Do not give in to the war within

Category

Life

Date

January 27, 2022 16:11

Spartak Saturday

Forbes 9 contributor0015

What psychological attitudes can help in the face of constant uncertainty

Forbes Ukraine has released a new issue of the print magazine. It contains almost two dozen exclusive materials. You can buy the magazine with free shipping here.

Now Ukrainians are under special stress: the coronavirus, the financial crisis, and now the threat of military action. All this greatly affects the well-being and leads to a deterioration in the quality of life. It is hard to recover from such a tone of events, given that people are still dying in the east. nine0015

The human brain is arranged in such a way that even in the absence of a real threat, it is enough just to think about the bad for an anxious state. The nervous system does not particularly distinguish between a potential and a real threat, a fictional or already happened problem. This strategy is evolutionarily beneficial, as it allows minimizing the risks of death of the organism.

We cannot reformat our nature and worry about our well-being - this is normal. But with a persistent sense of anxiety, life loses its colors or becomes a series of nervous breakdowns. This can lead to loss of self-confidence, demotivation and constant expectation of disaster. nine0015

What will help in the face of constant uncertainty

1. The dichotomy of control is the division of things into things that are under our control and those that we cannot influence.

For example, without our power to change large-scale events, the global crisis, we cannot predict whether there will be a new Russian invasion. But it is in our power to change the way we think about these things, reduce the risks and prepare ourselves for the hard times. To do this, we need to find what we can change in the external environment and within ourselves. nine0015

In this technique, it is important to rely on what is within our control, and anxiety about things that are beyond our control will be groundless, because it will not help us except for a deterioration in the quality of life.

2. Record things that give you pleasure, even if it's small. It could be coffee in a particular place, a particular dish, reading a book, or taking a walk in your favorite place.

Small joys give us back at least some control over the situation, and if we cannot control the degree of difficulties, then we can increase the degree of pleasure. nine0015

3. Physical activity allows you to produce more serotonin and improve the quality of sleep. The more we are afraid, the more resources we spend on overcoming the threshold of anxiety. Good sleep, satiety and exercise are the key to good stress tolerance potential. Maintaining composure is much easier when basic needs are met.

Studies show that American judges hand down significantly more convictions before lunch than after lunch. Hunger greatly undermines our ability to experience anxiety and makes us irritable. nine0015

4. Decatastrophization techniques. Our brain, finding a threat, immediately draws the worst outcome of events, and this technique will allow us to reasonably assess the potential opportunities and consider ways to solve the problem.

Often people only consider a catastrophic scenario, although in reality there are ways out of them, and points towards growth in difficulties.

5. Collect as much information as possible about the positive outcome of those who have experienced similar difficulties.

Why does it make sense to collect positive information and minimize negative information? Negative information leads to panic, does not give useful recommendations, but only describes the horror of what happened to those who did not manage to cope with the difficulty. A positive outcome provides a path to a solution.

6. Change environment and get support. Remember that as long as you are surrounded by positive and self-confident people, it is easier for you to cope with difficulties. nine0015

Do not underestimate friendship and good relations within a group that can support you. It is much easier for us to cope with life's adversities when we are not alone.

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How to cope with fears (and panic) in a crisis.

Survival

12:39 Feb 24, 2022

9

min.

When global changes occur in the world, and especially when these changes occur in close proximity, it is common for an ordinary person to experience discomfort. This is at best. Before the colossus of historical processes, it is not surprising to feel small and weak, to experience anxiety at the thought of the future or fear about oneself and loved ones. How to protect yourself and your psyche in difficult times? "The Secret of the Firm" figured out together with experts. nine0015

Recent years have been marked by a number of global problems that cannot be brushed aside — they are spoken about literally from every flat iron. Accelerating inflation, social tensions, a pandemic, global warming, sanctions, trade and cold wars, military special operations - this is just an incomplete list of problems that concern Russians.

Despite the fact that not everything directly concerns each individual person, the discussion about them is constantly present in the background in life and involuntarily draws one into thinking about the prospects and consequences. nine0015

Depending on the stability of the psyche, this can cause anxiety, panic attacks, paranoid thoughts, depression. Fear paralyzes someone - it becomes unclear where to run, what to do. Others, on the contrary, are spurred on and forced to furiously look for an “enemy” to bleed steam (even if in the form of commentators on the Internet).

Still others are mobilized and encouraged to scrupulously calculate reserves, think over retreat routes and make plans for all scenarios.

In the meantime, do something really meaningful, change the situation, continue to live and work better with a cool head. And there are several ways to recover and not succumb to the general panic, even when it seems that the sky is trying to collapse right on us.

Saying what scares you

Naming and acknowledging your fear is the first step towards rationalizing it and starting to respond appropriately to what is happening.

Expert opinion

Lidia Ruonala

psychologist

Many are now experiencing anxiety. The peculiarity of this feeling is that a person is covered by a lingering experience of uncertainty in the future, an irrational premonition of something bad. In order to cope with anxiety, you should ask yourself the question: what exactly am I afraid of? That is, the task is to translate anxiety into fear.

As a rule, the most debilitating fears are associated with a sense of insecurity. Fears are especially difficult for those who in their lives have encountered real events that threaten life, physical or mental health. nine0015

Now, in connection with the aggravation of the conflict around Ukraine, the fear of war is coming to the fore. Wars have been going on throughout human history. But even their routine has never canceled the fact that these times are difficult, including from a psychological point of view.

So this fear is quite natural and inherited by modern man from many generations of his ancestors. And since the 20th century, it has reached a new level. As soon as the situation in the world heats up, countries start rattling their weapons, all the fears and worst fears of people come to the fore. nine0015

You need to understand that panic will not help things, so if you realize such fear behind you, refresh your life safety textbook in your memory, say what you will do in a critical situation. And what you will not do in any case.

Inflate the problem

If you can't get rid of worry about your future, catastrophizing can help. Usually it is more of a hindrance, but if you deliberately and grotesquely exaggerate all possible problems and their consequences, and then ground yourself and return to the present moment, where there is no immediate threat yet, anxiety can recede. nine0015

Limit the flow of news

In the context of a clash of interests of different groups, during emergencies and other upheavals, a real information war unfolds in the media. And in it, data manipulation, that is, fakes, is very likely.

All this does not help a calm and unbiased view of the situation, since the purpose of fakes, as a rule, is to evoke a strong emotional reaction based on the most basic human fears and instincts. In a crisis situation, the flow of news, even if it is quite truthful, but negative, has an extremely bad effect on the psycho-emotional state of people. nine0015

Sometimes it is worth asking yourself whether it is so important for you and the world as a whole that you are the one who constantly keeps abreast of events, consumes and analyzes all news content.

Expert opinion

Lidia Ruonala

psychologist

In situations of anxiety, we can constantly update social networks or the news feed, leave posts and comments, click the TV remote. This gives us the feeling that we are in control of the situation. Often this excitement is fueled by the belief that one cannot be an ostrich and hide one's head in the sand. nine0015

There are actually several pitfalls to this behavior. First, in a stressful situation, we absorb a huge amount of information, because we want to confirm our vision regarding the situation that worries us. Secondly, it is important for us to find "ours". Man is a social being, it is important for him to have a support group.

But it turns out exactly the opposite. Or a person “gets hooked” on absorbing content, more and more emotionally winding himself up and losing control over his real life, life, work, relationships. Or on the Internet, someone turns out to be wrong, and emotions go to a new round. There is more anxiety, fear, insecurity. nine0015

In order to regain the ground under your feet, advised Lidia Ruonala, you need to understand that participation in information battles is just hiding your head in the sand. Although it is natural for people to accumulate as much information as possible about what worries them, this activity should not be allowed to obscure other aspects of life.

If you find that the abundance of news drives you crazy, temporarily limit your consumption of content. Or choose just a few channels and learn about what is happening in the world only from there. nine0015

This will help you get yourself out of the wheel of emotional excitement.

Expert opinion

Dmitry Potseluev

narcologist psychiatrist

closing on oneself and close people, on the other hand, creates a growing need for this kind of information (in order to increase personal awareness). nine0015

It would be a reasonable step to limit oneself from such information or to receive it from sources that provide it in the maximum cleared form of emotional “husk”.

Feel your fear

The cult of success reigning in our society condemns when a person is afraid of something. Meanwhile, as noted by psychologists interviewed by The Secret, it is sometimes important to allow yourself to feel your fears in order to be able to cope with them and turn them to your advantage.

Psychologist Sergey Nasibyan advises to live through negative emotions and fears without suppressing or splashing out on people around. nine0015

It is optimal to learn how to contain them - to encapsulate them from psychological defenses, to step aside so as not to injure and destroy oneself with one's own experiences.

For this, it is worth paying more attention not to feelings, but to their analysis: what, how, where and why we feel. This gives a sense of control, the absence of which threatens to turn into panic - but it is already causing irreparable harm.

You can cope with overwhelming emotions at the moment with the help of meditations, bodily practices, and breathing exercises. But, if attempts to calm down do not help too much, you can pay attention to alternative options. nine0015

Expert opinion

Olga Gumanova

psychologist

If you are tired of being afraid and want to neutralize your fear, then anger - the opposite emotion of fear - and bodily manifestations of aggression will help to do this. Aggression is best expressed with jaws and teeth.

Roll up an old terry towel or waffle towel that you don't mind, and bite into it with your teeth as if you were a predatory animal and are about to tear it apart.

You can also ask someone close to hold a towel in your hands, and you will try to pull it out with your teeth. If the “claws” itch more than the teeth, then you can angrily tear off unnecessary fabric or an old thing with your fingers and nails. nine0015

Find someone to share the fear with

From the point of view of biology, fear manifests itself more or less in people in the same way: adrenaline, norepinephrine, cortisol are released - all those hormones that make us feel excited, mobilize and recognize danger in its slightest signs . But how to use this feeling of fear is up to the individual.

Some choose to freeze and wait out the storm, others need to beat someone or run somewhere. And still others look around in search of those who are also scared, and turn the common fear into a common compassion, empathy. nine0015

It can bring the community together, make it stronger, turn former strangers into like-minded people and friends.

And with a feeling of such support behind him, the fear recedes, because now a person is no longer alone with the problem, but solves or at least shares it with someone.

Expert opinion

Olga Gumanova

psychologist

There is such an ancient mechanism - fear intensifies in a situation of loneliness and in the absence of a physically tangible circle of like-minded people. For a person as a social being, the absence of a group of “friends” is stressful in itself, and with the flow of news about a tense situation, it can simply cause an overwhelming level of anxiety. Therefore, in the event that you usually live closed and social contacts are limited to a narrow circle of the family, it makes sense to think of where you can “be afraid together”, as the hero of the famous cartoon suggested. nine0015

Switch attention

If you don't need to run away and solve global problems right now, and most importantly, you don't understand how exactly you can influence them personally, you should distract yourself from gloomy thoughts even with the help of entertainment. But any other things that are not related to your immediate fear will do.

Expert opinion

Lidia Ruonala

psychologist

When anxiety is high, you can do useful things. Dismantle the closet, explaining to things (not people) your ideas about life, fears and resentment. Go for a walk. Physical affairs bring back the missing feeling of control. nine0015

However, in a situation where something out of the ordinary is happening all over the world, ordinary everyday activities may not bring the desired peace. In this case, you should not try to pretend that everything is fine, but think about what you can do not only for yourself, but also for others.

If you look around, you can find many people who are even worse and more worried about the situation than you are, and some of them need real help, because they have already suffered. Think about what resources you are ready to share with those who need them, without driving yourself into a corner and without taking the blame and responsibility for the fate of the whole world. nine0015

For example, you can sign up to volunteer, do charity work, donate blood, and so on.

Expert opinion

Yulia-Margarita Polyak

Jungian psychologist

There may be a strong temptation to “act out” your fear and anxiety: immediately start running somewhere, doing something. If you trace this powerful impulse in yourself, you will be able to more easily realize and control your actions and choose among them those that will bring real benefit to you and those around you. nine0015

Ask yourself questions: how do I really influence what happens? How can I really and want to influence - within the narrow boundaries of the possibilities of my ordinary life? Such monitoring will partly restore stability and remove the feeling of helplessness, one of the most unpleasant experiences.

You may want to organize a support group for friends and acquaintances. Perhaps call your parents to hear their voices and talk about important things. It is possible to see friends in order to throw out emotions and live reality together, to feel community and solidarity. nine0015

Even just spending an evening with a loved one doing routine things that give a feeling of being grounded is especially important on days when the ground is slipping from under your feet.

Seek help

If no means of calming down help and you begin to experience panic attacks out of the blue, sometimes the best solution is to see a specialist psychotherapist. Periodic checking of one's peace of mind and sanity is useful in principle, and in situations of large-scale stress it is simply shown, the Secret's interlocutors believe. nine0015

And if you don't have enough determination and resources to ask for help from outside, you should turn to yourself and your family history.

Expert opinion

Yuliya-Margarita Polyak

Jungian psychologist

Do not let emotions that are quite natural in the current situation flood you. We are joined on such days by all the collective war fears and all the traumatic collective and personal experiences of the past, which can heighten the fear.

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