Psychological health disorders based on behavioral characteristics. Factors influencing mental health
A number of studies are devoted to the study of risk factors and factors for strengthening (well-being) of psychological health (B. S. Bratus, F. E. Vasilyuk, L. D. Demina, I. V. Dubrovina, A. V. Karpov, L. V. Kuklina , L. M. Mitina, G. S. Nikiforov, I. A. Ralnikova, E. V. Rudensky, O. V. Khukhlaeva, V. Frankl, K.-G. The identification of such factors contributes to a clearer distinction between the concepts of “psychological” and “mental” health.
Analyzing trends modern society, B. S. Bratus concludes that for a larger number of people the diagnosis is becoming typical: “Mentally healthy, but personally ill.” Any of the psychological health disorders, such as stress, crisis, anxiety, fatigue, do not go away without leaving a trace. First of all, interest in activities disappears, discipline and performance decrease, and intellectual capabilities, mental stress increases, aggressiveness increases, personal characteristics change, self-esteem drops sharply, and creativity decreases. The problem of stress becomes especially serious for a manager if he has a so-called personal style of behavior, which is characterized by persistent striving for success, competitiveness, centrism, the desire to do everything at an accelerated pace, and high efficiency. A psychologically healthy manager's mental processes meet the following requirements: maximum approximation of subjective images to the displayed objects of reality; adequate perception of oneself; self-knowledge; in the field mental states emotional stability dominates; coping with negative emotions; free, natural expression of feelings and emotions; preservation of the usual state of health [ibid.].
Noogenic neuroses (W. Frankl’s term), associated with the so-called existential vacuum, or a feeling of meaninglessness and emptiness of one’s own life, can be caused by the characteristics of professional activity, the meaning and content of which do not correspond to a person’s expectations. Also, in communist countries there was a lower incidence of neuroses, which could be associated with prospects and hopes for the future, but also with less freedom. The cause of neuroses and mental illnesses K.-G. Jung saw it precisely in the one-sided development of individuality: if a person develops any one function, he loses himself; if it develops individuality, it loses connections with society and ceases to correspond to social norms. This implies the need to find reserves for the development of personality integrity. Jung believed that the basis of a person’s psychological health is the fragile balance that is established between the demands of the external world and the needs of the internal. Among the new destructive typical personality characteristics E.V. Rudensky identifies the following:
· frustrating (intense negative experiences);
· conflict-generating (oppositional confrontation with other people);
· aggressive (adaptation by suppressing other people and eliminating them as obstacles in one’s path);
· inversion (the use of various psychological masks to achieve one’s own goals) and others, which are also typical for the activities of a manager.
We can talk about objective (conditional) environment) and subjective (determined by individual personal characteristics) risk factors for psychological health. Environmental factors include factors associated with professional activity, the socio-economic situation in the country, family circumstances, etc. It is quite difficult to describe the influence of these factors on adults. Internal factors include a certain degree of tolerance to stressful situations, temperament, anxiety, low level self-regulation.
L. V. Kuklina also proposes to highlight such a risk factor for psychological health as the lack of systematic work on developing the value of psychological health in labor activity.
As many researchers note, the most important characteristic psychologically healthy person is stress resistance (V. A. Bodrov, F. E. Vasilyuk, A. V. Karpov, etc.). Personal prerequisites for stress resistance resonate with the structural components of psychological health: self-acceptance, reflection and self-development. Personal prerequisites for reduced resistance to stress are a lack of desire for development, insufficiently developed reflection, a negative “I-concept”, formed as a result of dissatisfaction with one’s own professional work(its content, result). In the case when a person does not know his life programs and opportunities, frustration develops and, as a result, anxiety or its anticipation.
Analysis of psychological health within the framework of occupational psychology shows the multifaceted nature of this problem. According to research, managers differ low performance psychological health, and these indicators worsen as working hours increase. At the same time, most managers do not see the connection between their health and the effectiveness of their professional activities. Need for preservation and maintenance professional health They are not updated.
The managerial profession is one of the professions most susceptible to stressful influences. It differs from other categories of work by constant neuropsychic and emotional stress, determined both by the content and conditions of managerial work, as evidenced by the analysis of theoretical and practical issues relating to the psychological characteristics of a manager’s professional activity. Therefore, recently there has been an increasing need to develop the psychotherapeutic function of a leader. Its essence is the creation by the leader of a kind of psychological comfort in the team, the main elements of which are a sense of security, absence of anxiety, and an optimistic outlook on events.
In the studies of G. S. Abramova, E. F. Zeer, T. V. Formanyuk, Yu. A. Yudchits, a common factor is highlighted, disruptive psychological health - low level of professional self-awareness (low level of self-attitude, self-esteem, autosympathy, self-esteem), which leads to such negative phenomena as occupational deformation, syndrome chronic fatigue and emotional burnout. Next, we will look in more detail at the problems of professional and emotional burnout.
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MENTAL HEALTH is a certain reserve of a person’s strength, thanks to which he can overcome unexpected stress or difficulties that arise in exceptional circumstances.
The level of mental health depends on the interaction of factors, which are divided into predisposing, provoking and supporting.
Predisposing factors increase a person’s susceptibility to mental illness and increase the likelihood of its development when exposed to provoking factors. Predisposing factors can be genetically determined, biological, psychological and social.
At present there is no doubt genetic predisposition diseases such as schizophrenia, some forms of dementia, affective disorders (manic-depressive psychosis), epilepsy. Certain predisposing significance for the development of mental illness have personal characteristics.
Personality characteristics can not only have a nonspecific effect on the development of a mental disorder, but also affect the formation clinical picture diseases.
TO biological factors factors that increase the risk of a mental disorder or disease include age, gender, and physical health.
Age. At certain age periods, a person becomes more vulnerable to stressful situations. These periods include:
-junior school age at which there is a high prevalence fears of the dark, animals, fairy-tale characters;
-teenage years(12-18 years old), which is characterized by increased emotional sensitivity and instability, behavioral disorders, including those related to drug use, acts of self-harm and suicide attempts;
-period of involution- with characteristic personality changes and a decrease in reactivity to the influence of psychological and socio-environmental factors.
Many mental illnesses have a pattern of development at a certain age. Schizophrenia most often develops in adolescence or at a young age, peak drug addiction falls on 18-24 years, at involutionary age the number of depressions increases, senile dementia. In general, the peak incidence of typical mental disorders occurs in middle age. Age not only affects the frequency of development of mental disorders, but also gives a peculiar “age-related” coloring to their manifestations. Mental disorders old age(delusions, hallucinations) often reflect experiences of an everyday nature - damage, poisoning, exposure and all sorts of tricks in order to “get rid of them, the old people.”
Floor also to a certain extent determines the frequency and nature of mental disorders. Men are more likely than women to suffer from schizophrenia, alcoholism, and drug addiction. But in women, abuse of alcohol and psychotropic substances quickly leads to the development of drug addiction and the disease is more malignant than in men. Men and women react differently to stressful events. This is explained by their different socio-biological characteristics. Women are more emotional and more likely than men to experience depression, emotional disturbances. Specific to female body biological conditions such as pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum period, menopause, carry many social problems and psychotraumatic factors. During these periods, women's vulnerability increases and social and domestic problems become more urgent. Only women can develop postpartum psychosis or depression with fear for the child’s health. Involutional psychoses develop more often in women. An unwanted pregnancy is a severe stress for a girl, and if the father of the unborn child left the girl, then it is possible that severe depressive reaction, including those with suicidal intentions. Women are more likely to experience sexual violence or abuse, resulting in various forms of mental health problems, often in the form of depression. Girls who have been sexually abused are more susceptible to mental health problems later in life. The hierarchy of social values is different for women and men. For a woman, family and children are of greater importance; for men - his prestige, work. That's why common reason the development of neurosis in women - trouble in the family, personal problems, and in men - conflict at work or dismissal. Even crazy ideas bear the imprint of social and gender identity. Mental health has a direct connection with physical health. Violations somatic health may cause short-term mental distress or chronic illness. Mental disorders are detected in 40 - 50% of patients with somatic diseases.
Social factors.
Of all social factors, family is the most important. Its impact on mental health can be seen at any age. But it has special meaning for a child. Unstable cold relationships in the family, manifestations of cruelty affect the mental health of the child.
TO social factors, affecting mental health, may include problems related to work, housing, dissatisfaction social status, social disasters and wars. Depression occurs more often among representatives of the middle and lower social strata, where the burden of life events and circumstances weighs more heavily. Depression often develops in people who have lost their jobs. Even after returning to work, depression may continue for two years, especially in people with no social support. The present time is characterized by such socially determined pathogenic factors as local wars, armed conflicts, Act of terrorism, - they lead to persistent mental health problems not only among the direct participants, but also among the civilian population. Modern period The development of society is also characterized by an increase in contradictions between man and the environment, which is reflected in environmental problems and a sharp increase in the number of man-made disasters. Natural and man-made disasters change human life and potentiate the development of mental disorders.
Provoking factors. These factors cause the development of the disease. Precipitating factors may be physical, psychological or social.
Physical factors include somatic diseases and injuries. At the same time, physical damage and illness can be in the nature of psychological trauma and cause mental illness(neurosis). Socio-psychological factors are life events (loss of a job, divorce, loss of a loved one, moving to a new place of residence, etc.), which are reflected in clinical manifestation and the content of painful experiences. Recently, they have become widespread obsessive fears, which are associated with reality, there are forms of painful beliefs and fears that came to us from the distant past - damage, witchcraft, possession, the evil eye.
Supporting factors. The duration of the disease after its onset depends on them. When planning treatment and social work with a patient, it is especially important to pay due attention to them. When the initial predisposing and precipitating factors have ceased to have an impact, supporting factors exist and can be corrected.
Norm and pathology mental processes.
The concepts of “mental health” and “mental norm” are not identical. The concept of norm is necessary for accurate diagnosis/ conclusions . But the concept of normality in our minds is closely related to the state of health. Deviation from the norm is considered as pathology and disease.
Norm is a term that can have two main contents. The first is the statistical content of the norm: this is the level of functioning of the organism or personality, which is characteristic of most people and is typical, the most common. In this aspect, the norm appears to be some objectively existing phenomenon. The statistical norm is determined by calculating the arithmetic mean values of some empirical (found in life experience) data. The second is the evaluative content of the norm: the norm is considered to be some ideal example of the human condition or the state of “perfection”, to which all people should strive to one degree or another. In this aspect, the norm acts as an ideal norm - a subjective, arbitrarily established standard. The standard is accepted as a perfect sample by agreement of any persons who have the right to establish such samples and have power over other people (for example, specialists, leaders of a group or society, etc.). Anything that does not correspond to the ideal is declared abnormal.
The problem of norm-standard is associated with the problem of choosing a normative group - people whose life activity acts as a standard, by which the effectiveness of the level of functioning of the body and personality is measured. Depending on who experts in authority (for example, psychiatrists or psychologists) include in the normative group, different boundaries of the norm are established.
The number of norms includes not only ideal norms, but also functional, social and individual norms.
Functional norms are norms that evaluate a person’s state in terms of their consequences (harmful or not harmful) or the possibility of achieving a certain goal (whether this state contributes or does not contribute to the implementation of goals-related tasks).
Social norms are norms that control a person’s behavior, forcing him to conform to some desired (prescribed by the environment) or model established by the authorities.
Individual norm - a norm that involves comparing a person with the state in which he was previously, and which corresponds to his personal goals, life values, opportunities and life circumstances.
The most important criteria for classification as normal variants:
Psychological clarity;
No excessive fixation that is inconsistent with activity requirements or needs.
There is no impairment of social functioning and correction is possible;
Relatively expedient in nature;
Certain periods.
It is also necessary to evaluate the nature of changes in dynamics and correlate them with personality characteristics.
Questions regarding the boundaries between mental norm and pathology have not been fully studied to date. At the initial (preclinical) stages of the disease, mental changes are often transient and not syndromatically defined. This is where concepts such as “pre-illness”, “pre-nosological mental disorders” arose, which are characterized by the absence of clear boundaries between psychological reactions and mental disorders, between the norm and the pathology of personality.
Most people can be classified as having premorbid mental disorders or prenosological disorders, etc. and consider them as non-pathological manifestations. These include nonspecific, most often asthenic phenomena, character accentuations and personality disorders, neuroses and neurosis-like conditions.
In the presence of pathology of mental processes, in order to bring together the characteristics of the diagnostic thinking of a doctor and a clinical psychologist, based on the results clinical observations, pathopsychological syndromes were identified. The first such attempt was made in 1982. I.A. Kudryavtsev, and in 1986 V.M. Bleicher described a number of pathopsychological register syndromes that have a generalized meaning, their characteristics are closer to nosological ones, and their identification marks the stage of preliminary diagnosis of the disease. A clinical psychologist can operate in his diagnostic conclusions with such a set of pathopsychological register syndromes as:
Schizophrenic. It is characterized by a violation of the purposefulness of thinking and meaning formation (reasoning, slipping, diversity, etc.), emotional-volitional disorders (flattening and dissociation of emotions, hypo- and abulia, parabulia, etc.), the development of autism, alienation, etc.
Oligophrenic. Consists of primitiveness and concreteness of thinking, inability to form concepts and abstraction (or significant difficulty in doing so), deficiency general information and knowledge, increased suggestibility, emotional disorders, difficulty/inability to learn.
Organic (exo- and endogenous). It consists of memory impairments, the collapse of the system of previous knowledge and experience, symptoms of decreased intelligence, the operational side of thinking (decrease in the level of generalizations), instability of emotions (affective lability), decreased critical abilities and self-control (in the clinic it corresponds to exogenous-organic brain damage - cerebral atherosclerosis, consequences of traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, etc., true epilepsy, primary atrophic processes in the brain).
Psychopathic (personally abnormal). It consists of inadequacy of the level of aspirations and self-esteem, disturbances in thinking of the catathymic type (“affective logic”), disturbances in forecasting and reliance on past experience, emotional-volitional disorders, changes in the structure and hierarchy of motives (in the clinic it corresponds to accentuated and psychopathic personalities, due largely least abnormal soil psychogenic reactions).
Affective-endogenous(in the clinic it corresponds to bipolar affective disorder and functional affective psychoses of late age).
Psychogenic-psychotic(in the clinic - reactive psychoses).
Psychogenic-neurotic(in the clinic - neuroses and neurotic reactions).
MENTAL HEALTH is a certain reserve of a person’s strength, thanks to which he can overcome unexpected stress or difficulties that arise in exceptional circumstances.
The level of mental health depends on the interaction of factors, which are divided into predisposing, provoking and supporting.
Predisposing factors increase a person’s susceptibility to mental illness and increase the likelihood of its development when exposed to provoking factors. Predisposing factors can be genetically determined, biological, psychological and social.
At present, there is no doubt about the genetic predisposition of diseases such as schizophrenia, some forms of dementia, affective disorders (manic-depressive psychosis), and epilepsy. Certain predisposing significance for the development of mental illness have personal characteristics.
Personality characteristics can not only have a nonspecific effect on the development of a mental disorder, but also affect the formation of the clinical picture of the disease.
TO biological factors factors that increase the risk of a mental disorder or disease include age, gender, and physical health.
Age. At certain age periods, a person becomes more vulnerable to stressful situations. These periods include:
-junior school age at which there is a high prevalence fears of the dark, animals, fairy-tale characters;
-teenage years(12-18 years old), which is characterized by increased emotional sensitivity and instability, behavioral disorders, including those related to drug use, acts of self-harm and suicide attempts;
-period of involution- with characteristic personality changes and a decrease in reactivity to the influence of psychological and socio-environmental factors.
Many mental illnesses have a pattern of development at a certain age. Schizophrenia most often develops in adolescence or young adulthood, the peak of drug dependence occurs at 18-24 years of age, and at involutionary age the number of depressions and senile dementia increases. In general, the peak incidence of typical mental disorders occurs in middle age. Age not only affects the frequency of development of mental disorders, but also gives a peculiar “age-related” coloring to their manifestations. Mental disorders of old age (delusions, hallucinations) often reflect experiences of an everyday nature - damage, poisoning, exposure and all sorts of tricks in order to “get rid of them, old people.”
Floor also to a certain extent determines the frequency and nature of mental disorders. Men are more likely than women to suffer from schizophrenia, alcoholism, and drug addiction. But in women, abuse of alcohol and psychotropic substances quickly leads to the development of drug addiction and the disease is more malignant than in men. Men and women react differently to stressful events. This is explained by their different socio-biological characteristics. Women are more emotional and more often than men experience depression and emotional disturbances. Biological conditions specific to the female body, such as pregnancy, childbirth, the postpartum period, and menopause, carry with them many social problems and traumatic factors. During these periods, women's vulnerability increases and social and domestic problems become more urgent. Only women can develop postpartum psychosis or depression with fear for the child’s health. Involutional psychoses develop more often in women. An unwanted pregnancy is a severe stress for a girl, and if the father of the unborn child left the girl, then it is possible that severe depressive reaction, including suicidal intentions. Women are more likely to experience sexual violence or abuse, resulting in various forms of mental health problems, often in the form of depression. Girls who have been sexually abused are more susceptible to mental health problems later in life. The hierarchy of social values is different for women and men. For a woman, family and children are of greater importance; for men - his prestige, work. Therefore, a common reason for the development of neurosis in women is trouble in the family, personal problems, and in men it is conflict at work or dismissal. Even delusional ideas bear the imprint of socio-gender. Mental health has a direct connection with physical health. Physical health problems can cause short-term mental illness or chronic illness. Mental disorders are detected in 40 - 50% of patients with somatic diseases.
Social factors.
Of all social factors, family is the most important. Its impact on mental health can be seen at any age. But it has special meaning for a child. Unstable cold relationships in the family, manifestations of cruelty affect the mental health of the child.
Social factors influencing mental health include: These include problems related to work, housing, dissatisfaction with the social situation, social disasters and wars. Depression occurs more often among representatives of the middle and lower social strata, where the burden of life events and circumstances weighs more heavily. Depression often develops in people who have lost their jobs. Even after being reinstated, depression can persist for up to two years, especially in those with a lack of social support. The present time is characterized by such socially determined pathogenic factors as local wars, armed conflicts, terrorist acts - they lead to persistent mental health problems not only among the direct participants, but also among the civilian population. The modern period of social development is also characterized by increasing contradictions between man and the environment, which is reflected in environmental problems and a sharp increase in the number of man-made disasters. Natural and man-made disasters change human life and potentiate the development of mental disorders.
Provoking factors. These factors cause the development of the disease. Precipitating factors may be physical, psychological or social.
Physical factors include somatic diseases and injuries. At the same time, physical damage and illness can be in the nature of psychological trauma and cause mental illness (neurosis). Socio-psychological factors are life events (job loss, divorce, loss of a loved one, moving to a new place of residence, etc.), which are reflected in the clinical manifestation and content of painful experiences. Recently, obsessive fears have become widespread, which are associated with reality; there are forms of painful beliefs and fears that came to us from the distant past - damage, witchcraft, possession, the evil eye.
Supporting factors. The duration of the disease after its onset depends on them. When planning treatment and social work with a patient, it is especially important to pay due attention to them. When the initial predisposing and precipitating factors have ceased to have an impact, supporting factors exist and can be corrected.
Norm and pathology of mental processes.
The concepts of “mental health” and “mental norm” are not identical. The concept of normal is necessary for an accurate diagnosis/conclusion. But the concept of normality in our minds is closely related to the state of health. Deviation from the norm is considered as pathology and disease.
Norm is a term that can have two main contents. The first is the statistical content of the norm: this is the level of functioning of the organism or personality, which is characteristic of most people and is typical, the most common. In this aspect, the norm appears to be some objectively existing phenomenon. The statistical norm is determined by calculating the arithmetic mean values of some empirical (found in life experience) data. The second is the evaluative content of the norm: the norm is considered to be some ideal example of the human condition or the state of “perfection”, to which all people should strive to one degree or another. In this aspect, the norm acts as an ideal norm - a subjective, arbitrarily established standard. The standard is accepted as a perfect sample by agreement of any persons who have the right to establish such samples and have power over other people (for example, specialists, leaders of a group or society, etc.). Anything that does not correspond to the ideal is declared abnormal.
The problem of norm-standard is associated with the problem of choosing a normative group - people whose life activity acts as a standard, by which the effectiveness of the level of functioning of the body and personality is measured. Depending on who experts in authority (for example, psychiatrists or psychologists) include in the normative group, different boundaries of the norm are established.
The number of norms includes not only ideal norms, but also functional, social and individual norms.
Functional norms are norms that evaluate a person’s state in terms of their consequences (harmful or not harmful) or the possibility of achieving a certain goal (whether this state contributes or does not contribute to the implementation of goals-related tasks).
Social norms are norms that control a person’s behavior, forcing him to conform to some desired (prescribed by the environment) or model established by the authorities.
An individual norm is a norm that involves comparing a person with the state in which he was previously, and which corresponds to his personal goals, life values, opportunities and life circumstances.
The most important criteria for classification as normal variants:
Psychological clarity;
No excessive fixation that is inconsistent with activity requirements or needs.
There is no impairment of social functioning and correction is possible;
Relatively expedient in nature;
Certain periods.
It is also necessary to evaluate the nature of changes in dynamics and correlate them with personality characteristics.
Questions regarding the boundaries between mental norm and pathology have not been fully studied to date. At the initial (preclinical) stages of the disease, mental changes are often transient and not syndromatically defined. This is where concepts such as “pre-disease” and “pre-nosological mental disorders” arose, which are characterized by the absence of clear boundaries between psychological reactions and mental disorders, between the norm and the pathology of the individual.
Most people can be classified as having premorbid mental disorders or prenosological disorders, etc. and consider them as non-pathological manifestations. These include nonspecific, most often asthenic phenomena, character accentuations and personality disorders, neuroses and neurosis-like conditions.
In the presence of pathology of mental processes, in order to bring together the characteristics of the diagnostic thinking of a doctor and a clinical psychologist, based on the results of clinical observations, pathopsychological syndromes were identified. The first such attempt was made in 1982. I.A. Kudryavtsev, and in 1986 V.M. Bleicher described a number of pathopsychological register syndromes that have a generalized meaning, their characteristics are closer to nosological ones, and their identification marks the stage of preliminary diagnosis of the disease. A clinical psychologist can operate in his diagnostic conclusions with such a set of pathopsychological register syndromes as:
Schizophrenic. It is characterized by a violation of the purposefulness of thinking and meaning formation (reasoning, slipping, diversity, etc.), emotional-volitional disorders (flattening and dissociation of emotions, hypo- and abulia, parabulia, etc.), the development of autism, alienation, etc.
Oligophrenic. It consists of primitiveness and concreteness of thinking, inability to form concepts and abstraction (or significant difficulty in doing so), lack of general information and knowledge, increased suggestibility, emotional disorders, difficulty/inability to learn.
Organic (exo- and endogenous). It consists of memory impairments, the collapse of the system of previous knowledge and experience, symptoms of decreased intelligence, the operational side of thinking (decrease in the level of generalizations), instability of emotions (affective lability), decreased critical abilities and self-control (in the clinic it corresponds to exogenous-organic brain damage - cerebral atherosclerosis, consequences of traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, etc., true epilepsy, primary atrophic processes in the brain).
Psychopathic (personally abnormal). It consists of inadequacy of the level of aspirations and self-esteem, disturbances in thinking of the catathymic type (“affective logic”), disturbances in forecasting and reliance on past experience, emotional-volitional disorders, changes in the structure and hierarchy of motives (in the clinic it corresponds to accentuated and psychopathic personalities, due largely least abnormal soil psychogenic reactions).
Affective-endogenous(in the clinic it corresponds to bipolar affective disorder and functional affective psychoses of late age).
Psychogenic-psychotic(in the clinic - reactive psychoses).
Psychogenic-neurotic(in the clinic - neuroses and neurotic reactions).
Senior teacher Malysheva N.I.Risk factors for psychological health problems
Determining the criteria for the norm of a child’s psychological health, which could become the basis for differentiation psychological assistance children, we proceed from the following proposition: the foundations of psychological health constitute a complete mental development human at all stages of ontogenesis, i.e. at all ages general development(I.V. Dubrovina). Psychological health a child and an adult are distinguished by a set of personal new formations that have not yet appeared in the child, but must be present in the adult, and their absence in the child should not be perceived as a violation. Since psychological health presupposes the presence of a dynamic balance between the individual and the environment, the child’s adaptation to society becomes the key criterion.
What conditions lead to disruption of the psychological health of younger schoolchildren? What become risk factors? Risk can come from outside (objective, or environmental factors) and from within (subjective, or individual-personal factors).
Environmental factors as a source of risk for psychological health problems are very significant for younger children school age, because With the beginning of active socialization, the child becomes especially closely dependent on the environment. Adverse psychosocial factors, in turn, are divided into two groups:
Family.
Related to child care facilities.
Often the roots of a child’s school problems lie in one of the early age periods.
What are the main risk factors for psychological health disorders at different age stages of development? (3.15)
Infancy(from birth to one year). The main thing for a baby is communication with his mother. The lack of this communication becomes a risk factor, the consequences of which may appear much later. However, excessive communication with the mother, leading to overstimulation of the child, also harms the baby’s psychological health.
Disturbances in the interaction of an infant with his mother can lead to the formation of such negative personal formations as his anxious attachment to his mother and distrust of the world around him (instead of normal attachment and basic trust). These negative formations are stable in nature, persisting until primary school age and beyond, acquiring various forms as the child grows up, depending on age and individual characteristics. (5.206)
Early age(from one to three years)
In the early childhood The relationship with the mother retains its significance, but at this age the child’s “I” begins to form. He gradually realizes himself as a separate person, internally separating from his mother. The result of development in early childhood the formation of autonomy, relative independence of the child should begin, and for this the mother needs to “let go” of him to such a distance that he himself wants and can move away. In early childhood, communication with the father is very important for the child to become independent. The father must be physically emotionally available to the child, because, firstly, he is a clear example relationship with the mother as a relationship of autonomous subjects, secondly, it acts as a prototype of the outside world, when some distances from the mother turn out to be not a departure to nowhere, but a departure to someone, and thirdly, the father is by nature less anxious, more psychological stable than the mother and can be a source of psychological protection for the child, his peace of mind. If the father is rarely near the child, this negatively affects the formation of such important psychological properties of this age as independence and autonomy. Underdevelopment of these qualities subsequently results in difficulties in school adaptation. (5.224)
Preschool age (from three to six years) is so multifaceted and significant for the formation of a child’s psychological health. Risk factors in preschool age:
a) Parties of the family system as a whole, including the interaction of the child with all loved ones in the house. Many modern families are characterized by a “child-idol of the family” situation, when meeting the needs of the child prevails over meeting the needs of other family members or even to their detriment. The consequence of family interaction of this type can be a violation of emotional decentration, one of the most important neoplasms preschool age. A child incapable of emotional decentration cannot perceive and take into account in his behavior the states, desires and interests of other people; he perceives the world only from the position own desires and interests, does not know how to deal with peers, does not understand the requirements of adults.
b) Parental programming. It can have an ambiguous effect on the child. On the one hand, parental programming ensures that the child assimilates the moral culture of the family, family traditions and values, and creates the prerequisites for individual spirituality. On the other hand, as a consequence of the excessive need for clearly expressed parental love, the child learns to constantly adapt his behavior to the expectations of adults, relying on their verbal and nonverbal signals.
c) Communication with children's institutions. The child's first meeting with someone else's significant adult teacher largely determines his further interaction with all significant adults.
IN kindergarten a child may have a serious internal conflict in the event of discord with peers.
So, the child’s psychological health is formed through the strict interaction of external and internal factors, and not only external factors are refracted into internal ones, but the internal strength of the personality is also capable of modifying external influences. And we repeat once again that for the development of a psychologically healthy personality, the experience of struggle, leading to success, is certainly necessary. (5.240)
Junior school age.
The beginning of schooling is one of the significant moments in a person’s life, a period of qualitative change, a point of transition to a new state. Many teachers and parents underestimate the qualitative changes that occur in a child during his studies. Much more attention is paid to the quantitative parameters of the knowledge and skills acquired by the child. Qualitative changes are especially significant; they can play both a positive and negative role, they can strengthen psychological health or undermine it. If gaps in knowledge can subsequently be filled, then the resulting psychological disorders can be persistent and difficult to correct. (2.11)
O.A. Loseva notes that the process of adaptation to an educational institution can proceed differently in children with different health conditions: mild, moderate and severe. With easy adaptation, a state of tension functional systems the child's body is compensated during the first quarter. When adapting moderate severity impairment of well-being and health is more pronounced and can be observed during the first half of the year. For some children, adaptation is difficult, and significant violations health conditions increase from the beginning of the school year to the end.
Adapted is most often called the child who fits into the school system of norms and requirements, which primarily concern mastery educational material, and interpersonal relationships in the classroom. M.R. Bityanova notes that “sometimes more humanistic-minded teachers add one more criterion: it is important that this adaptation be carried out by the child without serious internal losses, deterioration in well-being, mood, self-esteem” (1.5)
“Adaptation is not only adaptation to successful functioning in a given environment (sphere of activity), but also the ability for further personal (sphere of self-awareness), social (sphere of communication) development” (A.L. Wenger)
G.V. Ovcharova notes that the concept of “school adaptation” began to be used in last years to describe various problems and difficulties encountered by children of various ages in connection with schooling. The author lists such difficulties as:
Lack of adaptation to the subject side educational activities, since the child has insufficient intellectual and psychomotor development.
Inability to voluntarily control one's behavior.
Inability to accept the pace of school life (more common in somatically weakened children, children with developmental delays, and with a weak type of nervous system).
Inability to resolve the contradictions between the family and school “we”, i.e. school neurosis or “school phobia”.
From the above it follows that the main areas of maladaptation of younger schoolchildren are:
Difficulties at school - expectation of failure, lack of faith in one’s strength, fear of punishment;
Difficulties in relationships with peers;
Difficulties in relationships with parents – fear of not meeting parents’ expectations, fear of punishment;
Depressive symptoms
Real and unreal fears and other emotional disorders (aggression, anxiety, isolation). (1.30)
Thus, almost half of all junior schoolchildren experience difficulties adapting to school conditions, and this indicates how important it is during this period to pay close attention to the psychological health of junior schoolchildren and to the features of psychological processes characteristic of this age.
Note:
Bityanova M.R. Adaptation of a child to school: diagnosis, correction, pedagogical support. – M., 1998, p.112.
Davydov V.V. Psychological development younger schoolchildren. – M., 1990, p. 166.
Dubrovina I.V. Guide for a practical psychologist. – M., 1997, p. 162.
Obukhova L.F. Age-related psychology. – M., 1996, p. 372.
Ovcharova R.V. Practical psychology in primary school. – M., Sfera, 1996, p. 238.
They can be divided conditionally into two groups: objective, or environmental factors, and subjective, due to individual personal characteristics.
Let us first discuss the influence of environmental factors. They usually mean unfavorable family factors and unfavorable factors associated with child care institutions, professional activities, and the socio-economic situation in the country. It is clear that environmental factors are the most significant for the psychological health of children and adolescents, so we will reveal them in more detail.
Quite often, a child’s difficulties begin in infancy (from birth to one year). It is well known that the most significant factor normal development The baby's personality is communication with the mother and a lack of communication can lead to various kinds child development disorders. However, in addition to the lack of communication, other, less obvious types of interaction between mother and baby can be identified that adversely affect psychological health. Thus, the opposite of a lack of communication is the pathology of an overabundance of communication, leading to overexcitation and overstimulation of the child. It is this kind of upbringing that is quite typical for many modern families, but it is precisely this that is traditionally regarded as favorable and is not perceived as a risk factor either by the parents themselves or even by psychologists, so we will describe it in more detail. Overexcitation and overstimulation of the child can be observed in the case of maternal overprotection with the father's withdrawal, when the child plays the role of an “emotional crutch of the mother” and is in a symbiotic relationship with her. Such a mother is constantly with the child, does not leave her for a minute, because she feels good with him, because without the child she feels emptiness and loneliness. Another option is continuous stimulation, selectively aimed at one of the functional areas: nutrition or bowel movement. As a rule, this type of interaction is implemented by an anxious mother, who is incredibly worried about whether the child has finished the allotted grams of milk, whether he has emptied his bowels regularly and how. Usually she is well acquainted with all the norms of child development. For example, she carefully monitors whether the child begins to roll over from back to stomach in time. And if he is delayed for several days with the coup, he becomes very worried and runs to the doctor.
Next view pathological relationships - alternation of overstimulation with emptiness of relationships, i.e. structural disorganization, disorder, discontinuity, anarchy of the child’s life rhythms. In Russia, this type is most often implemented by a student mother, i.e., who does not have the opportunity to constantly care for her child, but then tries to assuage her feelings of guilt with continuous caresses.