Therapeutic ritual. How to give yourself advice with stress during the war

There are methods of retraining stress reaction. It is work with psychological trauma and PTSR (post -traumatic stress disorder). There are methods of reducing possible stress. These are methods of adaptation and reduction of emotional reaction, methods of change of norm. When explosions are conducted near the soldiers, they try to do the same, to do the explosions. However, there is another type of stress methods, and they are most useful for the military.

These are methods of making automatic reactions to combat stress. In them we recognize that the reaction will be that it will be very strong, but we are not afraid of this reaction, but we use it to take the actions necessary or desired in battle. For simplicity, we usually call these methods the methods of producing combat reflexes. For example, there is a sequence of actions to be taken in the case of an aircraft, a wound of a friend, his own injury.

Even some commander's orders, such as ordering an attack, must lead to certain actions of a soldier. It is almost impossible to reduce stress in such situations, and it is not necessary. High level of excitement is required for action. Therefore, work in these methods is based on the creation of "stimulus-reaction" connections, that is, on the development of a conditioned reflex.

When we, psychologists, work with people who have "panic attacks", that is, panic conditions that are accompanied by dizziness, weakness, difficulty breathing, sweating, muscle spasms, etc. , we use all these methods. However, these reactions can only be cured if you take control. To do this, we determine the incentives that cause panic, and we "hang" on them conditional reflex, actions that a person will take when these stimuli happen.

It gives a sense of control and allows to spend emotional and physical energy that is produced through stress. The feeling of control helps to reduce the level of fear, reduce the stress that these stimuli cause, and gradually reduce the strength of reactions to these stimuli. The reflex motor pattern remains with a person forever as a tool for safety in case of too much stress.

Stress from shelling, explosions and terrible news is an analogue of combat stress in the military and analogue of stimuli that lead to panic. Colleagues have already written a lot of tips and recommendations what to do when a poor condition has already happened. I want to advise you to make efforts to prevent, in order to be ready for these incentives, because they will happen again and again.

I recommend to identify and name for yourself the incentives that affect you particularly, and prescribe for yourself a "ritual" - a sequence of actions that you will take in response to these incentives. For example, many now have a reaction ritual to aircraft alarm in the form of a safer place. By the way, incentives to launch a "medical ritual" can be not only external but also internal, for example, any of the symptoms of a approaching panic state.