Personality and extreme conditions. The capabilities of people in extreme and ordinary situations Prison is not a woman’s business
Page "186-194"
Lyudmila Alpern
Expulsion from the “private” to the “public”: a prison experiment to create a new type of woman
Prison innovation in the Western world
Back in the first half of the 19th century, in the Western world (which includes Western Europe and North America), innovations were introduced into prison practice - women were separated from men, prisoners gradually stopped evicting prisoners from their homes to distant colonies, and they moved from collective prisons to solitary confinement. All this was done in order to improve the conditions of detention and achieve (a hopeless desire) not only the punishment of the perpetrators, but also their correction.
Western prison innovations - solitary confinement and the principle of bringing the convict closer to his place of residence - have never been in demand in our prison system. At the beginning of 2003, in Russia there were only 40 women’s correctional institutions among 89 constituent entities of the Federation.
Prison innovations in Russia
In Russia, the separation of prisoners by gender finally occurred only in 1947, in the Gulag. This was done to increase punishment and improve the functioning of the camp system as a huge slave production. Human needs and the interests of society were not taken into account. At the same historical time, two more innovations, previously unknown, were introduced into women’s prison life: women began to be imprisoned for being the wives of criminals - “enemies of the people.” They were forced to do unbearably hard, male work - felling wood, for example. In addition, at the same time, the still persistent practice of separating mothers and children was introduced in women's correctional institutions.
Russian prison life even in the third millennium remains collective and often takes place far from home.
Prison is not a woman's business
“Not a woman’s place” - something inside suggested this thought to me when I first crossed the threshold of the women’s colony, although there were only women around - young, young, mature, old, beautiful, ugly, different - any. There were many women - sometimes up to three thousand. For example, in a women's colony in Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk region.
The laws do not recognize female nature here. Thus, women are not given hygiene items, and the mother is not allowed to live with the child, although he is located here on the territory of the colony. Some women here completely lose their feminine appearance. I put my research in women’s institutions into a book, which I called: “Prison is not a woman’s business.”
Further research increasingly convinced me of the correctness of this assumption. I visited women’s prisons, talked with prisoners and employees, conducted questionnaires, interviews, and, in the end, discovered “that in prison a certain transformation occurs with women: the amount of violence and humiliation here transforms into a new quality. Prison, the apotheosis of social control, regenerates a woman, clearly explaining to her that a man is not an obligatory element of her life, including family and sex, and thus finally destroys in her the last of what she needs to have in order to return to ordinary life, to the world with a patriarchal filling: respect for a man, for the laws established by him, the need to communicate with him.”
Many people experience lesbian love here
I saw how a woman changes: many here learn the joys of lesbian love and will never forget them, since it is in homosexual relationships that a woman easily achieves orgasm - women understand each other’s desires well; some will never again be able to perceive a relationship with a man as sexual, and sex with them will become only a necessary element in economic or social relations - a tribute, payment for a service, a way to achieve something, a concession... in general, anything but vital psychobiological need.
Personality deformation
Analyzing the results of the research, I discovered that women, having served a short term for a minor crime - for theft, for example, often return to prison with a serious charge - for murder, for causing bodily harm. Usually their victim is a husband or partner who insults or beats his loved ones - the one who previously aroused awe and fear as the “strong half”, as the “crown of creation”, as a “man”, has now been debunked. He is unworthy of honor and humility, he has no more power, he is as mortal as she. Let him be stronger, so what? The knife will equalize everything. I will give excerpts from conversations with female prisoners.
Women confess
“I’ve probably become bolder, because before prison I was younger, a little downtrodden. I wasn’t a criminal, I didn’t have any ambition. My neighbor says that even though I’ve been in prison, I’m not like others: as soon as a woman serves six months in prison, she’s already “like that,” but I’m far from that. But, nevertheless, the zone influenced my character: I became bolder and tougher. I am always offended: why, when I am right, am I offended for no reason?
I thought that if he is a man, then he is stronger than me, and how can I fight back against him? If he hits me now, I’ll die. And now I think: why will he beat me, and I will stand? No, this can’t happen, let it hit me, but also him.”
“I had no premonitions that everything would happen on this day. I knew that it would happen anyway, not now, but a day later. Everything was leading up to this. I hit him on the head with the butt of the ax that he brought himself for me and my son. When I realized that he was dead, a huge weight fell from me, and even my shoulders widened. And she called the police and assisted in the investigation.”
“There was a quarrel between me and my roommate, who came to my apartment. He began to insult me in the presence of my daughter, behaved unlawfully, insulting and humiliating me, and at the same time kicked my daughter in the stomach. Unable to bear the insults, I hit him in the face. Afterwards I called an ambulance, he was taken to the hospital, the next evening the police came to me and charged me with committing a crime under Article 111, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, saying that my partner had died in the hospital. I was in shock, not believing everything that happened. It was as if the trial was being held over a stranger; I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that such a sentence was given to me.”
“And then he attacked me, he attacked me, he said everything with obscenities, he tormented me. And I’m offended: the man is visiting and he showers me like that and for what? Because I don’t do something the way his mother does, it’s so petty, it’s a nightmare... And, by the way, before that he grabbed a knife, he had such a habit when he was drunk. He may not do anything, but he grabs the knife. And how many times did he have this: “You need to cut off your hands!” They are growing from the wrong place! You need to put them somewhere else!” It’s constant, how long I’ve lived, how he drinks – it’s constant and ongoing. I got stuck. And while he stood there, waving his fists, while he insulted me, I was silent, but when he grabbed me by the hand, that’s it, I only woke up when I saw the bloody knife.”
Convergence of different principles
As part of my work, I traveled abroad and studied Western, feminist approaches to the problem of women's prison.
It suddenly seemed to me that the new forms of self-awareness that the collective Russian prison roughly hammers into a convicted woman are to some extent similar to what feminist education makes of a Western intellectual: the same lesbianism, the same independence from the “crown of creation” - and financial , and psychological, the same passion to defend one’s dignity to the end, by any means, by any means. Although, mainly, still with the help of words and laws.
I discovered the phenomenon, but I could not fully comprehend it - what is the reason, what is the root of the phenomenon?
Feminine identity
In the dictionary of gender terms we read the following: “ Feminine identity has a history of analysis and research rooted in orthodox psychoanalysis. From the point of view of this direction, male and female models are diametrically opposed in their qualities and the female model is characterized by passivity, indecision, dependent behavior, conformity, lack of logical thinking and desire for achievement, as well as greater emotionality and social balance.” All these qualities are formed in the private sphere, in other words, in the home. It is a good, real home, in which there is intimacy, protection from the hardships of the outside world, that requires and creates a “woman” - tender and dependent, capable of emotional support for loved ones, passive and indecisive, socially balanced.
Male identity is the opposite of female, it includes such patterns of behavior as “limited emotionality, homophobia, the need to control people and situations, restrictions in the expression of sexuality and affection, an obsessive desire for competition and success,” and is formed in the public space. “...The concept of “public” means everything that is accompanied by openness and publicity, that is for everyone to see and discuss; something that reveals itself openly and can be perceived by others and by ourselves as such.” It is the public sphere that requires activity, firmness, aggressiveness, dignity, and the desire for success from a person.
Life without privacy
But let's return to prison. What is the similarity between the phenomenon described above and what happens to women in our prisons?
The collective life of a Russian prison is well known - a strange, ugly existence in huge rooms designed for the joint residence of dozens and sometimes hundreds of people. Not two, not three, not even five or six, as in Poland, but tens, hundreds. Here a person has only a sleeping place, which he also does not have at his own discretion - he lies down and gets up according to orders. There’s not even a bedside table of your own – it’s good if there’s a shelf in a bedside table for two.
This is life without privacy. Life in public space - in public - day and night. These people are not relatives, they cannot create an intimate environment, give a feeling of security. Getting used to the 24/7 presence of hundreds of people is not simple or easy - it requires effort and time.
The prison was created by men and for men. But the women found themselves in the male, public space of the prison.
While women were in prison with men, they immediately became public women. There were people in the Western world who understood the immorality of what was happening. The prison should have taken care to provide the woman with an opportunity to reform. Conditions in women's prisons have been changed. Separate cells were built for women and they began to teach handicrafts and childcare.
Nowadays in European prisons they are trying to form female behavior patterns.
In Russia, public, collective life in prisons, camps, and colonies has not undergone decisive changes in two hundred years. Unlike Western reformers, their Soviet colleagues, having decided to separate men from women, left women in a “male” prison. This became an excessive punishment: a rough uniform - quilted jackets and tarpaulin; lack of bed linen and hygiene supplies. No privacy - public life. Everything is in plain sight for everyone. Women were removed from the lists of the feminine gender. Now they are left to forget who they are.
For a Russian prison with almost a million people, convicted women are a small fraction. Moreover, it makes sense to think about bringing the conditions for women closer to those conditions that will allow them to remain within the framework of their female role: to be mothers, real, and not fictitious; gain elements of privacy in the everyday prison space; bring them, as far as possible, closer to family and friends - physically and spiritually.
- Results of prison monitoring, conclusions, recommendations, reviews, essays, interviews // Comp. L. Alpern. M., 2000.
- Alpern L. New Amazons. Women's prison as a source of radical feminism // www.index.org.ru/turma.
- Excerpt from an interview with Natalya Ch. (No. 4), taken by L. Alpern in the Shakhovskaya maximum security colony in October 2002.
- Excerpt from the profile of Irina N. (No. 26), convict of the Shakhov maximum security colony, 2002.
- Excerpt from the profile of Tatyana K. (No. 13), convict of the Shakhov maximum security colony, 2002.
- Excerpt from an interview with Nadezhda G. (No. 5), taken by L. Alpern in the Shakhovskaya maximum security colony in October 2002.
- Elshtain J. Imperatives of private and public // Reader of feminist texts. Translations / Ed. E. Zdravomyslova, A. Temkina. St. Petersburg, 2000. P. 64.
- Zdravomyslova E. and Temkina A. Introduction // Reader of feminist texts. Translations / Ed. E. Zdravomyslova and A. Temkina. St. Petersburg, 2000. P. 5.
- Dichotomy of male/female // Dictionary of gender terms. M., 2002. P. 96.
- Klimova S.V. Home and world: the problem of private and public // http://anthropology.ru.
- Women's identity // Dictionary of gender terms. M., 2002. pp. 96–97.
- Male identity // Dictionary of gender terms. M., 2002. P. 155.
- Pospelova O.V. Construction of gender through contrasting the spheres of private and public // http://www.avpu.ru/proect/form_cult/p_4.htm.
Source: Alpern L. Expulsion from the “private” to the “public”: a prison experiment to create a new type of woman // Personal Development.-2004.-No. 2.-P.186-194.
Personality in extreme conditions
Page "186-194"
INTRODUCTION
Today, anyone can find themselves in an extreme situation at any time: explosions, fires, sudden threats directed at you or your loved ones, natural disasters, catastrophes, and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, many such phenomena have quietly become part of our lives. And all this has a noticeable impact on our behavior, on our psyche.
Today, newspapers are filled with information about offenses and crimes. The abundance of such information gives rise to a feeling of fear and powerlessness in an unprepared person. When such information accumulates so much that it threatens to paralyze all activity, the defense mechanism of the human psyche is triggered. The acuity of perception of frightening information is lost and fear is replaced by indifference. A person ceases to be afraid, but not because of the consciousness of his own strength, but because he has lost his normal reaction to really existing threats. It is clear that neither a person overwhelmed by fear nor a person indifferent to danger is able to act effectively. Fear is largely due to the unknown, so in order to maintain composure in the face of danger, it is important to understand that there are no insurmountable forces, that a collision with danger can be avoided or, at least, the negative consequences of this collision can be significantly reduced. To avoid becoming a victim of crime, you must have a clear understanding of your advantages over criminals.
In order to make a more or less correct decision in an extreme situation that has arisen, it is necessary, as far as possible, to understand exactly what situation you find yourself in: assess the situation itself, assess your opponent (enemy), calm down and choose a tactic of behavior. And only then act according to the circumstances. The purpose of this work is to determine the complexity of working in extreme conditions.
The object of work in this work is journalists.
Subject: readiness to work in extreme conditions.
study the theoretical aspects of extreme situations
Identify the degree of training in the work of journalists
CHAPTER I THE CONCEPT OF EXTREME CONDITIONS
1.1.Extreme conditions concept
In modern research, there are several approaches to understanding extreme conditions and their components. The analysis made it possible to identify several approaches to determining extreme conditions:
1. Extreme conditions are equal to emergency situations, classified according to the nature of the impact of the external environment.
Extreme conditions that require physiological or mental stress (similar to the concept of stress by G. Selye).
Extreme conditions as a “person in a situation” system, where the conditions of influence of the external environment and the individual are considered as an integral system.
Ts.P. Korolenko refers to extreme conditions as those that “are on the verge of tolerance and have a high ability to disrupt adaptation.” He included extreme natural influences among them: temperature, wind, electromagnetic fluctuations, atmospheric pressure, as well as other influences that put the body on the brink of tolerance. A.P. Avtsyn, E.E. Koenig highlight the concept of extreme situations as extraordinary in terms of possible adverse effects on the human body. As V.I. writes in his book. Lebedev, as a result of the popularization of G. Selye’s theory of stress, a tendency arose to classify as “extreme conditions” all situations in which stress of physiological or mental processes is required. With this point of view, he notes, “one cannot fully agree, since the line separating ordinary living conditions from changed ones becomes blurry and indefinite.” We encounter tension and stress in everyday life quite often. For example, during physical work, when solving a number of problem situations, etc., stress is not only normal, but even a necessary condition of human life and activity.
He considers the boundary separating ordinary conditions from extreme ones to be those situations in which, under the influence of psychogenic (i.e., actualizing mental reactions) factors, psychophysiological and socio-psychological mechanisms, having exhausted their reserve capabilities, can no longer provide adequate reflection and regulatory human activity. In other words, when the adaptive barrier is destroyed, dynamic stereotypes in the central nervous system are “broken,” and mental maladjustment or crisis occurs.
Therefore, under the extreme situation V.I. Lebedev proposes to understand the change in environmental conditions around a person that occurs over a short period of time and leads him to a personal threshold of adaptation. After all, it is precisely the achievement of a personal adaptation threshold that puts a person on the brink of danger to his life and health.
Extreme conditions are also characterized by altered afferentation, information structure, socio-psychological restrictions and the presence of a risk factor. A person is affected by seven main psychogenic factors: monotony, altered spatial and temporal structures, restrictions on personally significant information, loneliness, group isolation (information exhaustion of communication partners, constant publicity, etc.) and a threat to life.
In the process of adaptation to extreme conditions, it is customary to distinguish the following stages, characterized by a change in emotional states and the appearance of unusual mental phenomena: preparatory, initial mental stress, acute mental reactions of entry, mental readaptation, final mental stress, acute mental reactions of exit and readaptation. In the genesis of unusual mental states, anticipation in a situation of information uncertainty is clearly traced (the stage of initial mental stress and the final stage); breakdown of the functional systems of analyzers formed during ontogenesis or a long stay in extreme conditions, disruption of the flow of mental processes and changes in the system of relations and relationships (the stage of acute mental reactions of entry and exit), active activity of the individual in developing protective (compensatory) reactions in response to the impact of psychogenic factors (readaptation stage) or the restoration of previous response stereotypes (readaptation stage).
With an increase in the time spent in changed conditions and severe exposure to psychogenic factors, as well as with insufficiently high neuropsychic stability and the absence of preventive measures, the stage of readaptation is replaced by a stage of deep mental changes, characterized by the development of neuropsychic disorders. Between the stages of readaptation and profound mental changes, there is an intermediate stage of unstable mental activity, characterized by the appearance of prepathological conditions. These are conditions that have not yet been isolated into strictly defined nosological forms of neuropsychiatric diseases, which allows us to consider them within the framework of a psychological norm. Research in the field of extreme psychology is aimed at improving psychological selection and psychological training for working in unusual living conditions, as well as developing measures to protect against the traumatic effects of psychogenic factors.
There are several types of extreme situations:
) objectively extreme situations (difficulties and dangers in them come from the external environment and arise objectively for a person);
) potentially extreme situations (danger is expressed as a hidden threat);
) personally provoked extreme situations (the danger is generated by the person himself, his intentional or erroneous choice, behavior);
) imaginary extreme situations (not dangerous, threatening situations).
In addition to the situations of A.M. Stolyarenko identifies groups of psychogenic risk factors: extreme material and environmental factors, social and environmental factors, substantive elements of activity as an extreme factor, organizational and operational elements of activity that act as extreme factors. P.A. Korchemny identifies risk factors such as:
) external factors - macrospace;
) management level;
3) subjective extreme factors.
Based on the subject and object of our research, we will focus on the main distinctive features of the above conditions, i.e., on what is typical for the activities of internal affairs bodies. Emergency incidents and circumstances (situations) create special (extreme) conditions, during which the content of the tasks performed changes significantly (and sometimes radically), and there is a need to use new approaches to assessing the mutual influence of extreme situations and the subject of the activity.
Consequently, the concept of “conditions”, in addition to elements of the situation, includes an activity aspect, which distinguishes “conditions” from the concept of “situation”, which has a meaning neutral in relation to activity.
A.N. Leontyev warned “against understanding human activity as a relationship that exists between a person and the society opposing him. For a person, society supposedly constitutes only the external environment to which he is forced to adapt in order not to be unadapted and to survive. This misses the main thing - that in In society, a person finds not just external conditions to which he must adapt his activities, but that these social conditions themselves carry within themselves the motives and goals of his activity, its means and methods; in a word, that society produces the activities of the individuals who form it.
In this study, attention is focused on the nature of the changes that an individual’s self-image undergoes under extreme conditions that fall within the boundaries of the psychological norm for altered conditions of existence. These situations, according to A.M. Stolyarenko, can be classified as a system-structural and a system-functional model, in which a person acts in functional integrity with an extreme situation.
Thus, the system-structural model of an extreme situation from the point of view of the systems approach is considered as a special external-internal system “a person in a situation”. This system is characterized by deep functional integrity, and human behavior is an integral, systemic product of its functioning. One of the main characteristics in the “person-situation” system in the “person” component is his self-image. The structure of the situation includes:
situational components (extreme conditions); personal components (self-image);
activity components (intentions and behavior).
In the system-functional model of extreme situations, a person in a situation acts as a single system “person in a situation.” A person’s psychological involvement in a situation can be associated with a number of psychological phenomena: a person’s understanding and assessment of the situation and its individual factors; assessing the significance of the situation and attitude towards it; motivation for activity in a situation; mobilization; adequacy of decisions, behavior and actions; mental state of a person; active manifestation of self-regulation by the individual.
The interaction of structural components is characterized by cause-and-effect dependencies (functional models).
A.N. Stolyarenko identifies the following types of functional models: the dynamics of the “person in a situation” system proceeds as a unity of situational, personal and behavioral structural components; environmental factors determine personal and behavioral ones; personal factors play a determining role in relation to the situational, and as a consequence, human behavioral reactions (personal mediation of the objective characteristics of the system occurs). In any situation, a person manifests himself as an individual, the details of the situation and private circumstances are subordinate to him.
This model can be described in the concept of the meta-individual world by L.Ya. Dorfman and can serve as a new polysystem basis for understanding the specifics of a subject’s activity in extreme conditions. Concept by L.Ya. Dorfman allows "to bridge the gap between the ontological essences of individuality and objects of the world." The personality and the surrounding world interact as a holistic entity, on the one hand, and as a subsystem, on the other. According to his concept of the meta-individual world, “the field of interactions of an individual with the objects of his world is quite wide and can take place both at the pole of individuality and at the pole of objects of his world.
The uniqueness of interactions at the pole of the objects of the world is revealed, firstly, in the way that individuality assimilates the objects of the world, being in some cases an independent system, and in others a subsystem of the world. Secondly, in how the systemic and ontological statuses of individuality and objects of the world are combined, since in the meta-individual world between the systemic and ontological ways of existence of individuality and the objects of its world, their incomplete coincidences take place (individuality and the objects of its world penetrate into each other as systems, but not as ontological entities). At the same time, it is the interpermeability of individuality and the objects of its world as systems (and subsystems) that makes it possible to bridge the gap between the ontological ways of their existence.
This ontological gap, according to L. Ya Dorfman, “is overcome in some cases due to the fact that individuality as a system covers the ontological essences of its self and the objects of its world. In other cases, the world as a system covers the ontological essences of the objects of its world and individuality as its subsystems ". In the first case, the leading role is given to the ontological status of individuality, and in the second, the ontological status of the objects of the world. Individuality as a system in itself contains the sources of determination of its activity and at the same time is the carrier of this activity. Individuality as a subsystem is also a carrier of activity, but the sources of its determination are localized in the systems interacting with it, that is, in the objects of the world. At the same time, in both cases the objects of the world are the subject of individual activity.”
This means: firstly, that several forms of activity should be distinguished depending on the localization of the sources of their determination; secondly, sources of activity and objects of activity are distributed between interacting systems when individuality manifests itself as a system. The very sources of activity and objects of individual activity are localized in the objects of the world when it acts as their subsystem; thirdly, “activity makes simultaneous impacts on the same object in different ways depending on the sources of its determination: in some cases, this object reveals its actual and potential signs in accordance with its immanent laws of existence, and in others, the object is subjected to subjective transformations in accordance with the immanent laws of the existence of individuality."
journalist extreme maladjustment psychogenic
1.2.The essence and main characteristics of extremeness
Developed since ancient times, the understanding of the essence of extremes, extremity and the principles of the extreme (Aristotle, Nicholas of Cusa, Bruno, Maupertuis, Leibniz, etc.), raised to modern philosophical generalizations about the patterns of extreme changes (M. Planck, M. Born, M. Bunge, L. Kantorovich, Prigozhin, etc.), are reflected in the content of the concept of an extreme situation.
Extremeness, as was recorded by ancient philosophy, indicates extreme states in the existence of things. Extrema form, in essence, the boundaries of the measure of the existence of things, beyond which things cease to be themselves and acquire a different existence. In theoretical expression, the principles of extremity state that one or another quantity characterizing a state, process or structure takes on an extreme (conditionally - minimum or maximum) value. Extremeness manifests itself as “the fastest movement passing along the shortest line” (Aristotle).
The dialectics of this process “in extreme states” (Bruno) is saturated with rapid mutual penetration and transformation of opposites into each other (Hegel), naturally entailing “catastrophic or destructive changes” (R. Tom).
Within the framework of modern approaches (P. Lagadec, S. Lichtenstein, etc.), the danger factor is considered as a defining or universal essential feature of an extreme situation - first of all, an immediate threat to the health and life of people or the threat of disruption to their activities in solving vital problems .
The concept of an extreme situation, therefore, reflects not just an emergency, but an exceptionally dangerous event or a set of dangerous events in relation to and only in connection with the activities of people, their existence. Extreme situations (natural disasters, catastrophes, accidents, crises, conflicts), which are sometimes inevitable realities of people’s lives, including their professional activities, despite their diverse nature, have a number of common essential characteristics:
suddenness of the attack, requiring special preparedness for extremes;
a sharp departure from the norm of habitual actions and states;
the saturation of the developing situation with contradictions requiring prompt resolution;
progressive changes in the state of the situation, conditions of activity, elements, connections and relationships of an extreme situation, i.e. temporality of change;
increasing complexity of ongoing processes due to progressive changes and novelty of situational contradictions and conditions;
relevance, transition of the situation into a phase of instability, reaching the limits, criticality;
the generation of dangers and threats by changes (disruption of activities, death, destruction of systems);
the saturation of the situation with the uncertainty of a number of changes due to their stochasticity, unforeseenness and novelty;
increasing tension for the subjects of an extreme situation (in terms of its comprehension, decision-making, response), etc.
Conclusions to Chapter 1
And so we examined in the first chapter the concept of extreme conditions, identified the main essence of extremeness and can conclude:
Extreme situation (Latin extremum - extreme, limit; situatio - position) is a concept through which an integrative characteristic is given of a radically or suddenly changed situation, associated particularly unfavorable or threatening factors for human life, as well as high problems, tension and risk in implementation of appropriate activities in these conditions. The philosophical meaning of the concept of E.S. is associated with a reflection of extreme developments of events and their knowledge in connection with the functional activity of the subject. The coordinate system for measuring human existence and activity - “actor - situation” - assumes a correlate of the content of the concept of E.S. certain subject-object relationships: reflection by the subject of objectively complex conditions of activity in the form of a problem-extreme task.
CHAPTER II PERSONALITY AND EXTREME CONDITIONS
2.1 Preparing a journalist to work in extreme situations
A journalist who has to perform professional duties in conditions of danger must have maximum information about the country or region, the specific area where he is going, have an understanding of the economy, political and geographical structure, ethno-religious characteristics of the population, as well as the background of the conflict (if we are talking about military operations) or preconditions for an accident (in a situation with a man-made disaster or natural disaster).
Since it is impossible to predict in advance what exactly a journalist will encounter when performing the tasks of preparing newspaper, television and radio materials, preparation must be thorough and comprehensive. What methods can be used to study the “field”? There are quite a lot of them. Let's highlight the most significant:
the experience of colleagues who have previously performed similar tasks;
consultations with specialists (including the military, representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, politicians and scientists, public and religious figures);
consultations of national-cultural autonomies represented in their city;
studying reference materials;
study of publications on conflict (accident) issues;
studying relevant Internet resources;
study of editorial dossiers (if any are maintained);
contacting diplomatic and other representations of countries participating in the conflict (victims of an accident or natural disaster);
if possible, make a preliminary request for information from governmental and non-governmental structures deployed in the territory where you will work.
Route preparation
The upcoming route and time schedule for the journalist’s movement must be carefully worked out and linked to a geographical map and a map of roads (railroads). It is desirable that this schedule be coordinated with the schedule of the journalist’s contact with his editorial office, so that the very fact of failure to communicate can guide the editorial office as to the possibility of organizing a search for its correspondent.
When drawing up a route, the points that the journalist would like to visit and the real possibilities of traveling between them must be taken into account. If the route runs through the territory of hostilities, it is necessary to be guided by security issues, the possibilities of movement with organized columns, with accompanying protected transport, as well as military transport. If we are talking about difficult terrain or areas exposed to the elements or man-made disaster, it is necessary to provide for the opportunity to use the services of a guide.
Separately, it is necessary to study the situation when a journalist works in both camps of warring parties. In this case, the transition point must be clearly indicated on the route, and the transition itself must be carefully determined and discussed.
A route is considered sufficiently developed if it provides for the possibility of receiving assistance (including material) and shelter from both official bodies and authorities, and the local population.
Preparation of documents
The preparation of documents that a journalist takes with him to an emergency zone is an important part of his preparation for an editorial assignment. This is an area where there are no trifles, and every record or print can have meaning.
Documents that a journalist must have include:
passport (Russian and (or) international if you have to work outside the Russian Federation);
editorial ID, which clearly indicates the name of the media and the official position of the journalist. The certificate must contain a photograph of the journalist, the validity period of the document has not been violated, the entries made are certified by the signature of the head of the media and a clearly readable seal. It is necessary to make sure that the entry on the journalist’s position in the certificate corresponds to the purposes of his business trip (for example, the authorities may have a question about what the head of the cultural department is doing in a combat zone);
plan-task for a business trip, completed on the media letterhead (if we are talking about a foreign business trip - in the language of the host country). The assignment plan should clearly and, if possible, in detail indicate the tasks assigned to the journalist (preparing a series of reports, interviews, essays, etc.);
travel order completed in accordance with the established form.
Documents that a journalist should have:
letters of recommendation from people whose opinions are respected in the region where the journalist is sent (for example, politicians, famous entrepreneurs, heads of national and cultural autonomies, heads of public and humanitarian organizations);
accreditation certificate (if accreditation took place);
certificates of creative organizations of which the journalist is a member (including international ones);
copies of newspapers and magazines with their own publications or clippings of their publications, proving that the journalist is exactly who he claims to be;
business cards with the logo of the media outlet he represents;
It is not advisable to take with you documents and materials that may complicate the work of a journalist:
any photographs where the journalist is filmed with a weapon in his hands;
detailed maps showing the locations of military garrisons and formations;
lists of participants in hostilities, photographs of the leaders of the warring parties;
schedules for contacting media editors.
When preparing a package of documents that a journalist takes with him, you need to understand that any of them can be checked and studied, documents can be compared, and if necessary, the journalist can be asked clarifying and verification questions.
2 Adaptation and specifics of a journalist’s work in extreme conditions
From a fundamental point of view, the tasks that a journalist faces in an extreme situation zone are not much different from ordinary editorial assignments. This is the collection of information and the preparation of materials for their publication on a newspaper or magazine page, or broadcast on television. However, the very situation of hostilities, natural or man-made disasters, and the presence of a threat to the life and health of a journalist create a very special background for work. A background that is characterized by a number of specific features. Let's list some of them.
Firstly, there are significant difficulties in obtaining the necessary information associated with the emergency situation. None of the warring parties is interested in the media receiving objective information about the causes, nature and goals of the conflict. If we are talking about a natural or man-made disaster, the authorities usually try to downplay the scale of what is happening in order to reduce their alleged responsibility.
Characteristic in this sense is the situation that arose in the Chechen Republic during the operation called in the official press “restoration of constitutional order.” The information coming from sources representing state power corresponded just as little to reality as the information coming from the Chechen separatists. Fierce battles made the work of journalists so difficult that they were forced to content themselves with the picture visible from a window or trench in preparing materials, collecting materials bit by bit, relying on eyewitness accounts, rumors, and personal impressions of what they saw.
This is what Nikolai Astashkin, a former correspondent for the North Caucasus for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, writes about this in his book “Lone Wolf Leap”: “December 1994. Mozdok. The war in Chechnya is in full swing. But everything that happened at that time in the troops remained a secret behind seven seals for journalists. We sat idly by in Mozdok, eating mostly misinformation and whatever else God sent. From various sources we received information that the troops were suffering losses, the dead and wounded were being sent by plane and helicopter to Vladikavkaz, Rostov-on-Don, and other cities where there were military hospitals, and the press secretary of the Russian Minister of Defense Agapova answered this with a smile : No, everything is going fine.”
Secondly, there is the problem of the reliability of the information received, the danger of becoming a mouthpiece for deliberate disinformation, often transmitted to journalists to disorient the enemy. In serious foreign media it is customary to verify information from at least two sources. Recently, high-quality Russian publications have demanded the same approach.
There are a lot of methods for verifying information and, with a certain amount of persistence, any fact reported to a journalist can be subject to verification. How should a war correspondent act when he comes across some sensational message? First of all, check the available documents. Anyone who sheds light on the situation. This can be any identification card, official report, flight book, map. Important evidence is the testimony of a disinterested eyewitness. If you have time, you can contact archival authorities, for example, the Central Military Archive of the Ministry of Defense in Podolsk, where information is collected about all Soviet and Russian citizens who have ever put on a military uniform.
We need to learn to compare official information and that provided by non-governmental organizations, which, as a rule, have their own informants and their own calculation methods. Contrary to popular belief, estimates by government organizations are usually more accurate, although in combat conditions it is common to exaggerate enemy losses and downplay one’s own.
Thirdly, the need to assess the possible consequences of one’s publications. The principle of “do no harm” should control the natural desire of a journalist to immediately inform readers and viewers about what they saw and heard. A sense of proportion should also be present when showing scenes of violence, military operations, and the consequences of natural and man-made disasters. This is especially important when it comes to interethnic and interethnic conflicts, when every careless word broadcast or printed on a newspaper page can cause a new surge of violence.
Here is an example given by the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations in its newsletter, talking about the unqualified actions of journalists in the hostage-taking situation in the Nord-Ost center:
“It is clear that some journalists, television presenters and editors did not understand the complexity of the situation and the importance of live broadcasting in relationships hostage takers . The desire to obtain at least some (or better yet, exclusive) information often prevailed over common sense. On October 24 at night (at approximately 00:40), the presenter of the NTV channel Kirill Pozdnyakov contacted the hostage Tatyana Solnyshkina, the accompanist of the musical, by mobile phone. Nord-Ost . The journalist asked the pianist to give the phone to one of the terrorists. The woman tried to explain to the journalist that the behavior of terrorists is unpredictable, but the presenter insisted: Try it, please pass it on . When the terrorist picked up the phone and said: Yes, I'm listening to you , the journalist announced to TV viewers that the connection had been interrupted.”
Such actions do not help, but on the contrary, make the work of those working to free the hostages extremely difficult.
The right journalist is the one who avoids generalizations like “all Chechens”, “army”, “losses cannot be counted”, “nobody needs anything”, “all the police take bribes”, “no one came to help” and so on. Experienced journalists know that conflicts in fact often arise as interethnic ones, but within themselves they have a financial and economic nature. It is necessary to refrain from conveying the direct speech of those who blame the conflict for the conflict on another people, adherents of another faith, even if a journalist, under the influence of emotions, at some point seems to be true.
Fourthly, it is the duty of the journalist to remain objective, regardless of his political, religious, patriotic and other beliefs and attitudes, to be unbiased and unbiased.
Every person is a bearer of certain moral principles, and journalists are no exception in this sense. However, bias cannot be the cause of deliberate bias. The truth, in the interests of the writer, will not be adequately perceived by the viewer or reader, no matter how talentedly the material is prepared. Especially when it comes to situations related to human grief.
A journalist’s dishonesty and bias can also manifest itself in the interpretation of facts. For example, in putting forward obviously false alternatives, such as “either recognition of Dudayev and independence of Chechnya, or civil war throughout the Caucasus.” Or in making incorrect generalizations, such as “Russians are at war with Caucasians.” In any case, this is absolutely unacceptable.
Fifthly, the ability of a journalist to work as quickly as possible, making decisions and processing incoming information in the shortest possible time, using the entire arsenal of journalistic genres. This skill includes the skill of selecting significant facts, their accurate and emotionally rich interpretation, posing a problem and seeing ways to solve it. A battle and raid report, a front-line essay, a sketch made in a field hospital rescuing earthquake victims - all this is especially valuable for a newspaper and television channel, and therefore does not tolerate delays in preparation and transmission.
Sixth, the ability of a journalist to search for information to interact with press centers, government and public organizations represented in a war zone, natural disaster or man-made disaster. In many cases, in zones of war, natural and man-made disasters, temporary press centers are deployed that can help a journalist obtain the necessary information and interview people of interest. Such press centers exist, for example, as part of the Peacekeeping Group of Russian Troops in Abkhazia, a joint press center worked during the counter-terrorism operation in the Chechen Republic, press groups exist in the peacekeeping group of Russian troops in Transnistria, as part of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in Tajikistan . Temporary press centers were organized in disaster relief areas in Indonesia, New Orleans (USA), Spitak (Armenia).
Journalists often have questions about the need for accreditation at the press center. Russian legislation does not provide for “mandatory” accreditation; any ban on work due to refusal of accreditation is a gross violation of the rights of a journalist. At the same time, accreditation simplifies the work of a journalist and opens up greater opportunities for him to work in a hazardous area, and increases his work safety.
A journalist must understand that, as a Russian citizen, he can always count on help abroad from any bodies representing the Russian Federation, and in case of danger, ask for asylum on the territory of military bases and other institutions of our country.
Seventh, the need to have knowledge sufficient to understand what is happening, including knowledge of special terminology. Such knowledge also includes an understanding of military, medical and other necessary terminology, the system of euphemisms accepted in a given situation. For example, “cargo-300”, “shahid”, “illegal armed groups”, “mujahid”. It’s not bad if a journalist takes an interest in the basic principles of organizing the life and everyday life of the local population, the peculiarities of religion, and the moral principles of the people among whom he will have to work. Respect for local traditions increases the correspondent’s chances of receiving objective and complete information about what is happening.
2.3 Methods of human self-regulation in extreme conditions
Psychological self-regulation is a conscious, purposeful dynamic change in individual psychophysiological functions and the mental state as a whole through specially organized mental activity.
Methods of psychological self-regulation are a set of methods and training programs aimed at developing adequate human actions to manage one’s own condition.
Set of methods:
§ neuromuscular relaxation;
§ breathing techniques;
§concentration;
§autotraining;
§meditation;
§ kinesiological gymnastics;
§ individual skills training;
§ group psychological trainings, etc.
The main effects of mental self-regulation:
§ calming effect (elimination of emotional tension)
§ recovery effect (weakening of symptoms of fatigue)
§ activation effect (increased psychophysiological reactivity).
Relaxation. Relaxation exercises.
Most of us are already so accustomed to mental and muscle tension that we perceive it as a natural state, without even realizing how harmful it is. It should be clearly understood that, having mastered relaxation, you can learn to regulate this tension, suspend and relax of your own free will, at your own request.
So, it is advisable to perform relaxation gymnastics exercises in a separate room, without prying eyes. The goal of the exercises is to completely relax the muscles. Complete muscle relaxation has a positive effect on the psyche and reduces mental balance. Mental autorelaxation can cause a condition ideological emptiness . This means a momentary disruption of mental and mental connections with the outside world, which gives the necessary rest to the brain. Here we must be careful not to overdo it with detachment from the world.
Progressive muscle relaxation by J. Jacobson
We strongly recommend this technique, at least to begin with, to anyone who has difficulty relaxing their muscles. According to its author, the pressing problems of a person living in the civilized world are excessive haste, anxiety and an excess of reasons to which he is forced to react. Under these conditions, physical and psychological stress leads to overexertion. It tends to be extended over time and accumulate. Since our soul and body are a single whole, neuromuscular tension contributes to increased mental stress and irritability. If a person, being in such a state, tries to relax, he often achieves the completely opposite result. General relaxation (especially experienced psychologically) is possible only with relaxation of all skeletal muscles (APPENDIX No. 2).
Concentration.
Inability to concentrate is a factor closely related to stress. For example, most working women perform three roles at home: housewife, wife and mother. Each of these functions requires concentration, utmost attention and, naturally, complete dedication from a woman. Multiple lack of concentration occurs. Each of these three functions causes a number of impulses that distract a woman’s attention from the activity currently being performed and can cause a stressful situation. Such tearing into pieces day after day ultimately leads to exhaustion, mainly mental. In this case, concentration exercises are simply irreplaceable. They can be done anywhere and anytime during the day. To begin with, it is advisable to study at home: early in the morning, before leaving for work (study), or in the evening, before going to bed, or - even better - immediately after returning home (APPENDIX No. 3).
Autoregulation of breathing.
Under normal conditions, no one thinks or remembers breathing. But when, for some reason, deviations from the norm occur, it suddenly becomes difficult to breathe. Breathing becomes difficult and heavy during physical exertion or a stressful situation. And vice versa, when they are very frightened, tensely expecting something, people involuntarily hold their breath (hold their breath).
A person has the opportunity, by consciously controlling his breathing, to use it to calm down, to relieve tension - both muscular and mental, thus, autoregulation of breathing can become an effective means of combating stress, along with relaxation and concentration (APPENDIX No. 4).
Meditation.
Meditation techniques can be used effectively for self-regulation purposes. Depending on the tasks set, the text of the meditations can be focused on relaxation, activation, a sense of strength, integrity, etc. (APPENDIX No. 5).
Ideomotor training.
Since any mental movement is accompanied by micromovements of the muscles, it is possible to improve action skills without actually performing them. At its core, ideomotor training is a mental replay of the upcoming activity. For all its benefits (saving effort, material costs, time), this method requires the student to take a serious attitude, the ability to concentrate, mobilize the imagination, and the ability not to be distracted throughout the entire training.
The psychologist conducting this training must have a clear idea of the situation or action being played out before it begins. You can even compose a text describing the situation in advance. Paying special attention to creating an emotional background (APPENDIX No. 6).
Kinesiology.
Conclusions to Chapter 2
In the second chapter, we examined the specifics of a journalist’s work in extreme situations, as well as preparation for extreme conditions. We can summarize that a journalist who has to perform professional duties in conditions of danger must have maximum information about the country or region, the specific area where he is going, have an idea of the economy, political and geographical structure, ethno-religious characteristics of the population, as well as the background conflict or preconditions for an accident.
In the second chapter, they characterized the most important methods of self-regulation for overcoming a person’s psychological stress in extreme conditions.
CONCLUSION
So, the main problem of extreme conditions is adaptation. Mental re-adaptation in extreme conditions, disadaptation and readaptation to ordinary living conditions are subject to a natural alternation of stages.
Analysis of the stages of mental readaptation, readaptation and disadaptation under the influence of psychogenic factors revealed the following. Regardless of whether a person has to undergo a test of neuropsychic stability, or perform a parachute jump, or fly into space, etc., in all cases a “preparatory stage” is clearly distinguished. At this stage, a person collects information that allows him to form an idea of extreme conditions, understands the tasks that he will have to solve in these conditions, masters professional skills, “gets used to” role functions, develops skills that ensure joint operator activity, and establishes a system of relationships with others members of the group.
The closer in time a person approaches the barrier separating ordinary living conditions from extreme ones (“stage of initial mental stress”), and to another barrier that separates unusual conditions of existence from ordinary living conditions (“stage of final mental stress”), the stronger the mental stress tension, expressed in painful experiences, in a subjective slowdown in the passage of time, in sleep disturbances and vegetative changes. Among the reasons for the increase in mental tension when approaching these barriers, information uncertainty, anticipation of possible emergency situations and mental replay of appropriate actions when they occur are clearly visible.
To overcome a psychological barrier, a person is in a state of mental tension, caused by the need to suppress subcortical emotions by volitional effort. Overcoming a psychological barrier, especially one associated with a threat to life, entails a state of emotional resolution, which is based on the removal of the inhibitory influence of the cortex on the subcortex and the induction of excitation in it. With each repeated overcoming of a psychological barrier, emotional reactions are smoothed out and stenosed. This is due to a fairly complete information supply, confidence in the material part, in the means of rescue and in the correctness of one’s actions in the event of emergency situations.
In this work, we examined methods of self-regulation that will help relieve mental stress for a person working in extreme conditions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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APPLICATION
APPENDIX No. 1
To start the exercises, you need to take the starting position: lying on your back, legs apart, feet turned toes outward, arms lying freely along the body (palms up). The head is slightly thrown back. The whole body is relaxed, eyes are closed, breathing through the nose.
Here are examples of some relaxation exercises.
Lie quietly for about 2 minutes, eyes closed. Try to imagine the room you are in. First, try to mentally walk around the entire room (along the walls), and then make a path along the entire perimeter of the body - from head to heels and back.
Pay close attention to your breathing, passively aware that you are breathing through your nose. Mentally note that the inhaled air is slightly colder than the exhaled air. Focus on your breathing for 1-2 minutes. Try not to think about anything else.
Take a shallow breath and hold your breath for a moment. At the same time, sharply tense all your muscles for a few seconds, trying to feel the tension throughout your body. As you exhale, relax. Repeat 3 times.
Then lie quietly for a few minutes, relaxing and focusing on the feeling of the heaviness of your body. Enjoy this pleasant feeling.
Now perform exercises for individual parts of the body - with alternating tension and relaxation.
Exercise for the leg muscles. Tighten all the muscles of your legs at once - from your heels to your hips. Hold the tense state for a few seconds, trying to feel the tension, and then relax the muscles. Repeat 3 times.
Then lie quietly for a few minutes, completely relaxed and feeling the weight of your relaxed legs.
Register all environmental sounds in your consciousness, but do not perceive them. The same applies to thoughts, however, do not try to overcome them, you just need to register them.
The following exercises are identical to the exercise described above, but apply to other muscles of the body: gluteal muscles, abdominal muscles, chest muscles, arm muscles, facial muscles (lips, forehead).
In conclusion, mentally go for a run over all the muscles of the body - is there even the slightest tension left somewhere? If yes, then try to remove it, since relaxation should be complete.
When completing relaxation exercises, take a deep breath, hold your breath and, for a moment, tense the muscles of the whole body: as you exhale, relax the muscles. After this, lie on your back for a long time - calmly, relaxed, breathing evenly, without delays. You have regained faith in your strength, are able to overcome a stressful situation - and a feeling of inner peace arises. After completing these exercises, you should feel rested, full of strength and energy.
Now open your eyes, then close them a few times, open them again and stretch sweetly after a pleasant awakening. Sit down very slowly, smoothly, without jerking. Then, just as slowly, without sudden movements, stand up, trying to maintain a pleasant feeling of internal relaxation for as long as possible.
Over time, these exercises will be performed faster than at the beginning. Later you can relax your body when needed.
APPENDIX No. 2
The training should be carried out in a lying position: it is advisable that you are not disturbed during the training. This refers to active actions - spouses, children, neighbors, etc., who came to ask something and then immediately leave, continue to do your own thing. Sounds that do not carry information and represent a more or less one-dimensional background sound (the ticking of a clock, the noise of a refrigerator, the hum of trams passing by, etc.), as a rule, do not cause concern. If they bother you, it is enough to say to yourself at the beginning of each exercise: “The surrounding sounds do not interest me, they are indifferent to me, they do not bother me” (the phrase is formulated individually, according to your taste).
The “lying place” for exercise should be wide enough so that you can freely place your arms next to your body. If you have problems with the spine, place a pillow under your head, and, if necessary, under your lower back. In a word, position yourself in such a way that you feel comfortable lying on your back with your arms extended along your body. Nothing should weigh on you. Your arms or legs should not go numb. Clothes are loose and do not restrict movement. Temperature is also important: you should be neither hot nor cold. In the latter case, you should cover yourself with a light blanket.
Before starting each exercise, make yourself comfortable in a lying position on your back. The arms lie motionless along the body, palms down, legs slightly apart. Lie quietly and slowly close your eyes. The slower you close them, the faster you will achieve calm.
Relaxation of arm muscles.
Exercise No. 1. Lie quietly in the starting position for about 5 minutes. Then bend your left hand at the wrist so that your palm becomes vertical, hold it in this position for several minutes; the forearm remains motionless. Observe the feeling of tension in the muscles of your forearm. Relax your hand, allowing your hand to fall onto the blanket under its own weight. Now your hand cannot help but be relaxed - after such muscle tension, relaxation is a physiological need. For a few minutes, notice the feeling of relaxation in your hand and forearm. Repeat this exercise again. Then spend half an hour at rest. The most important thing is to learn to recognize feelings of tension and relaxation.
Exercise No. 2. The next day, repeat the previous exercise. After the second relaxation of your hand, bend it at the wrist away from you (that is, differently than before), with your fingers down. The remaining time is up to an hour - relax.
Exercise No. 3. Today you are resting. Do only relaxation, while paying attention to the sensations in your left hand (is it relaxed or, from time to time, do you feel tension in it?).
Exercise No. 4. Let’s add to the first and second exercises the experience with the elbow joint flexor. Bend your left arm at the elbow at an angle of 30 degrees, that is, lift it from the blanket. Repeat this operation three times for about 2 minutes, followed by relaxation for several minutes. Relax for the rest of the hour.
Exercise No. 5. Repeat all previous exercises. Then we will train the triceps. You will achieve tension in this muscle if, placing a stack of books under your forearm, you forcefully press on them with your lying hand. Alternate relaxation and tension three times (for relaxation, move your hand away from your body, behind the books you use as an aid). Relax for the rest of the hour.
Exercise No. 6. An hour of repetition. Do the four exercises you know for your left hand.
Exercise No. 7. This exercise will show you how successfully you have mastered all the previous ones. Your task is to lie with your arms calmly extended along your body. You will achieve tension without moving your left hand, solely by concentrating your attention on it. Focus on tension for about half a minute, then release it into relaxation. Repeat this several times. Relax again for the rest of the hour.
In the future, do the same with your right hand (that is, seven exercises in total).
Relaxation of leg muscles.
You can start by repeating exercises for the arm muscles, but this is not at all necessary. If you have already learned to recognize tension and relaxation in each muscle group and are able to control these processes, then you can immediately begin relaxation. So, relax your whole body, you will train only your legs (first the left, then the right).
Exercise No. 1. Bend your leg at the knee - tense the muscles in the upper leg and below the knee. We train in a threefold alternation of tension and relaxation.
Exercise No. 2. And now, on the contrary, we bend the limb with the toe towards us. Calf tension and relaxation.
Exercise No. 3. Tension and relaxation in the upper thigh - the trained leg hangs off the bed (sofa, etc.), thereby achieving tension. Then return your leg to the starting position and focus on relaxing.
Exercise No. 5. Tension in the hip joint and abdomen - lift your leg so that only the hip joint is flexed.
Exercise No. 6. Tension of the gluteal muscles - placing several books under your knee, press hard on them.
Discharge these six exercises with one or two repetition sessions, or provide one session devoted exclusively to relaxation.
Relaxation of the trunk muscles.
Exercise No. 1. Abdominal muscles - perform as follows: either consciously draw the stomach into ourselves, or slowly rise from a lying position to a sitting position.
Exercise No. 2. Muscles located along the spine - tension is achieved by arching and bending in the lower back (while lying on your back).
Exercise No. 3. Muscles of the respiratory system. Before starting the exercise, it is recommended to do about half an hour of general relaxation. Then take a series of deep breaths and exhalations. At the same time, you will constantly feel the tension that arises in the chest when you inhale (it is possible that at first you will only notice the tension under the sternum; thanks to training, you will easily be able to recognize it in other parts of the chest). Once you understand the general pattern of tension during deep breathing, you will be able to identify it during normal breathing. The purpose of this exercise is not to control breathing (as in a number of other relaxation techniques), rather on the contrary - we are talking about freeing this process from the arbitrary influence of volitional factors, so that it functions absolutely spontaneously.
Exercise No. 4. Relaxation of the shoulder muscles. Involves the acquisition of several skills. By crossing your arms outstretched forward, you will fix the tension in the front of the chest; by rotating the shoulders back - tension between the shoulder blades, by lifting them - tension on the sides of the neck and in the upper part of the shoulders themselves. Tension in the left side of the neck is achieved by tilting the head to the left, in the right - to the right. It is fixed in the front and back sides when the head is tilted forward and backward. This shoulder relaxation exercise can be done in one step, but it can also be done in stages. Generally, trunk relaxation exercises should be carried out for about a week (if you find it necessary to consolidate some skills, in this case, consider classes devoted exclusively to relaxation).
Relaxation of the eye muscles.
Exercise No. 3. Tension of the extraocular muscles - in this case we feel tension in the eyeball. With our eyes closed, we look right, left, up, down. We train until we are able to clearly recognize tension, and thereby get rid of it (that is, relax these muscles).
Exercise No. 4. Having mastered the previous exercise, open your eyes and watch what happens when you look from the ceiling to the floor and vice versa. Feel the tension and relaxation.
Relaxation of facial muscles.
Exercise No. 1. Gritting my teeth. Observe in every detail the tension that accompanies this. Relax. Repeat the exercise several times.
Exercise No. 2. Open your mouth. What muscles tensed during this? You should feel tension in front of your ears, but more deeply.
Exercise No. 3. Bare your teeth, watch the tension in your cheeks. Relax.
Exercise No. 4. Round your mouth as if to say “oh!”, feel the tension, then relax your lips.
Exercise No. 5. Moving your tongue back, watch the tension and relax.
Relaxation of mental activity.
A quarter of an hour after complete relaxation, imagine (with your eyes closed) that you see the ceiling and floor of the room in which you are. If what you imagine is effective, you will also feel the muscle tension that you would experience when performing this exercise “in reality.” Relax for five to ten minutes. Then imagine a wall to your left and to your right. The goal is to develop the ability to evoke an intense mental image, and thereby tension in the corresponding muscle groups.
Later (again after relaxation), imagine that a car is driving past you. You can practice in a similar way with any moving objects: you can imagine that a train is moving, an airplane or bird is flying, a ball is rolling, etc. Once you feel the tension in your eyes when imagining moving objects, focus on imagining the tension in your eye muscles when “observing” stationary objects, for example, imagine yourself reading a book. This approach leads to “clearing thoughts” - already during or after the exercise you will feel that your thoughts have calmed down, have stopped bothering you, none of them flash in your brain.
Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation Timeline.
The author himself considers the lines below to be advisory rather than mandatory. In any case, they are convenient to navigate: most people believe that learning is progressing too slowly if the very next day they do not master what they have learned perfectly.
Therefore, we present the Jacobson scale below:
Left hand.............................................an hour for 6 days
Right hand................................................ ........................ Same
Left leg....................................for an hour for 9 days
Right leg................................................ ........................ Same
Torso........................................................ ........................... 3 days
Neck................................................. .................................... 2 days
Forehead................................................. ...................................... 1 day
Brows................................................. .................................. 1 day
Eyelids........................................................ .................................... 1 day
Eyes.............................................by hour for 6 days
Cheeks................................................. ....................................1 day
Jaws........................................................ ...............................1 day
Mouth................................................. ........................................1 day
Language................................................. ......................................2 days
Imaginary conversations................................................... .. 6 days
Mental images.............................for an hour during the week
APPENDIX No. 3
Inability to concentrate is a factor closely related to stress. For example, most working women perform three roles at home: housewife, wife and mother. Each of these functions requires concentration, utmost attention and, naturally, complete dedication from a woman. Multiple lack of concentration occurs. Each of these three functions causes a number of impulses that distract a woman’s attention from the activity currently being performed and can cause a stressful situation. Such tearing into pieces day after day ultimately leads to exhaustion, mainly mental. In this case, concentration exercises are simply irreplaceable. They can be done anywhere and anytime during the day. To begin with, it is advisable to study at home: early in the morning, before leaving for work (study), or in the evening, before going to bed, or - even better - immediately after returning home.
So, let’s outline the approximate order of performing concentration exercises.
Try to ensure that there are no spectators in the room where you plan to practice.
Sit on a stool or regular chair - just with your side to the back so as not to lean on it. Under no circumstances should the chair have a soft seat, otherwise the effectiveness of the exercise will decrease. Sit as comfortably as possible so that you can remain still for a certain amount of time.
Place your hands loosely on your knees, close your eyes (they should be closed until the end of the exercise so that your attention is not distracted by foreign objects - no visual information).
Breathe through your nose calmly, not strained. Try to focus only on the fact that the air you inhale is colder than the air you exhale.
And now two options for concentration exercises:
a) concentration on the score.
Mentally count slowly from 1 to 10 and focus on this slow count. If at any point your thoughts start to wander and you are unable to concentrate on counting, start counting again. Repeat the count for several minutes.
b) concentration on the word.
Choose a short (preferably two-syllable) word that evokes positive emotions in you or with which pleasant memories are associated. Let it be the name of a loved one, or the affectionate nickname your parents called you as a child, or the name of your favorite dish. If the word is two-syllable, then mentally pronounce the first syllable as you inhale, the second as you exhale.
Focus on his a word that will henceforth become your personal slogan when concentrated. It is this concentration that leads to the desired side result - relaxation of all brain activity.
Perform relaxation and concentration exercises for several minutes. Exercise as long as you enjoy it.
After finishing the exercise, run your palms over your eyelids, slowly open your eyes and stretch. Sit quietly in your chair for a few more moments. Note that you managed to overcome absent-mindedness.
Situations often arise when it is difficult to remember someone’s name or some thought of your own. We often stop confused in the middle of a room or corridor, trying to remember what we went for or what we wanted to do. It is in such cases that short-term concentration on command is recommended - on your word or on your score. In most cases, a word (or thought) that has fallen out of memory will come to mind literally within a moment. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will always succeed.
But with the help of concentration on a word or count, you can remember something forgotten faster than with the help of increased memory tension. With this simple method a person is able to make an effort and overcome himself.
APPENDIX No. 4
A person has the opportunity, by consciously controlling his breathing, to use it to calm down, to relieve tension - both muscular and mental, thus, autoregulation of breathing can become an effective means of combating stress, along with relaxation and concentration.
Anti-stress breathing exercises can be performed in any position. Only one condition is required: the spine must be in a strictly vertical or horizontal position. This makes it possible to breathe naturally, freely, without tension, and fully stretch the muscles of the chest and abdomen. The correct position of the head is also very important: it should sit straight and free on the neck. A relaxed, upright head stretches the chest and other parts of the body upward to a certain extent. If everything is in order and the muscles are relaxed, then you can practice free breathing, constantly monitoring it.
We will not go into detail here about what breathing exercises exist (they are easy to find in the literature), but we will present the following conclusions:
With the help of deep and calm autoregulated breathing, you can prevent mood swings.
When laughing, sighing, coughing, talking, singing or reciting, certain changes in the rhythm of breathing occur compared to the so-called normal automatic breathing. It follows that the method and rhythm of breathing can be purposefully regulated through conscious slowing down and deepening.
Increasing the duration of exhalation promotes calm and complete relaxation.
The breathing of a calm and balanced person is significantly different from the breathing of a person under stress. Thus, by the rhythm of breathing one can determine the mental state of a person.
Rhythmic breathing calms the nerves and psyche; The duration of individual breathing phases does not matter - the rhythm is important.
Human health, and therefore life expectancy, largely depends on proper breathing. And if breathing is an innate unconditioned reflex, then, therefore, it can be consciously regulated.
The slower and deeper, calmer and more rhythmically we breathe, the sooner we get used to this method of breathing, the sooner it will become an integral part of our life.
APPENDIX No. 5
Meditation techniques can be used effectively for self-regulation purposes. Depending on the tasks set, the text of the meditations can be focused on relaxation, activation, a sense of strength, integrity, etc.
Examples of meditations:
Imagine that you are a small float in a huge ocean... You have no goal... a compass... a map... a rudder... oars... You move where the wind takes you... ocean waves... A big wave may cover you for a while... but again and again you emerge to the surface... Try to feel these shocks and surfacing... Feel the movement of the wave... the warmth of the sun... drops of water... the pillow of the sea under you, supporting you... See what other sensations arise for you... when you imagine yourself as a small float in a big ocean...
Focus on your breathing... Air first fills the abdominal cavity... then your chest... lungs... Take a full breath... then several light, calm exhalations... Now calmly... do without special effort new breath... Notice which parts of the body... are in contact with the chair... the floor... in those parts of the body where the surface supports you... try to feel this support a little stronger... Imagine that the chair. ..the floor... rises to support you...
Imagine a big white screen...
Imagine any flower on the screen...
Remove the flower from the screen and place a white rose on the screen instead.
Change the white rose to a red one.. (If you have any difficulties... imagine that you have painted the rose red with a brush...) Remove the rose and imagine the room you are in... all its furnishings... furniture.. . color...
Flip the picture... Look at the room from the ceiling... If this is difficult to do... imagine yourself on the ceiling... looking down on the room and its entire environment...
Now imagine a big white screen again...
Place a blue filter in front of the light source so that the entire screen turns bright blue...
Change the blue color to red...Make the screen green...
Present any colors and images you wish...
You are taking a walk through the grounds of a large castle... You see a high stone wall... covered with ivy, in which there is a wooden door... Open it and enter... You find yourself in an old... abandoned garden... When - then it was a beautiful garden... however, no one has been caring for it for a long time... The plants have grown so much and everything is so overgrown with herbs... that you can’t see the ground... it’s difficult to distinguish the paths... Imagine how you will feel when you start from any part of the garden... weeding... trimming branches... mowing the grass... replanting trees... digging up, watering them... doing everything to return the garden to its former appearance...
After a while, stop... and compare the part of the garden that you have already worked in... with the part that you have not touched yet...
Imagine a small rocky island... far from the continent... At the top of the island... is a tall, firmly placed lighthouse... Imagine yourself as this lighthouse... Your walls are so thick and strong... that even strong winds constantly the winds on the island... cannot sway you... From the windows of your top floor... you day and night... in good and bad weather... send a powerful beam of light that serves as a guide for ships... Remember that energy system that maintains the constancy of your light beam... sliding across the ocean... warning sailors about shoals... being a symbol of safety on the shore... Exercise "Water"
Now try to feel the inner source of light within you, the light that never goes out...
APPENDIX No. 6
The psychologist conducting this training must have a clear idea of the situation or action being played out before it begins.
You can even compose a text describing the situation in advance.
Paying special attention to creating an emotional background.
After this, the psychologist begins to describe the situation.
When conducting ideomotor training, the psychologist is recommended to observe the following principles:
Trainees must create an extremely accurate image of the movements being practiced;
The mental image of movement must necessarily be associated with its muscular-articular feeling, only then will it be an ideomotor representation;
When mentally imagining the movements, you need to accompany it with a verbal description following the leader of the lesson, spoken in a whisper or mentally;
When starting to train a new movement, you need to mentally see it at a slow pace, which can be accelerated in the process of further training;
If during training the body begins to make some movements on its own, this should not be prevented;
Immediately before performing a real action, there is no need to think about its result, since the result displaces from consciousness the idea of how to perform the action.
Ideomotor training helps reduce the impact of the factor of novelty, which leads to faster mastery of new skills, formation of an image of upcoming actions and increases the level of psychological readiness for them.
APPENDIX No. 7
Kinesiology exercises are based on the experience of different cultures and are included in the methodology according to the principle of the “optimal minimum”. Exercises integrate the functioning of the brain and the nervous system as a whole, ensure the speed and intensity of nervous processes, relieve stress, have a positive effect on the emotional system, stabilize and rhythmize the nervous processes of the body.
Exercise "Water"
Stress reduces water levels in the body and leads to cell dehydration. Drink a few sips of water.
Exercise “Brain Buttons”
One hand gently massages the points under the collarbone to the left and right of the sternum, and the other touches the navel.
Exercise "Cross step"
Counter or, conversely, divergent movements of the arms towards the opposite legs.
Exercise "Owl"
Squeeze one shoulder forcefully while simultaneously rotating your head in all directions and blinking your eyes, while pronouncing the sound “U” with each synchronous movement of your head and arm.
Exercise "Duck"
Massage the points in the middle above and below your mouth.
Exercise “Thinking Cap”
Massage your ears with strong and deep strokes.
Exercise “Positive points”
Lightly touch the points located directly above the eyes on the forehead, exactly halfway between the hairline and eyebrows. Before synchronizing at pulse points.
Exercise “Lazy Eights”
With your left hand, at eye level, draw a figure eight in the air lying on its side (infinity sign), looking at the thumbnail. Follow your eyes as you move. Then do the same with your right hand. Then connect your thumbs with an “X” sign.
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Ticket 1. Question 1. Psychology of extreme situations and conditions as a psychological discipline and the reasons for its occurrence.
Psychology of extreme situations - This is one of the areas of applied psychology. It explores problems associated with assessing, predicting and optimizing human mental states and behavior in stressful situations. The complication of modern production caused by the scientific and technological revolution, the constantly increasing pace and rhythm of our life, the constant saturation of it with various information, the increase in production and non-production contacts between people, various types of natural and man-made accidents and catastrophes, and an unstable socio-economic situation in the country often give rise to people have mental tension. The extreme form of its manifestation is stress. Situations and factors leading to its occurrence are called extreme.
When using the concept “extreme” we are not talking about normal, ordinary conditions of activity, but about circumstances significantly different from them. Extreme conditions can be created not only by maximization (overload, overexposure), but also by minimization (underload: lack of information, communication, movements, etc.) of existing factors. Therefore, the effect on a person’s activity and condition in both cases can be the same.
Workers in many professions operate under extreme conditions; pilots, astronauts, firefighters when extinguishing a fire, military personnel when performing combat missions, law enforcement officers during special operations, etc. These professions initially involve working in extreme conditions. However, representatives of many other professions also work in such conditions: drivers, workers in “hot” shops, fishermen, steeplejacks, dispatchers on various types of transport, specialists whose work involves high-voltage currents and explosives, representatives of many operator professions, etc. Moreover the number of such professions and the people employed in them is steadily increasing.
In extreme conditions, a person’s usual mode of work and rest is often disrupted. In severe extreme situations, mental and other overloads reach limits, followed by overwork, nervous exhaustion, disruption of activity, affective reactions, psychogenia (pathological conditions). Extreme situations are dangerous to the life, health, and well-being of people. Extreme situations are increasingly occurring in normal work activities, resulting in so-called occupational stress.
Stress is a concept used to refer to a wide range of human conditions and actions that arise as a response to a variety of extreme influences (stressors). Stressors are usually divided into physiological (pain, hunger, thirst, excessive physical activity, high or low temperature, etc.) and psychological (factors that act through their signaling value, such as danger, threat, deception, resentment, information overload and etc.).
Regardless of the type of stressor, psychologists study the effects they cause at the physiological, psychological and behavioral levels. Usually these consequences are negative. Emotional shifts occur, the motivational sphere is deformed, the course of perception and thinking processes changes, motor and speech behavior is disrupted. A particularly strong disorganizing effect on human activity is produced by emotional stress that has reached the level of affect in one form or another (impulsive, inhibitory or generalizing). The power of affect is such that they are capable of inhibiting any other mental processes. Moreover, affects impose on a person certain stereotypical methods of “emergency exit” from an extreme situation, corresponding to the form of manifestation of affect. However, such methods, formed over millions of years of biological evolution of the species “Homo sapiens” (flight, numbness, uncontrolled aggression), justify themselves only in typical biological conditions, but not in social ones!
Extreme situations in our lives are inevitable, so psychologists in many countries have recently been intensively studying the characteristics of human behavior and the patterns of their activities in extreme conditions. This allows us to draw practical conclusions regarding the training of such people and the organization of their activities.
All this led to the creation of a new scientific direction, which was given the following names by different authors, depending on specific circumstances: psychology of activity in extreme conditions, psychology of work in special conditions, extreme psychology.
Extreme psychology - a branch of psychological science that studies the general psychological patterns of human life and activity in changed (unusual) conditions of existence: during aviation and space flights, scuba diving, staying in hard-to-reach areas of the globe (Arctic, Antarctic, highlands, desert), underground and etc.
Extreme psychology arose at the end of the 20th century, synthesizing specific research in the field of aviation, space, marine and polar psychology.
The object of study is a person whose professional activity takes place in special (complicated, unusual) and extreme conditions of his environment.
The subject of study of the discipline is the psychological patterns of human activity, mental processes, states and personality traits in their relationship with objects and means of activity, with the physical and social environment.
Research in the field of extreme psychology is aimed at improving psychological selection and psychological training for working in unusual living conditions, as well as developing measures to protect against the traumatic effects of psychogenic factors.
Ticket 1. Question 2. Psychological consequences of terrorist attacks.
The problem of terrorism is an acute problem of our time, because... terrorism poses an extreme danger to all humanity. In a peaceful life, people are focused on sociocultural development and strive for peace with each other. Terrorist acts interrupt the usual rhythm of people's lives and cause massive casualties, entail the destruction of material and spiritual values that sometimes cannot be restored, sow hostility between states, provoke wars, mistrust and hatred between social and national groups, which sometimes cannot be overcome during the life of the whole generations.
Terrorist act - a special type of emergency event. One of the main goals of a terrorist act is to spread terror and fear among as many people as possible. Events in recent years show that this goal is most often achieved. It has become obvious that one of the most pressing problems of the modern world is living under the constant threat of a terrorist attack: it can happen at any time and in any place. Chronic feelings of insecurity lead to poor mental and physical health. The possibility of a terrorist attack, along with human exposure to a number of toxic, biological substances and radiation exposure, can be classified as “invisible stress” factors.
terrorist act, Firstly , is characterized by the fact that it has an extreme, sudden, life-threatening nature, breaking almost all the basic illusions of a person. Most often, this entails disorientation of a person to one degree or another, both in psychological and social space.
Second characteristic feature This type of event lies in its violence, in the fact that it occurred due to the “evil intent of certain people.”
Under psychological consequences of terrorism the negative impact on a person’s emotional and mental health should be understood. Victims of a terrorist attack are primarily susceptible to this type of consequences.
Victim of a terrorist attack - a person (or group of persons) who has directly suffered an attack on their fundamental rights by another person (or group of persons) acting consciously.
The psychology of victims of terror consists of five main components. They can be arranged chronologically.
This is fear, replaced by horror, causing either apathy or panic, which can give way to aggression.
Men and women behave differently as victims of terror. Certain behavioral differences are associated with the level of education, the development of intelligence and the level of well-being of a person (the less he has to lose, the greater the tendency to chaotic, unproductive protest). Some time after a terrorist attack, its victims and witnesses retain psychopathological symptoms - primarily in the form of delayed fear, as well as various kinds of phobias and regular nightmares. It should be noted that 40% of terrorist victims have deteriorating mental health. Psychological assistance is required by 20% of rescuers. Also, the consequences of terrorism differ in that several years may pass before the victim realizes that he has mental trauma as a consequence of a terrorist act and seeks help.
Classification of consequences experienced by victims of terrorism :
Uniqueness of the experience: there are few situations in life in which a person experiences the same thing;
The thought of being a pawn in a game beyond their control, beyond their understanding is terrifying.
The victim feels humiliated and worthless;
Sometimes a dependence is established between the victim and the terrorist, and the victim sees his protector in the terrorist (“Stockholm Syndrome”). For the victim, such a connection serves a protective function, alleviating feelings of fear and helplessness. However, after the incident, this addiction can turn into a source of guilt, which can undermine all attempts at treatment;
The situation includes an element of complete surprise, which cannot but cause a strong feeling of helplessness and anxiety.
The consequences of traumatic stress in victims of terrorism are of a different nature and manifest themselves in different ways.
Psychological - decreased self-esteem, level of social adaptation and frustration tolerance; the most characteristic mental state that develops under the influence of traumatic situations, including after a terrorist attack, is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The recent increase in the number of terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation is associated both with an increase in the number of victims directly affected and with an increase in the number of people indirectly related to this, i.e. who witnessed what happened thanks to the media. Developing psychological disorders as a consequence of experiencing the growing threat of terrorism in recent times can acquire the character of a mental epidemic. Along with the “Vietnamese”, “Afghan” and “Chechen” syndromes identified and recognized by psychologists, psychotherapists and doctors, the totality of psychological consequences from the perception of the threat of a terrorist act can be combined into the “threat of a terrorist act” syndrome.
A survey of Russians on the anniversary of the events at the Dubrovka theater center in Moscow confirmed that the fear of terrorist attacks does not leave the population: 30% are “very afraid”, and another 48% are “somewhat afraid” that they or their loved ones may be victims terrorists. Only 28% to one degree or another hope that the Russian authorities will be able to protect the population from new terrorist attacks, 64% do not hope so.
To the question: “WHAT ROLE DID THE MEDIA PLAY IN THIS SITUATION?” 47% of Russians responded that the media “informed people, helped them understand the situation,” 20% said they “willy-nilly interfered with the intelligence services and helped terrorists,” and 17% said that the media “confused people and aroused unnecessary passions.”
Constant coverage of disasters, tragic and criminal events creates a general negative background of uncertainty and anxiety, which is the basis for neurotic and stress disorders. In addition, excessive fixation on negative information in the media creates a certain psychological state, which consists in a feeling of loss of control over circumstances that are significant for one’s own life, which again is the reason for the development of maladjustment. The positive role of the media, in addition to its main task - timely, accurate and objective information about current events - is informing about the possibilities of obtaining medical and psychological help in extreme situations.
Ticket 2. Question 1. Extreme situations.Examples of classifications of problematic, crisis, emergency and traumatic situations.
Situation – a real set of objective-subjective circumstances of a person (group, community), characteristic of his life at some point in time. The structure of the situation includes: situational components (what surrounds the person), personal components (what the person in the situation is like), active (behavioral) components (what the person did, what he is doing, what he intends to do and what the person achieves) .
Extreme situation - a sudden situation that threatens or is subjectively perceived by a person as threatening life, health, personal integrity, and well-being.
Extreme situation - this is a situation in a certain territory that has arisen as a result of an accident, a dangerous natural phenomenon, a catastrophe, a natural or other disaster that may result in human casualties, damage to human health or the environment, significant material losses and disruption of people’s living conditions.
An extreme situation has the following characteristics:
1) suddenness of the onset, 2) a sharp departure from the norm of habitual actions and states; 3) the developing situation is full of contradictions that require prompt resolution; 4) progressive changes in the state of the situation, conditions of activity, elements, connections and relationships, 5) increasing complexity of ongoing processes, 6) transition of the situation into a phase of instability, reaching limits, criticality; 7) the generation of dangers and threats by changes (disruption of activities, death, destruction of systems); increasing tension for the subjects of an extreme situation (in terms of its comprehension, decision-making, response), etc.
Types of extreme situations:
1) objectively extreme situations (difficulties and dangers in them come from the external environment and arise objectively for a person);
2) potentially extreme situations (danger is expressed as a hidden threat);
3) personally provoked extreme situations (the danger is generated by the person himself, his intentional or erroneous choice, behavior);
4) imaginary extreme situations (not dangerous, threatening situations).
Extreme conditions - these are conditions in which a threat to a person’s life, his health or property arises from external objects due to an unplanned (unexpected) change in their condition, leading to the appearance and action of maladaptive factors.
Conditions that place increased demands on a working person are called special (extreme) operating conditions (for example, work in unique conditions associated with danger to life; high “cost” (responsibility) of decisions made; processing large volumes and flows of information (i.e. n. information overload); lack of time to perform required actions; complicated work environment factors)
General signs of an extreme situation:
1. The presence of insurmountable difficulties, awareness of a threat or an insurmountable obstacle to the realization of any specific goals.
2. A state of mental tension and various human reactions to the extremity of the environment, overcoming which is of great importance for him.
3. A significant change in the usual (usual, sometimes even tense or difficult) situation, parameters of activity or behavior, i.e. going beyond the “usual”.
Thus, one of the main signs of an extreme situation is insurmountable obstacles to implementation, which can be considered as an immediate threat to the implementation of a set goal or planned action.
In an extreme situation, a person is confronted by the environment. Extreme situations are associated with noticeably and dramatically changing conditions in which activities take place. There is a danger of failure to complete a task or a threat to the safety of equipment, equipment, or human life.
Extreme situations represent the extreme manifestation of difficult situations and require maximum strain on a person’s mental and physical strength to overcome them.
Human behavior in extreme situations
A person’s life is a series of all kinds of situations, many of which, due to their repetition and similarity, become familiar. Human behavior is brought to the point of automatism, so the consumption of psychophysical and physical forces in such situations is minimized. Extreme situations require a person to mobilize mental and physical resources. A person in an extreme situation receives information about its various elements:
About external conditions;
About your internal states;
About the results of your own actions.
This information is processed through cognitive and emotional processes. The results of this processing influence the behavior of the individual in an extreme situation.
Threat signals lead to an increase in human activity. And if this activity does not bring the expected improvement in the situation, the person is overwhelmed by negative emotions of varying strength. The role of emotions in an extreme situation is different.
Emotions can act as an indicator of extremity and as an assessment of the situation, and as a factor leading to a change in behavior in the situation. And at the same time, it is necessary to remember that emotional experiences are one of the important factors of human behavior in an extreme situation.
As a rule, an extreme situation is generated by objective reasons, but its extremeness is largely determined by subjective components. So:
There may not be an objective threat, but a person or group of people mistakenly perceives the current situation as extreme. Most often this happens due to unpreparedness or a distorted perception of the surrounding reality;
There may be real objective threat factors, but a person does not know about their existence and is not aware of the extreme situation that has arisen;
A person can realize the extremity of the situation, but evaluate it as insignificant, which in itself is already a tragic mistake that can lead to unpredictable consequences;
Finding himself in an extreme situation and not finding a way out of the current situation, having lost faith in the possibility of its resolution, he escapes from reality by activating psychological defense mechanisms;
The situation may be objectively extreme, but having knowledge and experience allows you to overcome it without significant mobilization of your resources.
Thus, a person reacts to an extreme situation depending on how he perceives it and evaluates its significance.
There is another specific human reaction to an extreme situation - mental tension. This is the mental state of a person in an extreme situation, with the help of which a person, as it were, prepares for the transition from one psychophysical state to another, adequate to the current situation.
Forms of tension.
Perceptual (occurs when there are difficulties in perception);
Intellectual (when a person finds it difficult to solve a problem);
Emotional (when emotions arise that disorganize behavior and activity);
Strong-willed (when a person cannot control himself);
Motivational (related to the struggle of motives, different points of view)
Problem situation - this is an intellectual difficulty of a person that arises in the case when he does not know how to explain the emerging phenomenon, fact, process of reality, cannot achieve the goal by the method of action known to him. This prompts the person to seek a new way of explaining or way of acting. A problematic situation is a pattern of productive, cognitive creative activity. It encourages the beginning of thinking, active, mental activity that occurs in the process of posing and solving a problem.
A cognitive need arises in a person when he cannot achieve a goal using the methods of action and knowledge known to him. Thus, the psychological structure of a problem situation includes the following three components: an unknown achieved value or method of action, a cognitive need that motivates a person to intellectual activity, and a person’s intellectual capabilities, including his creative abilities and past experience.
Crisis situation (from the Greek krisis - decision, turning point, outcome) - a situation that requires a person to significantly change his ideas about the world and himself in a short period of time. These changes can be both positive and negative.
Among the events that can lead to a crisis are the death of a loved one, serious illness, separation from parents, family, friends, change in appearance, change in social situation, marriage, sudden changes in social status, etc. Theoretically, life events qualify as leading to a crisis if they “create a potential or actual threat to the satisfaction of fundamental needs...” and at the same time present the individual with a problem “from which he cannot escape and which he cannot resolve in a short time and in the usual way.” ".
4 successive stages of crisis: 1) primary increase in tension, stimulating habitual ways of solving problems; 2) further increase in tension in conditions where these methods are ineffective; 3) an even greater increase in tension, requiring the mobilization of external and internal sources; 4) if everything turns out to be in vain, the fourth stage begins, characterized by increased anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and personality disorganization. A crisis can end at any stage if the danger disappears or a solution is discovered.
Emergency (Emergency) is a situation in a certain territory that has developed as a result of an accident, a dangerous natural phenomenon, a catastrophe, a natural or other disaster that may result in human casualties, damage to human health or the environment, significant material losses and disruption of people’s living conditions
People, being in extreme conditions of an emergency situation, experience psycho-traumatic factors. There is a disturbance in mental activity in the form of reactive (psychogenic) states.
Classification emergency situations:
according to the pace of development
Each type of emergency situation has its own speed of danger spread, which is an important component of the intensity of the emergency event and characterizes the degree of suddenness of the impact of damaging factors. From this point of view, such events can be divided into: sudden (explosions, transport accidents, earthquakes, etc.); rapid (fires, release of gaseous highly toxic substances, hydrodynamic accidents with the formation of breakthrough waves, mudflows, etc.), moderate (release of radioactive substances, accidents on utility systems, volcanic eruptions, floods, etc.); smooth (accidents at wastewater treatment plants, droughts, epidemics, environmental deviations, etc.). Smooth (slow) emergency situations can last many months and years, for example, the consequences of anthropogenic activities in the Aral Sea area.
by scale of distribution
When classifying emergency situations by scale of distribution, one should take into account not only the size of the territory affected by the emergency, but also its possible indirect consequences. These include severe disruptions of organizational, economic, social and other significant connections operating over considerable distances. In addition, the severity of the consequences is taken into account, which even with a small area of emergency can be enormous and tragic.
Local (private) - do not extend territorially and organizationally beyond the boundaries of the workplace or site, a small section of road, estate or apartment. Local emergency situations include emergencies that result in no more than 10 people being injured, or the living conditions of no more than 100 people being disrupted, or material damage amounting to no more than 1 thousand minimum wages.
If the consequences of an emergency are limited to the territory of a production or other facility (i.e., do not go beyond the sanitary protection zone) and can be eliminated by its forces and resources, then these emergencies are called facility-based.
Emergencies , the spread of the consequences of which is limited to the boundaries of a settlement, city (district), region, territory, republic and is eliminated by their forces and means, are called local. Local include emergency situations that resulted in more than 10, but not more than 50, people being injured, or the living conditions of more than 100, but not more than 300 people, being disrupted, or material damage amounting to more than 1 thousand, but not more than 5 thousand minimum wages labor.
Regional emergencies - such emergencies that extend to the territory of several regions (territories, republics) or an economic region. To eliminate the consequences of such emergencies, the combined efforts of these territories, as well as the participation of federal forces, are necessary. Regional emergencies include emergencies in which from 50 to 500 people were injured, or the living conditions of 500 to 1000 people were disrupted, or material damage amounted to from 0.5 to 5 million minimum wages.
National (federal) emergencies cover vast territories of the country, but do not go beyond its borders. The forces, means and resources of the entire state are involved here. They often resort to foreign assistance. National emergencies include emergencies in which more than 500 people were injured, or the living conditions of more than 1,000 people were disrupted, or material damage amounted to more than 5 million minimum wages.
Global (cross-border) emergencies go beyond the country and spread to other states. Their consequences are eliminated through the efforts and means of both the affected states and the international community.
by duration of action:
may be short-term or protracted. All emergencies that result in environmental pollution are protracted;
the nature:
intentional (intentional) and unintentional (unintentional). The former include most national, social and military conflicts, terrorist attacks and others. Natural disasters, by the nature of their origin, are unintentional; this group also includes the majority of man-made accidents and catastrophes.
By source of origin:
– emergencies of a man-made nature; – emergencies of natural origin; – Emergencies of a biological and social nature.
It is advisable to initially divide the entire set of possible emergency situations into conflict and non-conflict situations. Conflict types include military clashes, economic crises, extremist political struggle, social explosions, national and religious conflicts, terrorism. Non-conflict emergencies, in turn, can be classified (systematized) according to a significant number of characteristics that describe phenomena from various aspects of their nature and properties.
Psychotraumatic situation - this is a long-term situation in which many negative impacts accumulate, each of which in itself is not so significant. But when there are a lot of them and they act for a long time, their effect seems to be summed up, and a disease arises.
Psychotraumatic stress - a special form of general stress reaction caused by psychologically traumatic life events for an individual. This is stress of increased intensity, accompanied by mental trauma.
Not every event can cause traumatic stress. Mental trauma is possible in cases where:
The event that occurred is conscious;
The experience disrupts the usual way of life, goes beyond ordinary human experience and causes distress in any person.
Psychotraumatic events change the self-image, value system, concept of the world around us, and change established ideas about ways of existing in the world. These events can be sudden, shocking, or have a long-lasting, hard-to-bear impact, and also combine both of these properties at the same time.
One of the consequences of traumatic stress is mental trauma.
There are different classifications of mental trauma and the situations that cause them. G.K. Ushakov (1987) proposed a classification of mental trauma in terms of their intensity. He identified the following types of psychotrauma:
Massive (catastrophic), sudden, acute, unexpected, stunning, one-dimensional: a) highly relevant for the individual; b) not relevant to the individual;
Situational acute (subacute), unexpected, multifaceted involving the personality, associated with the loss of social prestige, with damage to self-affirmation;
Prolonged situational, leading to a conscious need for persistent mental overstrain (depleting): a) caused by the very content of the situation; b) caused by an excessive level of aspirations of the individual in the absence of objective opportunities to achieve a goal in the normal rhythm of activity.
V.A. Guryev (1996) divides psychotraumas according to the strength of their impact on the individual, highlighting the following grounds.
Super strong, sharp, sudden: a) presence at death; b) murder; c) rape.
Subjective, super-strong, acute (super-significant for the individual): a) death of close relatives (mother, father); b) unexpected departure from the family of a beloved parent (for children);
3. Sharp, strong, super strong, following one after another. For example: the death of a parent, the departure of a spouse, adultery, criminal prosecution of a child.
4. Psychogenic traumas underlying post-traumatic stress disorders, which are distinguished by a certain originality. This is a stressful event (short-term or long-term) of an extremely threatening or catastrophic nature, which can cause a state of distress in almost any person (natural disasters, war, accidents, being a victim of torture).
5. Defined as key experiences in relation to any personality characteristics (anxious, suspicious, hysterical, sensitive, etc.).
6. Combined with deprivation (emotional or sensory). Deprivation (English deprivation - deprivation, loss) - insufficiency of satisfying any human needs.
7. Chronic mental trauma (dysfunctional family, closed institutions, army conditions).
8. Combination of acute and chronic psychogenic injuries.
EAT. Cherepanova classified psychotraumatic situations according to the degree of increase in symptoms of pathological grief and the development of post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome:
1. Expected loss for which a person is prepared;
2. Sudden expected loss;
3. Information about unexpected loss: a) sudden death, illness; b) accident, catastrophe, war; c) murder, suicide.
4. Presence at an unexpected loss: a) sudden death, illness; b) murder, suicide.
5. Unexpected loss in situations where a person injured in an accident, disaster or war survives.
The nature of mental trauma and the level of stress of a traumatic situation depends on the strength of the traumatic impact.
Psychotraumatic effects on Yu.A. Alexandrovsky - impact caused by weakening of the activity or integrity of the individual barrier of mental adaptation. If the individual barrier to mental adaptation is weakened, a decrease in its level leads to psychogenic disorders.
Ticket 2. Question 2. Psychological characteristics of the debriefing method.
Debriefing, psychological debriefing - psychological conversation with a person who has experienced an extreme situation or psychological trauma. The purpose of debriefing is to reduce the psychological damage caused to the victim by explaining to the person what happened to him and listening to his point of view.
The term “psychological debriefing” refers to a crisis intervention designed to reduce and prevent trauma-induced stress reactions in normal people who are experiencing extreme stress. The goal is to prevent the development of persistent consequences of emotional trauma by creating opportunities for conscious assessment at the cognitive level and emotional processing of the traumatic event.
Debriefing after terrorist attacks, as well as in natural disaster sites, is part of the first aid program and helps victims survive situations of extreme fear, trauma, extreme discomfort, property damage, or the loss of friends and loved ones. The purpose of the psychological interview is to reduce the likelihood of post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological problems by providing an opportunity to talk, “rejecting memories by verbalizing them.”
Methods and structure for crisis debriefing vary depending on the nature and scale of the tragedy. For example, in places of terrorist attacks, catastrophes and natural disasters, multi-level debriefing is used, in which psychologists and rescuers working directly at the scene of the event subsequently receive psychological help from their colleagues at the “second level”, etc. In another example, debriefing released prisoners of war with signs of Stockholm syndrome will be different from debriefing hostages of a political terrorist attack with the same signs of Stockholm syndrome.
Debriefing is most effective if it is carried out before the administration of tranquilizers and before the victims are given the opportunity to sleep (that is, on the first day), if there are opportunities for this and a sufficient number of qualified specialists capable of conducting debriefing. In cases where debriefing is postponed for one reason or another, consolidation of memory traces occurs, accompanied by a number of psychopathological phenomena. However, this does not reduce the independent importance of methodologically sound debriefing at subsequent stages. One specialist can competently conduct no more than 5-6 (maximum 10) individual debriefings per day, which determines the calculation of the forces and means of psychological emergency response services.
Debriefing is one of the most common forms of group prevention of professional stress among extreme specialists. I would like to note that in many departments of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations there are intuitively found forms that resemble debriefing. This is the practice of “debriefing”. To most effectively minimize the undesirable psychological consequences of occupational stress, strict adherence to the debriefing procedure is necessary.
The debriefing process usually consists of three main parts: “ventilation” of feelings in the group and assessment of stress by the leader; a detailed discussion of changes in perception, behavior, well-being during the work process, then psychological support; providing information and mobilizing resources, and planning further work.
Traditionally, the debriefing is conducted by a psychologist; in some cases, the leader can be an authoritative and trained psychologist.
Debriefing as a method of psychological intervention is gradually becoming a routine procedure in many countries, although its effectiveness has not yet been proven. In fact, there is much evidence that such psychological surveys are not only ineffective, but also harmful. In March 2007, the American journal Perspectives on Psychological Science added crisis debriefing to the list of procedures that can cause harm to victims.
Optimal debriefing start time – no later than 48 hours from the moment of the emergency. It should also be noted that debriefing is a preventive method and its purpose is to minimize possible symptoms of stress disorders or PTSD. The optimal group composition is no more than 15 people.
Debrief structure:
Extreme conditions are conditions that cause reactions of the body and personality that are on the verge of pathological disorders.
In extreme situations, mental trauma (or "an event that goes beyond normal experience and is a severe stress for anyone person") maybe personal And general(war, disaster); be called by natural forces or accident.
Victims can be not only those directly affected, but also their family members, witnesses, neighbors, rescuers, hospital and morgue personnel.
The likelihood of developing immediate and long-term negative consequences of an extreme situation is influenced by a number of factors:
1. Features of the situation (suddenness, duration, pathogenic severity, especially the immediate probability of death).
2. Certain personal manifestations:
a) identifying oneself with the victim;
b) hereditary burden of mental illness;
c) increased mental vulnerability (collective term) - this is emotional instability, uncertainty, increased anxiety, alcohol abuse, a feeling of helplessness, external locus of control;
d) borderline mental pathology (presence of neuroses, psychopathic character traits);
e) the presence of mental trauma in the past, especially recent (within the last year) traumatic events in personal life;
f) receiving mental trauma in childhood or old age (over 50-60 years old).
3. Uncertainty of long-term consequences.
4. Insufficient social adaptation (both at the time of the extreme situation and in the long term).
5. Late treatment or lack thereof.
Mental trauma is more pathogenic for persons with organic brain insufficiency and somatic patients. Repeated mental traumas are more pathogenic than primary ones. Mental trauma is more pathogenic against the background of the well-being of others. The effect of mental trauma is indirect; it is refracted through personal values and characteristics (the consequences of the same event for different people can be different).
Psychologists at the National Institute of Mental Health (USA) distinguish 4 phases of psychological reactions during natural and social disasters (which are more typical in cases where a person has not been subjected to serious physical violence):
1st - "heroic"- lasts several hours at the time of the disaster. Naturally, conscious selfish, cowardly behavior can also be observed here, but most often - altruism, heroic behavior caused by the desire to help people escape and survive. The state is determined by the severity (significance) of the disaster, refracted through the individual characteristics of the individual, but a person’s behavior in extreme situations follows from his everyday behavior.
Clinically, from the standpoint of medical psychology and psychiatry, we can talk about the following psychopathological phenomena. Immediately after acute exposure, when signs of danger appear, there is confusion and a lack of understanding of what is happening.
During this short period simple fear reaction activity increases moderately, movements become clear and economical, muscle strength increases, which helps many people move to a safe place. Speech disorders are limited to acceleration of its tempo, stuttering, the voice becomes loud, ringing, will, attention, and thought processes are mobilized. Memory impairments come down to a decrease in fixation of the environment, unclear memories of what is happening around; however, one’s own actions and experiences are remembered. A change in the concept of time is characteristic: its flow slows down, the duration of this acute period seems to be increased several times.
At complex fear reactions First of all, more pronounced movement disorders are noted. Nausea, dizziness, frequent urination, chill-like tremors, fainting, and miscarriages in pregnant women are common. The perception of space changes: the distance between objects, their sizes and shapes are distorted. Sometimes the surroundings seem as if “unreal”, and this state drags on for several hours after exposure. Kinesthetic illusions (feelings of earth shaking, flying, swimming, etc.) can also persist for a long time.
With a simple and complex reaction of fear, consciousness is slightly narrowed; in most cases, contact is maintained, accessibility to external influences, selectivity of behavior, the ability to independently get out of a difficult situation and provide assistance to others.
Conditions occupy a special place panic. When they develop simultaneously in several people, a mutual influence effect is possible, leading to massive induced emotional disorders, which are accompanied by “animal” fear. Individual panic reactions come down to affectively - shock, lasting from several minutes to several hours. In severe cases, they manifest themselves as clouding of consciousness followed by amnesia. When they occur, either meaningless motor activity is observed, when people literally run back and forth, only preventing others from providing real assistance to the victims, or motor inhibition up to complete immobility. At the same time, there is no productive contact with the victims; they do not comply with the simplest requests and instructions.
2nd phase - "Honeymoon"- occurs after a disaster and lasts from a week to six months. Those who survive feel a sense of pride that they overcame all dangers and survived. The victims hope and believe that all their problems will be safely resolved.
Stage "disappointment" usually lasts from 2 months to 2 years. Strong feelings of disappointment, anger, and indignation arise as a result of the collapse of various hopes.
4th phase - "restoration"- begins when survivors realize that they need to improve their lives and solve problems themselves, and take responsibility for completing these tasks.
M.M. Reshetnikov and S.V. Chermyanin, based on the experience of liquidating the earthquake in Armenia (1988) and the disaster in Ufa (1989), identified the following stages of the period of impact and the first stages of post-impact, which they called “the period of acute emotional reactions ":
Stage of vital reactions- lasts about 15 minutes. Behavioral reactions are completely subordinated to the imperative of preserving one’s own life; short-term numbness or motor agitation are possible.
Stage of acute psycho-emotional shock with the phenomena of supermobilization. Lasts 3-5 hours and is characterized by general mental stress, extreme mobilization of psychophysiological resources, heightened perception and increased speed of thought processes, manifestation of reckless courage, especially when saving loved ones. About 30% of the victims noted that during this period they experienced an increase in performance and an increase in physical strength by 1.5-2 times. At the same time, during this period, a significant number of people may experience panic reactions and disturbances in the adequacy of behavior.
Stage of psychological demobilization. It occurs 6-12 hours after the disaster and lasts up to 3 days. Characterized by a significant deterioration in well-being and mental state with a predominance of feelings of confusion, despair, depression, etc. There is a high probability of developing panic reactions. Most victims note the onset of this stage when they first see the bodies of the dead, when they become aware of the scale of the tragedy.
Resolution stage. Observed 3-12 days after the disaster. There is a gradual stabilization of mood and well-being, but a reduced emotional background remains, contacts with others are limited, hypomimia (mask-like appearance of the face), and slowness of movements are noted.
Primary recovery stage begins 10-12 days after the incident. This is most clearly manifested in behavioral reactions: interpersonal communication is activated, the emotional coloring of speech is normalized, and dreams are restored.
Stage of delayed reactions. It is characterized by the appearance of some psychopathological syndromes and psychosomatic disorders 30-40 days after a natural disaster.
In 1980 The term “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) was proposed to refer to the negative consequences of stressful situations. It is within the framework of PTSD that it is legitimate to consider the so-called “Vietnamese”, “Afghan”, “Chechen” syndromes, severe cases of radiation phobia, combat fatigue, and a group of social stress disorders. PTSD develops in approximately 20-25% of those exposed to stress, but maintaining their physical health (not seriously injured or disabled). Among the wounded and disabled, the prevalence of these disorders is about 40%. In general, manifestations of PTSD are observed in 1-3% of the total population (about 1.5 times more often in women), and individual components of this disorder are observed in 5-15% of the population. The number of patients with manifestations of PTSD in Russia is 6-6.5 million people.
Main manifestation of PTSD:
1) A person’s constant return to experiences associated with the event that traumatized him (this group of symptoms is the most significant):
Intrusive, constantly recurring memories of experiences that cause unpleasant emotional experiences;
Constantly recurring dreams and nightmares associated with a traumatic event;
The so-called “flashback” effect is a sudden (like a strike, a flash of lightning) unmotivated by any external circumstances resurrection of a traumatic situation and a person suddenly begins to feel that he is, for example, in a combat situation (either in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Chechnya) and he behaves appropriately for a few minutes;
Outbreaks of negative emotional states provoked by any events associated with the circumstances that caused the trauma or similar in any way to them, which is one of the reasons for frequent suicides.
2) A person’s persistent desire to avoid everything that may even remotely remind him of the trauma:
Trying to avoid any thoughts or situations that evoke memories of the trauma;
Inability to reproduce in memory the basic, important elements of a traumatic situation (psychogenic amnesia);
Noticeable loss of previous interests and hobbies;
A feeling of alienation, detachment from others with the formation of a kind of withdrawal from the surrounding real world;
A noticeable decrease in positive emotional experiences (for example, feelings of love, joy); a depressive mood background contributes to frequent alcoholism, use of various psychoactive substances and, again, suicidal attempts;
Uncertainty about the future (dominance of thoughts about the impossibility of making a career, getting married, having children).
3) Manifestations of increased excitability that were absent before the injury:
Increased irritability or angry outbursts;
Difficulty concentrating when necessary;
Hypervigilance and sharp reactions to sudden stimuli;
Somato-vegetative disorders in situations reminiscent of psychological trauma.
Such clinical manifestations are combined with changes in the electroencephalogram, changes in the reactivity of the parasympathetic nervous system, and neuroendocrine changes (in particular, disturbances in the metabolism of endogenous opioids and the sympathetic-adrenal system). PTSD may have an organic basis; EEG abnormalities are similar to those in endogenous depression.
Psychological models explain the development of PTSD in different ways.
Psychoanalytic model proceeds from the fact that mental trauma actualizes a pre-existing subconscious conflict that arose in childhood.
Cognitive theory suggests that a person is unable to psychologically process serious mental trauma. The person continues to experience the trauma and at the same time tries to avoid this stress; There are periods of recognition and denial of a traumatic event.
Behavioral model establishes the developmental phases of PTSD. First, mental trauma is associated with specific deeds or thoughts that evoke memories of it, and then indirect ones; then the person tries to avoid both direct and indirect situations that evoke memories, but he fails.
A favorable prognosis occurs when:
rapid onset and short-lived symptoms;
good physical and mental health before the onset of PTSD;
absence of other mental and somatic diseases;
stable social position;
aged 20-40 years;
the presence of social support from society and especially from a group of close people (social compensation for certain categories of victims must be justified, since unjustified compensation creates rental attitudes and contributes to socio-psychological tension).
The strategy of avoiding mention of the injury and repressing it from consciousness is the most appropriate for the acute period, helping to overcome the consequences of a sudden injury. Subsequently, awareness of all aspects of the injury, combined with the restoration of faith in the kindness of others and the value of one’s own personality, becomes an indispensable condition for successful rehabilitation.
Psychotherapy has a major place in the correction of such disorders, but with severe exacerbations of PTSD, the prescription of antidepressants and, in certain cases, tranquilizers is indicated, but it is advisable to limit treatment in time to prevent dependence and chronicity. Given the significant role of increased adrenergic activity in maintaining the symptoms of PTSD, adrenergic blockers such as propranol and clonidine have been successfully used in the treatment of the disorder.
LITERATURE:
Alexandrovsky Yu.A. Borderline mental disorders (Guide for clinicians). - M.: Medicine, 1993.- P.245-276.
Antsiferova L.I. Personality in difficult life conditions: rethinking, transformation of situations and psychological protection // Psychological Journal. - 1994. - T.15, No. 1. - P.3-18.
Kamenchenko P.V. Post-traumatic stress disorder // Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry named after S.S. Korsakov. -1993. - No. 3. - P.95-99.
Health Psychology / Ed. G.S. Nikiforova. - SPb.: Peter. 2003. - 607 p.
Tarabrina N.V., Lazebnaya E.O. Post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome: current state and problems // Psychological Journal. - 1992. - T.13, No. 2. - P.14-29.
Psychohygiene
Psychohygiene is a field of hygiene that develops and implements activities aimed at preserving and strengthening human mental health. Psychohygiene has a special place due to the increased role of psychological factors in human activity and in the development of many diseases.
Previously, a person was most often faced with physical stress, repeated for centuries and to which he adapted by creating equipment for heavy work, but now psychological and social stress come to the fore.
Health is defined not only as the absence of disease, but much more broadly, as physical, psychological and even social well-being, and the initial forms of diseases, the so-called “subnorm”, “pre-disease” states, in which psychological mechanisms play an important role, are increasingly coming into the attention of specialists .
A person’s personality, his psyche, becomes the center in which, as if in focus, the socio-psychological and biological converge. Psychohygiene orients medicine towards taking into account the present and potential reserves of the individual involved in the struggle for health against disease, and towards strengthening the creative sides of the individual.
Psychohygiene is divided into personal (individual) and public (social) psychohygiene. Of greatest importance for mental hygiene are the issues of relationships between individuals and the interaction of the individual with the team.
Psychohygiene solves practical problems primarily through the creation of scientifically based standards and recommendations that regulate the conditions for the normal functioning of a person at work and in everyday life and through sanitary and educational work among the population.
In a unified system of mental hygiene, narrower sections are traditionally distinguished (age-related mental hygiene, mental hygiene of everyday life, work and education, family and sexual life, etc.).
Psychoprophylaxis
Psychoprophylaxis is most often considered as a branch of psychiatry that deals with the development of measures to prevent mental illness and their consequences.
Solving many general preventive problems is a contribution to psychoprophylaxis. For example, the identification and early active treatment of initial forms of syphilis contributed to the virtual disappearance of such mental illnesses as progressive paralysis and cerebral syphilis. Psychoprophylaxis is aimed at preventing the occurrence of mental disorders or their consequences in difficult conditions for the body.
In accordance with the WHO charter, primary, secondary and tertiary psychoprophylaxis are distinguished.
During primary psychoprophylaxis We are talking about activities aimed at preventing mental disorders in mentally healthy people. Primary psychoprophylaxis includes:
fight against infections, injuries, stress;
proper education of the younger generation;
preventive measures regarding family conflicts;
prevention of occupational hazards;
correct professional guidance and selection;
medical and genetic counseling.
Secondary psychoprophylaxis provides for the earliest possible detection of an already begun mental illness, its treatment in order to interrupt the pathological process at its initial stages, to prevent the development of severe forms of the disease and the transition of the course to chronicity.
Under tertiary psychoprophylaxis understand special work with the patient, preventing his disability or reducing its severity.
LITERATURE:
Zharikov N.M., Ursova L.G., Khritinin D.F. Psychiatry. - M.: Medicine, 1989. - P.56-113.
1 The most appropriate term in this case is “existed”, and not “was widely used” or other similar ones. With psychology ignored in Soviet society (and the lack of respect for psychology in the public mentality), medical psychology could not gain widespread recognition and dissemination, although, naturally, research in the field of medical psychology was carried out by domestic authors, but they were quite few in number and strictly regulated and have not been widely put into practice.
2 For example, according to N.D. Lakosina and G.K. Ushakov (1976), the subject of medical psychology is the diverse characteristics of the patient’s psyche and their impact on health and illness, as well as ensuring an optimal psychological climate for examining and treating the patient.
3 According to a simple and quite successful definition by D. Myers (1998), clinical psychology involves the examination, diagnosis and treatment of people experiencing psychological difficulties.
4 To avoid stigmatization in the first place, there is currently a tendency to use relatively vague but “pleasant” terms - for example, instead of “oligophoria” it is preferable to say “persons with learning difficulties”; the medical concept of “syndrome” in psychology most often corresponds to the concept of “complex”; The term "disease" is increasingly being replaced by the term "disorder" or even "problem". A syndrome is a set of symptoms of a disease, repeated in patients with different diseases, united by the unity of genesis and a natural sequence of development.
2014-8 -> Methodological recommendations for the course on the basics of psychosomatics for students majoring in clinical psychology
During the Soviet period, most psychologists studying the problems of personality psychology worked on the image of a “formed person” (through the formation of relationships, through leading activities, etc.).
Currently, special attention is paid to the study of the phenomenon of “supra-situational personal activity” and “subjective activity”. In this regard, the issues of psychological stability of the individual and the behavior of leaders at the level of conscious personal actions are intensively discussed. Such dynamics in the formulation and study of problems are natural. It is associated with the study of personality psychology in its integrity.
The problem of personality development is one of the central problems of modern humanity. It is determined by a person’s awareness of his capabilities, manifested in specific conditions, including extreme ones, and by taking responsibility for the development of himself, his immediate environment, and society. The significance of the problem is qualitatively enhanced if we consider a leader responsible both for himself and those around him, and for solving the problem assigned to him by the state and society. A leader who is not just developed and prepared, but who is aimed at further spiritual, social development and improvement in the professional field can count on adaptive, relatively safe, relatively comfortable and effective activities in extreme conditions. In this regard, the requirements for managers are usually disclosed in developed psychograms, which reflect specific professionally significant personality traits. They are conventionally combined into a number of blocks: motivational and moral (personally significant values, motives, citizenship, honesty, decency, etc.), professional and business (professional competence, vigilance, mobilization, intelligence, creativity, efficiency, etc.) and organizational (assertiveness, efficiency, energy, etc.). In addition, it is necessary to take into account the compensatory capabilities of managers.
Professor of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia A.M. Stolyarenko identified three most important components in the personality structure: the sphere of direction, the operational and modulation spheres 128].
The sphere of orientation (otherwise called the value-motivational sphere), due to its system-forming role, determines the selectivity of its activity and relationships in a person, being responsible for what the person strives for and to what extent it involves the properties of other substructures for the successful implementation of mental activity. It includes all the motivating forces of the individual - his ideals, beliefs, life plans, needs, motives, goals, interests, inclinations, attitudes. The development and balance in the specified components of the leader’s sphere of orientation should be considered as a motivational and semantic component of the potential of his personality. Among the formations of this substructure, the development of such an integral personal characteristic as an individual management concept plays a special role for success in management activities.
The operational sphere includes elements that represent the methods and experiences that a person has and uses to achieve goals.
The main components of this personality substructure should be considered simultaneously: its educational and qualification-professional experience (knowledge, skills, abilities and habits), intellectual and creative, emotional-volitional, communication and organizational abilities. Their development, interconnection and balanced manifestation should be assessed as a component of the professional competence potential of the leader’s personality.
The modulation sphere reflects the presence in a person of specific properties of the nervous system and psychophysical functions, which have a dynamic, but not meaningful impact on mental processes, states and personality traits. Due to the fact that the components of this substructure predetermine psychophysiological resources, manifesting themselves, in particular, in its performance (endurance), they should be considered as a psychodynamic component of the potential of the leader’s personality.
All of these areas turn out to be extremely important for the life of a leader in extreme conditions.
The content of the views of commanders (leaders) of special forces of the Russian internal affairs bodies about
professional competence, mastery of the situation. Heads of civil institutions under normal conditions are focused on other priorities: personal achievements, connections, loyalty, entrepreneurship. As you can see, in extreme conditions, what is more significant for the commander (leader) is not personal achievements and successes, but leadership qualities. Moreover, leadership was identified as a priority by the majority of the surveyed commanders (leaders) of special forces of both special forces and riot police. This is no coincidence. The implementation of leadership qualities by the commander (manager) contributes to the identification of subordinates not only with the general goal of the unit, but also with the unit itself. Thanks to the extraordinary personal qualities and professionalism of the commander, the level of trust in him among the employees of special forces units increases, the desire to follow him arises, conflicts decrease, compatibility and a favorable psychological climate in the unit increase. Therefore, specialists with pronounced leadership characteristics who are able to give a new positive impetus to relationships with subordinates should be appointed to the positions of managers (commanders) in extreme conditions.
The appointment to leadership positions of specialists who have insufficiently developed leadership qualities, with the prospect that they can be developed or psychologically compensated in the process of professional extreme psychological training and professional activity, should be considered as an undesirable exception. In this case, the process of training not only the manager, but also the entire team is significantly enhanced.
The personality of a leader in extreme conditions is determined by her ability to harmoniously combine a system of formal and informal relationships with department specialists and senior management (responsibility, exactingness, exactingness, interpersonal and intergroup sympathies, antipathies). In this case, the analysis of the leader’s position in the group is carried out through such concepts as social status, social role, social expectations, prestige, socio-psychological authority, and implementation of leadership.
To study the general psychological characteristics of a leader in extreme conditions, various tests, questionnaires, questionnaires, etc. are used.
The most successful of them are the California Psychological Questionnaire (CP1 test), with the help of which self-acceptance, interpersonal functioning of commanders (leaders), the manifestation of social inclusion, independence, and leadership are studied; NEO-PI-R test. allowing to diagnose such groups of qualities as neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness; an abbreviated Russian-language version of the test, known as NEO-FFI (developed by S.D. Biryukov) and convenient for express assessment of the psychological potential of employees.
The study of motivational and value characteristics can be carried out using the Rokeach test, thanks to which orientations according to terminal (content) and instrumental (providing) values are studied. Life plans and semantic priorities are identified using the “Meaningful Orientations in Life” test developed by D. A. Leontyev. Based on the indicators of testing professional motivation, commanders who are characterized by motivation to strive for success or motivation to avoid failure can be identified. Of course, in extreme conditions, commanders with the first type of motivation are more successful. Special forces employees have their own system of personally significant psychological values and a specific set of motivational preferences in extreme conditions. Therefore, to identify them, special questionnaires were developed to study significant psychological values, motivation to prepare, activities in extreme conditions and satisfaction with activities. To understand and correct the identified values and motives, in accordance with the realities of extreme conditions, exercises for correcting psychological values can be used: “I am a commander”, “leader-subordinate” (see appendices).
It is important to assess the motivational and semantic potential of a leader not only to study his value orientations, but also the individual management concept used in extreme conditions. It differs from the managerial individual concepts of a leader under normal conditions (V.I. Belozerov, E.P. Klubov, A.V. Uryvaev) both in its elements and content.
As elements of the individual management concept of a leader in extreme conditions, the following should be highlighted:
Meaning-forming and goal-setting mental activity;
Plans for solving emerging and assigned tasks;
Foresight and forecast in solving expected problems;
Activation of management tools and functional units that implement these tools;
Possession of operational information about the state of the unit, each employee, activities, situation and their changes.
Careful selection of specialists and promotion to leadership positions of not only the most competent, but also successful in extreme conditions and reputable is one of the guarantees of their viability, speedy development and further career growth in a new status. Another guarantee is their professional extreme psychological preparedness.
In extreme conditions, for specialists and especially managers, the unfulfillment of personal aspirations and any type of compensation aimed at replacing this unfulfilled™ becomes obvious to the entire environment. This causes the manager to be rejected by the functional group or measures of psychological pressure (mobbing) are applied to him. At first glance, the measures taken by specialists in extreme conditions may seem overly harsh and even inadequate. In this regard, psychologists propose a whole system of measures to prevent this psychological phenomenon. Often these measures are, in extreme conditions, a means of maintaining the integrity and combat effectiveness of the entire team. Despite the unconditional repressiveness of the noted measures and their psycho-traumatic nature, they make it possible to save the life of the subject of the impact.
To study the characteristics of the cognitive sphere and to assess the level of intelligence, a fairly diverse set of tools can be used (a short selection test, Raven's progressive matrices, the Amthauer test, tests for assessing the level of personality creativity by E. Torrance, E. Bonet, A. Melnik).
To study emotional and volitional characteristics, the 16-factor Cattell test, the test for assessing the level of subjective control (USC), the Leary test of interpersonal relationships, the Luscher color choice test, etc. can be used.
The study of the psychodynamic sphere of personality can be carried out using the “reflexometry” method, the RDO test, etc.
To form the operational and psychodynamic sphere for working in extreme conditions, you can use specialized psychotrainings:
Intellectual (for the development of thinking, memory, reflection in tense, critical, extreme situations);
Creativity (imagination, intuition, imaginative perception and processing of information in non-standard conditions);
Communication (level of trust in oneself, group mates, society, communicative and interactive skills, conflict and negotiation competence in extreme conditions);
Emotional-volitional regulation (confident or professional behavior in an extreme situation, optimal performance, psychological regulation, transregulation, meditation, respiratory psychotechnologies, impact on biologically active points).
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