Keys to mental training for self-improvement

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

There is a general shared conception of psychology as a tool to solve mental problems. In fact, if we type "psychologist" in google images we will find most of the results representing this professional serving clients visibly affected and reclining in the classic and outdated divan.

On the one hand, this conception limits the work of the psychologist to his clinical field, and we still have to break down certain barriers when we find psychologists in schools, companies or sports teams, whose tasks differ substantially from each other. On the other hand, the most serious consequence of this conception is experienced in consultation.

Psychology is more than treatment of disorders

And it is that, the vast majority of people who go to the psychologist do so as a last option, after taking a long time to the limit and after a decision resulting from despair. Obviously, this entails a greater effort on the part of the patient to be able to solve his problem. initial demand or "problem", and a greater number of sessions that mean a greater disbursement economic.

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

• You may be interested in: "Self-improvement through resilience"

Aspects of mental training to manage in self-improvement

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

1. Stress

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

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

• Related article: "Types of stress and their triggers"

2. addictions

You don't have to be hooked on heroin to be addicted. In fact, no need to be hooked on a substance. In the midst of the technological revolution, smartphones, video games or the Internet are a probable source of addiction, and if it makes us anxious not to have a certain stimulus, affects our work or social life or we show symptoms of frequent irritability, we may need certain guidelines to "disengage"

3. Couple

Speaking of addictions, we cannot stop referring to the one that occurs before 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, separate mention has the management of life as a couple once established. Assertiveness, empathy or time management They are skills to take into account, and if they are not given adequate attention, they can make our love life not as satisfactory as we would like, as well as precipitating its end, in which we can fall into depressive states or, again, addiction.

• Related article: "The 14 most common problems in couple relationships"

Learn to take care of ourselves on time

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

It is true that we never know if those mental states can be the seed that germinates into something more serious, but the point of this article is to show that it is not necessary to go that far, that if we can improve our day to day by going to a specialist, no need to wait for a problem, and in the same way that more and more people go to the gym without suffering injuries or ailments, personal development does not stop be a mental training, a gym for our mind that we can go to to optimize our level of satisfaction with the life.