Methods and techniques for optimizing stress levels. Everything you need to know to increase productivity and reduce stress Medication treatment for stress

1. Go to bed and get up early

Going to bed and waking up early will help you start the day in a more productive mood. On the contrary, if the morning was chaotic, it is very likely that the whole day will go in the same spirit. To avoid this, give yourself time in the morning to relax and settle into a slower rhythm. You can do some things in advance, the previous evening, and spend the free time in the morning on what you like - reading, meditation, writing in a diary, etc.

2. Don't worry about what you can't control.

Worrying takes up a lot of energy and time. Don't waste your time worrying about things that are beyond your control. No matter how much you worry, it will still not change anything. If we are talking about situations that you can influence, focus not on the problem, but on possible solutions. The more energy you spend thinking about a problem, the more difficult it will seem. On the contrary, if you direct your energy to finding a solution, you will realize that the problem is not as bad as it seemed.

3. Make to-do lists

Every day in the morning, make a list of what you have to do. It organizes and disciplines. Cross out what has already been done. If you find it too difficult at first to make an exhaustive list, limit yourself to the bare necessities. This way you can avoid feeling overwhelmed and determine for yourself what needs to be done today and what can be put off for a day or two.

4. Take care of your nutrition

Poor nutrition prevents the body from adapting to stress. Your menu should consist of fresh vegetables and fruits, proteins, healthy fats and whole grains. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. You should avoid fast food, processed foods and foods containing preservatives, dyes and sweeteners.

5. Learn to say “no”

One of the most effective ways to reduce the amount of stress in your life is to learn to say no. If you notice that you agree to something out of guilt or pity or because “it’s the right thing to do,” you should think about it. Putting this kind of pressure on yourself leads to unnecessary stress and robs you of time that you can spend doing the things you really enjoy. By learning to say no, you will take back control of your life.

6. Be grateful for life

Learn to be grateful for the opportunities and experiences that life gives. Try to find a few reasons to be grateful every night. Ask yourself: “What was the best thing that happened today?” You can discuss this issue with your loved ones over dinner.

7. Get rid of distractions

Think about what you spent your time on last week. What was distracting and how could it be avoided? Perhaps the effects of the weekend party continued to reverberate for several days? Or have you been spending several hours a day on social media?

Make a list of everything that distracts you and prevents you from moving forward towards your goals. Think about how you can combat this problem. For example, if you find that you spend about five hours a week on social media, try cutting that time in half and spend the freed-up hours on a new hobby or something useful.

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Are you often exposed to stress? Try these ten tips to manage stress and make your life more comfortable.

If you experience stress frequently, it can seriously disrupt the flow of your life. Unless, of course, you develop defense mechanisms against stress. While some stress can be stimulating, such as project deadlines, too much stress can make your life miserable. So terrible that you won't know how to control it. Although sometimes stress is unavoidable, such as when it is created by other people in unexpected situations, you can try to cope with it. This will help you feel calmer and make cooler decisions. Here are ten ways to reduce the impact of stress.

1. Identify the source of stress

Many people feel in a constant state of stress. Emotional symptoms of stress can include anxiety, fear, heartache, frustration, anger and hopelessness. Focusing on the sources of stress will help you learn to cope better with it. The first step to reducing stress is to list everything that causes you stress. The very act of writing it down will make you aware of the problem. While some problems cannot be easily solved, others can be easily eliminated if you focus on solving them. For example, you regularly find yourself late in the morning several times a week because your six-year-old daughter can't decide what to wear. You can spend half an hour on Sunday picking out her outfits for the next week, and it will make your mornings less stressful.

2. Prioritize

Some people feel stressed because they have too much going on in their lives. Each of us has a limited time of 24 hours a day, so sometimes you need to say no and give up on things that need time. Deciding what's most important to you and your family and making it a priority will help you decide which stressful situations you can relieve yourself of. For example, if you believe your family should eat healthy but you find it difficult to cook after work every night, find a place where you can buy healthy prepared meals or try handing over some of the kitchen duties to your significant other or older children. Doing everything alone may stifle the creativity of others, although they would be happy to take on some of the chores. Deciding what you can and can't do in a given period of time will help you delegate responsibilities to others and feel more confident when it comes to managing your time.

3. Learn to control your reactions

People react to stress differently. This response is the real key to stress management. If you overreact to small stimuli, your body is already tense when you encounter larger problems. Learning to deal more calmly with minor stimuli at work and at home will help you conserve energy for big problems. Imagine the different problems you face and think about how you might respond to them and what the outcome would be. For example, if you are unhappy with the way your colleague is doing his part of the work on your common project, imagine yourself yelling at him and telling him how incompetent he is, how you show him an easier and more efficient way to achieve a goal, how you do not pay pay attention to his incompetence, pretend that he is doing a good job and then redo everything at the last minute. If you imagine different results, you will most likely realize that some decisions may lead to constant tension and even create new problems. Learning to interact more calmly with other people is important in order to get your stress under control.

4. Learn not to take too much into your head

Some problems that cause chronic stress are actually not important at all. By identifying what issues are causing you stress, you can get rid of the minor irritants that have been bothering you. If you feel like you have to be in complete control of your life, you're doomed to be stressed out all the time. After all, something can happen that you cannot control. If your life is tied to a rigid schedule, free up at least 5-10 minutes every day to laze around. Go outside and look at the trees and flowers, feel the sun on your face, listen to the sounds around you and just relax.

5. Exercise

Stress can cause serious physical health problems for you. Often those people who outwardly hide their reactions experience this stress internally. This leads to hypertension, indigestion, insomnia, headaches and other diseases. It's important to keep your body in good shape even when you're not stressed, and it's especially important to be healthy when you're in a stressful situation. Exercise can greatly relieve stress. Running on the treadmill, doing yoga, swimming in the pool, or cycling with friends will benefit your body and help you relieve stress.

6. Follow a diet

In a stressful situation, it is easy to skip breakfast, grab something for lunch and continue the day with coffee and sweets. It wreaks havoc on your body because your blood sugar and your energy levels bounce back and forth all day long. Plan your meals ahead of time so your snacks consist of cheese, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Try to avoid excessive consumption of caffeine, sugar and alcohol. Eat breakfast, keep healthy snacks in your desk drawer, and eat regularly. When your blood sugar levels drop, your attention wanders. Therefore, you cannot go the whole day without food. This will only add to your feelings of stress, and it is very easy to make poor choices when you are hungry.

7. Laugh

If you don't see anything funny in your life, you just need a good laugh. Laughter is good for the body and soul, and humor helps relieve stress. Watch funny movies, read comics or jokes on the Internet. Some hospitals have "laugh rooms" where patients with serious illnesses can relax a little and laugh at funny films. It actually causes certain chemical reactions in your brain. Humor is a great way to relieve stress.

8. Play with your pet

Dogs, cats and other animals can be great stress relievers. When you pet a purring cat, throw a ball for your dog to fetch, or ride a horse, you feel calm and peaceful. Pets can be a great comfort to those who suffer from stress. When you come home and see an animal waiting for you, you feel better and can relax in the company of an unobtrusive friend. If your living conditions do not allow you to have a pet, take a friend's dog for a walk or volunteer at a shelter for stray animals. Or just go watch the fish swim in the aquarium at the pet store.

9. Find something to do for your soul

Many people who suffer from stress find a hobby that has a relaxing effect on them. Thanks to a hobby, you can switch your attention and forget about the problems that cause stress. Whether you enjoy fishing, knitting, photography or woodworking, a hobby can help you cope with stress and give you something to occupy your mind. If you often suffer from stress, doing something you love can help you unwind at the end of the day.

10. Sleep

If you don't get enough sleep, it can cause stress. The next day you'll be tired and unfocused after tossing and turning all night. Insomnia can be a symptom that your life is overloaded with stress, so it's important to get enough sleep if you want to cope with it. Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep each night to feel good the next day. If you get more or less sleep, your productivity will suffer. Deep sleep is especially important; if you wake up often, you will wake up completely exhausted. If you have trouble falling asleep, your doctor will help you cope with this problem.

Stress is a very dangerous condition. Left to its own devices, without attention, it slowly destroys the body, leading to the development of diseases of the heart, nervous and endocrine systems. Obesity, which is present in many people over 30, is nothing more than a manifestation of stress. Therefore, this condition must be combated. Next, we will talk in detail about various ways to relieve stress and fight depression. Your task is to choose one or more methods that are right for you.

Basic principles of stress treatment

Usually a person knows what caused the disturbance in his psycho-emotional state (for example, stress at work). Then treatment, if possible, begins with eliminating stress factors. This could be stopping communication with an intrusive colleague or neighbor (a one-time refusal to help or even a quarrel is better for the psyche than everyday cooperation if it causes negative emotions). There may be more radical measures: changing the environment, switching to work as a remote employee.

If it is impossible to eliminate the stress factor, you need to change your attitude towards it, as well as change your priorities. This is possible through the practices of meditation, relaxation, animal therapy, travel and play therapy. The rest of the methods given below are aimed at restoring harmony to the soul, and drug treatment and physiotherapy are aimed at restoring the body’s strength.

All of these areas of treatment are more effective immediately after exposure to a stressor, but they must also be applied in the case of a long-term “stay in the disease.”

Factors such as:

• normalization of the “work: rest” ratio (sleep duration cannot be less than 9 hours, unless you have accustomed the body to a different duration through various meditative practices);
• good nutrition;
• sufficient activity (walking at least 30 minutes a day), doing exercises;
• hobbies.

If the stress turns out to be severe, it is necessary to begin treatment with psychotherapeutic treatment. In cases where the stressor was a natural disaster, war, bandit attack or the like, you need to contact a psychotherapist or psychiatrist within the first 48 hours, otherwise the consequences can be very serious.

If we are talking about a child, then during the period of treatment it is very important for him to feel parental support and affection; he can be offered drawing, dancing, sports activities, spending more time together, walking in the fresh air, going on a picnic. Parents can better understand their baby's needs by listening to what they say with toys. The child’s daily routine, sufficient nutrition and adequate sleep during treatment are required. You cannot insist that your child fit in with his peers: this can further stress him. It’s better to find out where group art therapy classes are held (drawing, sand application, singing) and start going with him.

Features of nutrition during stress

The basic rules for eating under stress are:

1. there should be no overeating;
2. daily salt intake should be reduced to 6-8 g per day (about a teaspoon);
3. food should contain 350-400 g of carbohydrates, 100 g of proteins, 100 g of fats;
4. include in your diet foods that promote the production of endorphins (“happiness hormone”) in the body: bananas, avocados, strawberries, spices – mustard, sweets – chocolate in small quantities;
5. do not eat high-calorie foods;
6. When stress occurs in the body, the production of free radicals increases; in order to neutralize them, it is necessary to consume foods rich in antioxidants with food. These are citrus fruits, black currants (they contain a lot of vitamin C), almonds, raw pumpkin seeds, boiled Swiss chard, spinach, vegetable oils (especially wheat germ, olive, coconut, camelina, hemp). The last 5 foods are rich in vitamin E;
7. One of the mechanisms for the development of pathological processes under stress is also an increase in the permeability of cell membranes. In order to strengthen the cell membranes so that the contents necessary for their normal functioning do not leak out, we need vitamins PP, B (the whole group), and the microelement selenium. These are tomatoes and tomato juice, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, cedar nuts, bran bread, cereal porridge, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, avocado, carrots, zucchini, beans, lentils. Healthy fruits and berries include: apricot, peach, raspberry, mulberry, cloudberry.

Reduce the amount you consume, or better yet, completely eliminate those foods that stimulate the brain. These are, first of all, caffeine-containing products: coffee, black tea, cola, chocolate. Secondly, these are extractive substances contained in meat, fish and mushroom broths, as well as fried fish and meat. These products will cause increased activity of the gastrointestinal tract, which will therefore send a large number of impulses to the brain, thereby stimulating it.

Alcohol and drugs will only worsen the situation, so they need to be eliminated completely.

Psychotherapeutic methods

To overcome stress and its consequences, psychotherapists use various methods that help a person get out of a vicious circle if he cannot (as in the case of an acute reaction to stress) or does not want (considers it insignificant) to do it himself. This:

1. Cognitive behavioral therapy. It is based on a person’s current thoughts, on what reactions occur in his body in response to certain events. Based on thoughts, feelings and the person, the therapist understands how they can be changed.
2. Gestalt therapy. Here the psychotherapist communicates with the person in such a way that he himself understands the causes of his stress. Then the patient understands how to solve his own problem and, under the guidance of a doctor, takes the necessary steps.
3. Hypnosis. In this case, the doctor resorts to suggestion, with the help of which he “forces” to get rid of psycho-emotional stress and bad thoughts.

All psychotherapy aims to develop a person’s psychological stability in difficult conditions, to form a stable system of life values, to develop a person’s sober approach to the world and the flexibility of his thinking.

Physiotherapeutic treatments

To treat stress, science has developed several physiotherapeutic treatment methods that will affect the nervous system. This:

1. Electroson. In this case, electrodes are applied to the eye area, through which a constant pulsed current of low strength and short pulse duration is passed. It rhythmically stimulates the cortex and subcortical structures such as the hypothalamus, limbic system, thalamus and reticular formation, resulting in sleep. Such sleep differs in phases from natural or medicated (anesthesia). It stimulates the restoration of the relationship between the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems, has an analgesic effect, improves mood, reduces fatigue, and makes natural night sleep deeper. Unlike sleep during anesthesia or after taking it, it does not cause intoxication or complications.

   Electrosleep is contraindicated in case of inflammatory eye diseases, inflammation of the facial skin, glaucoma, high myopia, late-stage cataracts, stage 2-3 heart failure, stage 2-3 hypertension.

2. Magnetotherapy. In this case, the effect on tissue is carried out using a low-frequency alternating or constant magnetic field, which, by influencing molecules in tissues (especially the thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebral cortex), improves their ability to pass through cell membranes. Thus, biological processes change in tissues:
   • Biochemical reactions are accelerated by 10-30%;
   • the excitability of nerve cells decreases;
   • the body’s “energy systems” go into saving mode;
   • vascular spasm decreases;
   • has a beneficial effect on sleep;
   • the metabolism between blood and tissue fluid improves;
   • emotional stress decreases;
   • A pulsed magnetic field has a stimulating effect on the nervous system, while a constant field has a calming effect.

   Magnetic therapy is contraindicated for cancer, schizophrenia, epilepsy, stage 3 hypertension (when there are already complications), cardiac and respiratory failure.

3. Sinusoidal modulated currents (amplipulse therapy) with application of electrodes to the skin of the eyes. Currents pass through the skin and affect the hormonal and immune state of the body, normalize blood pressure, and have an analgesic and calming effect.
4. Applications of paraffin and ozokerite on the back of the head and neck area. The use of this warm mass will improve the outflow of blood and lymph from the cranial cavity, reduce headaches by reducing intracranial pressure, improve the exchange of substances between the blood and tissues of the neck and head, and stimulate the immune system.

   Applications are contraindicated for thyrotoxicosis, severe neuroses, tumors, diabetes mellitus, tuberculosis, and cerebral atherosclerosis.

5. Acupuncture has an analgesic, calming effect, relaxes muscles.
6. Acupressure. Its action is similar to acupuncture, but does not require special equipment, but requires a specialist with the necessary experience and knowledge. A massage therapist can teach techniques with which a person can subsequently perform self-massage of biologically active points.
7. Ultrasonic exposure. With the help of ultrasound, micromassage is performed at the cellular level, it has an analgesic effect, and relieves spasm of blood vessels carrying blood to the brain. Contraindications are the same as for paraffin-ozokerite applications.
8. Galvanization– treatment with electric currents of low strength and low voltage, which change the pH of the environment, osmotic processes, and polarize cell membranes. When galvanizing the collar zone, blood circulation, excitability and nutrition of the brain, organs of hearing and vision, and upper extremities change reflexively.

If a person needs intensive recovery (for example, with advanced stress, in case of an acute reaction to stress, or with post-traumatic stress disorder), a program consisting of the combined use of several procedures at once is suitable for him:

• drinking mineral waters;
• iodine-bromine baths;
• oxygen therapy with the supply of oxygen to the brain, organs and tissues;
• magnetic therapy;
• ultrasound therapy.

It is best when these procedures are performed in a sanatorium. Then, in the intervals between them, healthy meals and rest, physical activity such as measured walking in landscaped areas where various plant associations grow naturally or artificially are recommended. This therapeutic movement allows you to saturate the blood with air enriched with oxygen. Also, aeroionophytotherapy allows you to get additional positive emotions through communication with nature.

To ensure that stress the next time it happens does not lead to negative consequences for the body, physiotherapeutic procedures such as:

• water procedures;
• balneotherapy (treatment with mineral waters in the form of baths and for oral administration);
• transcerebral electroprocedures: electrosleep, amplipulse therapy and interference therapy with application of electrodes to the skull.

Resort and SPA therapy

SPA treatment involves various methods of influencing the body, helping it to recover naturally. They are very pleasant and affect many senses at once: smell, touch, hearing, vision. They are performed both at resorts and in specially created SPA centers, where you can choose one or several procedures.

SPA include:

• balneotherapy - treatment with mineral waters, which can be used in the form of baths, for oral administration, as well as for inhalation or microenemas;
• thalassotherapy (sea treatment), which consists of exposure to sea air (cavitotherapy), treatment with algae (algotherapy), sea water (hydrotherapy) and sea mud (fangotherapy);
• chocolate and coffee SPA treatment. In this case, mixtures with green coffee or cocoa extracts are applied to the skin, which have a pleasant smell, nourish the skin, and help eliminate excess subcutaneous fat;
• peloidotherapy or mud therapy is the application of biologically active mud to the skin, which, through its thermal and enzymatic effects, is involved in the treatment of the nervous system;
• aromatherapy (about it - in the corresponding section);
• stone therapy is a special massage technique performed with natural stones, which are applied either hot or cold (this is necessary to obtain the desired response from the body - relaxation or, on the contrary, toning), then laid out along the spine, then massage movements are performed with them;
• A Turkish bath is a thermal effect on the body, when there is no such stress for it as in a Russian bath or sauna, because the temperature here is only 35-50 degrees. Hamam has a relaxing effect, improves sleep, and stimulates digestion. The procedure is contraindicated for people with mental disorders, cancer, patients with bronchial asthma and skin diseases.
• therapeutic relaxing massage.

Spas are contraindicated during pregnancy, cancer, blood clotting disorders, blood diseases, epilepsy, severe diseases of any internal organ, intolerance to the components of the procedure, and also - but this is temporary - during infectious diseases.

During a resort or SPA treatment, you cannot engage in heavy physical activity, compete, lift heavy weights, or do crossfit. You can only hang on the horizontal bar, do stretching exercises, and swim in the pool. Intimate relationships during such treatment are not contraindicated.

Meditation

This is the main way that can help yourself get out of psychological stress. There is no harm from it, only benefit: relaxation of the nervous system, finding inner peace. If you relax correctly, you can even get an answer from the Universe to your questions.

Meditation is carried out either in a sitting position (in a partial or full lotus position, or - if it’s really difficult - sitting on bent legs), or lying on your back, in a pose called “shavasana”.

Shavasana means that you need to lie on the mat, on your back, with your arms at a 45-degree angle to your body, palms up. The heels are at a distance of about 5 cm from each other, the head lies so that the eyes (they will need to be closed later) look at the ceiling. The tip of the tongue touches the palate behind the upper teeth.

The pose has been chosen, now here are the basic rules, without which you will either fall asleep or feel irritated instead of relaxing:

1. Set an alarm clock (timer) for 10-15 minutes.
2. Breathing is calm, preferably with the stomach, which inflates as you inhale, and decreases like a ball as you exhale. It is advisable to practice abdominal breathing before you begin to dive into the depths of your own consciousness.
3. The tongue is behind the upper teeth: this closes an important channel for the flow of energy.
4. Feel how each toe relaxes and warms up, then your shins, thighs, then each finger, forearms, and shoulders. Eventually you should stop feeling them and instead feel like you are floating on the waves.
5. Relax your eyes - they seem to fall inside your eye sockets.
6. Relax your nose and ears: feel like you are breathing from the back of your head.
7. Stop your mental speech, try not to think about anything. It won't happen right away, but it will work out. Concentrate on your breathing. You can also concentrate on the music that you turned on for this (those tracks called “binaural” are recommended), or on the pictures that will appear before your closed eyes. You don’t have to close your eyes and look at a blazing fire or flowing water (this can be done in the form of a video on your computer). You can also imagine the picture that evokes the greatest peace: that you are lying in a green clearing in the forest, or on the sand near the clear sea, and so on.
8. Ask your mental question or request, wait for an answer, consciously stopping any thoughts.
9. Try to feel how, as you inhale, life-giving energy penetrates the body, and as you exhale, stress leaves the body and does not return.

If you fall asleep all the time, try the partial lotus position, in which you should be as relaxed as possible. If you are exercising in the cold season, dress well, lay 2 blankets on the floor, and use a third blanket to cover yourself.

Relaxation

This is a relaxation technique similar to the meditation described above. Only here you concentrate not on stopping thoughts or breathing, but on relaxing your body so as to “float in weightlessness” and thus get rid of stress.

Performed in a lying position (can be in bed):

• Spread your legs shoulder-width apart, toes apart, and arms slightly to the sides.
• Take a deep breath, long exhale, try to do this with your stomach.
• Alternately, first tense and then relax each part of the body: first the neck and head, then the arms, chest, stomach and legs. Tension should last for at least 5 seconds, relaxation for at least 30 seconds. This is the Jacobson technique. There is a second technique - according to Jackson. It involves alternate tension and relaxation of first the muscles of the dominant half of the body (right for right-handed people, left for left-handed people), and then the “secondary” half.
• During practice, imagine that you are in nature: near the sea, in the mountains, in a forest or in a meadow. Try to smell the herbs (salt water, mountain air) and the sounds that occur in this area.

You can perform relaxation practice in the following ways:

• Lie on your back, put your arms along your body, straighten your legs. Relax. Inhale through your nose, hold your breath for 3-4 seconds. As you exhale, imagine all the negativity, fatigue and anxiety leaving your body.
• Lie on your back as comfortably as possible. Inhale and exhale deeply and smoothly. After a while, begin to tense and then relax the muscles in turn in this way: right leg - left leg, stomach, right arm - left arm, chest, shoulders, neck, face, head. Feel your completely relaxed body, breathe deeply and calmly. Repeat tension-relaxation again.

Breathing techniques

If you are interested in how to get out of stress on your own, start with the use of breathing techniques. Proper breathing in a traumatic situation can even relieve stress or reduce its severity.

Breathing that can calm the mind is diaphragmatic (belly):

• you take a deep breath, and, placing your hand on your stomach, feel how it rises (the stomach inflates);
• exhalation is long, approximately equal to inhalation, the stomach at this time tends to “stick” to the spine.

Don't rush, watch the rhythm and frequency of your breathing, don't let yourself breathe too often, but don't panic when it seems like you're running out of air. Try not to pause between inhalation and exhalation. After a few minutes, do something else that requires concentration.

Visualization method

It means the following. Draw or write on a piece of paper about what is bothering you, then burn the piece of paper, imagining how both the problem and the negativity associated with it leave you with the smoke. While the leaf is burning, force yourself to imagine pleasant images, you can hum a cheerful song.

Method of shouting into space

By throwing out accumulated negativity in the form of a scream, you can supplement your vocalization with physical manipulation. So, you can hit a punching bag or a pillow, you can hit dishes, throw things or throw darts (not at living beings). In Japanese offices, for such release, there are special felt-lined rooms where employees can engage in such short-term destructive activities. In this way, local psychologists believe, he can relieve stress and continue to work productively, instead of performing his duties more and more carelessly, and then completely going on sick leave with a heart disease or neurosis.

Yoga exercises

The following yogic poses (asanas) help relieve stress:

Hirudotherapy

This is the scientific name for treatment with leeches, which is very reasonable for stress. Firstly, leeches bite the skin only at bioactive points, influencing those organs that “cooperate” with it (that is, the specialist chooses where to plant, and the leech itself searches for a specific location with an accuracy of a tenth of a millimeter). Secondly, leeches inject the substance hirudin under the skin, which thins the blood (less viscous blood “moves” more freely through the vessels and does not stagnate in the capillaries, but performs its function of nourishing the tissues). Thirdly, this worm injects other beneficial substances into the blood, which:

• reduce blood sugar levels;
• stimulate the production of “happiness hormones” - endorphins;
• reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood, which can, deposited on the walls of blood vessels, lead to a decrease in their diameter up to complete closure;
• activate the immune system.

Fourthly, taking a few milliliters of blood (one leech absorbs 5-10 ml of blood) in some way “unloads” the blood flow, removing “excess” blood. Fifthly, the effect of one hirudotherapy session lasts 3 months.

Color stimulation

This is the name of a relatively new type of physiotherapeutic treatment, which consists of exposing the body to light rays of the visible spectrum, which, due to different wavelengths, have different colors. The method is based on the fact that light is an irritant to the eye, which not only detects it, but sends signals to the brain. Moreover, depending on the wavelength, the signal goes to different parts of the brain and triggers slightly different biochemical reactions.

A program to combat stress and depression is selected individually by a color therapist based on the leading symptom:

• if you need to calm down (especially if your blood pressure has risen due to stress), blue is needed;
• if self-confidence has disappeared, and the world is seen in black tones, you need yellow;
• if one feels tired and does not want to work, the person should be shown green;
• when you need to increase your appetite, orange rays are added;
• if there is a tendency to spring-autumn depression, there should not be purple in the color scheme.

Not only the color itself that will be shown to a person after stress is important: the rhythm of the color signal, its shades, and the level of illumination of the field in which this or that color appears are also important.

Art therapy

Art therapy is treatment with art. This is a very good technique for relieving any, even traumatic, stress and its consequences. This is due to the wide possibilities of non-verbal self-expression, protective capabilities due to metaphorical images, a large number of materials and types of art. A person can transfer the experience of his stress to visual materials, because of which they will no longer cause such acute feelings in him, and after that he will be able to gain control over them. This task should be given by a specially trained specialist who will first assess the stage at which the person is, and then, with the help of tasks that will gradually become more complex, return him to the desired inner harmony.

Art therapy involves:

1. switching attention from a traumatic situation to creativity. At the beginning of therapy, a person stops putting his problem at the forefront, gradually ceasing to “obsess” with it;
2. transferring one's experiences and sensations to external processes and objects. This helps the negative experience become detached from the individual. A person's mental energy becomes more controlled by his own consciousness and will not cause such emotions as before;
3. You can gradually “bring out” previously suppressed emotions from the subconscious and from the non-dominant hemisphere of the brain and experience them. This way a person will avoid chronic stress.

Art therapy is suitable for people of all ages and religions. It can be used both in acute and rehabilitation periods. It is carried out both in the form of individual, family or group classes.

There are many types of art therapy, let's look at them in more detail.

Isotherapy

This is a fine art treatment:

• painting;
• appliqué;
• modeling;
• painting;
• origami;
• creating a clay amulet;
• anti-stress coloring books.

Each of the types has its own subtypes and techniques, which are known to specialists involved in art therapy, and they should help a person choose the technique necessary for him.

So, painting can be done in the form:

• self-portrait;
• when you need to draw your emotional state with the help of lines, strokes, and various shapes (a person moves a pen over the paper, creating chaotic lines until he feels better);
• “like a child” style: you need to draw with your non-working hand what interested you most or worried you in childhood;
• group drawing: when one person draws a doodle, and the other must find some image there, decorate and complement it;
• collage;
• meditative drawing. It is performed using the technique of either zentangles (patterns that are drawn in sections of a square), or zendoodles (the kind of patterns that fill anti-stress coloring books), or doodles (drawing arbitrary patterns).

Any isotherapy technique is performed according to the following plan:

1. Create silence outside and within yourself by stopping your internal dialogue.
2. Ask yourself an intimate question.
3. Create using the chosen material: crayons, pencils, paints, gouache.

Creativity performed to calm music or recording the sounds of nature has a good effect.

Music therapy

This is what music therapy is called. This can be listening to songs or music (receptive music therapy), as well as singing or playing a musical instrument on your own (active music therapy methods). There is also integrative music therapy, when one plays, draws, or dances to music.

Music has a triple effect on the body:

1. physical: when singing along, a person’s vocal cords vibrate, which is very useful;
2. mental: if you like the music, it contributes to the production of happiness hormones in the body;
3. associative: good memories are associated with certain music.

If you are stressed, it is recommended to listen to (perform) works by Chopin; if you are nervous, listen to the “Moonlight Sonata” or the 3rd movement of Beethoven’s 6th symphony, “Moonlight” by Debussy. In order for the treatment to truly help, the composition must be selected by a specialist.

Kinesitherapy

This includes dancing, physical therapy, as well as massage sessions and outdoor games - everything where movement is required.

Bibliotherapy

This is the name for book therapy through reading or writing your own essays or stories. There is even a separate type of bibliotherapy – fairy tale therapy.

Sand therapy

The main “healer” in this case is sand. You can simply pour it over, make sand animation, build sand sculptures, compositions or castles. You can use both natural sand and artificial sand, which has special properties - kinetic.

The following methods of sand therapy are distinguished:

• playing in a classic blue sandbox (blue has a calming effect);
• painting with colored sand;
• sand painting on backlit tables;
• dynamic drawing: combining colored sand and a white tray, when pouring sand produces different patterns;
• classes with kinetic sand - a special material based on starch and quartz sand, from which you can build various castles, figures, sculptures, while it does not stick to your hands and crumbles like dry sand.

Classes can be conducted individually, in pairs or with a group of people. You can draw with sand by pouring it from a pinch or from your fist. You can create a uniform background using your fingers, palm or tools.

Imagotherapy

This is a treatment with theatrical art, which involves either staging theatrical scenes or visiting theaters.

Phototherapy

This is conducting photo reports, photo sessions, photo collages or slides for patients.

Art synthesis therapy

This is a combination of several types of art therapy: for example, coloring and playing a musical instrument, creating and retouching photographs and reading books.

Animal therapy or animal therapy

The fact that animals can help people heal was first learned in the 18th century. Then it turned out that dogs could help people undergo treatment in a psychiatric clinic: the presence of such a pet reduced the need to fix the patient in a straitjacket, since the number of attacks and general aggressiveness in people decreased.

The term “pet therapy” (that is, treatment with pets) first appeared in 1969. It was introduced by child psychiatrist B. Levinson, who noticed that the presence of a dog in his office has a beneficial effect on young patients, regardless of their diagnosis. After further study, it turned out that dogs have special properties that allow them to “sniff out” the presence of cancer cells in a person. These same animals anticipate within 20 minutes that a person will develop an epileptic seizure or a sharp decrease in the blood sugar level of a diabetic patient. Later, scientists paid attention to special “talents” in treating people and other animals: horses, cats, dolphins and even aquarium fish. Then pet therapy became animal therapy - treatment with the help of animals, which do not necessarily have to be pets.

Positive aspects of animal therapy:

1. Eliminate feelings of loneliness.
2. Help in socializing the patient.
3. Enhancing the effect of treating complex conditions when stress is combined with any acute or chronic disease.

There are several types of animal therapy.

Canistherapy – treatment with dogs

In the treatment of stress, canistherapy is especially needed for people who find it difficult to establish emotional contact with other people, those who tend to experience their grief alone, without telling anyone about it. Dogs can improve a person’s psycho-emotional state, form positive social attitudes, and relieve emotional stress. Dog walking makes a person change his sedentary lifestyle and believe in himself (“The dog doesn’t care how much money you have or what you can do”).

For people prone to neuroses, friendly dog ​​breeds are well suited: poodles, Labradors, spaniels.

Dolphin therapy

Swimming and communicating with dolphins are indicated for psychological rehabilitation for those people who have suffered an acute reaction to stress when wars, extreme conditions, hurricanes, and earthquakes acted as stressors.

And if dogs treat with their own spontaneity, kindness and devotion, then dolphins also have in their arsenal the ultrasonic waves they emit, which change the bioelectrical activity of the brain. Thus, they have a relaxing effect on the central nervous system and establish connections between the brain and internal organs. When studying the electroencephalogram, it turned out that after communicating with the dolphin, the brain rhythm slowed down, alpha and theta rhythms appeared, and the work of both hemispheres was synchronized.

Dolphin therapy has contraindications. These are oncological diseases, epilepsy, infectious diseases.

Felinotherapy – treatment for cats

With its vibration, emitted when purring, when it caresses a person, a cat helps him calm down and relax. There is also an opinion that every human tissue emits vibration: with its help, substances are exchanged between blood and tissue fluid, this fluid and blood. When its own vibration weakens, the organ becomes ill. The cat has the ability to sense such places and, by sitting on them and starting to purr, replenishes the deficiency of this resource.

Hippotherapy – treatment with horses

During horse riding, the rider experiences about 110 impulses per minute: within a short period of time, he has to make several hundred movements in different planes. He needs to stay on the horse, which results in a lot of his muscles working. These muscles send a large number of impulses to the brain, which helps develop connections between neurons.

In addition, the horse's movements have a massaging effect, which leads to improved blood circulation. The muscular work that is performed during horse riding promotes the production of endorphins in the brain, and contact with the skin of the animal (hippotherapy is carried out not in the saddle: the person sits on a thin and soft blanket) improves overall well-being, reduces aggressiveness and nervousness.

Hippotherapy is contraindicated for:

• epilepsy;
• kidney diseases;
• osteoporosis, when there is increased fragility of bones and joints;
• increased blood clotting;
• allergies to horse fur.

Therapy with aquarium fish and birds

Scientists have concluded that watching fish promotes concentration, improves mood, and develops an aesthetic sense. In addition, the aquarium in the apartment plays the role of a humidifier, which is useful for the treatment and prevention of diseases of the lungs and bronchi.

It is equally useful to have a songbird at home: a canary or a goldfinch. They contribute to the development of observation, patience, and an ear for music. They are a good remedy for treating insomnia and neuroses.

Aromatherapy

It involves calming the nervous system by exposing the olfactory receptors to certain aromas. For this, essential oils are used, which can be used in aroma lamps or added to creams or oils for the face and/or body. A few drops of essential oils can be added to massage oils and massaged with them.

Oils used in stress therapy:

• lavender;
• lemon balm;
• sandalwood;
• rosewood;
• ylang-ylang;
• juniper;
• patchouli;
• jasmine;
• marjoram;
• neroli;
• vetivert.

You can make mixtures. For example, for depression you can use a mixture of black pepper and mint. For stress – a combination of mint, lavender, juniper, rose, neroli and basil. To get into a working mood, inhale the aromas of tangerine, lemon, and fir. And if everything stops making you happy, the smell of clary sage helps a lot.

You can use the following recipes:

1. Anti-stress bath. Add 2 drops of ylang-ylang and dill oil, 3 drops of lemon balm and 5 drops of lavender oil into warm bath water.
2. If it's hard to sleep. Take a warm bath before bed, adding 1 drop of pine and ylang-ylang oils, 2 drops of cedarwood, 3 drops of lavender oil to the water.

Herbal treatment

Herbalists advise using the following recipes:

• Thyme infusion. 1 tsp herbs, pour 500 ml of boiling water, leave in a hermetically sealed container for half an hour. Take these 500 ml in 3-4 doses. You can take the infusion again only after 3-4 days.
• Borage (Borage). Brew 1 tsp. a glass of boiling water, leave for 30 minutes, take this amount throughout the day. Pregnant women and children should not drink this infusion.
• Take 1 tbsp. hop cones, peppermint leaves, add 2 tbsp. motherwort herb, 3 tbsp. valerian root. Mix the herbs, take 1 tbsp. mixture, pour 200 ml of boiling water, heat in a water bath for 15 minutes. Then you need to leave for 30 minutes, cool. Take 100 ml three times a day, 15 minutes before meals.
• Take 10 tbsp. peppermint leaves, 5 tbsp. hop cones and valerian root, 3 tbsp. oregano herbs. Mix the herbs, take 2 tablespoons, pour boiling water, wait half an hour before straining. Take 50 ml twice a day, 15 minutes before meals. Course – 10-15 days.

Before starting such treatment, consult your doctor. Use it with caution if you are prone to allergies.

Api therapy

This is the name for treatment with beekeeping products. In the treatment of stress and depression, it is recommended:

• Royal jelly: helps eliminate mild depression, apathy (lack of interest in what is happening), is effective in some forms of insomnia or constant mood swings;
• bee bread helps in eliminating anxiety and irritability;
• linden honey and honey, which contains a splash of orange honey, helps in eliminating the state of melancholy;
• A combination of mountain honey with essential oils of neroli, bergamot, and tangerine is also useful. These enriched bee products create increased performance, improved overall well-being and can even induce euphoria.

Trips

If you like to travel and your financial situation allows it, a very good method of relieving stress is to go on a trip. This could be a trip around the world or a visit to a specific country, the main thing is that the trip is comfortable and planned. Otherwise, not having any idea about the country you are visiting may test you even more.

Drug treatment for stress

The diagnosis of stress is established by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. These specialists should evaluate:

• severity of anxiety, anger, depression;
• the degree of depletion of subjective mental resources, which play a major role in ensuring overcoming difficulties;
• the nature of the electroencephalogram;
• the state of the autonomic nervous system, based on galvanic skin response and skin temperature;
• degree of increase in stress hormones in the blood: cortisol, ACTH.

If the doctor assesses that psychophysiological resources are depleted and/or anxiety, anger or depression are too strong, he will prescribe medications (in milder cases, one or a combination of the above stress management methods can be used).

The following types of drugs are used to treat stress:

Soothing herbal preparations

Medicines in this group are prescribed for increased excitability, insomnia, and nightmares.

• "Novo-Passit";
• "Sedaphyton";
• "Persen";
• valerian tincture or tablets;
• motherwort tincture;
• peony tincture.

These drugs improve the interaction between the autonomic nervous system (mainly its main organ - the hypothalamus, as well as the limbic system of the brain) and internal organs, normalize the activity of the cardiovascular system, improve sleep quality, and eliminate insomnia.

The first results can be seen after 2-3 weeks, but a lasting effect will occur only after 6-8 months of use.

Disadvantage of this therapy: daytime sleepiness.

Adaptogen drugs

These are general tonics for those people whose daily activities are associated with nervous or mental overload. They improve sleep, mood, and can increase performance by 1.5-2 times.

Adaptogens can be of both animal and plant origin. They have a dose-dependent effect:

1. In minimal doses they cause relaxation, reduce excitability, slow down catabolism and have an anabolic effect, so they can be used to increase body weight.
2. In medium doses they create a feeling of vivacity, a surge of strength, and emotional uplift. They also increase immune defense, which is why they can be used for “soft”, natural treatment of long-term, sluggish and chronic inflammatory pathologies.
3. If you exceed the dosage, irritability, insomnia, and aggressiveness will appear, but they do not have a long-term or toxic effect on the body even in this case.

Adaptogens are especially indicated for older people: by increasing their energy, they help prolong youth. Until the age of 16, medications are used only as prescribed by a doctor, as they will accelerate puberty.

Adaptogens include:

• Leuzea extract;
• Eleutherococcus extract;
• ginseng extract;
• lemongrass seed extract;
• preparations based on Manchurian aralia root: “Saparal”, aralia tincture;
• "Pantocrine".

Drugs in this group are taken during daylight hours to avoid overstimulation at night. They are used with caution in hot weather, as they contribute to an increase in body temperature.

Magnesium preparations

Their use during stress is justified: in such conditions, the body experiences an increased need for magnesium, which dilates blood vessels, helps conduct impulses from the nerve to the desired organ, improves cardiac activity and has a sedative effect.

Magnesium preparations include: “Magne-B6” and its analogues “Magnelis B6 forte”, “Magne-express”, “Magnevit”.

Modern sleeping pills

They can be considered anti-stress, since, by influencing the structure of sleep, they enhance the anti-stress function of the period of night rest. They are especially indicated for acute insomnia, during the duration of the stress factor, when they can be used in a course of 2-3 weeks. They are not addictive and do not require increased dosage. Some of them (Doxylamine, Melaxen) help in the treatment of sleep apnea. "Melaxen" also, being an analogue of the hormone melatonin, produced in the pineal gland, restores normal sleep cycles, especially when changing time zones, making it soft, natural.

Modern sleeping pills include:

• "Ivadal";
• “Sonnat” and its analogues “Imovan”, “Sonovan”, “Normoson”;
• "Melaxen" and the analogue "Vita-melatonin";
• "Andante" and analogue "Selofen".

Antidepressants

These are drugs that are used if stress has caused depression, neurosis or a neurosis-like state. They affect the formation and movement of biologically active substances produced in the brain, such as norepinephrine, serotonin or dopamine. When taken according to indications, they reduce melancholy, anxiety, reluctance to do anything, increase appetite, and normalize the phase and duration of sleep.

To treat stress, Iprazide and Nialamid are used, while taking them, in order to avoid an increase in blood pressure to high levels, you should not consume cheeses, fermented milk and some other products. Amitriptyline, Incazan, Prozac, and Paxil are also prescribed.

Tranquilizers

These are medications whose main task is to eliminate anxiety and fear. They calm, reduce fluctuations in blood pressure, thereby having a positive effect on the heart. Their “competence” also includes an anticonvulsant effect, elimination of obsessive thoughts, hallucinatory disorders, but most of them cause drowsiness and can only be used in the evening.

In the treatment of stress, “moderate tranquilizers” are used: “Mebikar”, “Tranquilar”.

Biologically active additives

These products can be bought in pharmacies; they consist mainly of a combination of vitamins and some herbs:

Methods and techniques for optimizing stress levels

General approaches to neutralizing stress.

Ways of self-regulation of psychological state during stress. Autogenic training.

Biofeedback method.

Breathing techniques. Muscle relaxation.

Neurolinguistic programming.

Religion as a way to deal with stress.

Tactics for dealing with stress depending on the time of its onset.

Eliminate the causes of stress by improving behavioral skills.

Today there are already a great variety of methods for correcting psycho-emotional stress, getting rid of stress (including charlatan, anti-scientific ones), and the main task is to choose those that would meet the individual characteristics of a particular person, and specific social, everyday and etc. conditions, realities in which this stress developed. Among the methods, techniques, methods are known (and we have already mentioned some of them):

The choice of method should also be determined by the physical characteristics of the person. In addition, to correct stress, it is necessary to use general strengthening methods, for example, to reduce/get rid of physical inactivity, to

optimizing the daily routine, alternating stress of the nervous system with rest, systematically spending time in the fresh air and proper nutrition. Traditional time-tested folk remedies also exist and are used:

In addition to these “everyday” ones, there are also those that can conditionally be classified as psychological:

As a matter of fact, many people know how to get rid of stress, but, nevertheless, they constantly experience it... Apparently, these methods are not always applied reasonably and systematically - as a result, with low efficiency. And, naturally, turning to a specialist, we must understand that any of them, the most authoritative or little-known, will give preference to some of his favorite methods, methods, techniques: the American psychologist J. Wolpe mentioned above, for example, believes that there are only three, activities incompatible with tension: sex, food and relaxation exercises... Not bad! But all of the above only means that practical street psychologists have the task of both differentiating anti-stress methods and optimally selecting them in accordance with the nature of stress and individual characteristics of a person. Attempts to somehow organize and classify methods for relieving/neutralizing stress only lead to dividing them into psychological, physiological, biochemical, physical or methods of self-organization of help with stress, technical, instrumental methods and others, communicatively oriented, personality-oriented, requiring a colleague, an ally , partner (sex, team games, friendly communication, etc.). Let's look at some of them in a little more detail:

– physical methods to reduce stress – exposure to high or low temperatures, light of different spectral composition and intensity, etc. Hardening, sauna and Russian bath are excellent anti-stress methods (which have been used for centuries in folk medicine and have not lost their importance today). Sunbathing (tanning) in moderate doses has a beneficial effect on mental and physical health;

– biochemical methods of stress relief – various pharmacological preparations, medicinal plants, narcotic substances, alcohol and aromatherapy (managing a person’s mental state using odors - the most well-known and proven calming properties are the smells of valerian, lavender, lemon balm, ylang-ylang - but when using aromatherapy, individual tolerance should be taken into account odors and previously formed olfactory associations);

– physiological methods of stress regulation consist in a direct impact on physiological processes in the body: on the cardiovascular, respiratory and muscular systems - massage, acupuncture, acupuncture, muscle relaxation, breathing techniques;

– psychological self-help methods – autogenic training, meditation, breathing techniques, special physical exercises, etc. A classic example of a method of this group is Indian yoga, which includes breathing exercises (paranayama), physical exercises (asanas) and meditation techniques (samadhi);

– methods of using technical means: a tape recorder on which autogenic training formulas are recorded; video recorder/computer/tablet, with the help of which pictures of nature are reproduced; educational computer programs for relaxation; a variety of biofeedback devices.

If we talk directly about production stress, then there is its own specificity:

I Methods aimed at reducing the degree of extremeness of factors in the working environment and their compliance with the psychophysiological characteristics of the employee.

Rationalization of labor processes by drawing up optimal work algorithms, providing convenient time limits, etc.;

Improving tools and means of labor in accordance with the psychophysiological characteristics of a person;

Development of optimal work and rest regimes that would not lead to premature depletion of employee resources;

Rational organization of workplaces and formation of optimal working posture;

Creating a favorable socio-psychological climate in the team;

Increasing moral and material interest as a result of work.

II Methods aimed at the employee’s psyche and his functional state: exposure to color and functional music;

Impact on biologically active points;

Health-improving physical exercises;

Persuasion and suggestion;

Self-hypnosis and auto-training;

Breathing exercises;

Meditation.

Working to cope with stress can also be seen as preventive And How therapeutic:

– strengthening the body’s defenses, changing attitudes towards traumatic situations, developing positive thinking;

– neutralization of stress that has already arisen – a targeted impact on all its manifestations.

There are practically no boundaries here - auto-training can be used both as a preventive and as a therapeutic tool. But with a bright, obvious development of stress, it is necessary to influence not only the body (using muscle relaxation and breathing exercises), but also thoughts, feelings, emotions (using reframing methods and rational therapy). When choosing the optimal strategy for responding to stress, you should set priorities: complete removal of stress activation reduces a person’s ability to realize their maximum potential in life and professional activity; excessive stress causes serious disorders in the body. The optimal level of stress is a balance between two extremes. Probably, each individual person has his own optimum activation, at which his activity is quite effective and, at the same time, the level of stress does not reach distress.

And now specifically about individual, already mentioned techniques and methods for resolving/relieving a stressful situation.

1. Autogenic training

Autogenic training is one of the options for self-hypnosis. With its help, a person can have a serious influence on mental and vegetative processes in the body, including those that are not amenable to voluntary conscious regulation. The mechanisms of the phenomena occurring in this case are not yet fully understood, and James-Lange’s “peripheral theory of emotions”, created at the beginning of the 20th century, still retains its significance for understanding the processes connecting our thoughts and our body.

According to this hypothesis, each physiological state of the body more or less deterministically corresponds to a certain state of consciousness, and the influence of these states is mirror-important. From the paradoxical W. James - we cry not because we feel bad, but we feel bad because we cry - An empirical conclusion confirmed by practice follows: If, through an effort of will, you change the pattern of excitation of the skeletal muscles, making it corresponding to another emotion, and thoughts, making the assumption that the desired emotion is already present in the body, then the likelihood of the desired emotion will increase sharply.

Today, this method is recommended as a symptomatic remedy for anxiety, anxiety neurosis, fear neurosis and various phobias. It should be noted that the main difficulty that arises when mastering this method is the voluntary relaxation of skeletal muscles. Indeed, neuromuscular relationships are organized in such a way that the muscles understand only one order well - shrink, and the order to relax is actually not perceived. To relax a muscle, you need to stop tensing it. Animals relax automatically as soon as the danger disappears or a certain activity stops, but for a civilized person everything is different: he wears their problems, anxieties and dangers in the consciousness that controls the muscles, so the latter are almost always in a state of chronic tension. A “positive feedback” effect occurs - an excited and anxious brain causes the muscles to tense unnecessarily, and tense muscles excite the consciousness even more, sending nerve impulses to it. To stop this process, Jacobson suggested using a paradoxical way - first tense the muscles as much as possible, and then try to relieve the tension. It turned out that using this principle of contrast, you can more clearly perceive the degree of muscle relaxation, and then learn to consciously manage this state.

The most important feature of these exercises is the alternation of strong tension and quickly followed by relaxation of the corresponding muscle group. At the same time, subjectively, the process of relaxation is represented by sensations of softening, the spread of a wave of heat and pleasant heaviness in the area of ​​the body being worked, a feeling of peace and relaxation. Our brain constantly receives information about the state of all internal organs and skeletal muscles. At the same time, there are certain relationships between consciousness and body that will be significantly different for a person reading a book, sleeping or playing hockey. Negative emotions correspond to a very specific state of blood vessels and skeletal muscles, and our brain remembers a fairly large set of such psychophysiological states. When a person experiences stress, his muscles tense and his heart beats faster, which only increases the overall stress in the body. If a person manages to relax his muscles and calm his breathing, then the brain calm down, and then the emotions will subside.

5. Rational psychotherapy

Rational therapy is used to reduce emotional stress (in sports practice), but its effectiveness is not always high - this is often due to the inability [at a conscious level] to regulate processes associated with the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine glands. And everyone knows that attempts to influence an agitated person with the help of persuasion alone are unsuccessful. There will not be so much emotionally significant information for a person in a state of emotional arousal - from the entire information flow, he selects, perceives, remembers and takes into account only that which corresponds to his [dominant] emotional wealth. However, rational therapy can be used in combination with other methods at the final stage of correction of emotional stress, when the general level of arousal has already been reduced to an acceptable level. For people with high anxiety, rational psychotherapy helps to reduce the subjective significance of the situation, shift the emphasis to understanding the activity and building confidence in success, and for people with low levels of anxiety, on the contrary, it helps to increase attention to the motives of the activity, increasing the sense of responsibility.

6. Dissociation

Today it is also important that there are a number of methods and techniques for dissociating and detaching from stress:

– changing the scale of the event. You can find a bunch of examples of how to consider a specific disturbing, exciting, irritating event or phenomenon, for example, by moving away from it, moving away in space. Everything will seem so small, insignificant, unnoticeable...;

– change in time scale. It’s worth thinking about how we will think about our emotional outburst in a month? In a year? Probably everything will seem small, forgotten, insignificant...;

– change in “submodalities” – characteristics our perception of the world around us. Change the proportions of the “picture”, the features of people, participants in the event, give them something caricatured, grotesque, funny...;

– modeling stress in a playful way– shouldn’t we try to depict everything that happened in the form of games using paper clips and buttons, tacks and matches? And look at it from the outside, from above, as the creator of this action (remember Chapaev from the old film, who simulated the scene of the battle with the help of an old cast iron, a smoking pipe and several potatoes)?

7. Using positive images (visualization)

Perhaps, nevertheless, in order to get rid of stress, it is worth learning to fixate not on negative emotions, but on positive experiences and think not about problems, but about ways to solve them? And the first step towards this is the creation of a certain “magic” verbal formula that would symbolize the future goal - it can be expressed in one word (“health”, “courage”), or can be formulated in the form of a whole sentence (“I will pass the exam for Great"). However, using a similar method of reducing goals, you may encounter difficulties on the path to implementation - the subconscious mind reacts poorly to verbal formulas and is much more receptive to sensory images. Of course, visual images are better for some, auditory for others, and physical for others, but combined images in which all modalities participate are the best to stimulate and inspire. The positive effect of this method is based on the fact that every bright image that is created inside strives for its release, implementation, embodiment. The more complete the internal image of the desired final state is, the more often it appears before the inner gaze, the greater the likelihood of its implementation in reality.

8. Neurolinguistic programming

Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) as a method of psychotherapy is based on tests and research on optimal ways to achieve success in various areas of life - interpersonal communication, education, business, personal growth - and is a synthesis of the methods of Perls (Gestalt therapy), Satir (family therapy) and Erickson (hypnotherapy), to which the founders of NLP J. Grinder and R. Bandler added their own idea of ​​the structure of human language, noting the importance of it as the main means of communication and structuring of individual life experience, and also suggested the possibility of “programming” an individual’s behavior by selecting optimal strategies for organizing internal experience. True, we should note that our science does not approve of NLP, but among practical psychologists this direction is very popular. His methods are successfully used to relieve various fears, and, in particular, “school phobias”, fear of exams, etc. At the same time, one of the leading terms is “anchor”, which is understood as a stimulus associated with a certain psychological state and being its trigger. The “anchor” can have different modalities and be tactile, visual or auditory. In order for a person to subsequently gain access to positive resources (for example, courage, calmness, confidence), the NLP specialist must first activate the memory of his patient, evoke the desired state, and then “link” it with a certain “anchor”. After such “linking”, the mere presentation of the corresponding “anchor” will evoke the necessary positive emotions (“resources”, according to NLP terminology), which will allow the person to further minimize fear, anxiety and other negative emotions and successfully overcome traumatic events. It is impossible, of course, not to notice that the part regarding “anchors” is, in essence, simply a modified technique for developing classical conditioned reflexes, although both the creators and NLP specialists do not take into account the works of the founder of the conditioned reflex teaching I.P. Pavlov ( hence their methodological errors - for example, they recommend setting an “anchor” - applying a conditioned stimulus at the peak of emotional experiences, while specialists in higher nervous activity are well aware that a conditioned stimulus works most effectively when exposed some time before unconditional reinforcement). The experience of using NLP techniques to reduce [exam] stress shows its high effectiveness both in terms of reducing psycho-emotional stress and in terms of optimizing the vegetative balance [of schoolchildren and students].

9. Exercise

Physical education and sports are an essential factor in the prevention and correction of psychological stress. First of all, this is due to the fact that physical activity is a completely natural, genetically determined response of the body to a stressor. In addition, physical education and sports simply distract a person’s consciousness from the problem situation, switch attention to new stimuli, reducing the significance of the current problem. Additionally, sport activates the cardiovascular and nervous systems, burns excess adrenaline, and increases the activity of the immune system.

Body activity combined with positive emotions leads to increased mental activity and a good mood.

The use of various types of special motor and breathing exercises has long been a well-known way to normalize the functional state. The fact that the level of general physical fitness influences resistance to the occurrence of unfavorable conditions does not require special evidence - sports, various hardening systems, morning exercises, etc. have long been used for these purposes.

10. Religion as a way to deal with stress

Affective reactions often result from mismatch between expectations and reality. At the same time, the magnitude of the emotion is proportional to the strength of the need that prevails at the moment - hence: the greater the discrepancy between what was expected and what was received, the higher the intensity of feelings. Thus, the less a person expects from life and the lower his needs, the less sorrow, disappointment and stress he experiences... Actually, this is one of the provisions of Buddhism: the elimination of desires and expectations leads to the destruction of the cause of suffering [and stress].

The Buddha argued that life in the world is full of suffering, this suffering has a cause that can be neutralized - there is a certain way for this - cultivating such a mindset and appropriate behavior that are aimed at reducing needs to a minimum, renouncing attachment to the world , lead a virtuous lifestyle and focus on achieving nirvana - a state devoid of any stress.

What about Christianity? People look for and find in religion those principles and values ​​that correspond to the characteristics of their personality and correspond to their life attitudes, therefore, almost always for people with an external locus of control, religion seems to be one of the opportunities to shift responsibility from themselves to higher forces that control their destiny.

By turning to God, many want to protect themselves before a crucial event in life (for example, students before an exam, soldiers before a battle...). Conforming people tend to seek support and protection in religion; those who are organized and know how to control their emotions emphasize the factor of God in religion as a force that regulates and controls the world. Calculating and insightful individuals often see religion as a good way to regulate relationships between people; people prone to heightened feelings of guilt find in Christianity an ideal way to repent. People with a high degree of religiosity are characterized by a lower level frustration than for the rest, which indicates the sedative nature of the traditional Christian religion. Therefore, for individuals with a weak type of higher nervous activity and a high level of conformity, religious faith is one of the ways to relieve life stress.

11. Meditation

As a method of relieving, correcting, and reducing the impact of stress, meditation entered the arsenal of psychotherapy not so long ago, although in the East it has been used as a means, a method, a way to restore mental balance for several thousand years. Meditation is a classic way to develop calm concentration, which is a means of restoring and coordinating mental and physical functions, creating clarity of thinking, and relieving mental and emotional stress. Having, without a doubt, common roots with autogenic training, meditation differs from it, because AT requires greater volitional effort and conscious control over the process of self-regulation - during autotraining, constant willpower is needed to combat the unstable modulation of thoughts and sensations, and in meditation volitional there is virtually no control.

Meditation has several varieties, and a person can meditate not only about his internal processes, but also about objects in the external world (some martial arts). Being originally a method of self-regulation, meditation, of course, can [individually] be included in various forms of traditional psychotherapy.

The issue of struggle is very serious with stress depending on the time of its onset. If a man awaits the onset of an unpleasant event, and this very expectation already triggers a neurohumoral reaction of stress development, then first you need to reduce the level of anxiety with the help of auto-training or concentration on the breathing process. Then - building self-confidence using rational psychotherapy techniques or

Rice. 3 Sequential scheme for working with stress depending on the time of its onset

True, options for dealing with stress will change if a person finds himself in the midst of an event that causes stress:

overcoming;

If the event that caused stress has already happened and is now in the past, but a person periodically returns to it in his mind, experiencing negative emotions, it is necessary to disengage from the situation, then select the necessary subjective resources (indifference, calmness or wisdom) and update them:

An interesting question about eliminating the causes of stress by improving behavioral skills.

Communication skills. Communication, oddly enough, is often the cause of psychological stress: high expectations, negative prejudices, misunderstanding of the interlocutor’s motivation, etc., and especially a strong emotional reaction, sometimes developing into long-term stress, criticism.

Behavior. Often the source of a person’s stress is their own insecurity: short or too tall stature, noticeable accent, excess weight, lack of financial resources, low social status - all these seem to be obvious, objective factors. However, the true and deep source of uncertainty and associated stress is, most likely, a subjective feeling of one’s own inferiority and low self-esteem, which, by the way, can be corrected. In general, probably a large number of people have an unimportant opinion of themselves. And the ability to love and respect yourself, to live in harmony with yourself and with your actions is the right, and often the only way to reduce the amount of stress. Inner self-confidence. A person is already as he is at a given moment in time. Learning to love and appreciate yourself is the most difficult, but also the most effective step in the fight against stress.

You can try to consciously change your posture, gestures, breathing parameters and vocal characteristics - as a result of which you will feel more confident.

You can also act more competently - a change in behavioral manifestations in your activity, which will affect both self-esteem and the assessment of others, which ultimately will allow you to act more confidently.

You can try using rational psychotherapy (discussed above).

The source of stress, as we said above, may be frustration associated with failure to achieve set goals (both in personal life and in the professional sphere). Quite often, the collapse of plans is associated not so much with insurmountable objective difficulties, but with incorrect goal setting or the inability to select the necessary resources. In this case, the use of an effective goal setting algorithm will allow you to avoid the “stress of dashed hopes” in the future, which causes serious psychological and somatic consequences. Here's an example algorithm for setting life goals:

Positive wording. This rule means that the particle “not” should be absent in the statement of the goal. According to this rule, goals “I won’t drink anymore”, “I will never smoke”"I I won't be afraid anymore"etc. are difficult to achieve due to the characteristics of our subconscious, which does not perceive the operation of logical negation well.

Fundamental achievability. The goals that are set must be fundamentally achievable and not contradict physical, biological and economic laws.

Maximum specificity. Formulation that must clearly indicate the specific result expected. In this regard, the goals “become bolder”, “become happier” etc. are abstract and fundamentally unattainable. To get rid of stress, goals need to be specified: the goal should depend on us as much as possible; the goal must be acceptable, understandable, achievable; the goal should be provided necessary resources.

If you use this algorithm when making plans and setting goals, then the likelihood of stress, as experience shows, will sharply decrease. At the same time, the movement towards the goal itself becomes more rational and conscious, and the intensity and frequency of negative emotions decreases.

Stress is a normal part of human life. It mobilizes people to behave in difficult situations. If the outcome of a case does not satisfy a person, negative emotions remain in the soul. They, accumulating, lead either to neurosis, or to an unexplained illness, or to unexpected death. Anyone who knows how to reduce stress has good health and lives a long time.

Not everything in life turns out the way we want. The emotional memory of each such failure remains in the form of suppressed emotions. They keep the body in a state of stress even when there is no real danger. The nervous system is depleted - mental disorders arise; energy resources are depleted - endless headaches, toothaches, stomach and intestinal upsets haunt, and blood pressure rises. Doctors shrug their shoulders: there is no reason for illness!

Measuring or assessing your stress level will help you get to the bottom of the cause. If it is higher than normal, you need to pull yourself together and pull yourself out of the swamp of negative experiences. There are many methods that measure the acceptable level of stress, let’s get acquainted with some of them.

Holmes and Raz Method identifies about 50 negative situations, the experience of which gives. Each of them has a certain number of points according to severity. Here are some of these situations and the strength of their effect on the psyche (in points):

• death of the closest person (spouse, child, parent) – 100;
• divorce, death of a relative, serious illness, prison – 73 – 53;
• wedding, job loss, retirement, illness of relatives – 50 – 40;
• problems at work and in intimate life, large loan – 39 – 29;
• children’s problems, change of housing, change in household habits – 28 – 15.

Analyzing his life over the past year, a person notes similar situations and sums up their scores.

• Low level of stress (How are you? - Normal!) – 150 points. The individual copes with life's problems while maintaining mental health.
• Intermediate level (How are you? – So-so...) – 150 – 300 points. The body’s capabilities are on the verge of exhaustion, illness or a nervous breakdown is on the horizon.
• High level (How are you? – Couldn’t be worse) – 300 – 400 points. Serious anti-stress treatment and restoration of already deteriorating health are needed.

MethodologyPSM Lemur–Tesier suggests assessing the state of your psyche. It contains a description of over 20 stressful experiences, the frequency of which must be assessed using an 8-point system (1 - never; 2 - very rarely; 3 - quite rarely; 4 - rarely; 5 - from time to time; 6 - often; 7 - very often ; 8 – daily).

It is proposed to analyze how often such conditions occur:

• A score of 155 is a signal of mental illness; need medical help.
• Up to 100 points - average level - something needs to be done;
• If you score less than 100 points, everything is in order, adaptation to life is successful.

Methodology "Stress FIE" A.E. Ivanova consists of 35 similar questions that allow you to determine your physical, intellectual, and emotional state. The frequency of the listed events is assessed using a five-point system: 1 – never; 2 – rare; 3 – sometimes; 4 – often; 5 – constantly.

All three methods are designed for a person to diagnose his condition himself. If the indicators are “medium” or “high”, we need to look for a way out of the dangerous situation into which stress drives us.

I take the blame

And there is only one way out: admit your guilt for the inability to cope with negative emotions. Reducing stress levels must begin with working on emotional intelligence. The brain perceives information that has already been processed by our senses, i.e. thinking is always emotionally charged. The habit of negative emotions (resentment, condemnation, contempt, irritation) gives rise to negative thinking and behavior. Emotional intelligence consists of the ability to:

• Regulate emotions; block negative ones and replace them with neutral or positive ones. This is a conscious volitional action that first occurs with effort, and over time turns into a habit. If it has not been educated since childhood, you will have to re-educate yourself.
• Understanding your own and other people’s emotions means understanding the reasons for your feelings and anticipating what a person like you might experience in a certain situation. High emotional intelligence is always a breakthrough from the narrow circle of one’s egoism to empathy and compassion.

So, there are only two skills you need to master to increase your EQ- emotional intellect. First - control and management of emotions. Here you need to carve out half an hour of quiet time to analyze which situations most often lead to inappropriate behavior. Let it be 1-2 irritating factors first.

• Having written them down on paper, you need to try to determine the physical and emotional reaction to conflict situations (when your wife makes caustic remarks, for example, the blood rushes to your head, your anger bursts and your hands itch to hit her);
• Then we write down what we are thinking at this time: “When she stops talking (again about my wife), I’ll slam the door, go away and get drunk”;
• The third step is a description of my actions in this conflict: I smoke a pack of cigarettes, turn on the TV at full volume and fall asleep listening to it, lonely and useless to anyone.
• Finally, we write how we would like to resolve this conflict: for example, remembering something good, say calmly: “Why are you doing this? Do you remember how we took care of each other?”

Now that the goal has been determined, and you know how you want to behave, you must try to act in this situation in accordance with this goal. At first it will be difficult and unusual; With your first success, you will gain more strength for further work on yourself.

The second sign of high EQ is the habit of accepting people as they are, recognize their right to actions that we do not like, forgive and forget grievances, come to the aid of everyone who asks for it. You need to start with the ability to listen and hear.

Listening means not being distracted by your own thoughts and not interrupting with your comments while the interlocutor is sharing something with us. Hearing is trying to understand what feelings and motives are behind the words, so as not to tactlessly touch the painful strings of another person’s soul.

All these qualities do not come by themselves, but are acquired through purposeful actions. And again: with each victory over oneself, strength increases and painful reactions go away.

What is anti-stress formula

Whether we like it or not, our body reacts to negative emotions and memories as if they were real stressful situations. Hormones are released, fats are burned, the amount of sugar increases, blood pressure rises - a state of constant combat readiness. With proper nutrition, the body's expenses for emergency situations are replenished, and a person is able to withstand stress for many years without compromising health. Anti-stress formula is and foods that reduce arousal. They help you stay afloat in difficult times.

Vitamins. They must be taken frequently (every 3-4 hours) to ensure their constant presence in the body, preferably with milk, thereby replenishing protein reserves. In the most difficult times, you need to use:

• Ascorbic acid – 500 mg at a time. It accelerates the production of the stress hormone cortisone, which triggers defensive reactions in situations of danger. Vitamin C also removes all waste products from the body. The need for it during stress increases several dozen times!
• Vitamins B2 and B6 – 2 mg each at a time. They protect the adrenal glands, which produce cortisone, from exhaustion.
• Pantothenic acid – 100 mg per dose. This acid is involved in the work of the adrenal glands and pituitary gland; its deficiency is a real disaster for the body under stress.
• Vitamins A, D, E - according to instructions for use.

Anti-stress foods help restore strength during periods of exhaustion. These include:

• pork liver,
• wheat bran,
• yeast,
• kidneys,
• leafy greens.

So, in order to live freely and joyfully, have a low level of stress and be healthy, you need to change your attitude towards people, yourself and your body.