3 keys to mental training for self-improvement

To enjoy a balanced mental life, it is best to promote development by learning to take care of oneself.

Psychology is a discipline that has existed implicitly for centuries, but formally it is barely a hundred years old. Throughout its short life, an infinite number of branches have developed within psychology itself, many complementary to each other but many contradictory. Psychoanalysis, Gestalt or behaviorism would be some of the approaches, but all of them proposed a similar function: solve mental problems..

There is a generally shared conception of psychology as a tool for solving mental problems. In fact, if we type "psychologist" in google images we will find most of the results representing this professional attending visibly affected clients and lying on the classic and outdated couch.

On the one hand, this conception limits the psychologist's work to the clinical setting, and we still have to break down certain barriers when we find psychologists in schools, companies or sports teams, whose work differs substantially from that of the psychologist.The most serious consequence of this conception is that the psychologist's work differs substantially from that of a clinical psychologist. On the other hand, the most serious consequence of this conception is experienced in the consulting room.

Psychology is more than treatment of disorders

The fact is that the vast majority of people who go to a psychologist do so as a last resort, after having been on the edge for a long time, and after a decision made out of desperation. Evidently, this entails a greater effort on the part of the patient to resolve his or her initial demand or "problem", and a greater number of sessions which means a greater economic outlay.

Therefore, in recent times we are experiencing a trend in psychology towards prevention rather than cure, from a point of view aimed at personal development. What are the areas of mental training necessary for self-improvement?

Aspects of mental training to manage in self-improvement.

If we think about our friends, partners, children, colleagues or ourselves, we will realize that there are certain patterns of behavior related to mental health that, at the very least, are susceptible to a more efficient management, are susceptible to a more efficient management. Some of the most everyday phenomena are:

1. Stress

Stress is an adaptive response to a demanding situation, which allows us to perform at an optimal level for a given period of time. allows us to perform at an optimal level for a given period of time.. This last nuance is the key that separates this adaptive stress from a chronic or pathological one.

Symptoms such as sleep or eating disorders, anxiety, headaches and back pain or Hair Loss are related to stress, and yes, it is true that many of us cannot avoid living in a demanding environment, but the management of our cognitions, emotions and behaviors in such a situation is what can make the difference.

2. Addictions

It is not necessary to be hooked on heroin to suffer from an addiction. In fact, you don't have to be hooked on heroin to have an addiction, it is not necessary to be hooked on a substance. In the midst of the technological revolution, smartphones, video games or the Internet are a likely source of addiction, and if we feel anxious about not having a certain stimulus, it affects our work or social life or we show symptoms of frequent irritability, we may need certain guidelines to "unhook".

3. Partner

Speaking of addictions, we cannot fail to refer to the one that occurs in the face of a love interest. The symptoms are similar to the previous ones, with the added danger that we do not control the stimulus that is the object of the addiction. But if that seems hard, the management of life as a couple once established has to be mentioned separately. Assertiveness, empathy or time management are skills to take into account, and that if they are not given adequate attention, they can make our love life not as satisfactory as we would like, as well as precipitate its end, in which we can fall into depressive states or, again, addiction.

Learning to take care of ourselves in time

Probably, at a very basic level, every reader of this small article will have been able to identify to a greater or lesser extent with some of the phenomena reported here. We've all spent that week sleeping badly due to stress, been enraged at not being able to access our smartphone, or gone through some stormy breakup or personal relationship.

It is true that we never know if these mental states may be the seed that germinates into something more serious, but the point of this article is to show that it is not necessary to go that far, that if we can improve our daily lives by going to a specialist, it is not necessary to wait to have a problemIn the same way that more and more people go to the gym without suffering from injuries or ailments, personal development is still a mental training, a gym for our mind to which we can go to optimize our level of satisfaction with life.