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The immune system protects us against all kinds of infectious agents that abound in the environment. In fact, it is impossible to control our exposure to viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens, but if we have a strong and healthy immune system, our chances of getting sick are reduced.
However, psychologists like Dan Gilbert of Harvard University believe that we also have a psychological immune system. And people who strengthen it can deal better with adversity and problems, without adding too much anxiety, depression or hopelessness.
According to this theory, just as there are people who are virtually immune to viruses and almost never get sick, there are also those who can face the worst tragedies with more strength of mind while others crumble, sadden or stress to the smallest problems.
However, the truth is that we all have a psychological immune system. Studies show that about 75% of people manage to find a new balance that allows them to be happy after two years of suffering a great tragedy.
The psychological immune system would be responsible for building a safety net that will protect us from the effects of chronic stress and give us strength to withstand the most terrible events. While the biological immune system keeps us alive to protect us from disease, the psychological immune system dampens the impact of emotional bumps and allows us to move forward.
The psychological immune system activates different strategies to protect us, one of which is to prevent us from hating our failures. That is why we tend to attribute the problems to external factors, such as the government, an incompetent subordinate or just bad luck.
In this way, we preserve our self-esteem and do not feel so depressed, frustrated or hopeless. In fact, a study conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University found that people who are prone to depression actually have a more objective view of the world and are often more logical and reflective. On the contrary, those who maintain a more optimistic attitude is because they put into practice certain biases that help them to deal better with their reality.
So it is not surprising that when we compare ourselves with others we think that we are more intelligent, that we have less prejudice, that we are more ethical and that we will live more years.
It is not a negative thing. In fact, psychologists at the University of California claim that positive states of self-affirmation, even positive illusions, help to reduce our stress level. These investigators found that incurable diseases progressed more slowly in people who harbored optimistic illusions, even if they were unrealistic since they have a protective effect.
From the biological point of view, this is due, in part, to the action of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which regulates from digestion and body temperature to mood, physical energy, and the biological immune system. This axis also modulates our response to stress, so it has been appreciated that people with a positive perception have a healthier hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis than those who have a more negative perception of life and themselves.
It is only necessary to make sure that we do not lose too much contact with reality and that these illusions are not so unreal that they end up hurting us.
Several studies suggest that people have an unfounded fear of negative events. We usually imagine the worst consequences and we assume that we will react very poorly but in reality when we face those problems we usually respond better than we thought. This is because we normally underestimate our resilience. Consequently, neither positive nor negative events change our lives as much as we thought.
In fact, when it comes to dealing with adversity, it is best to let our unconscious take over. A study carried out at Florida State University revealed that when thoughts burst into our minds about death, whether it's own or that of people we want, our brain does not remain paralyzed in negativity or fear for long but Who tries to move toward more positive thoughts.
In the experiment, psychologists trained more than 100 people to think about their own death. Another group was asked to imagine an unpleasant event, like going to the dentist. Then they presented to them some roots of words that they had to complete, like "go", from which they could write terms like "government" or "joy". Thus the researchers evaluated their unconscious emotional state.
They found that those who had thought about death used to choose more positive words, such as "joy." This mechanism that occurs at the unconscious level is the psychological immune system at work, trying to mitigate the effects of pain and suffering, leading us to see the positive part of life, even when we are facing the most desolate events.
The psychological immune system is composed of two essential elements: the resilience component, which means facing adversity without collapsing and strengthened, and the component of eudaimonia, which states that sustainable happiness does not come from pleasure but from the meaning of life. Therefore, to strengthen your psychological immune system you must:
- Find the meaning of life. People who have a why are able to find the how even in the most difficult conditions. If you have a good reason to live, adversity will hit you but you will get stronger.
- Learn to focus on the positive. Resilient people are those who, even in adversity, do not collapse and are able to find the positive in problems. Every situation, however bad it may seem, entails learning, which at the same time becomes an opportunity for growth.
- Practice detachment. It is about understanding life as the course of a river, where everything comes and everything goes. In this way you can accept both good and bad things, knowing that they are not eternal and that, sooner or later, pain and suffering will disappear.
- Master the attention. David Kessler, who specializes in death and suffering, believes that most mental illnesses are caused by something that obsessively captures our attention. Therefore, if we are able to dominate our attention, we will develop a more effective immune system. In fact, the great Indian teacher Shantideva stated: " a distracted person lives continuously in the jaws of mental afflictions ."
However, psychologists like Dan Gilbert of Harvard University believe that we also have a psychological immune system. And people who strengthen it can deal better with adversity and problems, without adding too much anxiety, depression or hopelessness.
According to this theory, just as there are people who are virtually immune to viruses and almost never get sick, there are also those who can face the worst tragedies with more strength of mind while others crumble, sadden or stress to the smallest problems.
However, the truth is that we all have a psychological immune system. Studies show that about 75% of people manage to find a new balance that allows them to be happy after two years of suffering a great tragedy.
The psychological immune system would be responsible for building a safety net that will protect us from the effects of chronic stress and give us strength to withstand the most terrible events. While the biological immune system keeps us alive to protect us from disease, the psychological immune system dampens the impact of emotional bumps and allows us to move forward.
Overestimated as a strategy to protect self-esteem
The psychological immune system activates different strategies to protect us, one of which is to prevent us from hating our failures. That is why we tend to attribute the problems to external factors, such as the government, an incompetent subordinate or just bad luck.
In this way, we preserve our self-esteem and do not feel so depressed, frustrated or hopeless. In fact, a study conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University found that people who are prone to depression actually have a more objective view of the world and are often more logical and reflective. On the contrary, those who maintain a more optimistic attitude is because they put into practice certain biases that help them to deal better with their reality.
So it is not surprising that when we compare ourselves with others we think that we are more intelligent, that we have less prejudice, that we are more ethical and that we will live more years.
It is not a negative thing. In fact, psychologists at the University of California claim that positive states of self-affirmation, even positive illusions, help to reduce our stress level. These investigators found that incurable diseases progressed more slowly in people who harbored optimistic illusions, even if they were unrealistic since they have a protective effect.
From the biological point of view, this is due, in part, to the action of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which regulates from digestion and body temperature to mood, physical energy, and the biological immune system. This axis also modulates our response to stress, so it has been appreciated that people with a positive perception have a healthier hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis than those who have a more negative perception of life and themselves.
It is only necessary to make sure that we do not lose too much contact with reality and that these illusions are not so unreal that they end up hurting us.
Our mind thinks positively automatically
Several studies suggest that people have an unfounded fear of negative events. We usually imagine the worst consequences and we assume that we will react very poorly but in reality when we face those problems we usually respond better than we thought. This is because we normally underestimate our resilience. Consequently, neither positive nor negative events change our lives as much as we thought.
In fact, when it comes to dealing with adversity, it is best to let our unconscious take over. A study carried out at Florida State University revealed that when thoughts burst into our minds about death, whether it's own or that of people we want, our brain does not remain paralyzed in negativity or fear for long but Who tries to move toward more positive thoughts.
In the experiment, psychologists trained more than 100 people to think about their own death. Another group was asked to imagine an unpleasant event, like going to the dentist. Then they presented to them some roots of words that they had to complete, like "go", from which they could write terms like "government" or "joy". Thus the researchers evaluated their unconscious emotional state.
They found that those who had thought about death used to choose more positive words, such as "joy." This mechanism that occurs at the unconscious level is the psychological immune system at work, trying to mitigate the effects of pain and suffering, leading us to see the positive part of life, even when we are facing the most desolate events.
How to strengthen the psychological immune system?
The psychological immune system is composed of two essential elements: the resilience component, which means facing adversity without collapsing and strengthened, and the component of eudaimonia, which states that sustainable happiness does not come from pleasure but from the meaning of life. Therefore, to strengthen your psychological immune system you must:
- Find the meaning of life. People who have a why are able to find the how even in the most difficult conditions. If you have a good reason to live, adversity will hit you but you will get stronger.
- Learn to focus on the positive. Resilient people are those who, even in adversity, do not collapse and are able to find the positive in problems. Every situation, however bad it may seem, entails learning, which at the same time becomes an opportunity for growth.
- Practice detachment. It is about understanding life as the course of a river, where everything comes and everything goes. In this way you can accept both good and bad things, knowing that they are not eternal and that, sooner or later, pain and suffering will disappear.
- Master the attention. David Kessler, who specializes in death and suffering, believes that most mental illnesses are caused by something that obsessively captures our attention. Therefore, if we are able to dominate our attention, we will develop a more effective immune system. In fact, the great Indian teacher Shantideva stated: " a distracted person lives continuously in the jaws of mental afflictions ."
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