Human behavior in extreme situations is interesting. This information will prevent you from dying in an extreme situation! Ensuring psychological safety
1. Psychology of activity safety…………………………………………..3
2. Human behavior in extreme situations………………………………...4
3. Managing emotional state in extreme situations…………6
4. Assessment and diagnosis of a threat based on physical data and signs of a person’s mental state……………………………………………………………...16
5. Panic………………………………………………………………………………27
List of references……………………………...………………...28
1. Psychology of activity safety
While a person is in a familiar environment, he behaves normally, as always. But with the onset of a complex, personally significant, and even more dangerous, extreme situation, psychological stress increases many times over, behavior changes, critical thinking decreases, movement coordination is impaired, perception and attention decrease, emotional reactions change, and much more.
In an extreme situation, in other words, in a situation of real threat, one of three forms of response is possible:
- a sharp decrease in organization (affective disorganization) of behavior
- sharp inhibition of active actions;
- increasing the efficiency of actions.
Disorganization of behavior can manifest itself in the unexpected loss of acquired skills that seemed to be brought to automaticity. The situation is also fraught with the fact that the reliability of actions may sharply decrease: movements become impulsive, chaotic, and fussy. The logic of thinking is disrupted, and the awareness of the error of one’s actions only aggravates the matter.
A sharp inhibition of actions and movements leads to a state of stupor (numbness), which in no way contributes to the search for an effective solution and behavior appropriate to the given situation.
Increasing the effectiveness of actions in the event of an extreme situation is expressed in the mobilization of all the resources of the human psyche to overcome it. This is increased self-control, clarity of perception and assessment of what is happening, and the performance of actions and actions that are adequate to the situation. This form of response is, of course, the most desirable, but is it always possible for everyone? This requires certain individual psychological qualities and special preparation for actions in an extreme situation - there must be an awareness of the reasons for what is happening and an adequate choice of real methods of action and forms of response.
2. Human behavior in extreme situations
To demonstrate the significance of this factor in a personality profile, we give the following example: a timid, modest, insecure person with a sense of guilt and not always aware of his inferiority complex, internally disharmonious, silent and pessimistic, most often indecisive, hired mainly for the qualities of performance, subordination, analytical mind, accuracy and thoroughness, pedantry, diligence. He does not get tired when performing monotonous, stereotypical work, and, as a rule, performs the functions of secondary roles. There is no doubt about his integrity and reliability.
A person’s condition can change until signs of affectively narrowed consciousness appear - stress is so unbearable for him. The internal reserve of resisting any external pressure on his psyche is fragile and short-term. And if we assume that this person is burdened with confidential information and threatening factors are applied to him (either towards him or his loved ones...), it is not difficult to foresee the fate of this person who has attracted the attention of a competing company or, even worse, criminal elements who are well versed in human psychology.
On the security of trade secrets in in this case we can say unequivocally: if in order to save their loved ones it is enough to provide some “information”, such a person will certainly take advantage of this, it will not even occur to him to maneuver, gain time, or bargain.
When a person is in a state of psychological decompensation and is fixed on the only thought that his vital interests are under threat, information loses its significance.
Evaluation of this act, as well as recognition, repentance, self-flagellation, will come later.
A personality of a different plane, whose character is characterized by a high ability to predict possible consequences behavior, a high ability to choose the optimal behavior in an extreme situation, of course, will not end up in a helpless state.
This example leads to the conclusion that, in addition to the reliability factor, personal qualities in the form of resistance to stress play an important role when “initiating” a person into the field of trade secrets.
We can also consider the option of a person susceptible to such a phenomenon as increased suggestibility, who, in a hypnotizable state, can perform certain actions dictated by interested parties, without any benefit for themselves. This is not a theoretical hypothesis, but a specific negative fact, as well as an adventurous story with the writing of blackmailing and threatening letters to one’s own address by the director of a commercial company in order to justify an imaginary ransom from the blackmailer instead of confessing to the theft committed by him for entertainment in the society of “priestesses of love” ".
Such situations can be avoided if scientific tools of psychological services are used in a timely manner, while simultaneously making the work of business security services more efficient and effective.
3. Managing your emotional state in extreme situations
It is impossible to dwell on all aspects of diagnosing extreme situations. Much will depend on the ability to maintain composure, since only under this condition is it possible to adequately assess what is happening and make an appropriate decision. There are many different techniques that make it possible to manage your condition.
Let's consider some not indisputable, but nevertheless effective express relaxation techniques that do not require much effort, special equipment or a long time.
If an extreme situation suddenly arises, associated with the threat of an attack or the attack itself, you can look up, taking a full deep breath and lowering your eyes to the horizon, smoothly exhale the air, freeing your lungs as much as possible and at the same time relaxing all your muscles. You can relax your muscles only when your breathing is regulated. In an extreme situation, if you breathe evenly and calmly, your muscles will also relax and calm will set in.
You can use one more technique. If an extreme situation arises, you should look at something blue, and if this is not possible, imagine a blue background with very deep saturation. IN Ancient India It was not without reason that this color was considered the color of peace, rest, and relaxation.
If you feel that fear is holding you back and preventing you from acting in accordance with the situation, you should say to yourself, but very firmly and confidently, any exclamation that is not related to the situation like: “Not two!” This will help you get back to normal. In the same situation, you can loudly ask yourself: “Vasya, are you here?” - and confidently answer: “Yes, I’m here!”
If, having assessed the threat as real, and your chances of confrontation as hopeless, but there is still an opportunity to retreat, perhaps you should do this as soon as possible.
Most often you have to communicate with persistent criminal elements, and it is advisable to keep this communication on a verbal level for as long as possible. This will either gain time or smooth out the severity of the situation, and not exclude it, and completely avert the threat.
The main thing is the choice of behavior tactics depending on the assessment of the situation. You can choose the tactics of a person who is not afraid of physical attack; in this case, you must first of all demonstrate to your partner your calmness. If, for example, the attacker is angry, then the calmness with which he is met can somewhat reduce his intensity. At the same time, the best form of response to an attacker who demonstrates contempt is to maintain self-esteem. If the fear of the threat is noticeable, you should show not only calmness, self-confidence, but possibly also aggressive intentions.
But in any case, you should talk to the attacker. First of all, you need to find out: the current situation is his initiative or he is fulfilling someone else’s order. If the person threatening is pursuing some of his own personal interests, you need to find out what they are.
For example, an attack on the street. Here, most likely, you will encounter a robber, although it could also be a drunk who felt that he was “not respected.” If there is only one attacker, then aggressive behavior towards him can give a positive result in an extreme situation. The main thing is that he understands that they are not afraid of him and that he can get a rebuff. This has a sobering effect on many, with the exception of drunk people or people with mental disorders. A positive result is also possible if, realizing the physical superiority of the attacker, a person begins to actively call for help. A scream can paralyze the attacker's activity for a moment and, possibly, lead to a refusal to attack.
If the attack is not spontaneous, but “ordered,” then you should try to use the same little tricks, but in this situation they cannot always give a positive result. Still, you should try to talk to the one who is threatening in order to establish the reality of the threat. In any case, you must try to maintain composure in order to reduce the negative impact of fear on your own actions. Maybe it will be possible to deceive the attacker, convincing him that this is not the one he needs. This approach can work if the attacker was shown the person briefly and long before the attack. By the way, when an unknown person approaches you on the street and asks for your name, you should not rush to answer; it would be more useful to find out why he is asking this.
So, having made sure that the attacker has not made the wrong “address”, that he is acting on someone’s order and that undesirable consequences are about to occur, you should start talking to find out whether the attacker has a weapon and what kind of weapon it is. If he reaches into his pocket, this may be his chance, since for a moment one of his hands is already blocked. If a person does not know self-defense techniques or did not have time to react in time, then perhaps it is not worth taking active actions for some time, but wait for the situation to develop, keeping it under control.
It is necessary to try to persuade the attacker to stop inflicting bodily harm. But this can hardly be achieved by tearfully begging, and even on your knees. This behavior will give a positive result if the attacker simply needs to humiliate the person and nothing more. The conversation can be conducted on the principle of conviction: “What good will it give you personally if you hurt me?” For some, these types of questions can be perplexing. Others claim they were paid for it. If this is the case, you should find out who paid and, most importantly, how much; It is possible that by offering a slightly larger amount, it will be possible to get out of the situation.
When communicating with an attacker, you should look him in the eyes and not turn your back to him in order to leave yourself a path to retreat; if he pointed the weapon, try to encourage him to lower it at least for a while.
When there are several attackers, the possibilities for confrontation are sharply reduced: with several aggressive people it is extremely difficult, if not impossible. That is why it is necessary to determine as soon as possible who is the leader in the group of attackers and concentrate all attention on him.
Everything that was said in relation to a “lone wolf” attack also applies to a conversation with a leader, but we should not forget that he will focus not so much on the target of the attack, but on “his own”. If one on one he could behave differently, then in a group it is more difficult for him to do this, and sometimes even impossible. But nevertheless, it is necessary to enter into a dialogue, at least in order to determine whether all members of the group are of the same mind. Any response from any member of the group, even a gesture, movement, or nod, can play a big role here. Having noticed sympathy from one of the group members, you should start a dialogue with him, or involve him in a dialogue with the leader, or use his remark in an argument addressed to the leader. Particularly noteworthy is the group member who expressed a “particularly favorable disposition.” Perhaps this is a technique for lulling vigilance, and it is from this that one should expect danger.
You should speak to the attacker in his language and tone. If he uses obscene language, then often understanding can be achieved only by switching to the language he loves so much. Some people, especially those with a low level of intelligence, are simply annoyed by polite address to them in conflict situations, which means that we must avoid the words “comrade”, “respected”, “citizen”, intelligent flowery things like “would you be so kind ...” and so on.
Sometimes it is recommended to divert the attacker's attention to a foreign object. To do this, it is enough to peer somewhere behind the back of the threatening person or wave an inviting hand. Most often, an involuntary reaction immediately follows - turning the head. Here is a moment that can be used.
It is impossible to give a detailed description of all the options for “street scenes”, and therefore we emphasize: success will largely depend on the ability to self-control, flexibility and the ability to communicate effectively in an extreme situation.
Extreme situations can also occur indoors. Here the likelihood of a pre-planned action is much greater. The premises also sharply limit a person’s ability to move, and hardly anyone will respond to a call for help, especially if there is no one nearby.
If an attacker has entered the house, then the situation can be sharply complicated by the presence of loved ones - they are also in danger. Measures should be taken in advance to prevent unauthorized access to the home by unauthorized persons. Children are especially often in a hurry to open the door, so it is recommended to explain to the child the need to find out who is behind the door before opening it.
If, despite all precautions, stranger nevertheless entered the house, you should immediately enter into a conversation with him if there is no direct attack. First of all, find out whether he has a weapon, how ready he is to use it, try to persuade him to sit down and talk peacefully, listen to all his demands. As a rule, in such situations, it is important to determine what the real threat is, what specific actions the visitor can perform, whether these actions will affect loved ones in the room, whether it is possible to give a signal for help and wait for it.
If several people break into the house, the situation escalates many times over. But everything that was said above regarding negotiations with a group of attackers on the street can be used in this case.
If the attacker is intoxicated and demands another drink, you should not comply with his request, since it is unknown how an additional dose of alcohol will affect him. It’s good if, after drinking alcohol, the “guest” appears in a complacent mood, he will be drawn to a protracted conversation, at the end of which he will also fall asleep. But this is unlikely. More often than not, alcohol enhances aggressiveness and can motivate one to commit even actions that the attacker did not intend to carry out.
What to do when the attacker is a mentally ill person? Therefore, one must be extremely careful in statements and actions if something in his behavior seemed suspicious. The best tactic is to agree with his statements as completely fair. There is no need to try to argue or convince such a person, much less to argue that he is wrong; on the contrary, one should emphasize that his feelings and experiences are understandable, but in no case “play along” with him - these people are sensitive to falsehood, being extremely suspicious .
If it is necessary to interrupt him, then this should be done as gently as possible; it would be good to switch the conversation to the topic of his personal interests, hobbies, or something positive. As soon as you manage to get a direct answer, you should develop this plot and through it reach a positive conclusion to the situation.
And a few more recommendations. If the attack occurs in the house, you should protect those present in the house from threats by taking the blow on yourself. If this is not possible, you should reassure them as much as possible so that their statements or, especially, actions do not provoke the attacker into sudden aggression, try to keep the initiative and proactively answer questions addressed to loved ones and relatives. This can help them navigate how to respond and what not to say.
You can try to offer the attacker a snack. This is a winning pause and a means of reducing aggression, especially if the attacker is hungry. Well, the very fact of eating food in the house can affect him, since the stereotypes of past generations embedded in the subconscious can work.
If you are confident that you can provide physical resistance to the attacker, you should not hesitate. However, under a plausible pretext, it is necessary to reduce the distance to the partner, to prevent harm to loved ones, to distract the attacker immediately before physical impact on him.
Well, as for whether it is worth waiting for the start of a real attack in order to successfully repel it, we will cite as an argument one of the rules of the times of Peter I: “But you should not wait for the first blow, since it may turn out to be such that you will completely forget to resist.”
In situations where the attacker immediately demands money, it is necessary to convince him of his fundamental readiness to satisfy this demand, but since such a sum is not available at the moment, the demand can only be fulfilled by granting a delay. In general, in situations where money is required, it is difficult to predict the course of events.
For example, someone demanding money turns out to know well what amount is and where it is. If conditions permit, it is necessary to find out the source of his knowledge.
If the threatening person is perfectly informed and attempts to delay or gain time are unsuccessful, perhaps the best option would be to satisfy his “request,” no matter how pathetic it may be, because life and health are most valuable.
It should be borne in mind that even if the extortionist agrees to defer payment, he can take someone as a hostage while he waits.
It should be taken into account that a person who threatens in one way or another may also feel out of place, although he is trying to appear to be the master of the situation, without the slightest doubt about a favorable outcome for him. In fact, the extreme nature of the situation affects everyone.
Having noticed the emotion of fear in an attacker, threat or extortionist, you should strengthen it. But the main thing is a sense of proportion. You can intimidate him to such an extent that he will commit a clearly undesirable action.
It may be important not only to increase fear in the extortionist, but also to reduce it. If he has calmed down, therefore, in his opinion, the circumstances that caused this state have disappeared, and he no longer has anything to fear. You can take actions or statements that may frighten him again, but it is possible that he has made his final decision and has now become dangerous.
It is not easy to communicate with a person in a state of anger. It is especially important to remain calm and be able to demonstrate this to him. A person in a state of anger is extremely agitated, which affects his thinking. Therefore, it is important from the very beginning to try to find out what made him so angry. The dialogue is being conducted carefully. Just talking about it can have a calming effect, similar to the effect of "releasing steam." The state of the ransomware must be monitored over time. If there is an increase in anger (the face becomes redder, the blood vessels on the face, neck, and arms swell, the volume of the voice increases or he starts screaming, the fists are clenched tighter, the body leans forward) - he has reached a state of readiness to attack physically. If the muscles relax, the redness goes away, the fists unclench, the voice becomes of normal volume and the threat and hatred disappear in it, then the likelihood of an attack decreases.
When you have to deal with a person who expresses his contempt, you should be very careful - you can expect the worst from him, and he can do this completely calmly, experiencing a feeling of clear superiority over those around him. If such a person notices even a drop of fear or servility on the part of the “victim,” it is unlikely that he will be able to positively resolve the extreme situation. It would be a good idea to try to “knock down arrogance” from him - by demonstrating self-confidence and self-esteem, and possibly superiority. True, it may happen that the emotion of anger is superimposed on contempt and the attacker becomes even more dangerous. It is very difficult to start a dialogue with such a person, and even more difficult to conduct it. He says the words through clenched teeth, as if doing him a favor by joining in the conversation at all. If you find a topic that would allow you to “talk” to him, you can appeal to him as an individual, showing that his occupation undermines his human dignity. If you attract the gaze of such a person, and even without contempt, you can assume that the conversation is being conducted correctly.
When the attacker, due to unknown circumstances, demonstrates disgust, you should determine what is causing this emotion; you can even ask a direct question: “Am I somehow disgusted with you?” It is quite possible that this emotion does not directly concern the “victim” or is caused by the fact that the threat was told something about her that caused disgust. Sometimes bringing clarity in itself dramatically reduces the possibility of aggressive behavior towards you.
In cases where the threat is carried out in the form of blackmail (they threaten to compromise), then, as a rule, they do not take active action.
First of all, it is necessary to understand the specific content of the information that served as material for blackmail. It is advisable to structure a conversation with such an enemy in such a way as to show him that this information is not at all perceived as compromising. If you start to take a detailed interest in the content, form, source of receipt and other details of this information, he will not believe that it is neutral for you. On the contrary, treating this information as some kind of misunderstanding, which is not worthy of attention, you can encourage him to touch on the details in more detail.
If the information is nevertheless incriminating, then it is necessary to familiarize yourself with its contents. Often a blackmailer tries to convey something in words without documenting it. In this case, the position should be as firm as possible: “Until I see the information in its entirety, I do not intend to continue the conversation.” The form in which this information will be presented is important, since there can be no question of originals; it is necessary to demand copies, and not material abstracted by someone else. Not knowing how much complete information the extortionist has, even if you fulfill his conditions, you may meet him again after a while for the same reason.
It is also necessary to clarify to whom the compromising material is addressed and to what authority. And here the question is also appropriate: “To whom do you intend to transfer these materials in the event of my refusal?” This question can only be answered with a specific answer, that is, the name of this person(s). This will allow him to state that he can transmit these materials and there should be no further concern about this. If such a technique turns out to be ineffective, it is necessary to find out when the blackmailer intends to carry out his plans. This will allow you to evaluate your time resource and decide what can and cannot be done.
Having received the initial information and assessed it, you can ask the blackmailer for time to think. With his consent, you need to use it productively: think through all the possible options that could give you a chance to avoid harmful consequences; if you have someone, consult with him. It is necessary to evaluate what losses there may be if the blackmailer, in response to a refusal, carries out his threat and how significant this is today, since information about the past tends to depreciate.
You should carefully assess whether undesirable consequences for yourself will be prevented and whether an agreement with a blackmailer will not be even more compromising. It may indeed be better to lose something today by refusing a “deal” than to acquire an even more serious threat to one’s own security in the future.
4. Assessment and diagnosis of the threat based on physical data and signs of a person’s mental state
In order to make the right decision in an extreme situation, it is necessary, as far as possible, to understand the situation you find yourself in.
For example, in a situation of a threat to use force, first of all, one must determine how real it is, and whether it is possible to avoid the onset of undesirable consequences given what is happening. If this is a work office or living space, then it should be taken into account that the threat is much less aware of the situation - the owner knows where everything is, how convenient it is to take this or that thing. There may be loved ones in the living space, and the threat may, under certain circumstances, turn against them. If the action takes place in a room where the owner is the threatening one, then the initiative is on his side.
Another situation is the street. In the dark, any threat is perceived differently than during the day. What may be triggered here is the idea that violence occurs mainly at night, and darkness itself can keep a person under increased tension. For the object to which the threat is directed, the presence of people on the street is important, since their absence increases the chances of attackers and, accordingly, reduces (limites) the capabilities of the defender.
No less important is the number of people “accompanying” the threat, their organization, and the nature of the relationship between them can determine who is the leader among them. This makes sense if:
- the intentions of the attackers are to “recruit”, receive/transmit information (threats) through the victim;
- the outgoing threat is indirect in nature, i.e. "hangs" over the victim's relatives and friends and their release depends on his further actions.
The nature of the clothing, to a certain extent, may indicate whether the threatening person was preparing for this “meeting”, whether it (the clothing) corresponds to his intentions (for example, in loose-fitting clothes it is easier to hide instruments of violence).
It is important to timely determine how realistic it is to avoid the onset of undesirable consequences, whether it is possible to retreat without tangible moral, physical and material losses.
Apparently, in the event of a direct attack, one should take into account one’s own physical condition.
When analyzing the situation, you should pay special attention to the following points:
- whether the event that the blackmailer is using actually took place. If the information that is used for the purpose of blackmail has no basis in reality, then you should not immediately notify the blackmailer about it. But sometimes a situation may arise when the event itself took place, but it looked completely different from what is stated in the threat. In this situation, it is necessary to quickly assess whether it will be possible to prove what this event actually looked like;
- how realistic is compromise in the event of refusal to comply with the blackmailer’s demands, what the consequences may be, and how they will try to accomplish this;
- is there time to neutralize possible harmful consequences, is it possible to get a deferment;
- whether the threat affects loved ones or concerns only a specific person at the moment (these are different situations when they are blackmailing with the onset of harmful consequences for a specific person immediately, or when the threat is directed at the victim’s relatives, but in the future);
- whether the blackmail is carried out by telephone, in writing or in personal contact with the blackmailer.
It is necessary to analyze not only the situation, but also the blackmailer, who is an essential element of the situation.
Diagnosis of the blackmailer from whom the threat comes can be very fragmentary, or it can be quite deep - it all depends on the situation. It is hardly advisable to find out the level of intelligence or the presence of a sense of humor in a person who has raised his hand to strike.
Persons from whom the threat of attack or blackmail comes can be divided into three large groups:
1. Mentally normal people who are in a state where there are no deviations in behavior.
2. Mentally normal people who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
3. People with mental pathology.
If there is a threat of physical attack or it is already being carried out, then first of all it is necessary to focus on the physical data of the attacker: height, weight, physique, characteristic features, which may indicate that he received special training.
How is this person worth?
- the boxer, as a rule, takes an open, but still boxing stance, involuntarily clenches his fists, and often taps the fist of his leading hand into the open palm of the other, as if playing with himself (this way you can get information about whether he is left-handed or right-handed). Often in boxers one can observe characteristic changes in the structure of the nose - as a result of repeated injury to the bridge of the nose.
- the wrestler usually stands with his shoulders slightly lowered, his arms along his body or half-bent, his fingers as if ready to grab something, his feet shoulder-width apart or slightly wider, the stance can be perceived as threatening, while the movements are smoother than that of a boxer.
- a person practicing karate can involuntarily take one of the stances of this type of martial arts, the legs and arms occupy a characteristic position, the fingers are not always clenched into a fist, but if they are clenched, it is much tighter than boxers do.
As a rule, all these people have a good physique, developed muscles, flexibility in movements, look at their partner, recording the slightest changes in his behavior.
By the way, recording the external signs of a threatening, attacking, blackmailing person is extremely important, since any little thing noticed can be useful in the event of further contacts. If time and conditions allow, it is advisable to pay attention to height, body features, hair color and hairstyle features, eye color, shape of the forehead, nose, lips, chin, ears, you should pay attention to what the blackmailer is wearing, but most importantly - special signs that distinguish a given person. Special signs include not only moles, scars, tattoos, any physical defects, but also behavior patterns, gestures, voice characteristics, pronunciation, vocabulary and much more, characteristic only of this person. After the situation ends one way or another, it is advisable to record everything on paper, without waiting for law enforcement representatives to arrive, while many of the details are still fresh in memory.
If the person making the threat called by phone, you should pay attention to the nature of the call - local or out-of-town, how the caller introduced himself, immediately started talking about the essence of the matter, without asking who he was talking to, or first clarified who he was talking to. The characteristics of his speech are fast or slow, intelligibility, presence of stuttering, accent, clarity and other features of pronunciation. Voice - volume, timbre (hoarse, soft), drunk. Manner of speaking - calm, confident, coherent, leisurely, hasty, decent, or vice versa. The presence of noise accompanying the conversation - another voice that tells the subscriber what to say, silence or loud noise, the sound of transport (train, subway, car, plane), the noise of machines, office machines, telephone calls, music, street noise.
When coming into direct contact with a threat, you should also pay attention to the degree of aggressiveness and focus on a specific person, which may indicate personal motives, or is it aggressiveness of a “general” nature, and a specific person is an object over whom violence is entrusted. The reality of the threat must be distinguished from the situation of being “taken by fear.”
It is important to determine the emotional state of the blackmailer - the nature and speed of his actions, the degree of aggressiveness, and the possibility of conducting a dialogue with him depend on this. We will describe some emotional states characteristic of the situation under consideration and show how, by external signs, one can determine what emotion(s) the person threatening is experiencing.
Fear - sometimes you can encounter a situation where the person threatening or attacking is afraid.
With fear, as a rule, a sharp contraction of muscles occurs, due to which a person develops stiffness, uncoordinated movements, trembling of fingers or hands can be recorded, the knocking of teeth can not only be seen, but sometimes heard. The eyebrows are almost straight, slightly raised, their inner corners are shifted towards each other, the forehead is covered with wrinkles. The eyes are open quite wide, the pupils are often dilated, the lower eyelid is tense, and the upper one is slightly raised. The mouth is open, the lips are tense and slightly stretched. The gaze is perceived as moving.
More active sweating occurs in the following areas: forehead, above the upper and under the lower lip, neck, armpits, palms, back.
Anger is an indicator of the degree of aggressiveness of the blackmailer. His pose takes on a threatening character, the man looks as if he is preparing to throw. The muscles are tense, but there is no tremor characteristic of fear. The face is frowning, the gaze may be fixed on the source of anger and express a threat. The nostrils flare, the wings of the nostrils flutter, the lips are pulled back, sometimes so much that they reveal clenched teeth. The face either turns pale or turns red. Sometimes you can notice how convulsions run across the face of a person experiencing anger. The volume of the voice sharply increases (the threatening person breaks into a scream), fists are clenched, there are sharp vertical folds on the bridge of the nose, eyes are narrowed. When very angry, a person looks as if he is about to explode.
Speech with notes of threat, “through gritted teeth”, very rude words, phrases and obscene language can take place. It is typical that when angry a person feels a surge of strength and becomes much more energetic and impulsive. In this state he feels the need for physical action, and the greater the anger, the greater this need. Self-control is reduced. Therefore, attackers strive to “work themselves up” by any means, to quickly bring their state to anger, since the trigger for aggressive actions is facilitated.
Contempt - unlike anger, this emotion rarely causes impulsive behavior in the threatening person, but it is possible that this is why a person showing contempt is in some way more dangerous than an angry person.
Outwardly, it looks something like this: the head is raised, and even if the person showing contempt is shorter than you, it seems that he is looking at you from above. You can observe a “detachment” pose and a smug facial expression. In posture, facial expressions, pantomime, speech - excellence. The special danger of this emotion is that it is “cold” and a despising person can commit an aggressive action calmly, in cold blood. But if something planned does not work out, then anger may appear. The combination of these two emotions carries even greater danger.
Disgust is an emotion that can also stimulate aggression. A person experiencing disgust looks as if something disgusting has been put in their mouth or as if they have smelled an extremely unpleasant odor. The nose is wrinkled, the upper lip is pulled up, sometimes it seems that such a person’s eyes are crossed. As with contempt - a pose of “detachment”, but without expressed superiority.
In combination with anger, it can cause very aggressive behavior, since anger “motivates” an attack, and disgust is the need to get rid of the unpleasant.
Often the threat of attack, the attack itself, or blackmail is carried out by a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Alcohol and drugs lead the psyche of the attacker or threat to a state of increased excitability and sharply reduce the level of self-control. That is why sometimes it is important to determine what kind of “doping” and how much the partner took and what can be expected from him.
The most dangerous are the mild and moderate stages of alcohol intoxication, which often cause increased aggressiveness. Some people take alcohol “for courage,” thereby overcoming feelings of fear. When intoxicated, the critical perception of what is happening decreases; such a person has difficulty perceiving or does not perceive any argumentation at all. Movements become more active and can quickly become aggressive. As a rule, a physical attack in such situations is preceded by swearing, swearing, and threats.
A person in a state of drug intoxication looks like anyone else normal person, making this condition difficult to recognize.
Drug intoxication is usually characterized by increased activity in movements; fast, overly lively speech, not entirely adequate response to questions, a peculiar “glint” in the eyes, sometimes causeless laughter, high spirits. Some people in this condition have decreased sensitivity to pain and lack a sense of empathy for others. Responsibility for one's actions can be realized. All this is typical for mild drug intoxication, which has an exciting effect.
In a chronic drug addict, you can see traces of injections and bags under the eyes. By the way, it should be borne in mind that the reaction to a drug can be quite short-lived, and the end of its action in an extreme environment for the drug addict can cause withdrawal symptoms, which will result in a sharp deterioration in his condition, he can become depressed, angry, even more agitated and aggressive. He may have an irresistible desire to remove the obstacle to the next dose of the drug as soon as possible. For some drug addicts, this period of “activation” lasts a short time, after which a period of severe depression may begin, up to epileptic seizures, when he becomes practically helpless.
Aggression can come from a person:
- suffering from a mental disorder (paranoid schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis and other diseases);
- mentally healthy, but with a character abnormality (psychopathy, especially excitable, epileptoid forms);
- with accentuation of character, when, under certain conditions, personality disadaptation occurs according to one of the forms or types of psychopathy;
- mentally healthy, but in a state of temporary mental disorder (psychogeny, reactive states, exogeny).
Any person can give an aggressive reaction under certain conditions, but the emphasis is placed specifically on persons suffering from mental illness (chronic or temporary), since aggression can be an expression of a mental state regardless of external factors or any special conditions. Moreover, when the aggressive state is not directly or indirectly dependent on external circumstances or on external motivating motives (not provoked by anyone), this means that it is impossible to influence or modify the reaction of others in a non-medicinal way.
Particularly dangerous are patients suffering from auditory or visual hallucinations, when they lose all connection with reality and subordinate their actions to motives known only to them. Often their actions are completely incomprehensible to others: there is no sequence of actions, they are not subject to the laws of logic, cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena and facts, they cannot be predicted and most often real reasons aggressive reactions are hidden by them even from those closest to them (parents, friends, if you can call criminal elements friends, from whom they enjoy “respect” because of their aggressiveness and cruelty). But, as a rule, such patients prefer criminal behavior alone and aggression can be directed at a completely random person. Due to the lack of logic and visible reason that prompted a person to commit a crime, it becomes extremely difficult to detect the criminal.
They do not know the state of fear that a person without mental disorders can experience, or the feeling of compassion and pity.
Outwardly, they look tense, their gaze seems to be turned inward, they “listen” to something, their facial expressions change regardless of external circumstances, most often angry, as well as the expression of their eyes, the smile is more like a grin. Such patients attract attention with slovenliness, the smell of an unwashed body and dirty clothes.
There are options when aggression is directed against oneself; patients consider themselves unworthy to live, but are ready to “take others with them,” being sincerely confident that they will provide a service by saving a person from the “horrors of earthly existence.”
Patients with epilepsy, psychopaths of the epileptoid circle and accentuated personalities of the epileptoid type are no less aggressive. They are also united by cruelty. As a rule, they are distinguished by extreme touchiness, vindictiveness, vindictiveness, stubbornness, and inability to yield in a dispute, although they themselves are its initiators. Of course, there are differences in these options: if for an accentuated personality there are still limits that they will not cross in a dispute, in a conflict, then the patient with epilepsy gets stuck in the conflict as slowly and deeply as he cannot stop, loses control in his excitement, rage and aggression. If he has crossed the line, then the reaction will certainly be accompanied by destructive actions (multiple and of the same type). All options are characterized by vindictiveness and hatching revenge. And before taking revenge, their behavior is distinguished by flattery and obsequiousness, it is not for nothing that they are said about them: “with a Bible in their hands and a dagger in their bosom.”
Since they are pedantic, thorough and scrupulous, they make plans for revenge in this vein. Fanaticism in religion, politics and ideology is often a characteristic of epileptoid psychopaths; Most terrorists, under the slogan of “struggle for justice,” surround themselves with the same types and mercilessly destroy masses of innocent people. Negotiations with them are impossible, they cannot be persuaded, they are not suggestible, they do not love anyone, not even themselves - “I will die, but I will not give in.”
Psychopathic persons of the hysterical circle are the most common among swindlers, “swindlers” and various “flights” of adventurers. Their distinctive feature is artistry, a high ability to play social roles, the presence of their own rules of the “game” - a complete disregard for generally accepted moral norms, a lack of remorse, which creates the impression of originality and courage. There are very gifted “in their field” types, with good intelligence, memory and manners, but character! Character is aimed at achieving (and immediately!) one’s needs, whims, and most often base desires, stopping at nothing. Sometimes among them there are good speakers who know how to control and inspire an entire audience, perfectly manipulating people and their destinies. They are more likely than others to use stimulants to enhance their activity and the severity of sensations (alcoholism, drug addiction).
5. Panic
Panic (from Greek panikon- unaccountable horror), a psychological state caused by the threatening influence of external conditions and expressed in a feeling of acute fear that engulfs a person or many people, an uncontrollable uncontrollable desire to avoid a dangerous situation.
The psychophysiological mechanism of panic consists of inductive inhibition of large areas of the cerebral cortex, which determines a decrease in conscious activity.
Panic is a "very atypical reaction" and that it is a "statistically infrequent behavior." For panic to occur, several conditions must be met, the main of which is the fear of not having time to leave the premises, the lack of social connection between the participants (cases of panic were not recorded in residential buildings), mistakes and failures when trying to evacuate.
Older people (over 42) show panic reactions more often compared to young people. There were no differences between the reactions of men and women. There is evidence suggesting cultural and nationalistic differences in people's reactions during panic. About 35% of people show a desire to protect themselves at the expense of others.
Bibliography
1. Ardaseneva V.N. “Personal protective equipment” - M.: Profizdat, 1998.
2. Belov S.V. “Life safety” - Textbook, M.: graduate School, NMC SPO, 2000.
3. Devisilov V.A. “Life Safety” - Textbook, M.: Higher School, 1999.
4. Litvak I. “BZD”. – Tutorial, M., 2000
5. Roik V.D. “Social protection of workers from occupational risks” - Publishing House of the Scientific Research Institute of Labor of the Ministry of Labor, 1994.
Once such a case was described in the press. Trans-Atlantic flight. In the overcrowded fourth grade, temperamental Latinos are noisy all night. Their neighbor - an Englishman - is forced to go out on deck to take a break from the hubbub and stuffiness. Walking in the dark, he took one extra step and ended up overboard. The passenger's disappearance was noticed only when he did not show up for breakfast. Reported to the captain. He decided to turn the ship back and start searching for the “man overboard”. The search lasted about twelve hours. And, lo and behold, they were successful. The Englishman did not give up, did not go to the bottom, and all this time, using his strength sparingly, he stayed on the water. He understood that the chances of salvation were practically zero, but he still stubbornly continued to swim. The most interesting thing happened when he was lifted onto the deck. With a calm look, he said: “Gentlemen! The weather is great today!” After which he collapsed unconscious.
This may be just an ordinary newspaper rumor, but it may also be true. After all, there are documented examples of such courage. Alain Bombard (French doctor, biologist, traveler) argued that, even while in lifeboats, most of its passengers die from panic and depression. It is not hunger and thirst that kills them, but fear. To prove how important it is to maintain composure and survive in the ocean after a shipwreck, he performed a deadly experiment. Alone, on an inflatable boat, without food or water, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He rowed and sailed 4,400 kilometers in 65 days. I caught fish with a homemade hook, drank a little sea water, and collected rainwater. Bombar lost his health, lost his kidneys, lost half his weight, but survived. And he wrote a very instructive book about this: “Overboard at will.”
As a rule, a person does not know the limits of his capabilities. They appear only in extreme conditions. Often, inveterate optimists and cheerful people “break down” faster than ordinary, modest people. I have observed this phenomenon of fear through many trials on expeditions. Here's a simple example. There was one big guy and a funny guy on my team. His character fully corresponded to the first phrase of Yuri Olesha’s novel “Envy”. The novel begins with the phrase: “He sings in the closet in the morning.” This guy also sang, although he hardly read Olesha’s novel.
One day, in late autumn, in the Sea of Okhotsk, our small boat was caught in a serious storm. A double wave collapse occurred near the shallow shore near Poronaysk. On the first collapse, a diving breaker demolished the boat's flimsy wooden deckhouse, half-sinking the boat itself. Fortunately, the stationary engine did not stall. I stood on the helm and could not leave it, as the boat would inevitably turn so that it was facing the wave and turn over. Two of my colleagues were scooping up water at a frantic pace. But the third one (the merry fellow) hid in a corner. He cried and prayed. Neither shouts nor selective swearing had any effect on him. So much for the panic reaction.
We didn't take him to sea anymore. As sailors say, such people are ballast. Moreover, ballast is dangerous.
During the fire, saving a lifetime’s worth of belongings, a dry, frail old woman dragged a huge chest from the second floor of the burning house. After the fire, two young guys barely managed to put it back in its original place. One polar explorer, while repairing an airplane, saw a polar bear behind him, lightly pushing him with his paw, as if inviting him to turn around. The next second the man was standing (!) on the wing of the plane. Didn’t climb on him, didn’t pull himself up, no. I was standing.
WHAT the body won’t do when it comes to life and death. Fear and the sense of self-preservation are great stimulants. They can make our spine withstand a load of 10 tons, the breathing rate will increase 4 times, instead of 35 capillaries per centimeter in a calm state, in an extreme state they will earn 3 thousand. What about our brain? It functions only at 5 - 7% of its capacity. What do the remaining 95% do and in general why does a person need such a physical and mental reserve and why not use it all the time?
No, experts say, it’s impossible. This reserve is a guarantee of our survival, the biological defense of the body, which is very carefully guarded and can be used once or twice in a lifetime to save us from death in an extreme situation, or may not be in demand at all. After all, extreme situations are also different. On the one hand, we are all now living in an extreme situation - stress, uncertainty, nervous tension. British scientists recently contacted the Association of Independent Science at Moscow State University. In their opinion, the experience of survival in our country is unique. A person does not constantly carry tons of weight and does not overheat at a temperature of 100 degrees. But no Western citizen could live long in conditions similar to ours without compromising his health. Are we wasting our reserves? Certainly. But this happens somehow imperceptibly, but if you take a situation when everything changes suddenly, unexpectedly, instantly. The threat to life is colossal, death is inevitable, and now...
WONDERS OF ENERGY
A WOMAN lifts a car with her child trapped under it. An elderly man jumps over a two-meter fence, although he was not an athlete in his younger years. There is a known case when, during a flight, a nail that came from nowhere fell under the pedal in the cockpit of an airplane and the control jammed. To save himself and the car, the pilot pressed the pedal so hard that he cut off the bolt. Where does strength come from? And the unprecedented speed of movement? Many people are capable of incredible things at such moments and manage to do such a gigantic amount of work in a few moments, which is simply impossible to perform or repeat under normal conditions. True, people who found themselves in similar situations, when everything could be decided in a moment, testified that time seemed to stretch, slow down, allowing a person to save a life. For example, a man working on a drilling bench had his mitten lightly touch the drill, it began to be tightened, and with it, naturally, his hand. A partner who was nearby at that moment later said that the worker tried to press the button with his shoulder to stop the machine, but missed. The drill continued to "slowly" rotate and twist his arm. Then the partner again slowly raised his hand and pressed the button. “The noise and roar of the workshop immediately burst in (and it somehow went unnoticed)... All this took 1/8-1/9 of a second, and subjectively lasted 25-30 seconds.”
According to experts, one should not assume that people stimulated by a feeling of fear showed miracles of efficiency and repeatedly increased the speed of their movements. There are several versions of why this happens. For example, this: if there is a biofield around every person, then why not assume that in a moment of mortal danger we, without realizing it, are able to use its reserve of energy. What if the instant release of this energy leads to a change in the environment, space, even time, as in the case of the machine?
It is likely that it is to such situations that the body reacts with immediate behavior. So why can't this energy also change the environment?
THE SUBCONSCIOUS WILL SAVE
IF you adhere to this theory, then it is likely that, once having used its reserve, the body needs to restore it. At the beginning of the century, psychiatrist G. Shumkov believed that this required at least a day, and meeting danger at this time meant death. Doesn’t this explain why we suddenly don’t want to do something or go somewhere? Maybe in this way we subconsciously try to avoid danger. There is, for example, evidence of the paradoxical behavior of military men, impeccable professionals and fearless people, who suddenly, without explanation, at some point felt the categorical impossibility of fulfilling their professional duty. The regimental commander participated in battle many times and was considered a brave officer. Once, having received the order: “Tomorrow, move forward and take such and such a position,” the colonel came to the brigade infirmary and said: “I want to lie down, I can’t go to the position.” The temperature is normal, internal organs are unchanged. I slept well that night. The next day... I calmly went to the position. The question is, what was he sick with?.. And was it a manifestation of cowardice or a consequence of a sober subconscious assessment of his capabilities?
Ordinary people resort to their emergency reserve quite rarely. And if this person is healthy, the body will cope with unusual loads, but if some kind of pathology is dormant in you, they can provoke illness. Any extreme impact is stress, and stress, as a rule, leaves its mark. It is very difficult to accurately determine through experiments what the body is capable of in stressful situations. No matter what stress a person endures, it is likely that in the event of mortal danger he will develop new capabilities. In addition, each person inherits from his parents certain inclinations, the range of which can be quite large and vary by 10-20 times.
And yet, it’s nice to know that somewhere deep within you lurks unprecedented powers, that you have a colossal memory and unlimited capabilities that will save your life in an incredibly difficult, tense situation of mortal danger. But if in order to find out what the reserve of these possibilities is, you need to get into exactly such a situation, it would be better if it were inviolable...
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FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION
State educational institution of higher professional education
"SOUTH URAL STATE UNIVERSITY"
Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports
Department of Theory and Methods physical culture and sports"
Specialty "Pedagogical Education"
EXPLANATORY NOTE FOR THE COURSE WORK
in the discipline "Psychology"
SUSU-050100.2012.100 PZ KR
Human behavior in an extreme situation
annotation
Zemlyantseva V.V., Human behavior in extreme situations - Chelyabinsk: SUSU
FKiS-186, 2013
The course work is devoted to the study of human behavior in extreme conditions, it presents the characteristics of human behavior. The physiology of human behavior in extreme situations at different stages of human development has been studied. Various methods for studying behavior are presented and conclusions are drawn based on the predominance of people in the study group. The development of human behavior and development conditions are presented. Recommended for pedagogical specialties.
Introduction
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The psychology of extreme situations is one of the areas of applied psychology. It explores problems associated with assessing, predicting and optimizing human mental states and behavior in stressful situations.
In complex activities, tense situations may arise - circumstances that create significant difficulties and at the same time require a person to act quickly, accurately and without errors. The effectiveness of the actions of an individual, a team, or a leader in a tense situation is largely determined high level their readiness for them.
Relevance of the chosen topic. The problem of the state, behavior and activities of people in extreme situations in last years is of serious concern to scientists and practitioners around the world. It should probably be recognized that, despite a significant amount of sufficiently substantiated data on the impact of various extreme factors and the peculiarities of the organization of rescue and anti-terrorist operations, a number of aspects of the problem, in particular, the dynamics of the condition and behavior of victims and hostages, are still among the least studied. At the same time, it is the specificity of the reactions of victims, as well as their dynamics over time, that largely determine the strategy and tactics of anti-terrorist operations, rescue, medical and medical-psychological measures, both directly during an emergency and subsequently.
1. The concept of an extreme situation
One of the successful attempts to construct a complete classification of situations was made by A.M. Stolyarenko. He divides situations into normal, paraextreme, extreme and hyperextreme (depending on the required activity and the positivity of the result achieved).
According to A.M. Stolyarenko, normal (ordinary) situations include those situations that do not create difficulties or any dangers for a person, but require ordinary activity from him. They usually end positively. Paraextreme situations cause strong internal tension, they can lead a person to failure. Extreme situations are characterized by the occurrence of extreme stress and overvoltage in a person. They pose great objective and psychological tasks to the individual. If they occur, the probability of success sharply decreases and the risk of negative consequences increases.
Hyper-extreme situations place demands on a person that exceed his abilities. They lead to a significant increase in internal tension, disturbances in normal behavior and activities.
An extreme situation is a complication of operating conditions that has acquired special significance for the individual and the team. In other words, complex objective conditions of activity become a tense situation when they are perceived, understood, assessed by people as difficult, dangerous, etc.
Researchers unanimously note: regardless of the duration of an extreme event, its consequences are destructive for the individual. However, the clinical picture is not strictly individual character, but comes down to a small number of fairly typical manifestations, very reminiscent of the initial symptoms of somatic and sometimes mental illnesses.
2. The influence of an extreme situation on a person’s mental and psychophysiological state
A person’s perception of a situation and assessment of the degree of its difficulty and extremeness are also influenced by the following factors: the degree of positive self-esteem, self-confidence, the level of subjective control, the presence of positive thinking, the severity of motivation to achieve success, and others. The behavior of an individual in a situation is determined by the characteristics of a person’s temperament (anxiety, rate of reaction, etc.) and his character (the severity of certain accentuations).
Let us distinguish 6 successive stages in the dynamics of the condition of victims (without severe injuries):
1. “Vital reactions” - lasting from several seconds to 5 - 15 minutes, when behavior is almost completely subordinated to the imperative of preserving one’s own life, with a characteristic narrowing of consciousness, reduction of moral norms and restrictions, disturbances in the perception of time intervals and the strength of external and internal stimuli . This period is characterized by the implementation of predominantly instinctive forms of behavior, which subsequently transform into a short-term (nevertheless with very wide variability) state of numbness.
2. “The stage of acute psycho-emotional shock with phenomena of overmobilization.” This stage, as a rule, developed following a short-term state of numbness, lasted from 3 to 5 hours and was characterized by general mental stress, extreme mobilization of psychophysiological reserves, heightened perception and increased speed of thought processes, manifestations of reckless courage (especially when saving loved ones) with a simultaneous decrease critical assessment of the situation, but maintaining the ability to carry out purposeful activities. The emotional state during this period was dominated by a feeling of despair, accompanied by feelings of dizziness and headache, as well as palpitations, dry mouth, thirst and difficulty breathing. Behavior during this period is subordinated almost exclusively to the imperative of saving loved ones with the subsequent implementation of ideas about morality, professional and official duty. Despite the presence of rational components, it is during this period that panic reactions are most likely to manifest and infect others with them, which can significantly complicate rescue operations.
3. “Stage of psychophysiological demobilization” - its duration is up to three days. In the vast majority of cases, the onset of this stage was associated with an understanding of the scale of the tragedy (“stress of awareness”) and contacts with those seriously injured and the bodies of the dead, as well as the arrival of rescue and medical teams. The most characteristic of this period were a sharp deterioration in well-being and psycho-emotional state with a predominance of a feeling of confusion (up to a state of a kind of prostration), individual panic reactions (often of an irrational nature, but realized without any energy potential), a decrease in the moral normativity of behavior, refusal of any activity and motivation for it. At the same time, pronounced depressive tendencies and dysfunction of attention and memory were observed.
4. Following the “psychophysiological demobilization” (with relatively high individual variability in terms), the development of the 4th stage - the “resolution stage” (from 3 to 12 days) was observed with sufficient consistency. During this period, according to subjective assessment, mood and well-being gradually stabilized. However, according to the results of objective data and participant observation, the vast majority of those examined retained a reduced emotional background, limited contact with others, hypomimia (mask-like appearance), decreased intonation coloring of speech, slowness of movements, sleep and appetite disturbances, as well as various psychosomatic reactions (mainly from the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract and hormonal sphere). By the end of this period, the majority of victims had a desire to “speak out,” which was implemented selectively, aimed primarily at persons who were not eyewitnesses of the tragic events, and was accompanied by some agitation. Against the background of subjective signs of some improvement in the condition, a further decrease in psychophysiological reserves (by the type of hyperactivation) was objectively noted, the phenomena of overwork progressively increased, and indicators of physical and mental performance decreased significantly.
5. The “restoration stage” of the psychophysiological state (5th) began mainly at the end of the second week after exposure to the extreme factor and was initially most clearly manifested in behavioral reactions: interpersonal communication intensified, the emotional coloring of speech and facial reactions began to normalize, jokes appeared for the first time, causing emotional response from others, dreams were restored in the majority of those examined.
6. At a later date (a month later), 12% - 22% of the victims showed persistent sleep disturbances, unmotivated fears, recurring nightmares, obsessions, delusional-hallucinatory states and some others, and signs of astheno-neurotic reactions in combination with psychosomatic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular and endocrine systems were determined in 75% of victims (“stage of delayed reactions”). At the same time, internal and external conflict potential increased, requiring special approaches.
3. Features of behavior in extreme situations
It has been established that human behavioral reactions in extreme conditions, their temporal characteristics, and in general the psychophysiological capabilities of people are extremely variable values, depending on the characteristics of the nervous system, life experience, professional knowledge, skills, motivation, style of activity.
At present, it is almost impossible to derive an integral form of human behavior in a tense situation. Nevertheless, more and more data is emerging that psychological factors - individual qualities, abilities of a person, his skills, readiness, attitudes, general and special training, his character and temperament - in a complex situation are not summed up arithmetically, but form a certain complex that ultimately realized in either right or wrong action.
In general, an extreme situation is a set of obligations and conditions that have a strong psychological impact on a person.
Behavior style in extreme situations
Behavior in a state of passion.
Affect is characterized by a high degree of emotional experience, which leads to the mobilization of a person’s physical and psychological resources. In practice, there are quite often cases when physically weak people, in a state of strong emotional agitation, commit actions that they could not perform in a calm environment. For example, they inflict a large amount of fatal damage or knock down an oak door with one blow. Another manifestation of affect is partial loss of memory, which does not characterize every affective reaction. In some cases, the subject does not remember the events preceding the affect and the events that occurred during the latter.
Affect is accompanied by excitement of all mental activity. As a result, the person experiences a decrease in control over his behavior. This circumstance leads to the fact that committing a crime in a state of passion entails specific legal consequences.
The Criminal Code does not say anything about the fact that a person in a state of passion has limited ability to realize the nature of his actions or control them. This is not necessary, since strong emotional disturbance is characterized by a limitation of consciousness and will. It is the “narrowing” of the latter that allows us to say that the state of passion has a certain legal significance. “From the position of criminal law, such emotional states of the accused can be recognized as legally significant, which significantly limited his volitional, purposeful behavior.”
Affect has a significant impact on mental activity person, disorganizing it and affecting higher mental functions. Thinking loses flexibility, the quality of thought processes decreases, which causes a person to realize only the immediate goals of his actions, and not the final ones. Attention is entirely concentrated on the source of irritation. That is, the person due to the strong emotional stress the ability to choose a behavior model is limited. Because of this, there is a sharp decrease in control over actions, which leads to a violation of the expediency, focus and sequence of actions.
A sudden, strong emotional disturbance is preceded by one of the following situations described in the law.
Violence, bullying, grave insult, other illegal or immoral actions (inaction) of the victim. Here, the state of affect is formed under the influence of a one-time and very significant event for the perpetrator. For example: a spouse who suddenly returns from a business trip discovers with his own eyes the fact of adultery.
A long-term psychotraumatic situation arising in connection with the systematic illegal or immoral behavior of the victim. An affective reaction is formed as a result of a long-term “accumulation” of negative emotions, which leads to emotional stress. For affect to arise in this case, another fact of illegal or immoral behavior is sufficient.
According to the law, affect arises in connection with certain actions or inactions of the victim. But in practice there are cases when a sudden strong emotional disturbance causes illegal or immoral behavior of several people. Moreover, for the development of an affective reaction, a combination of actions (inaction) of two or more persons is necessary, that is, the behavior of one of them, in isolation from the behavior of the other, might not be the reason for the emergence of affect.
Behavior under stress
Stress is an emotional state that suddenly arises in a person under the influence of an extreme situation associated with a danger to life or an activity that requires great stress. Stress, like affect, is the same strong and short-term emotional experience. Therefore, some psychologists consider stress as a type of affect. But this is far from true, since they have their own distinctive features. Stress, first of all, occurs only in the presence of an extreme situation, while affect can arise for any reason. The second difference is that affect disorganizes the psyche and behavior, while stress not only disorganizes, but also mobilizes the organization’s defenses to overcome an extreme situation.
Stress can have both positive and negative effects on a person. Stress has a positive role, performing a mobilization function, and a negative role - having a harmful effect on the nervous system, causing mental disorders and various kinds of diseases of the body.
Stressful conditions affect people's behavior in different ways. Some, under the influence of stress, show complete helplessness and are unable to withstand the effects of stress, others, on the contrary, are stress-resistant individuals and perform best in moments of danger and in activities that require the exertion of all forces.
Behavior in a state of frustration
A special place in the consideration of stress is occupied by a psychological state that arises as a result of a real or imaginary obstacle that prevents the achievement of a goal, called frustration.
Defensive reactions to frustration are associated with the appearance of aggressiveness or avoidance of a difficult situation (transferring actions to an imaginary plan), and it is also possible to reduce the complexity of behavior. Frustration can lead to a number of characterological changes associated with self-doubt or fixation of rigid forms of behavior.
The mechanism of frustration is quite simple: first a stressful situation arises, leading to overstrain of the nervous system, and then this tension is “discharged” into one or another of the most vulnerable systems.
There are positive and negative reactions to frustration.
Level of anxiety in extreme situations
Anxiety is an emotional experience in which a person experiences discomfort from an uncertain outlook.
The evolutionary significance of anxiety lies in the mobilization of the body in extreme situations. A certain level of anxiety is necessary for normal human functioning and productivity.
Normal anxiety helps us adapt to different situations. It increases under conditions of high subjective significance of choice, external threat and lack of information and time.
Pathological anxiety, although it can be provoked by external circumstances, is due to internal psychological and physiological reasons. It is disproportionate to the real threat or is not related to it, and most importantly, it is not adequate to the significance of the situation and sharply reduces productivity and adaptive capabilities. Clinical manifestations of pathological anxiety are varied and can be paroxysmal or permanent, manifesting both mental and, even predominantly, somatic symptoms.
Most often, anxiety is viewed as a negative state associated with the experience of stress. The state of anxiety can vary in intensity and change over time as a function of the level of stress to which an individual is exposed, but the experience of anxiety is common to any person in adequate situations.
The reasons that cause anxiety and influence changes in its level are diverse and can lie in all spheres of human life. Conventionally, they are divided into subjective and objective reasons. Subjective reasons include informational reasons associated with incorrect ideas about the outcome of the upcoming event, leading to an overestimation of the subjective significance of the outcome of the upcoming event. Among the objective reasons that cause anxiety are extreme conditions that place increased demands on the human psyche and are associated with the uncertainty of the outcome of the situation.
Post-stress anxiety develops after extreme, usually unexpected situations - fires, floods, participation in hostilities, rape, child abduction. Restlessness, irritability, headache, increased quadrigeminal reflex (reaction to a sudden stimulus), sleep disorders and nightmares, including pictures of the experienced situation, feelings of loneliness and mistrust, feelings of inferiority, avoidance of communication and any activities that may remind of the events are also usually observed. events. If this entire complex develops after a certain latent period after an extreme situation and leads to significant impairments in life, then a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder is made. Post-stress anxiety is less likely to develop if a person actively acts during an extreme situation.
extreme situation behavior
4. Human readiness to act in extreme situations
A special place should be given to the psychological stability of police officers - as a kind of foundation for professional readiness to perform actions in extreme conditions of operational and official activities.
Psychological stability is understood as a holistic characteristic of a personality that ensures its resistance to the frustrating and stressful effects of difficult situations.
Law enforcement officer ( patrol service police, private security detention groups, operational workers, etc.) like no one else more often find themselves in difficult and sometimes dangerous psychological situations in everyday work activities, which have a stressful effect on the employee’s psyche.
Therefore, psychological training of employees in educational institution The Ministry of Internal Affairs should be aimed at building resistance to:
Negative factors of operational and official activities: tension, responsibility, risk, danger, lack of time, uncertainty, surprise, etc.;
Factors that have a strong effect on the psyche: the type of blood, corpse, bodily injury, etc.;
Confrontation situations: the ability to conduct a psychological struggle with persons who oppose the prevention, detection and investigation of crimes, to resist psychological pressure, manipulation from both law-abiding citizens and offenders; do not give in to provocations, etc.;
Conflict situations in work activities: the ability to analyze the internal causes of the conflict, understand the patterns of their occurrence, course and methods of resolving conflict situations: insult and violence against the individual, hooliganism, robbery, murder, resistance to a government official, verbal and physical aggression, etc. ; the ability to control oneself in psychologically tense, conflicting, provoking situations.
Frequent exposure to dangerous and sometimes life-threatening situations requires these individuals to be able to control themselves, quickly assess difficult situations and make the most appropriate decisions, which will contribute to more effective implementation of assigned tasks and a reduction in emergency incidents and disruptions in professional activity among the personnel of internal affairs bodies business
5. Questionnaire “Inventory of Stress Symptoms”
Answer options
Never, Rarely, Often, Always
1.Are you easily irritated by little things? (1,2,3,4)
2.Do you get nervous if you have to wait for something? (1,2,3,4,)
3.Do you blush when you feel awkward? (1,2,3,4)
4. Can you offend someone when irritated? (1,2,3,4)
5. Does criticism make you angry? (1,2,3,4)
6. If you are pushed on public transport, will you try to answer the offender in kind or say something offensive; Do you often press the horn when driving? (1,2,3,4)
7.Are you constantly doing something, all your time is filled with activities? (1,2,3,4)
8.Have you been late lately or arrived early? (1,2,3,4)
9. Do you often interrupt others or complement statements? (1,2,3,4)
10. Do you suffer from lack of appetite? (1,2,3,4)
11. Do you often experience causeless anxiety? (1,2,3,4)
12.Do you feel dizzy in the morning? (1,2,3,4)
13. Do you feel constantly tired? (1,2,3,4)
14. Even after a long sleep, do you feel exhausted? (1,2,3,4)
15.Are you having problems with your heart? (1,2,3,4)
16. Do you suffer from pain in the back and neck? (1,2,3,4)
17. Do you often drum your fingers on the table, and when sitting, swing your leg? (1,2,3,4)
18. Do you dream of recognition, do you want to be praised for what you do? (1,2,3,4)
19. Do you consider yourself better than others, but, as a rule, no one notices this? (1,2,3,4)
20.You can’t concentrate on what you need to do? (1,2,3,4)
Stress Symptom Inventory
Introductory Notes
The technique allows you to develop observation of stress signs, carry out self-assessment of the frequency of their manifestation and the degree of susceptibility negative consequences stress.
Processing and interpretation of results. The total number of points scored is calculated.
Up to 30 points. You live calmly and wisely, coping with the problems that life presents. You do not suffer from false modesty or excessive ambition. However, we advise you to check your answers with someone who knows you well: people with such a score often see themselves in a rosy color.
31-45 points. Characteristic of your life active work and tension. You are subject to stress both in the positive sense of the word (striving to achieve something) and in the negative sense (enough with problems and worries). Apparently, you will continue to live the same way, just try to set aside a little time for yourself.
45-60 points. Your life is a constant struggle. You are ambitious and dream of a career. You are quite dependent on other people's assessments, which constantly keeps you in a state of stress. This lifestyle may lead you to personal or professional success, but it is unlikely to bring you joy. Everything will flow like water through your fingers. Avoid unnecessary arguments, suppress anger caused by small things, do not always try to achieve the maximum, give up on this or that plan from time to time.
More than 60 points. You live like a driver who presses on the gas and the brake at the same time. Change yours lifestyle. The stress you experience threatens your health and your future. If changing your lifestyle seems impossible to you, try to at least respond to the recommendation.
Conclusion
Modern conditions in which representatives of many professions work, in particular military personnel of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense, law enforcement officers, vehicle drivers, train drivers, nuclear power plant operators and some others, can be fully called special and sometimes extreme.
We can say that psychological preparation for special and extreme types of activity is a targeted impact on a person using psychological and psychophysiological methods aimed at developing her psychological readiness for adequate actions in such situations.
Psychological readiness means a system of psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of a subject that ensure the success and effectiveness of certain actions and activities.
Bibliography
1. Adaev A.I. Assessment and forecast of psychological readiness of police officers for activities in extreme situations. - St. Petersburg, 2004.
2. Vasiliev V.A. Legal psychology. - M., 2002.
3. Smirnov B.A., Dolgopolova E.V. Psychology of activity in extreme situations. -- Kharkov: Humanitarian Center, 2007.
4. Dyachenko M.I. Willingness to act in stressful situations. - Minsk: Aspect, 1985.
5. Zinchenko I.V. Psychology of personality in crisis situations. - Rostov-on-Don: RSU, 2006.
6. Sandomirsky M.E. How to cope with stress: simple recipes or the road to childhood. - Voronezh: MODEK, 2000.
7. Sorokun P.A. Basics of psychology. - Pskov: PSPU, 2005.
6. Stolyarenko A.M. General and professional psychology. - M.: Nauka, 2003.
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Introduction
The history of studying the psychological, medical-psychological and psychosocial consequences of exposure to various emergency circumstances goes back more than one decade. This topic, one way or another, was touched upon by famous psychologists and psychiatrists W. James, P. Janet, Z. Freud, V. Frankl. Psycho-emotional states that develop in a person who has been in an extreme situation are also studied in domestic science within the framework of extreme psychology and the branch of psychiatry that deals with the problems of psychogenius8. However, most publications on this issue are thematically disjointed.
An emergency situation is a situation in a certain territory that has arisen as a result of an accident, a dangerous natural phenomenon, a catastrophe, a natural or other disaster that may result or has resulted in human casualties, damage to human health or environment, significant material losses and disruption of people's living conditions.
An extreme situation can be understood as changed, unusual and unusual conditions of a person’s existence, for which his psychophysiological organization is not ready. Social science still does not have a single theory that would describe the characteristics of human mental activity and behavior in unusual conditions of existence.
An extreme situation is:
condition of functioning: external determination;
property, state of the social systems themselves: internal determination.
To understand the mechanism of action of extreme situations, it is important to have a clear understanding of their types and varieties. There are several approaches to defining types of emergency situations:
by scale of scope: local, municipal, intermunicipal, regional, interregional and federal;
according to the dynamics of development and time to eliminate consequences: strategic, quickly leading to catastrophic consequences, slowly developing, operational with local consequences;
by type of damage caused: with human casualties, with material damage;
by source of occurrence: natural, man-made, biological-social and military.
space and aviation flights;
deep sea scuba diving;
staying in hard-to-reach areas of the globe;
staying deep underground (in mines);
natural disasters: floods, fires, hurricanes, snow drifts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, rock falls, mountain avalanches, landslides and mudflows;
testing new highly complex equipment;
transport, industrial, environmental disasters;
hostilities;
epidemics;
domestic disasters such as fires;
criminal situations: committing terrorist acts, taking hostages;
political coups of a reactionary type;
riots, etc.
The criteria for classifying emergency situations by scale are: the number of affected population, the amount of material damage, as well as the boundaries of the zones of distribution of damaging factors. However, social resonance very often depends not on the number of victims, but on the conditions under which the disaster occurred. An example is the nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank in August 2000 in an accident that killed 118 people. As a result of numerous terrorist attacks committed on the territory of our country, man-made accidents and natural disasters, people die more people, however, these events do not receive as much media coverage.
With the development of civilization, with the use of increasingly new technologies, progress scientific research The threat of man-made disasters is constantly increasing. There are a large number of warehouses in the world with reserves of flammable, explosive, highly toxic and radioactive substances. In addition, there is a huge amount of chemical and bacteriological weapons. All these reserves are stored for a long time, often without proper inspection and disposal; storage facilities are often in disrepair. The wear and tear of equipment often exceeds acceptable standards: for example, 40% of pipelines for pumping gas and oil have expired. High-risk areas include transport communications and power generation facilities. It is believed that 30% of the population lives in dangerous zones, and 10% live in extremely dangerous zones. In conditions of low technological discipline, a chronic lack of financial and material resources to maintain fixed assets in working order, the likelihood of mass accidents, man-made disasters and other emergencies increases.
Issues of human psychology in emergency situations must be considered in order to prepare the population, rescuers, and leaders for actions in extreme situations.
When considering issues of human behavior in emergency situations, much attention is paid to the psychology of fear. IN Everyday life, in extreme conditions, a person constantly has to overcome dangers that threaten his existence, which causes (generates) fear, i.e. short-term or long-term emotional process, generated by real or imaginary danger. Fear is an alarm signal, but not just an alarm, but a signal that causes probable protective actions of a person.
Fear causes unpleasant sensations in a person - this is a negative effect of fear, but fear is also a signal, a command for individual or collective protection, since the main objective The goal facing a person is to stay alive, to prolong one’s existence.
It should be borne in mind that the most frequent, significant and dynamic are the rash, unconscious actions of a person as a result of his reaction to danger.
The greatest danger to humans are factors that can cause his death as a result of various aggressive influences - these are various physical, chemical, biological factors, high and low temperatures, ionizing (radioactive) radiation. All these factors require in various ways protection of an individual and a group of people, i.e. individual and collective methods of protection, which include: a person’s desire to move away from the influence of damaging factors (to run away from danger, to protect themselves with a screen, etc.); an energetic attack by a person on a source of possible damaging factors to weaken their effect or destroy the source of possible damaging factors.
The special conditions in which a person may find himself, as a rule, cause him psychological and emotional tension. As a result, for some this is accompanied by the mobilization of internal life resources; for others - a decrease or even a breakdown in performance, deterioration of health, physiological and psychological stress11 phenomena. This depends on the individual characteristics of the body, working conditions and education, awareness of current events and understanding of the degree of danger.
In all difficult situations The decisive role is played by the moral strength and mental state of a person. They determine readiness for conscious, confident and prudent actions at any critical moments.
1. The essence and content of the psychology of behavior in emergency situations
State psychology combines the vast experience of world psychological science in the field of studying mental states. The psychology of conditions also includes consideration of certain types of conditions, including those arising in emergency situations. Tension states (states of tension) were studied by T.A. Nemchin, L.P. Grimak V.I. Lebedev. Emotional states that arise in emergency situations were studied by A.O. Prokhorov, A Kempinski and others.
Among mental phenomena, mental states occupy one of the main places. At the same time, despite intensive study of the problem of mental states, much remains unclear. According to T.A. Nemchina, “successful development of this problem is necessary because mental states significantly determine the nature of human activity.”
I.P. Pavlov believed that psychology is the science of our states, and that thanks to it it is possible to imagine the entire complexity of the subjective.
Against the background of disagreements and a wide variety of opinions regarding the definition, composition, structures, functions, mechanisms, classifications and other problems associated with the mental state, many authors remain unanimous in their opinion about the great, if not decisive, significance of research on this mental phenomenon for psychology. So, N.D. Levitov, who was the first to put the concept of “mental state” into the status of a psychological category, believed that the solution to this problem fills the existing gap in psychology - the gap between the doctrine of mental processes and the mental properties of the individual. Regarding this, Yu.E. Sosnovikova writes: “It is impossible to understand the psyche as a whole without studying its specific integral manifestations in the form of mental states.”
So, let's look through the works different authors. The term “tense situations” is found - M.I. Dyachenko, L.A. Kandybovich, V.A. Ponomarenko, “extreme conditions” - L.G. Wild, “difficult situations” - A.V. Libin, “stressful11 situations” - G. Selye, Kitaev-Smyk, “acute event situations - V.V. Avdeev, “emergency situations” - A.F. Maidykov, “abnormal conditions” - V.D. Tumanov, “special conditions” - S.A. Shapkin, L.G. Wild. The following authors use the term “extreme situations”: T.A. Nemchin, V.G. Androsyuk, V.I. Lebedev, G.V. Suvorov, M.P. Mingalieva, T.S. Nazarova, V.S. Shapovalenko and others.
Ukrainian scientists M.I. Dyachenko, L.A. Kandybovich, V.A. Ponomarenko also point out the importance of subjective perception of an emergency (in their interpretation, complex) situation: “A tense situation is such a complication of the conditions of activity that has acquired special significance for the individual. In other words, complex objective conditions of activity become a tense situation when they are perceived, understood, assessed by people as difficult, dangerous, etc. Any situation presupposes the inclusion of a subject in it. This applies even more so to a tense situation that combines a certain content of objective activity with the needs, motives, goals, and relationships of a person. Consequently, a tense situation, like any situation, embodies the unity of the objective and the subjective. Objective - these are complicated conditions and the process of activity; subjective - state, attitudes, methods of action in dramatically changed circumstances. The general thing that characterizes tense situations is the emergence of a task that is quite difficult for the subject, a “difficult” mental state.”
V.G. Androsyuk in his book “Pedagogy and Psychology” comes to the following conclusion: “an emergency situation is a state of the life activity system that is dangerous to life and health, unfavorable for the functioning of the human psyche and can cause tension.”
Based on the foregoing, we list the main characteristics of an emergency situation:
This is an extreme situation, with a very large impact that goes beyond the range of human capabilities.
These are complicated operating conditions that are subjectively perceived, understood and assessed by a person as difficult, dangerous, etc.
The situation causes the emergence of a rather difficult task for the subject, a “difficult” mental state.
An emergency situation leads to the emergence of a state of dynamic mismatch and requires maximum mobilization of the body's resources.
This situation causes negative functional states, disturbances in the psychological regulation of activity, and thereby reduces the effectiveness and reliability of activity.
A person is faced with the impossibility of realizing his motives, aspirations, values, and interests.
An emergency situation is dangerous to life and health, and is unfavorable for the functioning of the human psyche. Factors that generate mental tension can in some cases have a positive mobilizing effect on a person, and in others - a negative, disorganizing effect. Let's consider the positive, mobilizing changes in the emotional, cognitive and behavioral spheres of the individual caused by the impact of such situations.
According to V.G. Androsyuk, such changes include:
-reduction of sensation thresholds, acceleration of sensory and motor reactions. A person shows the ability to more accurately assess stimuli, quickly responds to all changes in environmental conditions;
-decreased fatigue -disappearance or dulling of the feeling of fatigue. A person’s endurance and performance increase, and he or she becomes unpretentious in uncomfortable situational conditions;
-increasing readiness for decisive and bold actions. Strong-willed qualities are revealed, the decision-making stage is shortened, forecasting the development of the situation is optimally combined with healthy risk;
-activation of business motives, sense of duty. A person becomes excited about business, the final and intermediate goals of the activity are clearly and unambiguously determined;
-activation of cognitive activity. A person exhibits acute perception and actively includes the reserves of operative and long-term memory. Are being updated Creative skills, thinking is characterized by dynamism, flexibility, active and successful search for non-standard solutions. Intuition is widely used.
-showing interest and enthusiasm. In solving problems, a person mobilizes his psychological capabilities and special abilities.
The ability to cope with an emergency includes three components:
Physiological stability, determined by the state of the physical and physiological qualities of the body (constitutional features, type of nervous system, autonomic plasticity);
Mental stability, conditioned by training and the general level of personality qualities (special skills of action in an extreme situation, the presence of positive motivation, etc.);
Psychological readiness (an active state, mobilization of all forces and capabilities for upcoming actions).”
Different authors give different definitions of the concept of “mental state”. Some of them, for example, James, identify the concepts of “state” and “process”, others reduce the concept of “mental state” to the concept of “state of consciousness”, others, one way or another, connect the mental state with the characteristics of the emotional sphere.
It seems that the most complete definition of D.N.’s mental state is Levitov: “this is a holistic characteristic of mental activity over a certain period of time, showing the uniqueness of the course of mental processes depending on the reflected objects and phenomena of reality, previous states and mental properties of the individual.” An analysis of a person’s behavior and state in an extreme situation shows that the most powerful irritant leading to erroneous actions is incomplete information.
P.V. Simonov developed an information theory of emotions, according to which, when there is a shortage of available information, negative emotion, reaching a maximum in the case of complete absence of information. Positive emotion occurs when available information exceeds the information needed to satisfy a given need. Thus, in a number of cases, knowledge and personal awareness relieve emotions, change the emotional mood and mental state of the individual, and open access to a person’s internal resources.
“Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles.” Overcoming obstacles by a person requires volitional effort - a special state of neuropsychic tension that mobilizes his physical, intellectual and moral strength. Will manifests itself as a person’s confidence in his own abilities, as the determination to perform the act that he considers appropriate and necessary in a particular situation.
Since a state is a multidimensional phenomenon, any state can be described by a wide range of parameters. One or another parameter can be the leading one. What state parameters come to the fore in an emergency? First of all - tension.
Tension in the dictionary of psychology by J. Drever is defined as “a feeling of tension, strain, a general feeling of imbalance and readiness to change behavior when faced with any threatening situational factor.” Such factors may be increased workload, lack of time, lack of information, etc. According to L.V. Kulikov, it is these factors that are the actual cause of tension, and not the experiences they cause, which are a natural reaction to the situation. Therefore, with the interpretation of emotions as the cause of tension, according to L.V. Kulikova, it’s difficult to completely agree. The role of emotion is quite accurately defined by A.V. Zaporozhets, who wrote that emotion is not the process of activation itself, but a special form of reflection of reality, through which mental control of activation is carried out or, more accurately, mental regulation of the general direction and dynamics of behavior is carried out.
2. Mental states of people in extreme situations
The mental states of people in extreme situations are varied. At the initial moment, people's reactions are predominantly of a vital orientation, determined by the instinct of self-preservation. The level of appropriateness of such reactions varies among different individuals - from panicky and senseless to consciously purposeful.
Sometimes people experience a state of psychogenic anesthesia (no feeling of pain) in the first five to ten minutes after injuries or burns while maintaining clear consciousness and the ability to rationally function, which allows some of the victims to escape. In individuals with a heightened sense of responsibility, the duration of psychogenic anesthesia in some cases reaches 15 minutes, even with burn lesions covering up to 40% of the body surface. At the same time, overmobilization of psychophysiological reserves and physical strength may be observed. Some victims, as evidenced by disaster medicine, are able to get out of an overturned carriage with a jammed compartment entrance, literally tearing apart the roof partitions with their bare hands.
Hypermobilization in the initial period is inherent in almost all people, but if it is combined with a state of panic, it may not lead to the salvation of people.
Extreme situations are characterized by a number of significant psychogenic8 signs that have a destructive, destructive effect on the somatics and psyche of a person. These include the following psychogenic8 factors:
Panic is one of the mental states characteristic of extreme situations. It is characterized by defects in thinking, loss of conscious control and comprehension of ongoing events, a transition to instinctive defensive movements, actions that may be partially or completely inconsistent with the situation. A person rushes about, not realizing what he is doing, or becomes numb, numb, there is a loss of orientation, a violation of the relationship between primary and secondary actions, a collapse of the structure of actions and operations, an aggravation of a defensive reaction, refusal of activity, etc. This causes and aggravates the severity of the consequences of the situation .
Altered afferentation is a specific response of the body in dramatically changed, unusual conditions of existence. It clearly manifests itself when exposed to weightlessness, high or low temperatures, high or low pressure. May be accompanied (except for vegetative reactions) by pronounced disturbances of self-awareness and orientation in space.
Affection is a strong and relatively short-term neuropsychic arousal. It is characterized by an altered emotional state associated with a change in life circumstances that are important to the subject. Outwardly it manifests itself in pronounced movements, violent emotions, and is accompanied by changes in the functions of internal organs and loss of volitional control. Occurs in response to an event that has already occurred and is shifted towards its end. Affection is based on the experienced state of internal conflict generated by the contradictions between the demands placed on a person and the ability to fulfill them.
Agitation is an affective reaction that occurs in response to a threat to life, an emergency situation and other psychogenic factors. It manifests itself in the form of severe anxiety, anxiety, and loss of purposefulness of actions. The person fusses and is only able to perform simple automated actions. There is a feeling of emptiness and lack of thoughts, the ability to reason and establish complex connections between phenomena is impaired. This is accompanied by vegetative disorders: pallor, increased breathing, palpitations, trembling of hands, etc. Agitation is regarded as a prepathological condition within the boundaries of the psychological norm. In emergency situations among rescuers, firefighters, and representatives of other professions associated with risk, it is often perceived as confusion.
Monotony is a functional state that occurs during prolonged monotonous work. Characterized by a decrease general level activity, loss of conscious control over the performance of actions, deterioration of attention and short-term memory, decreased sensitivity to external stimuli, the predominance of stereotypical movements and actions, a feeling of boredom, drowsiness, lethargy, apathy, loss of interest in the environment.
Desynchronosis is a mismatch in the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness, which leads to asthenia of the nervous system and the development of neuroses.
Changing Perception spatial structure- a condition that occurs in situations when there are no objects at all in a person’s field of vision.
Limitation of information, especially personally significant, is a condition that contributes to the development of emotional instability.
Solitary social isolation (for a long time) is a manifestation of loneliness, one of the forms of which is the “creation of an interlocutor”: a person “communicates” with photographs of loved ones, with inanimate objects. Selecting a “partner” for communication in conditions of loneliness is a defensive reaction within the framework of the psychological norm, however, this phenomenon represents a unique model of split personality in conditions of prolonged extreme situations.
Group social isolation (for a long time) is a state of high emotional tension, the cause of which can also be the fact that people are forced to constantly be in front of each other. Women are especially sensitive to this factor. Under normal conditions, a person is accustomed to hiding from other people his thoughts and feelings that overwhelm him at one time or another. In conditions of group isolation, this is either difficult or impossible. The lack of opportunity to be alone with oneself requires a person to be highly concentrated and control their actions, and when such control weakens, many people can experience a peculiar complex of physical and mental openness, nakedness, which causes emotional tension. Another specific psychogenic8 factor operating in conditions of group isolation is the information exhaustion of communication partners. To avoid conflicts, people limit communication with each other and retreat into their own inner world.
Sensory isolation is the absence of exposure to visual, sound, tactile, taste and other signals on a person. Under normal conditions, a person extremely rarely encounters such a phenomenon and therefore does not realize the significance of the effects of stimuli on receptors, and is not aware of how important the workload of the brain is for the normal functioning of the brain. If the brain is not sufficiently loaded, then so-called sensory hunger or sensory deprivation10 occurs, when a person experiences an urgent need for a variety of perceptions of the world around him. In conditions of sensory insufficiency, the imagination begins to work intensively, extracting bright, colorful images from the arsenals of memory. These vivid images to some extent compensate for the sensory sensations characteristic of ordinary conditions and allow a person to maintain mental balance for a long time. As the duration of sensory hunger increases, the influence of intellectual processes also weakens. Extreme situations are characterized by unstable activity of people, which affects their mental status. In particular, there is a decrease in mood (lethargy, apathy, lethargy), at times giving way to euphoria, irritability, sleep disturbance, inability to concentrate, i.e. weakening of attention, deterioration of memory and mental performance in general. All this leads to exhaustion of the nervous system.
Sensory hyperactivation is the impact on a person of visual, sound, tactile, olfactory, gustatory and other signals that, in their strength or intensity, significantly exceed the sensitivity thresholds for a given person.
A threat to the health and life of a person by depriving him of food, water, sleep, causing serious bodily harm, etc. The study of the mental state of people who have a life-threatening factor is of great importance. It can cause various mental reactions - from acute anxiety to neuroses and psychoses. One of the conditions for a person’s adaptation to life-threatening situations is readiness for immediate action, which helps to avoid accidents and disasters. The state of mental instability in these conditions arises as a result of asthenization2 of the nervous system by various shocks. This condition often manifests itself in people whose previous activities were not characterized by mental tension. In conditions of a threat to life, two forms of reaction are clearly distinguished: a state of excitement and short-term stupor (short-term stupor is characterized by sudden numbness, freezing in place, while intellectual activity is preserved). In some cases, these factors act in combination, which significantly increases their destructive impact. Typically, extreme situations are characterized by massive manifestations of psycho-emotional stress.
3. External manifestations, characteristics and classification of psycho-emotional states
If we consider psycho-emotional states from a physiological point of view, it is necessary to note that they are of a reflex nature. Although the vast majority of them are of conditioned reflex origin. For example, an operational duty officer who is accustomed to working in a certain mode, before starting his shift, has a state of optimal readiness for activity; from the very first minute he gets into the rhythm of work.
The basis of mental and psycho-emotional states is a certain ratio of nervous processes (from episodic to stable, typical for a given person) in the cerebral cortex. Under the influence of a combination of external and internal stimuli, a certain general tone of the cortex, its functional level, arises. Physiological states of the cortex are called phase states. After the cessation of the stimuli that caused a particular state, it persists for some time or affects the formation of new or the updating of old conditioned reflex connections in the cerebral cortex. These states of the cortex, in turn, can be conditioned stimuli, signaling any changes that are important for the body’s adaptation to the environment and subsequently, in similar situations, accelerate the adaptation of the psyche to unusual conditions.
Mental states are externally manifested in changes in breathing and blood circulation, in facial expressions, pantomime, movements, gestures, intonation features of speech, etc. Thus, in a state of pleasure, an increase in the frequency and amplitude of breathing is observed, dissatisfaction causes a decrease in both; breathing in an excited state becomes frequent and deep; in a tense situation - slow and weak; anxious - accelerated and weak; in a state of fear, it is sharply slowed down, and with unexpected surprise, breathing instantly becomes frequent, but maintains a normal amplitude.
In an excited state or a state of tense anticipation (often caused by extreme situations), the frequency and strength of the pulse and blood pressure may increase over a very wide range (depending on the strength of the impact of the situation that has arisen). A change in blood circulation is usually accompanied by paleness or redness of the human body.
An indicator of a person’s emotional state is often his movements and actions (we judge fatigue by hesitant or sluggish movements, and vigor by sharp and energetic ones). Facial expressions are also capable of expressing very subtle shades of experience. The speaker's voice can also provide significant data about his psycho-emotional state.
Psycho-emotional states are complex, holistic, dynamic formations that largely determine the uniqueness of all mental activity (the course of processes, the manifestation of properties) of an individual at a given period of time. Psycho-emotional states have the following features:
Integrity. Although the states relate primarily to a certain area of the psyche (cognitive, emotional, volitional), they characterize mental activity as a whole over a certain period of time.
Mobility and relative stability. Psycho-emotional states are changeable: they have a beginning, an end, and dynamics. They are, of course, less constant than personality traits, but more stable and measured in larger units of time than mental processes.
Direct and immediate relationship with mental processes and personality traits. In the structure of the psyche, psycho-emotional states are located between processes and personality traits. They arise as a result of the reflective activity of the brain. But once they arise, psycho-emotional states, on the one hand, influence mental processes (they determine the tone and pace of reflective activity, selectivity of sensations, perceptions, productivity of a person’s thinking, etc.), on the other hand, they represent “building material” for the formation of properties personality. Psycho-emotional states serve as a background that contributes to the manifestation of personality characteristics or their masking. For example, the state of anticipation of a battle, experienced in pre-battle conditions, is characterized in the field of sensations and perceptions, memory and thinking, by disordered volitional activity, which is not characteristic of them under normal conditions. At the same time, mental states are influenced by previous states and personality traits.
Individual originality and typicality. The psycho-emotional states of each person are unique, since they are inextricably linked with individual characteristics personality, its moral and other traits. Thus, a person with a sanguine temperament tends to exaggerate successes for the most part and interpret everything in a bright light, because an elevated state is typical for him. Personality traits and experienced psycho-emotional states do not always, but often correspond to each other. What is sometimes accepted as a personality trait turns out to be an atypical, temporary state for a given person. For example, depression can be not only a stable personality trait of a melancholic temperament, but also manifest itself as a condition caused in a person by troubles at work or in the family.
Variety of psycho-emotional states. There is an incredible variety of personality states of a psycho-emotional nature. Not even a complete list of them allows us to judge this: surprise and bewilderment, confusion and concentration, hope and hopelessness, despondency and cheerfulness, elation and excitement, indecision and determination, tension and calm, etc.
Polarity. As could be understood from the description of the previous quality, each state corresponds to the opposite. Thus, activity is opposed to passivity, confidence is opposed to uncertainty, decisiveness is opposed to indecision. The polarity of psycho-emotional states, the rapid transition of a person from one state to the opposite, is especially clearly manifested in unusual (extreme) situations.
All states of a psycho-emotional nature are grouped on different grounds. According to the basic conditions of higher education nervous activity it is possible to distinguish between optimal, excited and depressive states. For example, a “normal alert state” with a balance between the processes of excitation and inhibition can be the basis for an optimal psycho-emotional state in which human activity is active and most productive.
Currently, it is customary to distinguish between the following conditions:
Active and passive;
Creative and reproductive;
Partial (partial) and general condition;
Conditions caused by selective excitation and inhibition in the cortex and subcortex of the brain (activity of the subcortex and inhibition of the cortex gives rise to a hysterical state6, and, conversely, inhibition of the subcortex when the cortex is excited - asthenic3, etc.).
On a purely psychological basis, psycho-emotional states are classified into intellectual, volitional and combined.
Depending on the type of occupation of the individual, states are divided into states in combat, educational, labor, sports and other types of activities.
According to their role in the personality structure, states can be situational, personal and group. Situational states express the features of a situation that caused a person to react uncharacteristically for his mental activity. Personal and collective (group) are states that are typical, inherent in a given specific person or group.
According to the depth of experiences, they distinguish between deep and superficial. For example, passion is a deeper state than mood.
According to the nature of the influence on the individual, the collective state is divided into positive and negative. Conditions that negatively affect an individual and a team often cause the emergence of a psychological barrier between people. Conditions that have a positive effect on mental activity increase the effectiveness of communication.
Depending on the duration of the condition, they can be long-term or short-term. People who go on long business trips feel homesick for up to several weeks until they get used to the new conditions.
According to the degree of awareness, states can be more or less conscious.
4. Post-traumatic stress disorder
Psychological aspects of experiencing traumatic stress11 and its consequences are studied, as a rule, in the context of general problems of human activity in extreme conditions, studies of a person’s adaptive capabilities and stress tolerance12.
The results of such studies seem to focus the social, natural, technological, individual psychological, environmental and medical aspects of human existence in the modern world.
The history of research in this area goes back several decades, but its intensity has especially increased in connection with the problems of adaptation of American veterans of the Vietnam War, soldiers Soviet army who participated in hostilities on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, military personnel of the armed forces and specialized units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs who took part in countering illegal bandit formations on the territory of the Chechen Republic.
The results of numerous studies have shown that the condition developing under the influence of psychological traumatic stress11 did not fall into any of the classifications available in clinical practice. The consequences of the injury could appear suddenly, after a long time, against the background of the general external well-being of the person, and over time the deterioration of the condition became more and more clearly expressed. Many different symptoms of such a change in condition have been described, but for a long time no clear criteria for its diagnosis were developed. There was also no single name to designate it.
It was only by 1980 that a sufficient amount of information obtained during the course of research had been accumulated and analyzed for generalization. experimental research. The complex of symptoms observed in those who have experienced traumatic stress11 is called “post-traumatic stress disorder” - PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder). The diagnostic criteria for this disorder were included in the American National Diagnostic Psychiatric Standard (Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and remain there to this day. Since 1994, these criteria have been included in the European diagnostic standard ICD-10.
The main symptoms of PTSD are grouped into three criterion groups:
Obsessive experiences of a traumatic event (illusions, delusions, nightmares);
The desire to avoid any events and experiences associated with traumatic events, the development of detachment, alienation from real life;
High and increasing level of emotional arousal, manifested in a complex of hypertrophied psychophysiological reactions.
In addition, the presence of a severe traumatic event is a prerequisite for diagnosis. The duration of manifestation of each of the above symptoms should be at least a month from the moment of their initial appearance.
In psychology, the consequences of human exposure to such traumatic events as various types of industrial and natural disasters (fires, floods, earthquakes) have been studied quite well. A wealth of material has also been accumulated on the study of victims of various forms of personal violence. All these types mental trauma have a similar etiology - they are all based on the impact of so-called “acute” stress11, which is of an event nature; similar characteristics also have effects on the human psyche and other extreme situations (for example, combat).
The source of personal mental trauma is various events that take place during service, which can be classified as critical. The definition of a critical incident, adopted by many authors, was given by the American researcher J. Mitchell (1991). “A critical incident is any situation encountered in practice that causes unusually strong emotional reactions that may adversely affect the performance of duties, either immediately on the scene or later.”
Critical incidents include those and only those events that expose a person to physical (and or psychological) danger and are capable of causing negative psychological consequences that require special measures to be taken to assist their participants or eyewitnesses.
This concept is often identified with the concepts of “psychological trauma,” which has a somewhat broader content. But nevertheless, when talking about the experience of a critical incident, they mean the fact that the person was subjected to mental trauma.
Psychological trauma is usually understood as a relatively short-term powerful stressful11 impact of an external force on an individual, or his prolonged stay in extreme conditions. It is distinguished by the following characteristics:
the cause is always located outside the individual, in external circumstances;
the impact is accompanied by the experience of intense fear, even horror;
circumstances violate the usual pattern of life and contain a real threat to life or health;
the individual may feel helpless in the face of external circumstances.
The psychological reaction to trauma includes three relatively independent phases, which allows us to characterize it as a process unfolding over time. Phase - the phase of psychological shock contains two main components:
Suppression of activity, disruption of orientation in the environment, disorganization of activities;
Denial of what happened (a kind of protective reaction of the psyche). Normally, this phase is quite short-lived. The impact phase is characterized by pronounced emotional reactions to the event and its consequences. This can be intense fear, horror, anxiety, anger, crying, accusation - emotions characterized by immediacy of manifestation and extreme intensity. Gradually, these emotions are replaced by reactions of criticism or self-doubt. It proceeds along the lines of: “what would have happened if…” and is accompanied by a painful state of the inevitability of what happened, recognition of one’s own powerlessness and self-flagellation. A typical example is the feeling of “survival guilt”, widely described in the literature, often reaching the level of deep depression. A similar reaction was observed by members of the emergency psychiatric care team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs among police officers in the cities of Spitak and Leninakan during the liquidation of the consequences of the earthquake in Armenia. It is very typical in combat situations or during special operations in cases where units have suffered heavy losses.
The phase under consideration is critical in the sense that after it either the rehabilitation process begins (response, acceptance of reality, adaptation to newly emerged circumstances), i.e. Phase III is the phase of normal response, or fixation on the injury occurs and subsequent chronification of the post-stress state occurs. The dynamics of the psychological state of the affected person are determined both by the totality of his individual psychological characteristics and by the influence of microsocial, socio-psychological factors, and specific life circumstances.
According to the observations of specialists, in the event of a particular crisis situation, among people who find themselves under its influence and who have not undergone special training, reactions such as apathy, lethargy, poor understanding of what is happening and the speech addressed to them, helplessness, panic behavior, little predictable behavior, flight from danger, loss of orientation in the environment. After the events, in approximately 80% of cases, people are able to independently cope with the post-stress state and overcome it, while the rest need special psychological or psychiatric help.
The severity of psychological trauma and post-traumatic state is determined by a number of factors, primarily the scale and seriousness of the events experienced, the number of victims, the presence of dead friends or relatives, and the amount of material damage. In addition, it depends on:
Personal characteristics - resistance to stress;
Previous experience of experiencing crisis situations, preparedness for their occurrence;
Availability social support(from family, friends, colleagues, management, social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, etc.)
The fact that some of these factors can be controlled and purposefully modified, and therefore the occurrence of severe post-stress conditions as a result of trauma is not fatal, determines the advisability of timely psychological assistance to victims of the impact of an extreme situation on the psyche.
Foreign authors usually distinguish two types of conditions that arise as a result of the activities of rescuers with a high probability of causing psychological stress and other forms of psycho-emotional maladjustment: situations of professional stress and the “burnout phenomenon”.
Employees who have been in extreme situations and participated in the elimination of catastrophic events have noted that as a result of this emotionally intense and sometimes physically difficult activity, they often develop a special psychological state, described in the specialized literature as the “burnout phenomenon.” It manifests itself in the form of a kind of emotional exhaustion, a temporary loss of a person’s sense of integrity and value, and a decrease in the level of emotional and physical activity. The reason for the occurrence of this condition is the impact of a number of situational, personal and professional stresses11 inherent in activities in emergency conditions. At the same time, many of them subsequently noted an increase in motivation for this type of activity, including within the framework of their professions and services, that is, some people who experienced a state of stress11 in an extreme situation expressed their readiness to subsequently again take part in actions associated with risk and high psycho-emotional stress.
5. Psychosomatic manifestations of the impact of an extreme situation
.1 The influence of emotions on physiological processes
The term “psychosomatics” was first proposed by the German physician Johann Heinroth in 1818. He used this term to refer to the relationship between the physical ailments of patients and their mental suffering.
Heinroth's followers believed that all physical illnesses have psychological causes. Psychosomatics was initially presented as “psychosomatic medicine”.
The history of psychosomatics, as a branch of science, begins with the psychoanalytic concept of S. Freud. The study of psychosomatic phenomena was carried out by such scientists as F. Alexander, A. Lowen, W. Reich, M. Feldenkrais, G. Selye, M.E. Sandomirsky, S.A. Kulakov, psychotherapist N. Pezeshkian and others.
Psychosomatics (from the Greek Psyche - soul + soma - body) is a bodily manifestation of emotions (the imbalance of which leads to psychosomatic diseases), and a reflection of other subconscious processes, a bodily channel of conscious-subconscious communication. In this context, the body is seen as a kind of screen onto which symbolic messages from the subconscious are projected. The relationship between the body (“soma”) and the psyche is always two-way. Healing from bodily ailments can be achieved by working through the psychological causes that gave rise to them, and the opposite is equally true.
Psychosomatics, as a branch of science, studies the influence of emotions on physiological processes and behavioral reactions associated with diseases, psychological mechanisms affecting physiological functions.
Psychosomatic manifestation is an approach that takes into account the variety of causes that led to the disease. Hence the variety of methods and techniques that allow you to work with a person holistically. The psychosomatic9 approach begins when the patient ceases to be just a carrier of a diseased organ and is considered holistically.
Psychosomatic disorder means a physical illness that is caused by psychological factors or the manifestations of which are aggravated as a result of their influence.
The founder of the method of positive psychotherapy, Doctor of Medical Sciences N. Pezeshkian, believes that psychological problems are the basis of somatic diseases. In his book "Psychosomatics and Positive Psychotherapy" he describes 40 diseases that are directly related to psychological reasons.
Bronchial asthma;
Skin diseases and allergies;
Hypertension and hypotension;
Headache and migraine;
Schizophrenia and depression;
Sleep disturbance;
Swallowing problems and cough, etc.
A number of people experience fear for their health (hypochondria), are afraid of cancer (carcinophobia), etc.
With depressive disorders, patients often complain of heart pain and headaches, pain in the shoulder girdle and back, digestive problems, sleep disturbances and appetite disturbances. As well as complaints about sexual dysfunction.
Stress is a type of emotional state.
As Perova E.I. writes, the concept of stress originally arose in physiology to designate nonspecific reactions of the body (“general adaptation syndrome”) in response to any adverse impact.
Stress reactivity includes increased serum cholesterol levels, increased respiratory and heart rates, increased muscle tension, blood pressure, etc.
Zolotova T.N. believes that the following manifestations of stress are characteristic at the physiological level:
increased blood pressure;
pain in the heart area;
abdominal pain;
heartbeat;
back pain;
pain in the neck and head;
spasms in the throat, difficulty swallowing;
numbness and tingling in the arms and legs;
the occurrence of cramps in the calf muscles;
short-term visual impairment, etc.
R. Neidiffer describes the reaction of people with a high degree of anxiety at the physiological level. For some, the muscles of the neck and shoulders reflexively tense, for others - the muscles of the back or legs. Very often, with a high degree of anxiety, discomfort in the stomach area is observed. Some people feel an increase in heart rate, while others, on the contrary, feel a decrease in heart rate. In some cases, drowsiness appears.
Franz Alexander, author of Psychosomatic Medicine, described seven psychosomatic diseases, explaining their occurrence by hereditary predisposition, lack of emotional warmth in the family and strong emotional experiences in adulthood.
In his opinion, the sympathetic reactions of the nervous system lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease and headaches. The parasympathetic response leads to ulcers, diarrhea, colon inflammation and constipation. He drew attention to the fact that diseases of the heart arteries most often occur among doctors, lawyers and employees of executive bodies.
Currently, a number of psychosomatic disorders have been identified that are of psychogenic8 origin: obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, bronchial asthma, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, hypertension, cardiac neurosis, gastroenteritis, etc.
Age-related psychosomatic manifestations and children's reactions to various inadequate relationships with their mother are also highlighted. These may be stomach colic, eating disorders, sudden strong crying that occurs in the presence of a person who may show pity for the child and react to the child's behavior.
The causes of painful symptoms in middle-aged people are very closely intertwined with conflict situations that people had over a long period of life before the onset of the disease. These can be both macrotraumas and microtraumas, which can be at the level of everyday problems, for example, the neatness or punctuality of a partner, traveling in crowded transport, financial difficulties, etc.
5.2 Classification of psychosomatic consequences of exposure to extreme situations
It is of interest to classify the psychosomatic consequences of exposure to extreme situations on a person from the point of view of the main dynamic stages. These steps are as follows.
Non-pathological psychophysiological reaction.
Usually lasts for several days. At the psychological level, it is characterized by emotional stress, decompensation (sharpening) of personal accentuations, and sleep disturbances. At the social level, she is characterized by a critical assessment of what is happening and purposeful activity. The reaction is transient.
Psychogenic8 adaptive reaction. Lasts up to six months. At the psychological level, it is characterized by a neurotic level of disorders, asthenic, depressive and hysterical syndromes. At the social level, it is characterized by a decrease in critical assessment of what is happening and the possibilities of purposeful activity, and the emergence of interpersonal conflicts.
Neurotic state. Lasts three to five years. At the psychological level, it is characterized by neuroses, exhaustion, obsessive states, and hysteria6. At the social level, it is characterized by a loss of critical understanding and opportunities for purposeful activity, high degree inconsistency and inconsistency of personality structure values, interpersonal conflicts. The neurotic state is transformed into neurotic personality development.
Pathological development of personality. Manifests itself through three to five stable neurotic disorders. At the psychological level, it is characterized by acute affective-shock reactions, a twilight state of consciousness, motor agitation or, on the contrary, lethargy, and mental disorders. At the social level, this leads to a general disintegration of the personality structure, to a personal catastrophe.
6. Consequences of extreme situations for victims
.1 Forms of behavior of victims of extreme situations
behavior extreme situation affectation
Behavioral strategies are revealed in various forms of adaptation, which are closely related to the problem of health and illness. This continuum is integral to the life path of the individual. The multifunctionality and multidirectionality of the life path determine the interrelation and interdependence of the processes of somatic, personal and social functioning. Thus, the adaptation process includes various levels of human activity. The variety of events in the modern world contributes to the complication of individual behavior in them and increases the likelihood of their pathogenic impact.
Personality-oriented forms of behavior of victims in extreme situations include the following:
Suicide is a conscious act of elimination from life under the influence of acute psychotraumatic situations, when one’s own life as the highest value loses its meaning for a person. The meaning of life - as a basic motivational tendency is aimed at realizing the essence of one’s own personality and its place in life, its life purpose. The meaning of life is the most important engine of personal development; on its basis, the individual chooses and shapes his life path, plans, goals, aspirations in accordance with certain principles. Suicide is an act of suicide committed by a person in a state of severe mental distress or under the influence of mental illness. The causes of suicide are varied and are rooted both in the personal deformations of the subject and the traumatic environment surrounding him, as well as in the socio-economic and moral organization of society.
Apathy is a state characterized by emotional passivity, indifference, simplification of feelings, indifference to oneself and loved ones, to the events of the surrounding reality and a weakening of motives and interests, a sharp weakening of attention. Apathy occurs against a background of reduced physical and psychological activity and can be short-term or long-term. Forming mainly as a result of fatigue, exhaustion or long-term mental disorder, this condition sometimes occurs with certain organic lesions of the brain, with dementia, and also as a consequence of a long-term somatic illness. The outwardly similar state of depression associated with neuroses differs from apathy. Currently, the problem of social apathy, which arises as a result of a personal crisis in an era of social crisis and covers the widest segments of the population, is relevant.
Autism is an extreme form of psychological alienation. It is expressed in the individual’s withdrawal, “withdrawal,” “escape” from contacts with reality and immersion in the closed world of his own experiences. In a person with autism:
the ability to voluntarily control your thinking and disconnect from painful thoughts decreases;
attempts are made to avoid any contact;
the need for joint activities disappears;
the ability to intuitively understand others, to play the roles of others is lost;
an inadequate emotional response to the behavior of others occurs.
Other forms of behavior of victims in extreme situations are as follows:
Unmotivated vigilance. The victim closely monitors everything that happens around him, as if he is constantly in danger.
Explosive reaction. At the slightest surprise, the victim makes rapid movements: he rushes to the ground at the sound of a low-flying plane or helicopter, turns around sharply and takes a defensive pose if someone approaches him from behind, etc.
Dullness of emotional manifestations. The victim completely or partially loses the ability to express emotions. He has difficulty establishing close or friendly connections with others. Joy, love, creativity, spontaneity, entertainment and games are inaccessible to him.
General anxiety. The victim experiences constant anxiety and concern, and paranoid phenomena, for example, fear of persecution. In emotional experiences - a constant feeling of fear, self-doubt.
Attacks of rage. The victim experiences attacks, even explosions of rage, and not bursts of moderate anger.
6.2 Periods in the dynamics of development of post-traumatic mental disorders
In the dynamics of the development of an extreme situation and, as a consequence, post-traumatic mental disorders, three periods are observed, which are closely related to the organization of rescue operations and the provision of material, medical and psychological assistance to the victims.
The first period is acute. Lasts from the beginning of the impact of the situation until the organization of rescue operations. Main traumatic factors:
a sudden threat to one's own life;
physical injuries of the victim himself;
physical injury or death of close relatives;
severe damage or destruction of property and other material assets.
non-pathological neurotic; it is based on fear, mental tension, anxiety;
adequate behavior is maintained;
acute reactive psychoses in the form of affective shock states with motor agitation or retardation;
victims lose control over their actions;
changing the state of “petrification”, inactivity with aimless movements, flight, screams, and a state of panic.
The second period is the organization of rescue operations, the establishment of a relatively normal life in extreme conditions from the beginning to the end of rescue operations.
The main traumatic factor is the expectation of repeated physical and mental impacts due to the loss of relatives and friends, family separation, loss of property, the need to identify dead relatives, and the discrepancy between what was expected and the results of rescue operations.
Main mental reactions of participants:
maintaining adequate self-esteem and the ability to engage in purposeful activities;
gradual weakening of affective shock states and a decrease in the depth of their manifestations;
inappropriate behavior of victims;
inappropriate motor actions;
state of numbness;
manifestation of phobic neuroses13, for example, fear of enclosed spaces (victims refuse to enter a car or a tent).
The third period is the evacuation of victims to safe areas. Main traumatic factors:
change in life stereotype;
fear for the state of your health and the health of loved ones;
experiencing the loss of loved ones, separation of families, material losses.
Main mental reactions of participants:
sharpening of character traits;
phobic neuroses;
neurotic personality development;
increased consumption of alcohol, tobacco, medicines, drugs;
activation of interpersonal contacts;
normalization of emotional coloring of speech, restoration of dreams;
increase in conflict situations.
People who have escaped in an extreme situation experience certain pathological changes in the mental sphere (post-traumatic syndrome) for a long time. Among the psychopathological changes after trauma in people, the most common are the following:
Impaired memory and concentration. Those affected have difficulty concentrating or remembering anything.
Unbidden memories. Terrible scenes associated with a psychotraumatic situation suddenly emerge in the victim’s memory. In reality, these memories arise in cases where the surrounding situation is somewhat reminiscent of what happened “at that time,” i.e. during a traumatic event. These signals can be smells, sights, sounds that seem to come from “out there.” Unbidden traumatic memories are accompanied by intense feelings of anxiety and fear.
Nightmarish dreams. Dreams of this kind are usually of two types:
Some, with the precision of video recordings, convey the traumatic event as it was imprinted in the memory of the person who experienced it;
others only partially resemble the traumatic event. A person awakens from such a dream completely broken, with tense muscles, in profuse sweat.
Hallucinatory experiences.
A special type of uninvited memories of traumatic events, when what happened appears so vividly that the events of the current moment seem to recede to the periphery of consciousness and seem less real than memories. In this detached state, a person behaves as if he were reliving a past traumatic event: he acts, thinks, feels as at the moment when he had to save his life.
Insomnia. Difficulty falling asleep and interrupted sleep. It is believed that a person himself involuntarily resists falling asleep when he is visited by hallucinations. He is afraid to fall asleep, lest he have a terrible dream again. Insomnia can also be caused by very high levels of anxiety, a person's inability to relax, as well as a persistent feeling of physical or heartache.
"Survivor's Guilt." The feeling of guilt arises due to the fact that the victim survived an extreme situation that cost the lives of others, especially relatives or close relatives, or extremely significant friends.
It is believed that this condition is characteristic of those who suffer more from “emotional deafness”, i.e. inability to experience joy, love, compassion after a traumatic event.
A strong feeling of guilt provokes attacks of auto-aggressive behavior.
In extreme situations, different people are involved social groups- the actual victims of situations and their rescuers, each of these groups has somewhat similar, and in some ways different, personality-oriented forms of behavior.
7. Forms of behavior of rescuers in extreme situations
The psyche of rescuers is also subjected to serious tests during rescue operations and after them. People experience fear and horror from what they see (according to some estimates, up to 98% of participants):
nightmares, insomnia at night, drowsiness during the day, depressed mood (50%);
dizziness, fainting, headaches, nausea, vomiting (20%).
Other specific forms of reaction among rescuers were also noticed:
Irritability. It occurs when you feel powerless, unable to do anything. The effectiveness of efforts (often subjectively) decreases. A person begins to get angry for no reason at someone or something around him, swears, and goes into a rage.
Failure to act correctly. Suddenly a person discovers that he cannot work normally, and he himself does not know why this is happening. He is unable to remember what his tasks are, does not know where to start this or that business. He asks others for help and at the same time does not want to show that he is not able to work well.
Anxiety. The person is extremely busy and cannot stop working. He takes on everything without understanding what is really important and what is not.
Escape. A person unexpectedly stops doing something. He wants to run away from all the terrible disasters and misfortunes that appear before his eyes. Sometimes he still has enough strength to control himself enough to escape from his place of work unnoticed.
Despair. Suddenly the person notices that he can no longer cope with his feelings. He doesn't understand why this is happening. He experiences a complete breakdown, lack of any feelings, hides somewhere in a quiet place, devastated and despairing. He feels dizzy, swaying, and wants to sit down.
Exhaustion. Suddenly the person feels unable to take even one step. He wants to sit up, he tries to catch his breath. All his muscles hurt, any “thinking” is too hard for him.
Typical psycho-vegetative reactions of rescuers in extreme situations are as follows:
Heartbeat. Suddenly a person feels pain in his chest, and although he knows that his health is fine, he is nevertheless really scared and worried. He feels like he might have a heart attack and tries to sit somewhere quiet.
Nervous chills. Just as unexpectedly, the rescuer begins to experience uncontrollable nervous tremors, so strong that he cannot even light a match or pour a cup of tea. He does not know what to do.
Sudden tears, crying. For no reason, a person develops
tears, although he tries to hold them back. He is ashamed of what happened to him
is happening. He tries to retire, pull himself together and restore his disturbed mental balance. Conclusion
The normal state is the most important part of all mental regulation and plays a significant role in any type of activity and behavior. However, the theory of mental states is far from complete; many aspects of mental states have not been studied with the necessary completeness. According to Doctor of Psychological Sciences L.V. Kulikova, “personal potentials that allow regulating the state remain little explored.”
Research by authors - specialists in the field of sociology, psychology and physiology - is devoted to the analysis of the influence of emotional stress on the body. First of all, in such situations it is necessary to take into account the possibility of normal positive adaptation to frustrations. “Frustration is an emotionally difficult experience by a person of his failure, accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness, frustration in achieving the desired goal.” A person who often has to be in emergency situations is able to develop the skills of the most adequate reactions, the most correct mobilization of his functions. It is possible to learn different ways to eliminate fear. The role of positive experience and a feeling of satisfaction in connection with the task being performed is also significant. All this leads to an increase in self-confidence, which contributes to better adaptation to extreme situations that may arise as a result of emergencies.
In conclusion, we can also draw a conclusion about what should be done to avoid the depressed state of people in an emergency situation.
Firstly, it must be taken into account that a person who has suffered severe mental trauma restores mental balance much faster if he is involved in some kind of physical work, not alone, but as part of a group.
Secondly, in order to weaken the negative impact on a person, constant preparation for action in emergency situations, the formation of mental stability, and the cultivation of will are needed. That is why the main content of psychological training is the development and consolidation of the necessary psychological qualities.
Thirdly, preparation for psychological stress, increasing stamina, developing endurance, self-control, a steady desire to complete assigned tasks, and developing mutual assistance and interaction are of particular importance.
We must remember that the level of psychological preparation of people is one of the most important factors. The slightest confusion and manifestation of fear, especially at the very beginning of an accident or catastrophe, at the time of the development of a natural disaster, can lead to serious and sometimes irreparable consequences. First of all, this applies to officials who are obliged to immediately take measures that mobilize the team, while showing personal discipline and restraint.
Glossary
Accentua ?tion (from Lat. Accentus - emphasis) is a character trait (in some sources - personality) that is within the clinical norm, in which certain of its traits are excessively enhanced, as a result of which selective vulnerability is revealed in relation to some psychogenic influences while maintaining good resistance to others. Accentuations are not mental disorders, but in a number of their properties they are similar to personality disorders, which allows us to make assumptions about the existence of a connection between them.
Asthenization is a decrease in the functionality of the central nervous system, manifested by deterioration in performance, mental fatigue, deterioration of attention, memory, increased reactivity with irritable weakness.
3. Asthenia (from ancient Greek.<#"justify">Literature
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