What Are The Traits Of Psychologically Healthy People?
Mental health affects each and every area of our lives.
It allows us to establish healthy and functional emotional bonds with others, it allows us to interact appropriately with other people, it allows us to have good work performance, and it even allows us to enjoy everyday life and be able to achieve the desired concept of “ happiness”. However… What are the characteristics of psychologically healthy people? This is the topic we will discuss next.
The psychologist from the Malaga office of Psychologists Málaga PsicoAbreu proposes a series of traits that people who we consider psychologically healthy should have. They are the following.
1. Good self-esteem
A person with adequate self-esteem and a good self-concept knows himself and sees himself in a realistic way. She does not belittle herself, she does not adore herself excessively, she does not underestimate or overvalue her abilities or abilities, she does not see herself as inferior to other people, she does not compare herself with others, she is self-confident in most of the decisions she makes, she is satisfied with herself herself (even though she knows that she still has to improve), she is sure of her own abilities, she feels good being alone (she is not afraid or anxious about loneliness), she knows her strengths and weaknesses, she respects herself, she knows what what he is good at and what he is not, he is able to accept criticism from others, he knows how to ask for forgiveness, he knows how to criticize himself in a healthy way in order to improve…
We can also closely associate the concept of self-esteem the concept of emotional independence which allows you to consider another person and any relationship as another part of your daily life, which allows the consolidation of healthy relationships with others.
A person with adequate emotional intelligence is able to feel, experience and express their positive and negative emotions. An emotionally intelligent person is able to self-regulate and exercise control over their own emotions and feelings.
The identification, analysis, communication and management of one’s own emotions It is crucial to be able to achieve a more adaptive final behavior in the future. People with emotional intelligence are not overwhelmed by their own emotions (fear, anger, anger, guilt, anxiety, jealousy…), since they are able to feel them and process them in an adaptive way, so as not to remain anchored to them for a long time.
3. Resilience
Resilience is a positive skill that allows us to go through an adverse, traumatic or extreme situation with our own coping abilities, and even allows us to emerge stronger from it. Resilience allows us to go through an adverse event in an adaptive way, although this does not imply that negative emotions are not felt or expressed during the process of illness, death, grief…
4. Internal locus of control
People with an internal locus of control are characterized because They think that there is a close relationship between their behaviors or behaviors and their consequences.
A person with an internal locus of control has the perception that he himself is capable of controlling his life, and that it is not controlled by luck, destiny, karma, or the decisions of others. The internal locus of control facilitates traits such as responsibility, effort, perseverance, positive self-criticism… For example, a person with an internal locus of control attributes their successes and failures to their own actions, and not to external forces.
On the contrary, people with an external locus of control attribute their merits, failures and responsibilities to external events or other people, which leads to low self-esteem, a passive attitude in the face of adversity and does not facilitate personal growth.
5. Assertiveness
Assertive communication with others consists of the expression of one’s opinions, emotions, feelings, needs and desires, in a timely and direct manner.
Assertiveness therefore entails respect for one’s own rights and those of others, without falling into passive or aggressive communication. In addition, it allows for healthier, deeper and more adaptive relationships with others and facilitates interaction with the environment.
On the other hand, assertiveness is closely related to good self-esteem, since if I consider that my needs, opinions and feelings are just as important as those of others, I will have an easier time expressing them and being able to defend them.
6. Frustration tolerance
Frustration is an unpleasant secondary emotion that has components of anger, sadness, and helplessness and that is experienced by not being able to have what we thought or expected (plan, illusion, project, material object…).
Every day we experience many events and situations that cause us frustration: missing the bus, being scolded at work, the shoes you liked not fitting your size, a friend canceling your weekend plan, being robbed. , getting fired from work… Frustration is a very common emotion in our daily lives, so it is essential to know how to control and manage it.
7. Patience and self-control
Patience is a skill that allows us to endure and deal with difficulties and setbacks to achieve some goal or good. We all know that what is valuable or what is worth achieving requires patience and effort (having a professional career, or specializing in something, having a romantic relationship with someone…), so the development of patience is essential in our daily lives. day to not abandon what we have proposed.
Self-control is a skill that It is related to patience and the ability to delay gratification immediate to achieve a goal that is considered much more important. For example, if I am not able to have self-control and say no to a trip with a friend the weekend before exams (postponing immediate gratification), I will not be able to study and I will not pass those subjects, that allow me to reach my proposed goal “get my career.”
8. Adaptability and coping skills
Changes are frequent in our lives and in our daily lives, so the ability to adapt to them is essential. People with a good capacity for adaptation are able to adapt to new situations: a new life in another city, a new environment, a death in the family, a bereavement, a disappointment in a love relationship…
The coping skills that each person develops throughout their life help to accept and face these new situations as best as possible, to be able to recover the emotional and psychological well-being that existed before the event. These coping skills can be the positive restructuring of negative or dysfunctional thoughts, the search for social support, the positive reappraisal of the event… among many others.
9. Empathy
Empathy is a skill that allows us to know how other people feel or what they are thinking, in order to understand their emotions, feelings and intentions. This ability to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes It makes it easier for us to have an adaptive and effective interaction with their closest social environment.
10. Social skills
Social skills are the tools that allow you to socialize with others. Mentally healthy people generally They have satisfactory social relationships, and are able to maintain solid bonds with others, they communicate appropriately with strangers and acquaintances, they usually maintain pleasant relations with others in their daily lives, they maintain ties. Psychologically healthy people enjoy social relationships and tend to feel good in the company of others, so social relationships are satisfying for them.
How to enhance these characteristics?
It is possible to work on all these characteristics with the help of psychological therapy, to be a psychologically healthier person and achieve greater psychological well-being on a daily basis. As patients, this will allow us to have more adaptive and healthy bonds with the people around us, feel better about ourselves and enjoy more on a daily basis.
If you do not have any of these skills well developed, it would be a good idea to go to a psychologist to have good psychological health and achieve greater personal and mental well-being.
