Psychological problems: symptoms, prevention of development

The essence of psychological problems

The essence of difficulties is that they are felt, but not realized. Internal conflicts result in unwanted emotional reactions and behavior that upsets the person himself. He is not happy with himself and does not understand why he reacts to some life situations the way he does.

In some cases, a person seems to understand the reason. However, the work of the subconscious is so complex that it often turns out that in fact the problem lies in something completely different. For example, defiant behavior in adolescents actually reflects an unmet need for attention.

Another example. A woman thinks that her overeating is the result of stress, an irregular work schedule, and weak willpower. In fact, the unmet need for love is to blame; the woman experiences emotional hunger. And it happens that a person eats right and plays sports, but fails to lose weight. The reason is an unmet need for security (weight protects). However, this already has something to do with psychosomatics.

Loneliness as a psychological problem

Definition 2

Loneliness is a socio-psychological state determined by the absence or narrowness of social contacts, behavioral alienation and emotional non-involvement of the individual and other social subjects in the social process, and also associated with a disruption in the process of their socialization and self-realization in society.

When defining loneliness as a psychological state, it is necessary to note that it is associated, first of all, with a person’s experience or awareness of his remoteness and isolation from other people. The experience of loneliness can become painful if a person begins to perceive his distance from others as a lack of connections with the world and people, as a lack of communication, love, attention, and human warmth.

People who experience this state of loneliness feel disconnected from the people around them, and at the same time experience sadness, sadness, resentment, and sometimes a feeling of fear. To get out of such a state, the support of a psychologist may often be necessary.

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Psychosomatics

Psychosomatics is a branch of medical psychology that studies the relationship between illness and stress. According to this theory, any internal conflict, suppressed emotions and needs result in bodily diseases. You can suspect a connection between the psychological and the somatic by analyzing a person’s speech:

• “Doesn’t let you breathe peacefully” – ac – gastrointestinal diseases;
• “I can’t digest it” – bowel disorder;
• “My backbone will soon break” - fatigue due to the abundance of responsibilities, hyper-responsibility.

At first glance, it seems that the psyche and physiology are in no way connected, but this is not so. Illness is the last desperate attempt of the subconscious to point out the problem. For example, sick leave allows you to take a break from work. And the disease allows a person to stop caring about others and get at least a little attention himself. Childhood illnesses can also be an attempt to reconcile parents.

The principle of the development of psychosomatics is this: internal conflict turns into chronic stress, which leads to hormonal disruption and depletion of the body’s main systems. The general immunity weakens, various diseases arise. And it happens that there are no physical disorders, but the symptoms are felt - this is also psychosomatics.

Types of psychological problems

There are dozens of types of neuroses, syndromes, and disorders. It is not possible to list them all. Let us draw attention to the main socio-psychological problems of the individual, the relevance of which is noted by modern experts (current requests in the psychologist’s office):

• complexes;
• low self-esteem;
• diffidence;
• phobias;
• indecision;
• impulsiveness and unpredictability;
• tired of life;
• increased anxiety;
• loneliness;
• betrayal and conflicts in the family;
• dependence on other people's opinions;
• pathological attachment, falling in love;
• addictions;
• depression;
• crises;
• destruction (self-destructive behavior);
• dysmorphophobia (non-acceptance of one's appearance).

In a broad sense, the following groups of conflicts can be distinguished:

• difficulties in the field of communications;
• family troubles and family crises;
• age-related crises, for example, during the teenage crisis, the risk of behavioral disorders increases;
• failures in the labor sphere;
• difficulties in interacting with the opposite sex;
• complexities of personality development and formation.

In psychology, there is no generally accepted classification of types of psychological problems. Let's look at some of them. What are the psychological problems and difficulties:

1. By level of manifestation: cognitive, emotional, behavioral.
2. By their nature: primary (the cause of other disorders) and secondary (the consequence of other difficulties).
3. By time of manifestation: old, new and chronic.

By nature, difficulties can be obvious or unobvious. The subject guesses about the presence of the former. If we are talking about hidden conflicts, then a person, as a rule, does not notice them. For example, few people understand that they are programmed for self-destruction. In this case, there seems to be no conflict, because the person himself is not aware of it, but in fact there is a contradiction.

A specific type is contrived difficulties. This is similar to hypochondria: a person invents symptoms for himself, makes diagnoses and believes in it.

Interesting! In 2019-2020, the phenomenon of making up diagnoses became especially popular. In youth circles, it is considered fashionable and cool to have psychological disorders; every second person has panic attacks, depression, bipolar, or the like. Of course, this is not true in reality, but some people sincerely believe it. Self-hypnosis can provoke the development of a real disease.

Types of Psychological Problems

Definition 1
Psychological problems are “internal” conflicts and tension for which a person cannot find any explanation.

Since it is almost impossible to explain them, it is also quite difficult to solve these problems. For example, there is such a psychological problem as unreasonable jealousy. Very often a person understands that there is no reason for jealousy, but he cannot do anything about this feeling. Such people are subject to strong emotions and often create scandals out of nowhere.

All psychological problems can be divided into the following types:

• Individual
• Subjective
• Personal
• Individual

Individual psychological problems are problems that are associated specifically with the biological essence of a person. Such problems can be various fears that cannot be controlled, anxiety, dissatisfaction with oneself and many others.

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Subjective psychological problems are problems that are associated with the need to perform any activity. Subjective problems are reflected in a lack of skills, abilities, and knowledge. The causes of such problems can also be an insufficient level of certain abilities or intelligence, lack of energy and many others.

Subjective problems can quite often hide behind problems of a different nature. Almost no one wants to admit that he is stupid; instead, people blame and look for reasons in interpersonal relationships. People think that they are simply prejudiced or disliked.

Personal psychological problems are problems that are associated with a person’s position and place in society. Such problems are manifested in low social status, as well as in problems of communication with friends, relatives, and partners.

Personality problems are those problems that have a connection with long-term goals and self-realization.

This type of problem can include the feeling that life is meaningless, worries about lack of time, loss of self-esteem, and others.

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Structure of psychological problems

There are socio-psychological problems of different structures. Psychologist N.D. Linde identified the following problem structures:

1. A person’s feelings are aimed at achieving a goal, but something interferes with this. In this case, the goal and obstacle can be both real and fictitious.
2. The feeling is aimed at getting rid of the obstacle. In this case, the obstacle can be real or imagined, internal or external.
3. There are no obvious obstacles on the way to the goal, but the person himself cannot decide whether he needs it or not, he experiences conflicting feelings (he cannot decide).
4. A person experiences two equally strong feelings in relation to two contradictory and incompatible objects (cannot choose).
5. The feeling is aimed at getting rid of the obstacle, but for this you will have to interact with another unwanted object (subject, conditions). A person has to choose the lesser of two evils; he cannot avoid the choice.

Thus, the structure of a psychological problem includes a person, a goal, feelings and an obstacle. To determine the psychological nature of the problem, you need to focus on its origins; they are always connected with the inner world of the individual (beliefs, ideas, needs). For example, if in his dreams a person is successful, but in real life this is not the case, then he becomes disappointed, dissatisfied with himself, and angry.

Features of psychological problems

Definition 1
A psychological problem is a problem of the psyche, i.e. the inner world of a person, which is not connected with his outer world.

A person may or may not notice it, but it always causes suffering to the bearer of the problem. A person can attribute its cause to himself, as the primary source of evil, or he can correlate its origin with another object, person, society, fate, nature, etc.

Note 1

The main thing that characterizes a psychological problem as a problem is its occurrence in the psyche of the person himself.

Mainly, the problem appears due to the presence of contradictions in the activity of the psyche, and as a result, dissatisfaction with oneself, one’s own life, other people, society, fate or the whole world.

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Causes of difficulties

Difficulties have psychological, social and physiological prerequisites.

Psychological reasons include:

• unmet needs;
• living against one's nature;
• systematic suppression of feelings, emotions, desires.

In simple words, a person either worries that he is missing something, or suffers from the fact that he cannot get rid of something. One way or another, we are talking about self-suppression. This is what makes the individual unhappy.

Interesting! For most people, the habit of suppressing emotions, feelings and desires appears in childhood, when parents keep repeating: “Don’t scream”, “Don’t cry”, “You’ll get by”, “This is impossible”, “I don’t want a lot of things either, but necessary".

The second group of psychological prerequisites is strong emotional shocks or many minor experiences. For example, the death of someone close is a strong shock. An example of frequent minor shocks is systematic humiliation, insults, and beatings.

Social and psychological reasons include:

• poverty or unstable income, delays in payments, dim prospects;
• unemployment;
• unstable situation in society;
• drastic changes in life (divorce, move, job change, dismissal, wedding, retirement).

In addition, physiological causes of psychological problems can be identified. Prolonged or severe illness, head injuries, tumors, intoxication, hormonal imbalance can also cause disturbances. Abnormal functioning of neurotransmitters leads to depression, anxiety disorders, apathy, irritability and other problems.

Symptoms

You can suspect the presence of psychological problems by the mental and somatic reactions of the body:

• headache and dizziness;
• nausea;
• loss of appetite (overeating or refusal to eat);
• dyspepsia;
• numbness and icing of the limbs;
• periodic tingling or pain in different parts of the body;
• gastrointestinal disorder;
• sleep problems (insomnia, frequent awakenings, trouble falling asleep);
• apathy and lethargy, especially in the morning;
• chronic fatigue;
• frequent colds;
• exacerbation of chronic diseases;
• chills and tremors;
• sexual dysfunction (decreased desire, impotence, inability to get pleasure, etc.).

Diagnosis of mental state

The best diagnostic method is consultation with a psychologist. During the conversation, observing the client’s reactions and analyzing his answers, the specialist identifies the true reason. Ancillary tests are used to confirm the diagnosis. By the way, testing can also be done at home. However, it is important to remember that a diagnosis is never made based on the results of one test.

Important! In some cases, the problem is hidden so deep in the subconscious that it can only be identified through hypnosis.

Like diagnostic methods, technology for solving psychological problems is selected on an individual basis. In general, to solve the problem, the psychologist builds interaction with the client according to the following algorithm:

1. Establishing contact, building trust.
2. Client's confession. A detailed story about what worries him, a description of problems and feelings.
3. Clarifying dialogue. The psychologist asks questions, clarifies what the client said, gives hints, guides him to solve the problem and helps the person understand himself.
4. Solution to the problem. The client himself realizes and finds a way out of the current situation.

Thus, during psychotherapy the client receives the following:

• awareness of true problems, cause-and-effect relationships;
• release of emotions;
• searching for and making an adequate decision;
• accepting what cannot be changed and adapting to it;
• personal growth and the ability to better understand oneself and others.

The specific rehabilitation plan depends on the nature of the situation and the individual characteristics of the client. A psychologist has hundreds of different methods in his arsenal.

Ways to solve psychological problems

Problems that are associated with the psychological aspects of life can be a heavy burden for a person, which prevents them from living a full life. Unresolved difficulties and obstacles worsen relationships and health. The solution to psychological problems takes place in several stages. These steps are necessary for any type of task:

1. Setting goals.
2. Definition of conditions.
3. Planning the solution.
4. Implementation of the decision.
5. Checking the result.

But even a person with a high IQ and self-organization often does not know how to get rid of problems of this kind. This is due to the fact that, being a direct participant in the process and feeling negative emotions towards oneself, it is very difficult to solve such problems. Therefore, qualified psychological support will be very useful.

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Prevention of the development of psychological problems

To prevent the development of psychological problems, you need to increase your awareness, learn to understand your true needs and satisfy them, learn to understand and express your feelings and emotions, and adapt to those circumstances that cannot be changed.