Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago5 Things Mentally Healthy People Avoid
Avoid a victim mentality, stop comparing to curated lives, focus on controllable actions and acknowledge small successes to protect mental health.
Years ago, I identified "personal control" as a key component of a resilient outlook and a resilient life. I defined personal control as the ability to focus our time and energy on factors over which we have some influence rather than on situations over which we have little, if any, control. Resilient people have learned to cope effectively with challenges and adversity and demonstrate personal control.
When someone has had an experience or series of experiences wherein they were powerless, that sense of helplessness can get stamped onto their perceptions. Psychologists have known this for decades. As early as 1967, an experiment subjected dogs to repeated shocks in such a way that the dogs could not predict when they would be shocked (Overmier and Seligman, 1967). Over time, the creatures simply accepted the shocks and became docile.