What is psychological stress resistance, definition. How to develop stress resistance, techniques

A frantic working rhythm, constant tension, intensive change of modern conditions are current trends in our time. Such an intensity of events contributes to the accumulation of negative emotions. Over time, their number reaches a maximum, and a person enters a stressful state. Everyone reacts to such an emotional storm in his own way, and his behavior at this moment reflects his level of stress resistance. What should be understood by this fashionable term, how to evaluate your abilities to control emotions and what methods help to quickly develop high stress resistance?

Stress resistance - Definition of concepts

Neither the high status in society, nor the official position, nor marital status protect us from negative emotions.  Unfortunately, we are unable to completely fence ourselves from stress, anger, discontent, insult, disappointment. But to change your attitude to the negative emotions that have arisen can do any person. Such a ability to philosophically accept the situation difficult for the emotional perception of the situation and is called stress resistance.

In other words, a person with high stress resistance will calmly listen to the screaming monologue of the angry chef, and after leaving his office he will calmly return to his duties. The stress -resistant passenger in public transport to rudeness of other people will also calmly react.

Note! The concept of “personality stress resistance” means a set of personal qualities that help to calmly experience a strong load (intellectual, psychological, strong -willed).

Stress resistance may seem very important only for work and career growth. But in fact, it greatly facilitates everyday life, protects health and relations with relatives. Two basic functions help to understand the role of stress resistance in human life.

The first function of stress resistance is ensuring the health of the body by reducing negative effects. It's no secret that the stress experienced ends with an attack of headaches, sleepless night, tremor of the hands, rise in pressure, poor well -being and even a loss of vitality. Therefore, stress resistance in this situation is simply necessary.

Medicine explains this condition by the release of the stress hormone - cortisol. As a rule, poor health quickly passes, but health consequences remain forever. Of the most serious consequences of stress, doctors distinguish a decrease in immunity, autoimmune pathologies, cancer, viral infections.

The second important functions of psychological stress resistance is a slight perception of life situations and emotional independence in all areas of existence. Such freedom gives a stress -tolerant person many advantages:

• He can do his job without restrictions, study, hobbies: he will not interfere with the noise around him, the discontent of the boss, and the family problems.
• Such a person always stands out from the crowd, which significantly increases his professional qualities: he looks like a calm, self -sufficient individual. Such a person is an indisputable leader.
• The tremendous development of stress resistance in humans allows you to always find a way out of the situation even when there is a fire, flood or earthquake around. He is able to clearly evaluate the situations without succumbing to a mass panic. His main motto: "Why run and be nervous if the train has already left."
• Rudeness, criticism, intrigues such a person simply does not notice. It is difficult to confuse him, to deceive, to infuriate.

Interesting! Psychologists have established that in the world there are no more than 30% of people with innate stress resistance. It is they who become excellent rescuers, military, and ambulance doctors.

Four stress resistance models: we are looking for our place in stressful situations

The human brain at the time of stress receives and processes a certain stream of information. This can happen according to a certain scenario, and during the development of scientific theories, four categories of people were established:

1. Stress -resistant. Persons who do not know how and do not want to adapt to the situation. They say about them that they are “hard -faced”, their principles and life attitudes always remain unchanged. Any negative fluctuations introduce them into a stress state. At critical moments, they lose self -control, amenable to panic or aggression, they are unable to clearly perceive the situation and find a way out of it.
2. Stressful. People adequately perceive the gradual changes in their environment. But a sharply arising problem can lead to severe stress and even depression. With a purposeful arrangement of priorities and working on its problem, a gradual increase in stress resistance takes place. With experience, such people become more balanced and can already adequately act in stress conditions.
3. Stress -custody. Principal persons who are capable of reasonable to sharp changes. But prolonged emotional stress leads them out. In other words, in emergency situations they occupy a leadership position and solve the problem, and with a sluggish conflict they fall into depression.
4. Stress -resistant. Individuals who with cold -blooded calm perceive unexpected or planned changes are not amenable to emotional destruction, are not lost even in the most difficult situations. The only thing they can’t do is personal tragedies in the family.

Why is high stress resistance at work so important

Labor activity is an integral part of life. There we spend in a large half of the day, communicate with colleagues, learn something new, earn on bread. Therefore, we want to not be easy to fulfill our obligations, but also to be in a good mood, so that the day passes well.

The work always keeps up with stress: the contract broke, did not have time to make a report, the computer broke, the boss reported ... There are many such an example. And only developed stress resistance helps to survive such moments with irony.

Note! Each, without exception, the leader is looking for employees with such a skill. Therefore, competent personnel recruitment managers and personnel agencies visually evaluate or even diagnose stress resistance in the first interview on employment.

We evaluate our capabilities: a test resistance test

A competent psychologist can accurately determine the level of human stress resistance. But finished questionnaire tests that can indicate how much this quality is developed is very popular.

Carefully study the test in the photo below, mark all the life situations that have taken place over the past year of life. At the end, summarize the received numbers.

Now you can evaluate your level of social adaptation:

• Less than 150 points - the greatest degree of resistance to stress situations. A good indicator for a senior position. The interviewed personality experiences minimal stressful loads, sensibly evaluates any criticism, is not lost in force majeure. Effectively works (studies) without harm to health.
• 150-199 points-a high degree. Stress resistance is well developed, which allows minimizing the waste of energy to restore the emotional background. In emergency situations, a person can collect himself and quickly solve the problem. This result allows you to occupy a high position.
• 200-299 points-threshold stress resistance. A person is able to control only minor emotional experiences. The simultaneous appearance of several problems is caused by severe stress, the elimination of which takes a lot of effort and time. Such people can play the role of a leader only surrounded by a small team.
• From 300 and above - low stress resistance. The interviewed person is a vulnerable person who is unable to make decisions. To improve psychological endurance requires painstaking self -hypnosis and revision of life positions.

Stress resistance: how to develop emotional stability

Psychologists say that curbing your emotions in conditions of stress is quite real. And it doesn’t matter if you have the makings of a morally stable leader or not. The main thing is to determine the priorities for yourself and tune in to success. To do this, they offer to master stress resistance techniques.

The first trick - a real assessment of what is happening. You need to calm down and ask yourself three main questions: “How important is this for me?”, “Will this situation affect my future?”, And “Can I at least somehow change the turn of events?”

Consider two situations. In the first case, you were late for the train (plane, bus), and, of course, you can no longer change anything. The only thing that remains is to wait for the next train. What is the meaning of your experiences, anger, anxiety?

In another example, you are a regular buyer in a supermarket near the house and each time come across unskilled workers. This annoys you, and you involuntarily enter into conflict, destroying your nerve cells. There is also a way out: start going to another store with more professional staff.

These two examples show that there are two models of stressful situations: in the first-it is impossible to change anything, in the second-you can change the situation for the better. Thus, in the example of the train, you need to calmly accept what is happening, and in the example with the store - change your actions and thereby eliminate the stress factor.

The second reception is liberation from negative emotions. Unpleasant moments penetrate deep into the brain and if they scroll them in the head for a long time, then stress cannot be avoided. Therefore, you need to give free rein to all poor emotions. You can do this differently:

• Enter the lava of boxers and from time to time to box a pear.
• Walk into the forest and shout there to exhaustion.
• Take a diary of grievances and write down bad memories in it.

The third reception is   Skill quickly ponder your actions. Only a confident person with well -developed attention can calmly respond to aggression from the outside.

To train such a skill will help participate in the team games "Bray-Ring" or "What? Where? When? ”, Visiting a chess club, playing tennis, football. Such a hobby will teach you how to quickly make a thoughtful choice, maintaining calmness and common sense.

Fourth reception - maintaining health. Only a person with excellent well -being retains the resistance of the spirit. Therefore, it is necessary to treat chronic diseases, especially the endocrine system, temper the body, always have tablets from the head, pressure, and dental pain at hand.

How to increase stress resistance: psychological help

If you understand that you are given the attacks of panic and aggression in conditions of nervous stress, you can use affordable methods for increasing stress resistance:

• Relaxation breathing - correct breathing allows you to strengthen the nervous system, harmonize the emotional background. You can use any methodology. Basic exercise: through the nose a deep slow breath, a sharp exhalation through the mouth.
• Psychotherapy - practicing psychotherapists have long studying this problem and offer optimized sessions to increase emotional adaptation. Several sessions will help to understand which channel you need to move in and what psychological problems need to be eliminated in the first place.
• Yoga, meditation - oriental practices are able to reassure even the most emotionally unbalanced person. Awareness of oneself in this world and gaining harmony will help improve the quality of your life.

Now you know how to develop stress resistance. If you make maximum efforts, you can find such a skill yourself. But when you do not have enough motivation, you are unlikely to achieve the goal. Fortunately, there are many group and individual trainings on the development of stress resistance. They will certainly help increase your emotional stability and teach you to live without stress.

Video "Developing stress resistance"