Nerves under control! How to maintain mental health?

Before we tell you how to treat neurasthenia, you should first understand what it is and what the symptoms of this pathological condition are.

Neurasthenia or asthenoneurotic syndrome is the most common type of mental disorder with mild changes. In essence, this is a severe depletion of the nervous system. Due to the similarity of symptoms, it is sometimes identified with chronic fatigue syndrome, however, as recent studies have shown, these conditions have different origins, so the treatment should be different.

A breakdown of the nervous system, which is neurasthenia, is a reversible phenomenon, regardless of how intensively and for a long time the manifestations of this syndrome were observed. It occurs without severe personality disorders and psychosis. But the person is well aware of his condition and tolerates it quite hard, which worsens the quality of his life.

Asthenic neurosis occurs due to some situation that traumatizes the psyche, coupled with chronic “lack of sleep” or a lack of other physiological needs, as well as overload of the body. To these factors are added various painful conditions, including infections.

Both men and women are equally susceptible to the disorder, but in the latter, due to the burden of various pathologies, it is more severe. As for the age limit, the majority of cases are people over 25 years old. This disease even received the “popular” name “manager’s syndrome.” But our fast-paced era has made its own adjustments: due to the complex school curriculum, intellectual and sports activity, representatives of the current younger generation also began to be diagnosed with neurasthenia.

It would be a misconception to believe that asthenoneurotic syndrome is characteristic only of residents of large cities. It’s just that people living in small settlements, including villages, are accustomed to attributing all health problems of this kind to simple fatigue, laziness, and bad character. Meanwhile, neurasthenia awaits every person.

Causes of nervous system breakdown

The development of the disease is facilitated by many factors that can be divided into groups.

Biological factors primarily include poor heredity. Also on the list:

• severe pregnancy of the mother, infectious diseases she suffered during this time;
• difficult childbirth associated with injuries to the baby;
• features of the nervous system;
• lack of sleep;
• physical and emotional exhaustion;
• lack of rest, relaxation;
• intoxication of the body with alcohol, tobacco or other substances;
• lack of vitamins;
• somatic diseases.

The psychological causes of the development of neurasthenia are psychological trauma received in childhood. In addition, it also contributes to:

• sudden stress under circumstances important to the individual, personal tragedy;
• long-term psychotraumatic situation, conflict;
• pessimistic mood.

Social factors cannot be avoided:

• characteristics of the family environment in childhood, upbringing, conditions of growing up;
• receiving a large flow of information, the processing of which requires special conditions and a lot of time;
• unique social circle, interests;
• dissatisfaction of personal aspirations.

Journaling

A powerful method to help get rid of negative impressions. Many people do not know how to restore their psyche and nervous system. The solution is obvious: you need to get into the habit of writing down your feelings. Emotions have to spill out somewhere. Otherwise, negative impressions quickly accumulate and affect the course of everyday life. For this purpose, you can use an ordinary general notebook. Regular journaling helps to free yourself from accumulated worries. As a result, the individual gains peace of mind. Learning to look at what is happening from the outside is very important. This is the only way to identify ways out of a personal crisis and determine where to move next. After some time, it is recommended to review and reread your notes. As a rule, you can find something useful in them. It is imperative to draw the necessary conclusions so as not to repeat previous mistakes.

Symptoms

Neurasthenia manifests itself with the following symptoms:

1. Excessive irritability even over trifles, short temper, anger, constant dissatisfaction.
2. Impatience - the desire to get everything at once, the impossibility of waiting - it literally “kills”.
3. Constant feeling of fatigue, weakness.
4. Pain in the temples or a sensation of encircling, squeezing pain in the head.
5. Lack of ability to concentrate and do one thing for a long time.
6. Violation of the sequence of thoughts, general perception of the environment.

Speaking in more detail about the symptoms of asthenoneurotic syndrome, it is more correct to consider the disorder in phases, since the intensity of its manifestation gradually increases. But more often the disease stops at a certain phase, that is, its development does not occur, which is reflected in the diagnosis.

Hypersthenic (excitable) form

This is the initial stage of the disease, which is recorded most often. It is characterized by nervousness, irritability, and excitability.

The patient is unnerved by any, even quiet, sounds (creaking and light knocking of the door, whispering, clock ticking, dripping water, etc.), bright light, the presence of people nearby and their movement. The most insignificant reason causes an outburst of emotions, uncontrollable irritation or even anger. Without realizing the reasons for aggression, a person can insult or offend someone.

The patient is impatient, strives to do several things at once, fusses, but his performance leaves much to be desired. It is not weakness or rapid fatigue that is to blame for this, but a problem with concentration and constant distraction.

The sleep pattern is disrupted: the patient is lethargic during the day, and at night he falls asleep with difficulty and sleeps poorly, with nightmares, and often wakes up. Waking up happens either earlier than usual or later.

Constant headaches are called “neurasthenic helmet” - they are compressive and very debilitating. Pain when turning and tilting the head moves along the spine to the back. Mental or physical stress makes them more intense.

Irritable weakness (intermediate form)

This phase combines severe irritability with a rapid decrease in the body's resources. In principle, this is a reflection of the clinical essence of the disorder.

Attacks of irritation are the most intense, outbursts of anger instantly turn to a stream of tears, completely unusual for the individual. Such tearfulness arises from the patient’s inability to overcome overwhelming discontent. The mood changes instantly: sometimes gloom, sometimes joy.

The patient is often lethargic, he is not interested in anything, his appetite becomes worse or disappears altogether. Digestion suffers, which is reflected by diarrhea, constipation, belching, and heartburn. The heart rate increases, pulse and blood pressure fluctuate. The limbs become sluggish, instability and so-called floaters appear before the eyes, a rush of heat is replaced by chills, redness of the skin is replaced by pallor. Libido decreases and men may experience problems with erectile function. There may be a frequent urge to urinate.

Hyposthenic (inhibitory) form

At this stage, depression, weakness, gloom, and lethargy are especially pronounced. I don’t want to do anything, but I don’t feel anxiety or melancholy. The patient’s thoughts are focused only on his own unpleasant sensations in the body, and he, assuming that he has some kind of serious illness, turns to doctors, who, naturally, do not find it.

Very often, neurasthenia can be eliminated with good rest. But if this does not help and the disease has gone too far, then you will have to leave yourself in the hands of professionals.

Mental toughness: what it is and how to develop it

It often happens that a person or group of people, under psychological pressure, do something worse than they could have done in its absence. For example, in football, a team that concedes the first goal when the score is 0:0 usually begins to play a little worse. While the opponent, on the contrary, receives additional motivation.

In sports, a lack of mental toughness can be seen most often. Or rather, it’s always clearer there. We see the results in the form of the number of minutes or seconds, goals, goals scored, that is, statistics. This is more difficult to do in everyday life, but it is also possible. The boss sees how his subordinate's performance or productivity declines after being criticized. You notice how a child begins to make mistakes in an essay if he is under pressure.

Noticing such moments in yourself is also not easy, but it is possible. You will definitely know how mentally stable you are if you analyze your behavior and situations when you lose control and situations or people make you angry. A little later you will take a short test that will clear up all the points. Now let's look at the concept itself.

What is mental toughness

According to Wikipedia, mental toughness is a measure of individual resilience and confidence that can predict success in sports, education, and work. This is a set of attributes that allow a person to achieve his goal and at the same time cope with difficult psychological situations without losing self-confidence. In recent decades, the term has been widely used by coaches, sports psychologists and business leaders.

It is also known that hidden tests for mental stability are carried out when hiring. For example, in . It is believed that now (as before) it is difficult to do work if you do not know how to psychologically cope with pressure and stress. You can have good skills and competencies, but at the first difficulty you lose your composure and make a lot of mistakes.

Mental Stability Test

Answer the following test questions as honestly as possible. Give yourself a rating from 1 to 5: 1 if you completely disagree with the statement, 5 if you completely agree. To calculate your result, take a piece of paper and a pen.

• Even under great pressure I remain calm.
• I am not inclined to worry in cases where the undesirable event has not yet occurred.
• I usually find it easy to get excited about doing work that I don't want to do.
• Usually I can easily cope with a problem that has just arisen in front of me.
• I consider myself a valuable person.
• When I have a lot of work to do, I know what to tackle first.
• I often feel like I have everything under control.
• I easily relax even in unfamiliar surroundings.
• When I feel tired, it’s easy for me to motivate myself to continue working.
• I always see the positive side in any situation.

While taking this test, you probably realized that the more points you get, the better:

• 40-50 points: high level of mental stability.
• 35-39 points: average level of mental stability.
• Under 35: low level of mental stability.

You may think that the test requirements are too high, but in fact, almost all companies require exactly these results.

Four Aspects of Mental Toughness

Felix Guillen and Sylvain Laborde in their study identified four levels of mental toughness:

• Hope : unshakable confidence in oneself and that a person has every ability to achieve his goal (“I can find many different solutions to difficult situations”).
• Optimism : Expecting that everything will turn out well in the end (“In situations of uncertainty, I usually expect the best”).
• Resilience : Consistency in achieving a goal; not giving up when faced with difficulties (“I often continue to work hard when others give up”).
• Adaptability : the ability to adapt to problems in the environment ("I don't dwell on things I can't change").

To ensure your mental toughness level is high, you need to develop all four aspects. Interestingly, athletes score almost twice as high as non-athletes.

The researchers also found that mental toughness increased with age and with practice and experience.

What is the difference between people with high levels of mental stability?

To delve into this complex topic, you need to find out what beliefs, worldview and thinking people with a high level of mental stability develop.

Beliefs

The decisions we make and the actions we consistently take are a direct result of the beliefs we have cultivated throughout our lives. These beliefs either help move us forward or hinder progress.

What we believe becomes personal truth. Often it is not real and does not correspond to reality. And this is precisely what makes belief systems so powerful. They can help you overcome life's most difficult problems.

People with high levels of mental toughness have their own belief systems that help them cope with difficulties and get back on their feet after a crushing defeat. These systems may seem strange and ridiculous, but they work.

Essentially, these beliefs are certain affirmations that you should repeat to yourself every day several times over the course of months, or even years. Of course, this does not mean that you should limit yourself to them and not test yourself in reality.

These are the beliefs:

• I believe that failure does not exist. Failure is simply a part of success and nothing more than a learning process. She provides feedback that helps me move forward.
• I believe that adversity is just a temporary phenomenon that I can overcome without any problems.
• I believe that challenges build my character and strengthen my body and spirit.
• I believe my confidence grows because I take action to achieve my goals.
• I believe that everything has meaning and meaning. Everything happens for a reason. Perhaps now I don’t know where this path will lead me, but I am sure that I will get where I need to go.
• I believe that I am capable of a lot because I invest maximum strength, energy and time. That's why I never give up. The greatest success may be just around the corner and I am always ready for it.
• I believe I invite good fortune when I respond to a challenge with confidence. I can adapt to any situation.

Familiar phrases? You may have heard them from the mouths of Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Cristiano Ronaldo or Conor McGregor. All the greatest athletes have said something similar. But since we read about this every day, it passes by our consciousness and we consider them typical phrases that are not worth a penny. Meanwhile, these are precisely the categories in which these people think.

Look for interviews with top athletes and write down similar phrases. Make a big list of these affirmations and start practicing. Most people consider such words to be meaningless, so they will never reach their maximum potential.

Worldview

A belief system is just one piece of the puzzle. It is equally important to develop your worldview in the right way, change your thoughts, and pay attention to language patterns and habits.

People with high levels of mental toughness take full responsibility for their problems. They do not blame anyone, do not complain and do not justify themselves. And, more importantly, they do not know how to think negatively. Instead, they do everything they can to get out of their predicament.

Yes, in the short term, blaming and complaining feels good. But in the long term it leads to victim syndrome. Mentally resilient people understand this, accept what they cannot change and move on.

They ask themselves questions like:

• How can I use this?
• How useful is this?
• What's so funny about this?
• Where can this lead me?
• What opportunities are hidden here?

Such people are convinced that when one door closes, another opens. They know that there are a lot of opportunities in the world, you just need to have the right outlook.

While weak people indulge in accusations, strong people immediately get down to business. This way they gain time and find better solutions. They rarely wait for the right moment to take action.

Thinking

People with high mental toughness use their thoughts as fuel to increase their self-confidence and motivation. They think positively, no matter how cliché it may sound.

Here are their typical thoughts:

• I can do it.
• I believe in myself.
• I just keep moving forward.
• Just keep going, no matter what happens.
• I'll find a way to overcome this.

Compare this to the thoughts that arise in your head when faced with difficulties. Start changing your thinking.

Resilient people know how to put themselves into a state of focus and motivation. And it is thoughts that help them in this, and not any special magic.

However, such statements are not enough. It is also important to ask yourself the right questions that will help inspire and turn your thinking in a different direction:

• How can I do this better?
• What can I learn from this experience?
• How can I make the most of my predicament?
• How can I benefit from my mistake?
• What else can I do that I haven't considered yet?

Such questions expand a person's capabilities, encouraging him to look for alternative ways to solve any problems.

With all that said, pay attention to your thoughts first. Don't be afraid to think confidently. Of course, you need to back up your words with actions, but there will be no actions if there are only doubts in your head.

How to develop mental toughness

What does it take to develop mental toughness? Or more precisely, what are the requirements that will help achieve this? The answer is not as simple as it might seem, because there are a large number of components.

Developing mental toughness requires conscious work on yourself in many areas. This is not something that will appear in a week or even a month.

Let's look at all the requirements that are needed for this.

High discipline and self-motivation

These two skills may seem to have little to do with mental toughness, but they don't. Without motivation, you won’t even have the desire to move forward and start changing anything in your life. And without discipline, all achievements in a few days will be crossed out by laziness. But you need to climb this mountain for several weeks and even months.

Having clear goals

You need clear goals that help you move forward, rather than keep you stuck in place. They should inspire you to take action and make tough decisions, not bore you or cause you stress. Be careful when setting goals so you don't take on too much. Like too little.

Making a Commitment

A high level of mental toughness also requires that you learn to take responsibility for achieving your goals. This means that you need to develop consistency in yourself, and also learn to avoid temptations.

Ability to tolerate discomfort

It is a rare employer who will hire a person who, at the first discomfort, will begin to whine and complain about his difficult life. He will offer a job to someone who knows how to deal with problems.

If you don't know how to tolerate discomfort, you're more likely to make bad decisions and give in to negative emotions. Otherwise, you will be able to separate yourself emotionally from the inconvenience and produce maximum results, no matter what.

Discomfort also appears when we encounter failures and mistakes. Someone will worry about this for a long time, losing valuable time. And someone will immediately change their minds, find out what caused the problem and begin to look for better solutions.

Don't let external circumstances negatively influence your decisions and thinking.

Setting realistic expectations

A typical example: a person decides that he wants to go to the gym every day. He is determined and therefore buys a subscription for the whole year. Two weeks of great motivation give way to apathy. This is a completely normal process that everyone goes through. But if this person did not know about regression, he may mentally not be able to withstand it and give up training. Besides, he didn’t think everything through and now he can’t find 2-3 hours every day to exercise. His expectations were too high, he didn’t even know that the main thing was to prepare mentally and learn to play sports even in times when motivation and willpower were at zero.

We often set unrealistic goals and expect too much from ourselves, without much reason to do so. At some point, after reading an inspiring book, we decide to change our life and forget that motivation is a very fickle lady.

Careful planning and preparation is your best chance of achieving your long-term goals. Moreover, you need to prepare for the worst. For example, when learning English, first of all think about answers to the following questions:

• What will I do, how to behave and how to think when I absolutely do not want to learn English?
• How will I work with my thinking when I have thoughts like: “This language is impossible to learn” or “I don’t understand anything about these tenses”?
• If I didn’t get enough sleep, what should I do to come to my senses and take on the lesson?
• How to behave if motivation and willpower are at zero?
• How can I organize the learning process if guests come home?
• Will I be able to study English after going to the gym?

These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself. In fact, there can be dozens, if not hundreds, of little things. And if you let everything take its course, then at the first difficulty you will retreat. Here it is important to first of all adjust your psyche.

Ability to stick to good habits

Mental toughness is nothing more than a habit that we can develop. The difficulty is that for this you need to create a whole chain of supporting habits. This requires a lot of effort and practice.

First of all, you need to consciously place yourself in problematic situations and analyze your behavior. That is, get out of the notorious comfort zone as often as possible. Learn to experiment on yourself.

The main enemy of mental stability is a low stress threshold. That is, the level after which fog appears in the head, and emotions interfere with normal thinking.

You shouldn’t put yourself in the most difficult situations: first learn to cope with something unfamiliar. A good sign is discomfort and some level of metaphorical pain. Each time, put yourself in more difficult conditions.

We wish you good luck!

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We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Mastery of Self-Control
• Methods of mental self-regulation
• How to become more resilient
• Best Interview Questions
• Four steps to create a personal development plan
• How to learn a foreign language: a selection of useful materials
• Thomas Questionnaire for Behavior in Conflict
• Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
• 11 dimensions of personality
• Resilience: The Seven Day Challenge

Key words:_D1034, _D1043, 1Psychoregulation

Diagnosis and treatment

It will not be difficult for an experienced doctor - neurologist, psychiatrist or psychotherapist - to identify asthenic neurosis, separating it from other pathological disorders. Taking into account all of the above, he needs to exclude the presence of somatic diseases, oncology and organic lesions of the central nervous system in the patient.

The specialist will collect anamnesis and talk with the patient. In the case of classic symptoms with a predominant arousal reaction

A diagnosis of hypersthenic neurasthenia is made. If there are more inhibitory reactions, including drowsiness, then there is reason to believe that this is hyposthenic neurasthenia.

Comprehensive treatment of the disorder involves, first of all, normalizing the patient’s life, as well as the use of psychotherapy and medications.

It should be noted right away that you cannot “prescribe” medications for yourself, especially psychostimulants - they can lead to addiction and increased manifestations of the disorder.

The doctor selects medications based on the presence and severity of certain symptoms (a form of neurasthenia); the dose and duration of administration are prescribed individually for each patient. These are tonic or sedatives that normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular system, tranquilizers. It is mandatory to include general strengthening, restorative body functions, metabolism-improving agents, as well as vitamins C and B, antioxidants, neurorubin, etc. Plant extracts won't hurt either.

Psychotherapy includes psychoanalysis, individual and group sessions, conversations with a psychotherapist, and trainings. This allows you to identify and eliminate the causes of the disorder, change the patient’s attitude towards them, gain skills in separating the main from the unimportant and the ability to enjoy life.

Autogenic training will teach self-education and self-hypnosis, and hypnosis will help normalize heartbeat, blood circulation, and muscle tone.

A disease such as neurasthenia does not require hospitalization. When conducting therapeutic and drug treatment, specialists usually give patients the following advice:

• change the environment, walk in the fresh air more often, have a good time, travel;
• take a vacation, don’t check your email, turn off your phone - get a good rest, do something you enjoy that brings you pleasure;
• reduce emotional stress that negatively affects the psyche;
• establish a daily routine with a clear schedule that allows enough time for rest and sleep;
• strengthen the immune system, introduce a balanced diet, take vitamins;
• restore autonomic function through massage, acupuncture, warm foot baths, hot aromatic baths.

A good option for treating neurasthenia is to use traditional methods, but before doing this, you should consult with your doctor. Among the most effective options that have a beneficial effect on the autonomic and central nervous systems, we can recommend the following:

1. Motherwort decoction. A tablespoon of herb is poured into a glass of boiling water, kept in a water bath for a quarter of an hour, allowed to cool and filtered. Take for a month 3 times a day.
2. Hawthorn decoction. Brew berries (1 tbsp) with boiling water (a glass), filter after 45 minutes.
3. Melissa and mint tea. Brewed like regular tea, this drink is soothing and promotes good sleep.
4. Valerian tincture alcohol - 30 drops added to a small amount of water and drunk before going to bed.
5. Lavender bath. Dried inflorescences (200 g) are placed in boiling water (5 l) and simmered for 7 minutes on fire. The broth is filtered and poured into a bathtub filled with warm water. You need to lie in it for 20 minutes.
6. General strengthening mixture with raspberries, calamus root, birch leaves, chicory, strawberries, rose hips, oregano.

Introduction

During times of severe stress to which a person is exposed, he needs an increased amount of oxygen compared to normal, since it is consumed faster. But a tense state, which requires extreme concentration of attention, on the contrary, slows down breathing.

Human nervous system

Breathing exercises to calm the nervous system help you cope with what is happening and find yourself in your usual state. Anyone who has learned to breathe correctly can easily control their mood.

How does exercise help relieve stress?

Aerobic exercise (moderate-intensity exercise that uses oxygen for energy) increases your heart rate, causing the body to release endorphins, chemicals that act as a natural pain reliever and improve your mood. After exercise, we experience a natural emotional uplift.

Endorphins not only relieve pain and improve your mood, they also help us sleep better. The combination of these effects can reduce the effects of stress. By exercising regularly, we get the opportunity to enjoy these benefits more often.

Regular exercise (as opposed to one-time exercise) also has a cumulative effect, which manifests itself in improving the level of physical fitness, increasing endurance and losing weight. These are all positive changes, and the fact that we are changing for the better increases our self-esteem. And with the growth of physical strength, emotional strength also increases, and mental well-being improves.

One more thing. During times of stress, it is human nature to concentrate on the problem. Under the weight of worries, it is difficult to think about anything else. And we overwhelm ourselves, feeling that this oppression is increasing. But having inserted physical exercise into our daily schedule, we will be forced to switch. And even a short-term complete redirection of attention to something else can bring vital relief and relieve stress. In addition, coming to the gym can help you find a new circle of communication and additional emotional support.

In the shadow of stress

Stress can't be avoided, but it can be controlled

As they say, stress cannot be avoided, but it can be controlled.

There are many factors that contribute to the development of stress. A stressful background is created by health problems, financial difficulties, work; Even our normal reactions to everyday life can lead to increased anxiety and “feed” stress.

Statistical surveys show that almost everyone has to deal with stress. According to ROMIR, 95% of our country’s residents experience stress in one way or another. VTsIOM data differs slightly: according to them, only 9% of Russians are not familiar with stress. And 8% of the population experience stress constantly.

How many people are stressed at one time? According to the results of one of the studies (data from the Kemerovo region for 2013 were used), the prevalence of stress was 22.6%. At the same time, stress was registered more often in women than in men (28.1% versus 11.7%).

We cannot completely avoid problems. Avoiding problems is not the best tactic. But by developing a habit of regular exercise, you can add an effective stress relief tool to your arsenal.

Basic requirements for breathing exercises

More than one method of help has been developed - respiratory exercise therapy for diseases of the nervous system. The four most commonly used are:

1. Through inhalations, the correct direction of which is controlled by the collarbones, oxygen completely fills the upper parts of the lungs.
2. The ribs move from contraction to full expansion - full breathing occurs.
3. The stomach also helps to breathe correctly: abdominal breathing moves the diaphragm, this leads to involuntary massage of the internal organs, the greatest amount of oxygen enters the blood until complete saturation.
4. The concept of wave-like movement suggests that not only the lungs, but also the ribs and abdomen are involved in the process.

These four main options are a good basis for introducing additional breathing techniques that calm the nervous system. It becomes stronger and more resistant to possible stress in the future.