During the working day, there are inevitable moments when it is necessary to regulate the level of neuropsychic activity. In one case, activity decreases and a feeling of indifference appears. In another, on the contrary, nervous tension increases. It should be taken into account that as performance decreases, emotional stability also changes, and unnecessary irritability appears. Factors that previously seemed completely neutral begin to be perceived differently, cause anger, resentment, and can cause a quarrel.

It is very important to control yourself all the time and not allow your performance to decrease below a certain critical norm.

If you cannot move away from your workplace, then breathing exercises are very helpful. You need to take a deep breath, hold your breath for 10-15 seconds, and then exhale sharply. Breathing exercises are best combined with muscle tension and relaxation. For example, take a breath, hold your breath, clench your hands into fists, tense the muscles of your arms, back, and abdomen.

Exhale sharply, relax all the muscles of the body, make several shaking movements. Repeat this exercise several times.

We must not forget about facial expression. Immediately “turn on” the internal mirror, rid your face of unnecessary muscle tension. While holding your breath, you can slightly puff out your cheeks and make swallowing movements. After inhaling, run your hand over your face, as if relieving any remaining anxiety or irritation.

Raise the corners of your lips up, don’t forget to smile. Try to feel how the pleasant sensation from the corners of your lips goes to the sides to your ears.

Run your hand over the neck muscles. If they are tense, tilt your head forward, backward, and make several rotational movements. You can lightly massage your neck. Lightly stroke the muscles from the shoulder to the ear. Lightly rub the ridges behind your ears with your fingertips. This improves blood flow to the head and facilitates nervous release.

Lower your arms down, straighten your fingers and spread them as far apart as possible. Feel the muscles tense. Now relax your hands and compare the sensations. Perform these movements several times.

Try to straighten your hands to the limit, compare the resulting sensations with the previous ones, and then clench your fingers into fists. This should be done slowly, paying attention to the condition of the muscles of the forearms. It is useful to use self-orders such as: “I am calming down,” “I am calming down more and more,” “I am calm, confident in my strengths and capabilities.” However, self-orders can be very different; it’s a matter of taste. The main thing is that they are self-orders.

Favorite music and walking will bring emotional release.

R. Bardina

“Techniques for emotional release” and other articles from the section

Diaries
Long-term negative emotions are detrimental to health. Therefore, it is very important not to “get hung up” on them, but to switch to something else, and not necessarily only joyful ones. Because, as it turned out, the habit of constantly convincing yourself that “everything is fine” can also have adverse consequences for the body. For example, psychologists from Edelphi University (New York) are convinced that the American custom of answering all questions about business, family, etc., with “OK!” is harmful to health. Emotional stress, feelings of dissatisfaction, and anger are part of normal human life.

Research has shown that people with a denial complex are more likely to suffer from heart disease, cancer and other illnesses. Scientists offer this way out: keep a diary. This is supported by the results of the following experiment.

Two groups of people worked under approximately the same conditions - intense rhythm, stressful situations. One group was asked to write down for several days what had recently traumatized them most at work, in family relationships, and in other situations. People honestly recorded negative experiences in a diary for 15 to 20 minutes every day. The other group behaved as usual. And this is what it turned out: those who “poured out their souls” at least in private felt better than those who did not have such a habit.

According to many researchers, a diary helps relieve excessive excitement, improve academic performance in an educational institution and even... save your job.

According to University of Texas psychology professor James Pennebaker, self-analysis is not a panacea, and a person faced with the death of loved ones or the collapse of a family will not immediately feel better after he “throws out” his emotions on paper. At the same time, the scientist believes that keeping a diary “should be considered as an inexpensive and simple, although sometimes painful, means of maintaining your health.”

The effect of this kind of psychotherapy remains a mystery, but its beneficial effect not only on mood, but also on the entire body is obvious. Immediately after a person has “poured out his soul” in writing, his blood pressure and pulse rate drop, his skin becomes drier - he relaxes.

Long-term observations have shown that journaling improves the functioning of the immune system and produces positive results in the treatment of a wide range of diseases, ranging from colds and flu to mental disorders caused by post-traumatic shock. Moreover, regardless of age, nationality, or level of intellectual development. Interestingly, the technique has a greater positive effect on the stronger sex. It is likely that this is due to the fact that, unlike the fair half, men do not like to talk out loud about their feelings.

Present
It is believed that children are great lovers of sweets, especially chocolate. However, according to some statistics, adults eat just as much chocolate. Why do we love this product so much?

The legendary womanizer Casanova argued that chocolate arouses erotic feelings and therefore serves as an important component of love games. (Is this why gentlemen have long given chocolates to the ladies they liked and treated them to chocolates?) It is known that the Aztec ruler Montezuma drank several cups of a chocolate drink before heading to his harem.

Some experts claim that it's all about phenylethylamine. This substance, related to the hormone adrenaline, stimulates the nervous system, increasing blood pressure and heart rate. That is, in a certain sense, it imparts to the body at a biochemical level a state similar to falling in love. In addition, phenylethylamine is associated with endorphins - substances that excite positive emotions. And 100 grams of chocolate contains up to 660 milligrams of phenylethylamine.

Alas, this explanation cannot be considered exhaustive. In addition to chocolate, a lot of phenylethylamine is found in other foods, such as cheese and salami. However, in popularity they are much inferior to chocolate.

The “chemical” theory is also refuted by simple calculations. Thus, Dr. D. Paiomelli from the American National Institute of Mental Health points out that the substances that make up chocolate are partly similar to the components of marijuana. However, it is impossible to become addicted to chocolate. D. Paiomelli emphasizes: “To fall into a state of euphoria, akin to drug intoxication, a person of average weight (about 60 kg) must eat as much as 11 kilograms of chocolate in one sitting.”

But the English psychologist David Bus believes that the composition or physical properties of chocolate are not as important as the conditioned reflex that has been brought up in everyone since childhood. Chocolate and chocolate candies are usually given to children as a gift, encouragement, reward, or holiday treat. And for the rest of his life this connection remains in the consciousness (or rather, in the subconscious) of a person. Therefore, when adults buy tiles, they arrange a symbolic little holiday for themselves. Interestingly, according to British statistics, chocolate sales increase during economic downturns, when many people need at least a little consolation. Looking at the counters of our kiosks, strewn with chocolates from all over the world, you are convinced of the correctness of the psychological theory.

But more general conclusions can be drawn from these observations. A person needs positive stimulation, especially when he is depressed. Chocolate is one of many such stimuli. For some, a favorite song will help more, for others - meeting an old friend, for others - just a leisurely walk in the park. By giving ourselves small but pleasant gifts, we bring a glimmer of light into everyday life that seems hopeless. Such everyday psychotherapy helps many.

Laughter
American psychologist Norman Cousins ​​entered the history of medicine under the name of “the man who made death laugh.” About 30 years ago he was struck by a rare disease - collagenosis. The doctors left him with virtually no hope. And then Cousins ​​left the hospital, asked to be transported to a hotel and began to watch comedies one after another. After a few days of almost continuous laughter, he was no longer tormented by pain, and tests showed that tissue inflammation had subsided. He soon recovered enough from his illness that he was able to return to work. The “Cousins ​​case” forced doctors all over the world to take a “scientific” look at the healing nature of laughter, although the beneficial effects of positive emotions on the body have been known since ancient times.

Laughter is not just an outward manifestation of positive emotions. It has a beneficial effect on vital processes in the body. As soon as we laugh enough, our pulse quickens to 120 beats per minute. A smile gives rest to the muscles of the face: to make a sullen grimace, you need to tense 43 muscles, and in order to smile, only 17. In turn, this leads to cooling of the blood in the vessels of the brain. Substances are formed that stimulate the functioning of the left hemisphere - it is precisely this hemisphere that is responsible for ensuring that the body can feel positive emotions. The biochemical processes occurring at this time inhibit the formation of the “stress” hormones cortisol and adrenaline. A large amount of immunoglobulins appears in saliva, which increases the body’s protective functions. During a fit of laughter, endorphin appears in the blood, which can even soothe pain.

Laughing is good. This is a free medicine for asthma, migraines, back pain and some sexual disorders. Laughter is good for our skin, it strengthens the heart, stimulates blood circulation and lowers blood pressure, promotes normal digestion and sleep. One minute of laughter replaces 45 minutes of relaxation exercises and produces the same effect as an extra dose of vitamin C. It is not surprising that doctors are interested in these properties of laughter. True, the cases of its use as a medicine can still be counted on one hand. According to Stern magazine, a hospital in Birmingham is using laughter therapy to rehabilitate rape victims. Dermatologist Jan Sutorius in Amsterdam uses the “laughter meditation” method. “My theory is simple,” he says. Five minutes of stretching and making all sorts of faces, five minutes of laughing, five minutes of silence.” He teaches his patients to be friendly about their illnesses. "Happiness lies only in the person himself. If a person wants to extract his own happiness from someone else, it always ends badly. Everyone should accept himself as he is. You need to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning and say to your acne: hello "Guys, here we are together again, we will spend a wonderful day with you. Pimples will not be offended if you laugh at them well, this is much healthier than incinerating them with hatred. A friendly attitude towards your defects will relax the body, and it is through relaxation that it is treated." . It’s no wonder that clowns can now be seen more and more often in Parisian hospitals. And one Swedish doctor has scientifically proven the healing effect of cartoons in the treatment of depression.

Temptations
Often, knowledge of the psychological mechanisms underlying our behavior allows us to get rid of many unpleasant experiences. Here is an illustrative example that explains a lot in the worldview of a modern person, and for some, perhaps, it will make it easier for someone to relate to themselves and the world.

Half a century ago, a simple psychological experiment was carried out. Small children were left in a room containing a few unassuming toys (dolls with broken limbs, an incomplete set of blocks, an understaffed railroad). Not paying attention to the imperfections of the game material, the children enthusiastically began to manipulate it and peacefully spent a long time at this activity.

Then the conditions changed. The door in the room was left open, which, however, was covered with a large grille. And through the bars, a magnificent sight was revealed to the child - a whole scattering of luxurious toys. And what about the children? They immediately lost interest in those toys that were available to them and began to admire those that were not available. Then they frowned and became sad. I no longer wanted to return to the previous game. Tears appeared, quarrels broke out...

Isn't it very similar to what is happening to many of us today? Why are we so irritated and depressed? Many will answer: because we live poorly, poorly. But is it really that bad? Are we not like those kids who, seeing a bright temptation behind an insurmountable obstacle, fall into despondency? Just don’t think that life itself is conducting a cruel experiment on us. The beauty of life lies in the fact that there is a key to every lattice. Not everyone finds it. But those who stand frozen in front of an obstacle risk never being found.

Sometimes you need it. Anyone who is afraid of his own aggressiveness will sooner or later explode anyway: when they have already sat on his neck and got him “to the fullest.” Aggressiveness is not always a bad thing; in the hands of a reasonable person, controlled aggression is a useful thing. The ability to explode with aggressiveness at any second and the next second to smile serenely is an indicator of a high level of self-control and one’s own emotions. If you learn to freely cause aggression, it will soon become easier for you to turn it off, and those around you will begin to treat you with more respect.

However, anything can happen in life. We are all alive, sometimes we get angry and offended, after which we want to somehow relieve the internal tension. How?

Not only from friends and neighbors, but also in popular psychological literature, you can often come across the following recommendation: “If you are angry and overwhelmed by aggression, do not suppress it in yourself, find a way to defuse it. Throw it out in words, throw it out in actions, and you will feel better. If you suppress your emotions, it will have a bad effect on your health.”

Treat such a recommendation with caution: this is a very popular but harmful myth, where half-truths are mixed with ignorance. The pot metaphor is beautiful, but wrong. Wrath is more of a forest fire that will engulf large areas with catastrophic destruction if the first small flame or bonfire is not controlled in time.

This question has attracted the attention of scientific psychology many times, and the results are clear. Experiments by R. Walters and M. Brown (1959), S. Mallick and B. McCandliss (1966), C. Turner and D. Goldsmith (1976), R. Green (1981), M. Zuzula (1989), D. Glass, D. and E. Jones, as well as B. Bushman (2002) convincingly showed that neither imaginary aggression nor outbursts of anger not only reduce the likelihood of promoting real aggression, but, on the contrary, increase it.

Let's see why an outburst of aggression is considered an effective method?

Firstly, people don’t always understand what makes them feel better. It must be taken into account that an outburst of emotions puts a person into a state of mind, and against this background, any act much stronger. If the psychotherapist authoritatively states that in order to free himself from aggression the client needs to throw out his emotions, introduces the client into an altered state of consciousness and gives suggestions “You have been left behind by resentment and anger,” the client is highly likely to feel improvement. At the same time, you need to understand that the result was given by the specialist’s suggestions, and not by the procedure of defusing aggression and splashing out feelings.

Secondly, the release of aggression and the outburst of negative emotions are popularized, apparently, due to confusion: they confuse their emotions with opportunity. Or - physical pumping. And these are all different things.

Shall we figure it out? For example, a daughter was angry with both her parents and herself, everything was seething inside her, anger was boiling inside her. What should she do now? The first, quite reasonable option is to speak out your feelings: “I’m very angry with myself and with you, I think I’m about to explode.” The second, also quite acceptable option: go to your room, stamp your inner tension with your feet, or dance to the music so that after that you just want to lie down and relax. The third option: yell your feelings, throw out your anger in the most energetic terms at yourself, a fool, and at such and such (even more energetically) parents. This is unacceptable, even if it doesn’t sound to the parents’ face.

In addition, you need to very well understand the limitations and pitfalls associated with the intention to splash out your aggression.

First: the desire to relieve tension by splashing out aggression is very similar to trying to relax with the help of alcohol. It is known that a glass of vodka also makes men feel better. Is it necessary to make taking two hundred grams a daily habit, taking into account the fact that soon two hundred grams will no longer be enough?

The second thing to consider is this. Moreover, it often brings them trouble. If in women's screams only internal tension without specific content spills out, then the words of men mean exactly what they say, a man's cry is meaningful and specific, it contains a clear desire to fulfill certain threats. By throwing out his anger, a man does not discharge himself, but also charges himself, and the matter may end not in relief, but in a fight.

And the third and most important thing that everyone should know: this method quickly stops working. Even experts don’t all know that the outburst of emotions and the release of aggression seriously alleviates the internal state only at first, while such a release is something new for a person, while this event distracts his attention. The more the discharge of aggression becomes a habit, the less screaming and even hitting help discharge it. The discharge method stops working, but the habit of yelling remains.

The discharge of aggression, repeated, ceases to work as an emotional response,
only turning into psychopathic behavior.

“When my little brother was angry about something, he would kick the furniture. Our mother said it was his way of letting off steam. Now he's 32, he still takes it out when he gets angry. his anger on the furniture. But in addition, he began to beat his wife, his children, his cat and destroy everything that came in his way," this is how one reader responded to the psychologist’s recommendation to give the child a special “beating bag” to help him cope with outbursts of irritation.

Total: as a method of reducing aggressiveness, defusing aggression and outburst of negative emotions are not effective. Moreover, imaginary aggression is more likely to increase the likelihood of real aggression being promoted. It is useful and normal to talk about your grievances (anger, dissatisfaction), it is useful to relieve tension with physical activity (sports, washing dishes, scrubbing floors), but it is not worth throwing out your negative emotions by living through imaginary aggression. The discharge of aggression, when repeated, ceases to work as an emotional response, turning only into psychopathic behavior. But we don’t need this!

What to do with your own aggressiveness

Developed, mentally healthy and emotionally mature people solve this issue without any problems, see. A realistically thinking person, who is accustomed to thinking first and not worrying, does not often experience violent negative emotions. For a well-mannered person, the negative emotions that arise do not turn into a storm, they are not difficult to cope with, they are completely normal. There is no need to throw out anything to someone who is not inflaming himself: what happened can be understood, and what worries or enrages you is okay. Restraint in behavior, the ability to restrain one’s negative feelings is an indicator of internal culture and good manners, a mandatory attribute of a business and simply successful person. If you don’t inflate emotions within yourself, then restraint in behavior and expression of your feelings is not at all harmful.

How to deal with children's outburst of emotions

The outburst of emotions by children should be treated in the same way as the outburst of emotions by adults. Children still do not know how to manage themselves well, and children know how to manage their emotions better than adults, and future hysterical behavior should not be encouraged. Cm.

1. "Yes Yes Yes". For 5-10 minutes, try not to be distracted by anything and say “yes-yes-yes” at different intervals, intonation and volume.
2. "Talking in an Unknown Language". Speak, without thinking, any meaningless sound combinations that come to mind, imitating conversational speech.
3. "Meditative Singing". Sit comfortably, relax, close your eyes, open your mouth slightly and sing “A-U-M” with different intonations.
4. "Buzz". Sit, relax, close your eyes, close your mouth, make a mooing sound.

2. Visual techniques

1. "High Energy". Imagine yourself in a bright night sky. Choose the brightest night star. Now... swallow it... It explodes in you, filling your entire body with energy. Energy penetrates all the cells of your body, filling it with the desire to do something, change, correct. Be bold, don't wait, act!
2. "Refuge". Imagine a place where you always felt good, a place that can serve as a refuge for you from problems. Imagine yourself in this place, how you are relaxing in it, moving away from problems and difficulties.
3. "Distraction". Concentrate your gaze on a neutral object, list all its qualities and uses.

3. Breathing and meditation techniques

1. "Respite". Short inhale, long exhale: inhale for a count of 5, exhale for a count of 7.
2. "Meditative Breathing". Take a comfortable position, relax your body. Direct your attention to your breathing. Try not to change the type of breathing, but just monitor it. Tell yourself: “I feel my inhalation... I feel my exhalation...”. After regular training, periods of distraction are reduced, and periods of concentration increase.
3. "Anti-stress". Take a comfortable position. Taking a deep breath, hold your breath for a while. Exhale. Take a deep breath again and hold your breath. This time, accompany the exhalation with the sound “haaaaaaa”. Now breathe normally, focusing your attention on this. As you inhale, say to yourself: “I am”; as you exhale, say “relaxed.” Repeat the exercise 5 times.

4. Motor and tactile techniques

1. "A great weight off one's mind". It can be done while standing or on the go. Raise your shoulders as sharply as possible, spread them wide back and lower them. This should be your posture all the time.
2. "12 points". Move your eyes, yawn widely, roll your neck, raise and lower your shoulders, relax and move your wrists, clench and unclench your fists, 3 deep breaths, arch your spine, tense and relax your hips, calves, roll your feet, clench and relax your toes.
3. "Self-massage". Massage the area between the eyebrows, the back of the neck, jaw, shoulders, feet.

5. Thinking techniques

1. "Simple Statements". Repeat the following statements to yourself: “I am calm, cool and collected”, “everything is fine”, “everything will be fine”, etc.
2. "How bad is it?". Rank your feelings on a scale of discomfort: 5 - agony, 4 - a feeling of discomfort that cannot be tolerated for more than an hour, 3 - a very unpleasant feeling that can still be tolerated, 2 - moderate discomfort, 1 - mild discomfort.
3. "Non-resistance". Think of the irritating object as a source of energy that has passed by.