production and management activities. Stress is always there. Its influence depends on the intensity of stressors, that is, the factors that cause such a state, and on the individual psychological characteristics of the individual. In difficult life situations, critical moments, a certain level of manifestation of emotional stress can become feature personality - a tendency to emotional stress. There are types of personalities prone to stress and resistant to stressors. So, in those predisposed to stress, the ability to compete, a strong desire to achieve a goal, aggressiveness, impatience, anxiety, expressive speech, and a feeling of constant lack of time are more often traced. Stress researchers also showed a tendency to respond to similar stressful situations with the same characteristic reactions, which is explained by the system developed in the process of individual development. psychological mechanisms(in particular motives).

So, in mental states there is a connection, a merging of the characteristics of mental processes and personality traits. Analysis of the mental state allows you to predict the behavior of the individual, its development and self-growth.

The personality creates its own emotional space. It expands its boundaries, determining the importance for itself of objects, things, phenomena, people and including them in the content of its intimate life and opening his space for them or, on the contrary, closing it, makes them the object of his emotional manifestations, feelings, volitional efforts or leaves them unattended. A person deepens the intensity of manifestations of the emotional, affective sphere, surrendering to their strength and depth and experiencing their uniqueness in certain emotional states, or is deprived of these experiences, demonstrating the qualities of the owner of the mental world.

Through these horizontal and vertical, motor, spatial and temporal dimensions of the affective sphere of the personality, it appears as if hanging on the screen of the surrounding objective world and claiming a certain representation in the psyche of other people through activity and interaction.

Personality is revealed through emotional readiness for creative activity. Emotional readiness is the resulting manifestation of self-creation of the affective sphere of the personality, the integration of certain states, an attempt to resolve the contradiction between the need for creative non-standard activity and the motive of ITS satisfaction in a certain period of time and under certain conditions. Emotional readiness is the unity of mood, the attitude of the individual to himself, self-esteem and will, attraction and obligation. Emotional readiness as a mental state has a creative orientation and is associated with the experience of mental costs for the performance of a particular activity. Readiness for creative activity is a readiness to experience new emotions both in sign (positive - negative) and in modality (joy, anger, etc.). d.) associated with the implementation of the selected activity, with goal setting.

A manifestation of emotional readiness for creative activity is a passion for the future result that a person experiences, a flight of fantasy. The consequence of emotional readiness is inspiration as a mental state of emotional and operational tension, focus on the subject of creativity. So, the state of emotional readiness for creative activity, manifesting itself in delight with the subject of creativity, gives rise to inspiration as an affective manifestation of the personality, which characterizes creative activity in which the personality is formed and develops .

Questions for self-examination

1. What is a train?

2. Describe the needs and their types.

3. What role do organic sensations play in emotions?

4. What do experiences mean? What are the manifestations of subjectivity and intimacy of experiences?

5. What is the essence of emotions and feelings?

b Analyze psychological and physiological mechanisms emotions.

7. Explain expressive movements as outer shape the existence of emotions.

8. Name the components and conditions for the emergence of an emotional process.

9. Open general properties emotions and feelings.

10. Analyze the nature of the emergence of emotions from the point of view of the information theory of emotions.

11. What is the essence of aesthetic feelings?

12. What are the initial signs of volitional behavior?

13. Expand the structure of the act of will.

14. What volitional properties of a person are manifested at the stage of decision-making in a volitional act?

15. What is the essence of emotional-volitional regulation?

16. Highlight the levels and forms of manifestation of the affective sphere of the psyche.

17. What is the reason for using the category "state" in psychological science?

18. Describe the levels of study of the mental state.

19. Why is the connection between emotional states and personality traits most clearly manifested in a state of anxiety?

1 Vilyunas V.K. Psychology of emotional manifestations Moscow, 1976

2 Deryabin V. S. Feelings, desires, emotions Leningrad, 1974

3. Dodonov B. I. Emotion as a value. Moscow, 1978.

4. Izard K. Human emotions. Moscow, 1980.

5. Kirilenko T. S. Education of feelings. Kyiv, 1989.

6. Kondash A. Excitement. Fear of testing. Kyiv. 1981.

7. Obukhovasy K. Psychology of human drives. Moscow, 1972.

8. Fundamentals of psychology / ed. In V. Kirichuk, V. L. Romentsya Kyiv, 1996

9. Piz A Sign Language / Per. from English. Voronezh, 1992.

10. Psychology of emotions: Texts. Moscow, 1984

11. Reikovsky Ya. Experimental psychology of emotions Moscow, 1979.

12. Rubinshtein S. L. Fundamentals of general psychology. Moscow, 1946.

13. Selye G. Stress without distress. Moscow, 1982.

14. Simonov P. V. Need-information theory of emotions // Vopr. psychologist. 1982. No. 6.

15. Fress P., Piaget J. Experimental psychology. Moscow 1975. Issue. 5.

mental states- integral characteristics of mental activity for a certain period of time. They accompany a person's life - his relationship with other people, society, etc.

In any of them, three dimensions can be distinguished:

• motivational and incentive;
• emotional-evaluative;
• activation-energetic.

The first one is decisive.

There are mental states individual person, and the community of people (micro- and macrogroups, peoples, societies). In the sociological and socio-psychological literature, two types of them are specially considered -public opinion and public mood.

Mental states of a person are characterized by integrity, mobility and relative stability, interconnection with mental processes and personality traits, individual originality and typicality, diversity, polarity.

Integrity is manifested in the fact that they characterize all mental activity in a certain period of time, express a specific ratio of all components of the psyche.

Mobility lies in variability, in the presence of stages of flow (beginning, certain dynamics and end).

Mental states are relatively stable, their dynamics is less pronounced than those of processes (cognitive, volitional, emotional). At the same time, mental processes, states and personality traits are closely interconnected. States affect processes, being the background of their flow. At the same time, they act as building material for the formation of personality traits, primarily character traits. For example, the state of concentration mobilizes the processes of attention, perception, memory, thinking, will and emotions of a person. In turn, it, repeatedly repeated, can become a quality of personality - concentration.

Mental states are characterized by extreme diversity and polarity. The latter concept means that each of them corresponds to the opposite (confidence/uncertainty, activity/passivity, frustration/tolerance, etc.).

Mental states of a person can be classified.

The division is based on a number of reasons:

1. Depending on the role of the individual and the situation in the occurrence of mental states - personal and situational.
2. Depending on the dominant (leading) components (if any) -intellectual, volitional, emotional etc.
3. Depending on the degree of depth - (more or less) deep or superficial.
4. Depending on the running time short-term, protracted, long etc.
5. Depending on the impact on the personality - positive and negative, sthenicthat increase vitality, and asthenic.
6. Depending on the degree of awareness more or less aware.
7. Depending on the reasons causing them.
8. Depending on the degree of adequacy of the objective situation that caused them.

It is possible to identify typical positive and negative mental states that are characteristic of most people both in everyday life (love, happiness, grief, etc.) and in professional activities associated with extreme conditions. This should include professional suitability, awareness of the importance of one's profession, joy from success in work, strong-willed activity, etc.

Of great importance for the effectiveness of labor activity is the mental state of professional interest, associated with the awareness of the significance of such activity, the desire to learn more about it and active actions in the relevant area, focusing on objects from a given professional sphere, on which the consciousness of a specialist is focused.

The diversity and creative nature of labor activity make it possible for a worker to develop mental states that are close in content and structure to the state of creative inspiration characteristic of scientists, writers, artists, actors, and musicians. It is expressed in a creative upsurge, a sharpening of perception, an increase in the ability to reproduce what was previously imprinted, an increase in the power of the imagination, the emergence of a number of combinations of original impressions, etc.

The mental state of readiness for it as a whole and for its components is important for the effectiveness of professional activity.

Along with positive (sthenic) states in a person, negative (asthenic) ones can also occur in the course of his life. For example, indecision appears not only in the absence of independence, self-confidence, but also because of the novelty, ambiguity, confusion of a particular life situation. Extreme conditions lead tostates of mental stress.

Psychologists also talk about the state of purely operating room (operator, business) tension, which arises as a result of the complexity of the activity performed (these are difficulties in sensory discrimination, the state of vigilance, the complexity of visual-motor coordination, intellectual load, etc.), and emotional tension caused by emotional extreme conditions (working with people, including patients, offenders, etc.).

1. Mental states of a person: definition, structure, functions, general characteristics, determinants of the state. Classification of mental states.

Mental condition - this is an integral characteristic of mental activity for a certain period of time, showing the originality of the course of mental processes depending on the reflected objects and phenomena of reality, the previous state and mental properties of the individual.

A mental state is an independent manifestation of the human psyche, always accompanied by external signs of a transient, dynamic nature, which are not mental processes or personality traits, expressed most often in emotions, coloring the entire mental activity of a person and associated with cognitive activity, with volitional sphere and personality in general. Like all phenomena of mental life, mental states are not spontaneous, but are determined, first of all, by external influences. Essentially, any state is a product of the inclusion of the subject in some activity, in the course of which it is formed and actively transformed, while influencing the success of the latter's implementation.

In any mental state, three general dimensions can be distinguished: motivational-incentive, emotional-evaluative and activation-energetic (the first dimension is decisive). The emerging state does not replace the previous one at once, abruptly. The states in most cases smoothly flow into each other. Mixed states, in which the features of several states are combined at the same time, can be quite extended.

into the structure mental states include many components at a very different system level: from physiological to cognitive:

Criteria for their classification.

The mental states of a person can be classified on the following grounds: 1) depending on the role of the individual and the situation in the occurrence of mental states - personal and situational; 2) depending on the dominant (leading) components (if any clearly appear) - intellectual, strong-willed, emotional, etc.; 3) depending on the degree of depth - states (more or less) deep or superficial; 4) depending on the flow time - short-term, protracted, long-term, etc.; 5) depending on the impact on the personality - positive and negative, sthenic, increasing vitality, not asthenic; 6) depending on the degree of awareness - more or less conscious states; 7) depending on the reasons causing them; 8) depending on the degree of adequacy of the objective situation that caused them.

Levitov N.D. highlights some typical conditions that are often encountered under the action of frustrators, although they appear each time in an individual form. These states include the following:

1) Tolerance. There are different forms of tolerance:

a) calmness, prudence, readiness to accept what happened as a life lesson, but without much complaining about oneself;

b) tension, effort, containment of unwanted impulsive reactions;

c) flaunting with emphasized indifference, behind which carefully concealed anger or despondency is masked. Tolerance can be nurtured.

2) Aggression is an attack (or desire to attack) on own initiative using capture. This state can be clearly expressed in pugnacity, rudeness, cockiness, and can take the form of hidden hostility and anger. A typical state of aggression is an acute, often affective experience of anger, impulsive erratic activity, malice, etc. loss of self-control, anger, unjustified aggressive actions. Aggression is one of the pronounced sthenic and active phenomena of frustration.