3 Keys To Mental Training For Personal Improvement
Psychology is a discipline that has implicitly existed for centuries, but formally it is barely a hundred years old. Throughout its short life, countless branches have developed within psychology itself, many complementary to each other but many others contradictory. Psychoanalysis, Gestalt or behaviorism would be some of the approaches, but all of them proposed a similar function: solve mental problems
There is a general shared conception of psychology as a tool to solve mental problems. In fact, if we write “psychologist” in Google Images we will find the majority of results representing this professional serving clients who are visibly affected and reclining on the classic yet outdated couch.
On the one hand, this conception limits the work of the psychologist to its clinical scope, and we still have to break certain barriers when We find psychologists in schools, companies or sports teams, whose tasks differ substantially from each other. On the other hand, the most serious consequence of this conception is experienced in consultation.
And the fact is that the vast majority of people who go to a psychologist do so as a last option, after having been pushed to the limit for quite some time and after a decision resulting from desperation. Obviously, this entails a greater effort on the part of the patient to resolve their initial demand or “problem”, and a greater number of sessions that mean a greater financial outlay.
For this reason, in recent times we are experiencing a trend in psychology towards prevention rather than cure, from a point of view aimed at personal development. What are the areas of mental training necessary for personal improvement?
Aspects of mental training to manage in personal improvement
If we think about our friends, partner, children, colleagues or ourselves, we will realize that there are certain behavioral patterns related to mental health that, at a minimum, are susceptible to more efficient management Some of the most everyday phenomena are:
1. Stress
Stress is an adaptive response to a demanding situation, which allows us to perform at an optimal level for a certain period of time This last nuance is the key that separates this adaptive stress from a chronic or pathological one.
Symptoms such as sleep or eating disorders, anxiety, headaches and back pain or hair loss are related to stress, and yes, it is true that many of us cannot avoid living in a demanding environment, but managing our cognitions , emotions and behaviors in this situation is what can make the difference.
2. Addictions
It is not necessary to be hooked on heroin to suffer from an addiction. In fact, it is not necessary to be hooked on a substance In the midst of the technological revolution, smartphones, video games or the Internet are a probable source of addiction, and if not having a certain stimulus makes us anxious, affects our work or social life, or shows symptoms of frequent irritability, we may need certain guidelines. to “disengage.”
3. Couple
Speaking of addictions, we cannot fail to refer to the one that occurs when a love interest is involved. The symptoms are similar to the previous ones, with the added danger that we do not control the stimulus that is the object of the addiction. But if that seems harsh, a special mention must be made of the management of life as a couple once established. Assertiveness, empathy or time management They are skills to take into account, and if they are not given adequate attention, they can make our love life not as satisfactory as we would like, as well as precipitate its end, in which we can fall into depressive states or, again, addiction.
Probably, at a very basic level, every reader of this small article will have been able to identify to a greater or lesser extent with some of the phenomena reported here. We have all spent that week sleeping poorly due to stress, we have been angry at not being able to access our smartphone or we have gone through a breakup or stormy personal relationship.
It is true that we never know if these mental states can be the seed that germinates into something more serious, but the point of this article is to show that it is not necessary to go that far, that we can improve our daily lives by going to a specialist. , no need to wait until you have a problem and in the same way that more and more people go to the gym without suffering from injuries or ailments, personal development is still mental training, a gym for our mind that we can go to to optimize our level of satisfaction with life.
