Many people find themselves in extreme situations. It can be an earthquake, flood, fire, terrorism and much more.

In stressful situations, a person can become confused or become a fighting person for a while. As a result, after having experienced horror and fear, the psyche suffers. A person needs the help of qualified specialists.

What are emergency situations

Sometimes a person experiences adverse events that affect the psyche. This is often referred to as emergency situations. Simply put, it is a change in habitual living conditions.

When a critical situation occurs, a person has a fear that needs to be dealt with. After all, while it is present, people are not subject to themselves. Most often, strong fear covers when a person realizes that a certain situation threatens life. Therefore, after the experience, a person is not able to cope with himself, with his psyche. These people need professional help.

After a terrible episode, emotions of excitement overwhelm. There is an opinion that the release of adrenaline from the body is good. However, psychologists have a different point of view. After all, if something unforeseen happens, for example, a fire, a person has a shock. After a successful outcome, a heart attack, heart attack, and other adverse outcomes are possible. Therefore, it is better to avoid such situations. The psychology of extreme situations is a problem that is very difficult to get rid of.

Kinds

Extreme situations can be unexpected and predictable. For example, natural disasters cannot be expected. These situations appear suddenly. Therefore, from surprise, a person may be confused and not have time to take the necessary measures. Extreme situations are divided into the following types.

1. By the scale of distribution. This refers to the size of the territory and the consequences.

• Local situations are only in the workplace and do not go beyond it. Affected people can be a maximum of 10-11, no more.
• object situations. This is a danger on the territory, but it can be eliminated on your own.
• local situations. Only a certain city (suburb or village) suffers. An extreme situation does not go beyond the boundaries of the area and is eliminated by its own means, resources and forces.
• Regional. The dangerous situation extends to several approximate areas. Federal services are involved in the liquidation. In a regional emergency, there should be no more than 500 people affected.

2. By the pace of development.

• Unexpected and sudden (accidents, floods, earthquakes, etc.).
• Swift. This is a very fast spread. These include fires, emissions of gaseous toxic substances, etc.
• Medium. Radioactive substances are emitted or volcanoes erupt.
• Slow. It can be droughts, epidemics, etc.

Any emergency situation poses a threat to human life.

Each catastrophe leaves its mark on the psyche of people. Therefore, it is necessary to be very careful and know how to react in a certain situation.

Rules of behavior

Not everyone thinks about how to behave at a certain moment. Behavior in an emergency is very important. After all, a lot depends on it, including human life.

First of all, you need to be very calm and cool. Count quickly to three and catch your breath. Try to forget about fear and pain for the moment. Realistically evaluate your capabilities, strengths and the situation as a whole. Confusion, panic and indecision will only hurt you under such circumstances.

Every person should always be ready for unforeseen danger. Then it's easier to deal with it. You must know how to properly provide first aid. With good preparation, there is always an opportunity to save your life or those around you. Behavior in extreme situations must be controlled.

Survival

First of all, you yourself must make sure that your home is safe and sound. Will you be able to stay in the house if there are hurricanes or earthquakes? Check wiring regularly. You must know for sure that in case of fire you can get out of the trap unharmed.

Every family should have medicines for all occasions. We must not forget about bandages, iodine, a remedy for burns. They are not needed every day, but sometimes they are simply necessary. Survival in extreme situations is a very important factor for every person.

If you have a car, it should always be ready to leave. Try to store fuel for such cases.

Do not forget about spare clothes, which should be close to your home. Maybe in a garage or basement. Let it be old, but warm in the cold.

If each person thinks about their safety in advance, then it will be much easier to survive in any extreme conditions.

Actions

What should a person do in emergency situations? Not everyone will be able to answer this question. It's worth noting. that extreme situations happen to people every day, so you need to know the answer to this question in advance.

If a person finds a suspicious device in a public place, then it cannot be picked up, but must be reported to the police. Even if it's anonymous. Do not be afraid to report, because if you do not suffer, then someone else.

In any situation, you should not panic. This is the most dangerous feeling. Try to pull yourself together, calm down and act according to the situation.

There is always a way out, the main thing is to use it correctly. As a rule, there are others to whom you can turn for help. Actions in extreme situations should be lightning fast. After all, life depends on it. If you find yourself unable to cope, shout as long as you can so that you can be heard. It is clear that not everyone will help, but at least one person will respond to your misfortune.

Memo to citizens

Every citizen needs help in emergency situations. For this, there is a memo that does not let you forget how to act in case of unforeseen incidents.

If you understand that something has happened to the electricity, for example, the meter is cracking or the light is flashing incorrectly, then immediately turn off the power to the apartment. After all, undesirable emergencies can occur. At the same time, it is desirable to turn off the gas and water. After that, do not hesitate to call the master or emergency service.

It often happens that people do not attach importance to some little things. Because of this, fires, explosions, etc. occur. Therefore, your documents should be in one place and preferably closer to the exit. In case of danger, you must take them with you. This is the first thing that should come to a person's mind.

Money and necessary things should also not be too far from the exit. In stressful and extreme situations, there is not always time to run around the apartment and pack your bags. Therefore, it is necessary to think in advance that dangerous events can occur at any time. You always need to remember the rules in extreme situations that can help.

Extreme natural situations

Not only in an apartment can danger overtake a person. In nature, too, there is enough extreme. Therefore, a person must be ready for anything.

For example, you can get into uncomfortable weather conditions - severe frost and snow. The best solution is to survive the cold. You can build a small cave.

Know that snow is an excellent thermal insulator. Therefore, thanks to the snow cave, you can wait out the cold.

Never go without water in hot weather. It is very dangerous. After all, when you feel thirsty, and there is no water nearby, you will be ready for anything, if only you were given a sip of a soft drink. Without water, as you know, a person will not live long.

In natural extreme situations, you can save yourself. However, you should always remember to take precautions. Emergencies can strike a person at any time.

Adaptation

A person can get used to any living conditions. Even in the modern world, not everyone can fully use water, electricity and gas. Therefore, you can also adapt to extreme situations.

Before getting used to dangerous or unusual conditions, it is necessary to prepare psychologically. To do this, read about the unknown area where you are going to go. Try to master the necessary skills.

It is very important to prepare yourself psychologically. If in doubt, maybe it's not time to take risks? An extreme life situation should not break you. Focus only on the positive.

To make it easier for you to adapt to extreme situations, take care of food, water and warm clothes. It is much harder to survive without the essentials.

Effects

People who find themselves in extreme situations need help. Each of them has a mental disorder. The consequences are different for people. Some try to forget and find solace in alcohol, others become drug addicts, others prefer to commit suicide. All of them need the help of qualified specialists who will bring a person out of this state.

Psychologists will help relieve stress, fear and return to normal life. These people cannot be condemned, because none of them is to blame for what happened. Letting go of memories is not easy. If you have witnessed a similar situation, then do not turn away from such people, but try to help them return to a past life where they were calm and comfortable.

Every day, a lot of people need to communicate with doctors such as psychologists or neuropathologists. After stress, a person ceases to exist, begins to live one day. In order to make it easier to survive difficult days, psychologists advise:

• Do not panic;
• Remain calm in any situation;
• More often engage in self-hypnosis;
• Rest a lot;
• Spend as much time as possible with friends and family;
• Don't be alone.

When you see something terrible in front of you, try to avoid tears and panic, and look for a way out of this situation.

If a person who has experienced severe stress turns to a specialist, it will be easier for him to survive the current problem. The psychology of extreme situations is very serious, so you need to pay attention to it first of all.

Conclusion

Each person reacts differently to stressful situations. Some will do everything possible to save themselves, others will start to panic. It all depends on the personality of the person. Everyone's psyche is different. Therefore, one cannot condemn those people who give up. After all, they are not to blame for their weakness. There are some extreme situations. It is about them that everyone should remember.

In stressful situations, a person's body is depleted, hence many other diseases appear. In order to avoid undesirable consequences in the future, it is necessary to seek help from specialists who will help restore the nervous system and return to the previous trouble-free life.

Unfortunately, our modern life is so full of events that extreme situations often come across among them. It is quite possible to get into an accident on the road, get into a thunderstorm while somewhere outside the city, a fire may break out. You need to know how to get out of a situation where your life and the lives of other people are endangered.

What to do if you find a suspicious item

In addition to the fact that you need to know what to do in such a situation, you need to be able to maintain (if possible) composure, not to panic, otherwise you will not be able to do anything to save your life. Only a sensible person will be able to start acting correctly, get out of the state of emergency himself, and also help others. It is known that attentive people are much less likely to get into dangerous situations. The fact is that an attentive person will pay attention in time to a suspicious object, a bundle, a bag, which either lies in the wrong place, not in the right place, wires, wires, cords stick out of it.

If you find an ownerless box, bag, diplomat:

• do not touch it, ask for help from the security service, order, policeman,
• call the police
• fire department or the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Until the arrival of the official, do not allow others to touch the object, even if he claims that it is his thing. Let the police deal with this, than an irreparable misfortune will happen.

Sometimes an extreme situation happens to people through the fault of nature. You need to know how to act if you get into a thunderstorm, fall into a fast mountain river, fall under a landslide in the mountains.

What to do if caught in a thunderstorm

• In a thunderstorm, you can’t stay in open space, for example, in a field, you need to find shelter in a depression, a ravine.
• Do not hide under trees and rocks, especially isolated ones.
• Do not open the umbrella, it is in it that lightning can strike, because it is metal.
• Move away from high-voltage and telegraph poles, at least fifty meters.
• In the event of a lightning strike on a pole and a broken wire, do not put both feet on the ground at once. A step voltage is created on the ground, and with one foot you will step on the phase place, the other will touch the grounded place. As a result, a current will pass through you. You can only move by jumping so that your legs alternately touch the ground.

What to do if the river carries away

When falling into a river with a fast current, you must:

• Roll over on your stomach and swim head first to see where the water is taking you and avoid hitting rocks, wood, and other objects.
• At the same time, trying to catch your hands on any ledge, root.
• If you are in a mountain river, then there is a possibility of rapid hypothermia and you should try to get out as quickly as possible.
• Do not try to cross the current across, move along a gentle curve to the bank, which is lower than the other, slowly and steadily, without wasting strength to overcome the current.

What to do if there is a fire

You should consciously think about the current situation and begin to act. It is not for nothing that they say that in the first minute a fire can be put out with a glass of water or a thick, wet rag, the next minute you need one or two buckets of water, and in the next minutes, you need a fire engine and a decent reservoir. Therefore, determine the degree of danger and try to start extinguishing a small fire yourself, or immediately call the fire department and help evacuate people from the building and only then start extinguishing (if this does not put your life at risk).

If the wires caught fire, then you need to disconnect them from the power supply and only then extinguish them. If it is impossible to turn off, then use carbon dioxide fire extinguishers designed to extinguish under voltage. Do not extinguish the wiring with water if it is energized.

You can list the ways and methods of countering natural disasters and emergencies for a long time, you need to independently study them and be prepared for any disaster. Nobody knows what might happen tomorrow.

Human life does not always take place in optimal conditions favorable for the physiological and mental activity of the body. Often a person finds himself in more difficult conditions, and sometimes in extreme situations that are dangerous for his health and life. Military service, and even more so the possible conditions of a real battle, are associated with increased emotional tension and significant physical exertion. For a successful exit from difficult situations, one must prepare oneself, acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, increase emotional and volitional stability, and improve physical fitness.

The concept of an extreme situation. Situations that go beyond the usual, which are characterized by intense exposure to adverse environmental factors, and sometimes the presence of an immediate threat to human life and health, are called extreme. A person finds himself in extreme conditions for various reasons. Often this happens through one's own fault - either as a result of a lack of knowledge and experience of safe behavior in the natural and social environment, or due to neglect of safety norms and rules, frivolity. Faced with unforeseen circumstances, finding themselves in a difficult, unusual environment, people sometimes turn out to be completely helpless, unable to solve the simplest, but vital questions.

Psychology of people's behavior in an extreme situation. In an extreme situation, a person experiences a special state of emotional tension, called stress. Such tension changes the normal mental processes of a person, weakens perception, sensations, attention, dulls the imagination, representation, memory, slows down thinking and speech.

In general, the relationship between the strength of stress and performance can be represented as follows. As emotional tension increases, at first the working capacity and capabilities of a person increase in comparison with a calm state, reach a maximum value, and then begin to fall. At the same time, perception and thinking are first of all difficult, and the more difficult the situation. With an increase in tension, errors appear in the performance of individual operations or their omissions, the desire to move on to simpler actions. Sometimes, at the same time, old, but already unsuitable skills in a given situation come to life - a person acts mechanically, not conscious of his actions. With even more severe stress, a feeling of confusion appears, an inability to concentrate on the activities performed, as well as unnecessary, impulsive movements and actions, or vice versa - a sharp stiffness, lethargy.

The considered scheme is conditional and general. In fact, the psychological impact of dangerous situations is manifested in people ambiguously, it represents an individual, personally expressed reaction. There are people who act more effectively in a state of high emotional stress - at exams, important competitions, in life-threatening situations or in battle. For others, similar situations are psychologically demobilized, they experience a kind of "psychological shock" - there is a strong lethargy or fussiness, haste, inability to act reasonably.

How to reduce the likelihood of being in an extreme situation and increase the chances of maintaining health and life in difficult conditions?

Emotional-volitional preparation for actions in extreme situations. In life-threatening situations, a huge role is played by the emotional-volitional stability of a person, which is formed both during his daily life, and in the process of targeted emotional-volitional training. An important role in such training is played by methods of emotional-volitional self-regulation: self-persuasion, self-order, volitional self-regulation (self-suggestion).

essence self-belief consists in deliberately convincing oneself of something by selecting appropriate arguments. Self-persuasion, as a rule, is used in cases where a person generally positively perceives some idea, but he lacks the determination to put it into practice. Everyone, for example, understands that human health largely depends on physical education, but not everyone systematically engages in it. The success of this method depends on knowledge, logical thinking and a sense of duty. The process of self-persuasion comes down to a discussion with oneself - to putting forward and comparing arguments and counterarguments in favor of what you want and what you need to do.

Another effective technique for developing self-control and the ability to manage oneself even in extreme situations is self-order. It works when a person knows how to control his thoughts, follows his word, obeys his inner voice. Self-order turns out to be much more effective if it corresponds to the leading life positions of a person, his convictions. Self-command and self-persuasion are interconnected. Self-order becomes most effective if it is done on the basis of self-persuasion, and self-persuasion leads to a volitional act if it ends with a self-order: “That's it!”, “Enough!”, “One more time!”, “We must!”, “Stop!”, "Forward!" etc.

In everyday life, self-order helps to overcome difficulties in a variety of life situations. By self-order, you can get out of bed, do physical exercises, observe discipline, bring the work you have started to the end, do uninteresting but necessary work, and much more. The ability to obey self-order can play a decisive role in the event of an extreme situation, in a tense moment of battle, or when performing difficult duties of military service.

Volitional self-regulation develops in a person such strong-willed qualities as courage, determination, stamina, self-control, endurance, independence, initiative. This is achieved through constantly controlled overcoming of both real-life dangers and difficulties of everyday life, as well as exercises, tests, and tests created for educational purposes.

One of the essential conditions for tempering a person's will is systematic physical education and sports. Overcoming difficulties in the course of training serves as training not only for the muscles, but also for the will. Exercises of a psychophysical nature, which include exercises for attention, coordination of movements, speed, and endurance, have the greatest impact. Rapid turnaround exercises are effective, requiring quick, meaningful decision making within a limited amount of time.

Of great importance in the development of psychological stability are exercises, the implementation of which is associated with risk and requires overcoming a feeling of fear. These are acrobatic jumps; jumping into the water from a height; jumping over obstacles; climbing on a horizontal rope located at a height of 4-10 m above the water; dashes along a log, fortified at a height or above water; Skydiving; various types of martial arts. Psychologically, the same role is played by: overcoming special obstacle courses and structures, a military game on the ground "Test yourself", hiking trips. Such exercises can cause tension, fear, fear, excitement, hesitation, the need to overpower, force yourself. At the same time, they develop strong-willed qualities, temper the psyche.

The knowledge gained when teaching actions in extreme situations is, as a rule, not enough - more skills and abilities are needed. At the same time, recreating a really extreme situation is sometimes difficult, and sometimes impossible. How, for example, to create a flood for educational purposes, and even more so a hurricane or an earthquake? In such cases, the so-called ideomotor training comes to the rescue. The real situation here is replaced by an idea about it, but the actions should be close to real. The effectiveness of such training largely depends on how fully and comprehensively the mentally constructed extreme situation is close to the real one and whether it caused mental processes similar to real ones in the trainee.

The improvement of volitional qualities will become more fruitful if the difficulties are constantly complicated to the maximum feasible. At the same time, the process of emotional-volitional training itself must be continuous, and the nature of the difficulties must be varied and versatile.

Human actions in an emergency. In general terms, it is advisable for a person who finds himself in an extreme situation to act as follows:

• overcome stress;
• assess the current situation;
• make a decision;
• act in accordance with the decision.

The initial overcoming of stress, at least partially, is very important, because otherwise further actions may turn out to be erroneous and lead to a worsening of the situation. Methods of emotional-volitional self-regulation can help in overcoming stress. Physical influences or irritants are also useful: sharp rubbing with the palms of the face, temples; blows on the cheeks; sudden movements of parts of the body or the whole body, similar to the removal of drowsiness; spraying or dousing the face, head or whole body with water; taking anti-anxiety medications. Methods and means of relieving stress depend on the individual emotional and volitional stability of a person, the depth of stress and the available means (water, medicines). The time limit is also decisive. If a person gets lost in the forest, then he has some time to relieve stress. Another thing is if a wall collapses on him or an avalanche of fire moves - here everything is decided by moments.

After the complete or partial removal of the stressful state, the current situation should be assessed. First, it is necessary to determine whether or not the hazardous impact that created the extreme situation has ended, and whether its recurrence is likely. Next, you should immediately determine the state of health - your own and those around you, the number of sick and wounded who require priority assistance. After that, it is necessary to take into account the availability of material resources: water, food, medicines, etc. It is quite obvious that the most important thing will be the availability of water in hot weather, warm clothes and fuel in winter, and weapons and ammunition in the conduct of hostilities. When assessing the situation, one should take into account the season, weather, time of day, terrain (forest, swamp, roads, remoteness of settlements) and other points that are important in this current situation.

A decision is made based on an assessment of the situation. In some situations, there may be only one correct solution, while in others - several options with different probabilities of a favorable outcome. In a short time, you need to make the best decision. It takes practice to learn this. In this case, it is not necessary to specify all possible situations, because there can be many of them. It is important to learn how to act logically, consistently, rationally and quickly. It is necessary to develop a behavioral stereotype of actions in extreme situations and constantly improve it both in terms of the range of possible situations, and in terms of the speed and accuracy of decisions made.

1. What is an emergency situation? Why does a person find himself in extreme situations?
2. How does a person who is not prepared to act in extreme situations behave?
3. What is emotional-volitional preparation?
4. How should a person who finds himself in an emergency situation behave?

Introduction

The history of studying the psychological, medical-psychological and psychosocial consequences of the impact on a person of various emergency circumstances has more than one decade. Well-known psychologists and psychiatrists W. James, P. Janet, Z. Freud, W. Frankl dealt with this topic one way or another. Psychoemotional 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 dealing with the problems of psychogeny8. However, most of the publications on this issue are thematically scattered.

An emergency situation is a situation in a certain territory that has developed as a result of an accident, a natural hazard, a catastrophe, a natural or other disaster that may or have caused human casualties, damage to human health or the environment, significant material losses and violation 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. In social science there is still no single theory that would describe the features of mental activity and human behavior in unusual conditions of existence.

The emergency situation is:

functioning condition: external determination;

property, the state of the social systems themselves: internal determination.

To understand the mechanism of action of extreme situations, it is important to have a clear idea of ​​their types and varieties. There are several approaches to identifying types of emergencies:

by the scale of the scope: local, municipal, intermunicipal, regional, interregional and federal;

by the dynamics of development and the time of elimination of consequences: strategic, leading quickly to catastrophic consequences, slowly developing, operational with a local nature of consequences;

by types of damage: with human casualties, with material damage;

according to the source of occurrence: natural, man-made, biological-social and military.

space and aviation flights;

deep sea diving;

stay in hard-to-reach areas of the globe;

stay deep underground (in mines);

natural disasters: floods, fires, hurricanes, snow drifts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, rock falls, mountain snow avalanches, landslides and mudflows;

testing of new highly sophisticated equipment;

transport, industrial, ecological disasters;

military actions;

epidemics;

domestic disasters such as fires;

criminal situations: committing terrorist acts, taking hostages;

reactionary political upheavals;

riots, etc.

The criteria for classifying emergencies by scale are: the number of the 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, more people die, but these events do not receive such wide coverage in the media.

With the development of civilization, with the use of more and more new technologies, the progress of scientific research, the threat of man-made disasters is constantly increasing. In the world there are a large number of warehouses with stocks of combustible, explosive, highly toxic and radioactive substances. In addition, there is a huge amount of chemical and bacteriological weapons. All these stocks are stored for a long time, often without proper revision and disposal, the storage facilities are often in disrepair. Wear and tear of equipment often exceeds acceptable standards: for example, 40% of pipelines for pumping gas and oil have served their time. The zone of increased danger is transport communications, electric power facilities. It is believed that 30% of the population lives in dangerous areas, and 10% in extremely dangerous areas. 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.

Questions of human psychology in emergency situations must be considered in order to prepare the population, rescuers, leaders for action in extreme situations.

When considering the 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 a person's likely protective actions.

Fear causes discomfort 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 goal facing a person is to stay alive, to prolong his 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 a person is represented by 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 different ways of protecting a person and a group of people, i.e. individual and collective methods of protection, which include: the desire of a person to move away from the action of damaging factors (to run away from danger, protect himself with a screen, etc.); an energetic attack by a person of a source of possible damaging factors to weaken their action 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 vital resources; in others - a decrease or even a breakdown in working capacity, deterioration in health, physiological and psychological stressful11 phenomena. It depends on the individual characteristics of the organism, working conditions and upbringing, awareness of ongoing events and understanding of the degree of danger.

In all difficult situations, moral hardening and the mental state of a person play a decisive role. 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

The psychology of states combines the vast experience of world psychological science in the field of the study of mental states. The psychology of states also includes the consideration of certain types of states, including those arising in emergency situations. Tension states (stress states) were studied by T.A. Nemchin, L.P. Grimak V.I. Lebedev. Emotional states arising in emergency situations were studied by A.O. Prokhorov, A Kempinski and others.

Among mental phenomena, one of the main places belongs to mental states. At the same time, despite the intensive study of the problem of mental states, a lot of it remains unclear. According to T.A. Nemchin, "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 one can imagine the whole complexity of the subjective.

Against the backdrop of disagreements and a wide variety of opinions about the definition, composition, structures, functions, mechanisms, classifications and other problems associated with the mental state, many authors remain unanimous about the great, if not decisive, significance of research on this mental phenomenon for psychology. So, N.D. Levitov, who first put the concept of "mental state" in the status of a psychological category, believed that the solution of this problem fills the existing gap in psychology - the gap between the doctrine of mental processes and the mental properties of the individual. On this occasion, Yu.E. Sosnovikova writes: "It is impossible to understand the psyche as a whole without examining its specific integral manifestations in the form of mental states."

So, let's scroll through the works of different authors. There is a term "tense situations" - M.I. Dyachenko, L.A. Kandybovich, V.A. Ponomarenko, "extreme conditions" - L.G. Wild, "difficult situations" - A.V. Libin, “stress11 situations” - G. Selye, Kitaev-Smyk, “emergency situations - V.V. Avdeev, "emergency situations" - A.F. Maidykov, "abnormal conditions" - V.D. Tumanov, "special conditions" - S.A. Shapkin, L.G. Wild. The term "extreme situations" is used by the following authors: 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 the subjective perception of an emergency (in their interpretation of a difficult) 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, evaluated by people as difficult, dangerous, etc. Any situation presupposes the involvement of the subject in it. This applies all the more 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 common 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 is a state of the life system that is dangerous for 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:

This is an extreme situation, with a very strong impact that goes beyond the range of human capabilities.

These are complicated conditions of activity that are subjectively perceived, understood and evaluated 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, violations of the psychological regulation of activity, and thereby reduces the efficiency and reliability of activity.

A person is faced with the impossibility of realizing his motives, aspirations, values, interests.

An emergency situation is dangerous to life and health, 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 us consider the positive, mobilizing changes in the emotional, cognitive and behavioral spheres of a person caused by the impact of such situations.

According to V.G. Androsyuk, such changes include:

-decrease in thresholds of sensations, acceleration of sensitive and motor reactions. A person shows the ability to more accurately assess stimuli, quickly responds to all changes in environmental conditions;

-reduced fatigue, -disappearance or dulling of the feeling of fatigue. A person increases endurance and performance, manifests unpretentiousness in uncomfortable situational conditions;

-increased readiness for decisive and bold action. Volitional qualities are manifested, the decision-making stage is reduced, forecasting the development of the situation is optimally combined with sound risk;

-activation of business motives, sense of duty. A person has a business excitement, the final and intermediate goals of activity are defined clearly and unambiguously;

-activation of cognitive activity. A person shows sharpness of perception, actively turns on the reserves of operational and long-term memory. Creative abilities are updated, 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 withstand an emergency has three components:

Physiological stability due to the state of the physical and physiological qualities of the body (constitutional features, type of nervous system, autonomic plasticity);

Mental stability due to training and the general level of personality traits (special skills of action in an extreme situation, the presence of positive motivation, etc.);

Psychological readiness (active state, mobilization of all forces and capabilities for the 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 the mental state of D.N. Levitova: "this is a holistic characteristic of mental activity for a certain period of time, showing the originality 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 the behavior and state of a person in an extreme situation shows that the most powerful stimulus leading to erroneous actions is the incompleteness of information.

P.V. Simonov developed the information theory of emotions, according to which, with a shortage of available information, a negative emotion appears, reaching a maximum in the case of a complete absence of information. Positive emotion occurs when the available information exceeds the information needed to satisfy a given need. Thus, in a number of cases, the knowledge and awareness of the individual remove emotions, change the emotional mood and mental state of the individual, open access to the internal resources of a person.

"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 forces. Will manifests itself as a person's confidence in his abilities, as the determination to perform the act that he considers appropriate and necessary in a particular situation.

Since the state is a multidimensional phenomenon, any state can be described by a wide range of parameters. One or the other 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, tension, a general feeling of imbalance and readiness to change behavior when faced with any threatening situational factor." Such factors can be increased workload, lack of time, lack of information, etc. According to L.V. Kulikov, it is these factors that are the real cause of tension, and not the experiences caused by them, which are a natural reaction to the situation. Therefore, with the interpretation of emotions as a cause of tension, according to L.V. Kulikov, it is difficult to fully 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, it would be more correct to say, mental regulation of the general direction and dynamics of behavior is carried out.

2. Mental states of people in extreme situations

Mental states of people in extreme situations are diverse. At the initial moment, the reaction of people is predominantly of a vital orientation, due to the instinct of self-preservation. The level of expediency of such reactions is different in different individuals - from panic 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, burns, while maintaining a clear consciousness and the ability to rational activity, which allows some of the victims to escape. In individuals with an increased sense of responsibility, the duration of psychogenic anesthesia in some cases reaches 15 minutes, even with burn lesions up to 40% of the body surface. At the same time, hypermobilization of psychophysiological reserves and physical forces can be noted. Some victims, as evidenced by disaster medicine, are able to get out of an overturned car 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 features that have a destructive, devastating effect on the human somatics and psyche. These include the following psychogenic8 factors:

Panic is one of the mental states inherent in extreme situations. It is characterized by defects in thinking, the loss of conscious control and understanding of ongoing events, the transition to instinctive defensive movements, actions that may partially or completely not correspond to 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 the main and secondary actions, the collapse of the structure of actions and operations, an exacerbation of the defensive reaction, refusal to act, etc. This causes and exacerbates 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 is clearly manifested when exposed to weightlessness, high or low temperatures, high or low pressure. It can be accompanied (except for vegetative reactions) by severe disorders of self-awareness, orientation in space.

Affectation is a strong and relatively short-term neuropsychic excitation. It is characterized by an altered emotional state associated with a change in important life circumstances for the subject. Outwardly, it manifests itself in pronounced movements, violent emotions, accompanied by changes in the functions of internal organs, loss of volitional control. Occurs in response to an event that has already occurred and is shifted to its end. At the heart of affectation lies the experienced state of internal conflict, generated by the contradictions between the demands made on a person and the possibilities to fulfill them.

Agiotation is an affective reaction that occurs in response to a threat to life, an emergency, and other psychogenic factors. It manifests itself in the form of severe anxiety, anxiety, loss of focus on actions. A person fusses and is able to perform only simple automated actions. There is a feeling of emptiness and lack of thoughts, the ability to reason, to establish complex connections between phenomena is disturbed. This is accompanied by vegetative disorders: pallor, rapid breathing, palpitations, hand tremors, etc. Agiotia is regarded as a pre-pathological condition within 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. It is characterized by a decrease in the general level of activity, loss of conscious control over the performance of actions, deterioration of attention and short-term memory, a decrease in sensitivity to external stimuli, a predominance of stereotypical movements and actions, a feeling of boredom, drowsiness, lethargy, apathy, loss of interest in the environment.

Desynchronosis is a mismatch between the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness, which leads to asthenia of the nervous system and the development of neuroses.

A change in the perception of the spatial structure is a state that occurs in situations where there are no objects at all in a person's field of vision.

Restriction 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. The allocation of a “partner” for communication in conditions of loneliness is a defensive reaction within the framework of a psychological norm, however, this phenomenon is a kind of model of a split personality in the conditions of a prolonged extreme situation.

Group social isolation (for a long time) is a state of high emotional tension, the cause of which may 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 used 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 the opportunity to be alone with oneself requires a person to have increased composure and control over his actions, and when such control weakens, many people can experience a kind of complex of physical and mental openness, nakedness, which causes emotional tension. Another specific psychogenic factor that operates under conditions of group isolation is the information exhaustion of communication partners. To avoid conflicts, people limit communication with each other and go into their inner world.

Sensory isolation - the absence of human exposure to visual, sound, tactile, taste and other signals. 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, does not realize how important its workload is for the normal functioning of the brain. If the brain is not loaded enough, then the so-called sensory hunger, sensory deprivation,10 occurs, when a person experiences an acute need for a variety of perceptions of the world around him. In conditions of sensory insufficiency, the imagination begins to work hard, extracting bright, colorful images from the arsenals of memory. These vivid representations to some extent compensate for the sensory sensations characteristic of ordinary conditions, and allow a person to maintain mental balance for a long time. With an increase in the duration of sensory hunger, the influence of intellectual processes also weakens. Extreme situations are characterized by unstable activity of people, which affects their mental status. There are, in particular, a decrease in mood (lethargy, apathy, lethargy), sometimes replaced by euphoria, irritability, sleep disturbance, inability to concentrate, i.e. weakening of attention, deterioration of memory and mental performance in general. All this leads to the exhaustion of the nervous system.

Sensory hyperactivation is the impact on a person of visual, sound, tactile, olfactory, gustatory and other signals, in their strength or intensity significantly exceeding the sensitivity thresholds for this person.

A threat to human health and life itself through deprivation of food, water, sleep, infliction of grievous 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 neurosis and psychosis. One of the conditions for a person's adaptation to a situation associated with a threat to life is readiness for instant action, which helps to avoid accidents and disasters. The state of mental instability under these conditions arises as a result of asthenization2 of the nervous system by various shocks. This condition is often manifested in people whose previous activities did not differ in mental tension. In a life-threatening situation, two forms of reaction are clearly distinguished: a state of agitation and a short-term stupor (a short-term stupor is characterized by a sudden stupor, freezing in place, while maintaining intellectual activity). In some cases, these factors act in combination, which greatly enhances their destructive impact. Usually, extreme situations are characterized by mass 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 should be noted that they have a reflex nature. Although the vast majority of their conditioned reflex origin. For example, an operational officer on duty who is accustomed to working in a certain mode, before taking over a shift, has a state of optimal readiness for activity, he enters the rhythm of work from the very first minute.

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. The physiological states of the cortex are called phase states. After the cessation of the action of the stimuli that caused this or that state, it persists for some time or affects the formation of new or the actualization 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 adaptation of the organism to the environment and subsequently, in similar situations, accelerate the adaptation of the psyche to non-ordinary conditions.

Mental states are outwardly manifested in changes in breathing and blood circulation, in facial expressions, pantomime, movements, gestures, intonation features of speech, etc. So in a state of pleasure there is an increase in the frequency and amplitude of breathing, dissatisfaction causes a decrease in both; breathing in an excited state becomes frequent and deep; in tense - slow and weak; anxious - accelerated and weak; in a state of fear - sharply slowed down, and with unexpected surprise, breathing instantly becomes frequent, but retains normal amplitude.

In an excited state or a state of intense expectation (often caused by situations of an extreme nature), the frequency and strength of the pulse can increase, the value of blood pressure in a very wide range (depending on the strength of the impact of the situation that has arisen). The change in blood circulation is usually accompanied by blanching or reddening of the human body.

An indicator of a person's emotional state is often his movements and actions (we judge fatigue by uncertain or sluggish movements, and cheerfulness by sharp and energetic ones). Facial expressions are also capable of expressing very subtle shades of feelings. The speaker's voice can also provide significant data on his psycho-emotional state.

Psycho-emotional states are complex, integral, dynamic formations that largely determine the originality of all mental activity (the course of processes, the manifestation of properties) of a person in a given period of time. Psycho-emotional states have the following features:

Integrity. Although the states relate mainly to a certain area of ​​the psyche (cognitive, emotional, volitional), they characterize mental activity in general for a certain period of time.

Mobility and relative stability. Psycho-emotional states are changeable: they have a beginning, an end, 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 the processes and properties of the personality. They arise as a result of the reflective activity of the brain. But once having arisen, psycho-emotional states, on the one hand, affect mental processes (determine the tone and pace of reflective activity, the selectivity of sensations, perceptions, the productivity of a person’s thinking, etc.), on the other hand, they are “building material” for the formation of properties personality. Psycho-emotional states serve as a background that contributes to the manifestation of personality traits or their disguise. For example, the state of anticipation of a battle, experienced in pre-combat 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 the individual characteristics of the personality, its moral and other features. Thus it is common for a man of a sanguine temperament to exaggerate successes and to interpret everything in a bright light, because an elevated state is typical of him. Personality traits and experienced psycho-emotional states do not always, but often correspond to each other. What is sometimes taken as a personality trait turns out to be atypical for a given person, a temporary state. 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, enthusiasm and excitement, indecision and determination, tension and calmness, etc.

Polarity. As could be understood from the description of the previous quality, each state corresponds to the opposite. Thus, activity is opposed by passivity, certainty by uncertainty, decisiveness by indecision. The polarity of psycho-emotional states, the rapid transition of a person from one state to the opposite is especially pronounced in unusual (extreme) situations.

All states of a psycho-emotional nature are grouped for various reasons. According to the correspondence to the main states of higher nervous activity, one can distinguish between the optimal, excited and depressive state. For example, a "normal alert state" with a balance between the processes of excitation and inhibition can be taken as the basis for an optimal psycho-emotional state in which a person's activity is active and most productive.

Currently, it is customary to distinguish between states:

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 (the activity of the subcortex and inhibition of the cortex gives rise to a hysterical state6, and, conversely, inhibition of the subcortex during excitation of the cortex - asthenic3, etc.).

On a purely psychological basis, psycho-emotional states are classified into intellectual, volitional and combined.

Depending on the occupation of the individual, the states are divided into states in combat, educational, labor, sports and other types of activity.

According to the role in the structure of the personality, the states can be situational, personal and group. Situational states express the features of the situation that caused a person to react uncharacteristically for his mental activity. Personal and collective (group) are states that are typical, inherent in this particular person or team.

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 a person and a team are often the cause of a psychological barrier between people. Conditions that positively affect mental activity increase the effectiveness of communication.

According to the duration of the course, the states are long-term and short-term. The homesickness of people traveling on long business trips can last 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

The 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 the adaptive capabilities of a person and his 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 dates back several decades, but their intensity has especially increased due to the problems of adaptation of American veterans of the Vietnam War, soldiers of the Soviet Army who participated in the 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 that develops under the influence of psychological traumatic stress11 did not fall into any of the classifications available in clinical practice. The consequences of an injury could appear suddenly, after a long time, against the background of the general external well-being of a person, and over time, the deterioration of the condition became more and more pronounced. Many different symptoms of such a change in condition have been described, but for a long time clear criteria for its diagnosis have not been developed. Also, there was no single name for its designation.

Only by 1980 was accumulated and analyzed a sufficient amount of information obtained in the course of experimental studies for generalization. The complex of symptoms seen in those who have experienced traumatic stress11 has been termed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The criteria for diagnosing this disorder were included in the American National Diagnostic Psychiatric Standard (Diagnostical and Statistical Mannual of Mental Disorders) and are still preserved in it. Since 1994, these criteria have been included in the European diagnostic standard ICD-10.

The main symptoms of PTSD are grouped into three criteria 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;

A 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 making a 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 the impact on a person of such traumatic events as various industrial and natural disasters (fires, floods, earthquakes) are quite well studied. A wealth of material has also been accumulated on the study of victims of various forms of violence against a person. All these types of psychic trauma have a similar etiology - they are all based on the impact of the so-called "acute" stress11, which has an event-like nature; similar characteristics also have effects on the human psyche and other extreme situations (for example, military operations).

The source of psychological traumatization of the personal is various events that take place in the course of service, which can be classified as critical. The definition of a critical incident, accepted by many authors, is 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 spot or later.”

Critical incidents include such and only such events that expose a person to physical (and, or psychological) danger and are capable of causing negative psychological consequences requiring the adoption of special measures to assist their participants or eyewitnesses.

Often this concept is identified with the concept of "psychological trauma", which has a somewhat broader content. But nevertheless, speaking of the experienced critical incident, they mean the fact that the person has undergone psychic traumatization.

Psychological trauma is usually understood as a relatively short-term powerful stress11 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 outside the individual, in external circumstances;

the impact is accompanied by an experience of intense fear, even horror;

circumstances violate the usual life stereotype, contain a real threat to life itself or health;

the individual may feel his own helplessness 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 deployed in time. The phase - the phase of psychological shock contains two main components:

Inhibition of activity, disorientation in the environment, disorganization of activity;

Denial of what happened (a kind of protective reaction of the psyche). Normally, this phase is rather short-term. The phase - the impact phase is characterized by pronounced emotional reactions to the event and its consequences. It can be strong fear, horror, anxiety, anger, crying, accusation - emotions that are characterized by immediacy of manifestation and extreme intensity. Gradually, these emotions are replaced by a reaction of criticism or self-doubt. It proceeds according to the type: "what would happen if ..." and is accompanied by a painful state of the inevitability of what happened, the 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 the police officers in Spitak and Leninakan during the period of liquidation of the consequences of the earthquake in Armenia. It is quite typical in combat situations or during special operations in cases where subunits have suffered heavy losses.

The phase under consideration is critical in the sense that after it either the process of rehabilitation begins (reaction, acceptance of reality, adaptation to newly arisen circumstances), i.e. Phase III - the phase of normal response, or there is a fixation on the injury and subsequent chronification of the post-stress state. The dynamics of the psychological state of the affected person is 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 those affected by it 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 about 80% of cases, people are able to independently cope with the post-stress state, overcome it, while the rest need special psychological or psychiatric assistance.

The severity of psychological trauma and post-traumatic state is determined by a number of factors, primarily by the very scale and severity 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:

Features of a personal warehouse - resistance to stress;

Previous experience of experiencing crisis situations, preparedness for their occurrence;

The presence of 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 expediency of timely psychological assistance to those affected by the impact on the psyche of an extreme situation.

Foreign authors usually distinguish between two types of conditions that arise as a result of the activities of rescuers with a high probability of causing psychological stress, other forms of psycho-emotional maladjustment: situations of professional stress and the "burnout phenomenon".

It was noted among employees who have been in extreme situations and participated in the liquidation of catastrophic events that as a result of this emotionally intense and sometimes physically difficult activity, they often develop a special psychological state, which is described in special literature as a "burnout phenomenon". It manifests itself in the form of a kind of emotional exhaustion, a temporary loss of a person's sense of his integrity and value, a decrease in the level of emotional and physical activity. The reason for the occurrence of such a state 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 kind of activity, including within their professions and services, that is, some people who experienced a state of stress11 in an extreme situation expressed their readiness to subsequently take part in risk-related actions again. and high psycho-emotional stress.

5. Psychosomatic manifestations of the impact of an extreme situation

.1 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 bodily diseases have psychological causes. Psychosomatics was originally presented precisely as "psychosomatic medicine".

The history of psychosomatics, as a branch of science, begins with the psychoanalytic concept of Z. 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. Sandomiersky, 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 results in psychosomatic illnesses), as well as a reflection of other subconscious processes, a bodily channel of conscious-subconscious communication. In this context, the body is presented as a kind of screen onto which the symbolic messages of the subconscious are projected. The relationship of the body ("soma") and the psyche is always two-way. Healing of bodily ailments can be achieved by working through the psychological causes that gave rise to them, and the reverse is equally true.

Psychosomatics, as a branch of science, explores the influence of emotions on physiological processes and behavioral responses associated with diseases, psychological mechanisms that affect physiological functions.

Psychosomatic manifestation is an approach that takes into account the diversity of the 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 only a carrier of a diseased organ and is considered holistically.

Psychosomatic disorder - means a somatic disease that is caused by psychological factors or whose manifestations have become 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 causes.

Bronchial asthma;

Skin diseases and allergies;

Hypertension and hypotension;

Headache and migraine;

Schizophrenia and depression;

Sleep disturbance;

Swallowing disorders and coughing, etc.

A number of people experience fear for their state of health (hypochondria), fear of cancer (carcinophobia), etc.

With depressive disorders, patients often complain of heart and headaches, pain in the shoulder girdle and back, digestive problems, sleep disturbance and appetite. As well as complaints about disorders in the sexual sphere.

Stress is one type of emotional state.

As Perova E.I. writes, initially the concept of stress arose in physiology to denote non-specific reactions of the body (“general adaptation syndrome”) in response to any adverse effect.

Stress reactivity includes an increase in the level of cholesterol in the blood serum, an increase in respiratory and cardiac rhythms, an increase in muscle tension, blood pressure, etc.

Zolotova T.N. considers that the following manifestations of stress are characteristic at the physiological level:

increased blood pressure;

pain in the region of the heart;

pain in the abdomen;

heartbeat;

back pain;

pain in the neck and head;

spasms in the throat, swallowing disorder;

numbness and tingling in the arms and legs;

the occurrence of cramps of the calf muscles;

short-term visual impairment, etc.

R. Naydiffer describes the reaction of people with a high degree of anxiety at the physiological level. In some, the muscles of the neck and shoulders reflexively tighten, in others, the muscles of the back or legs. Very often observed with a high degree of anxiety, discomfort in the stomach. Some people feel an increase in heart rate, while others, on the contrary, slow it down. 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 of 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, inflammation of the colon, and constipation. He drew attention to the fact that diseases of the heart arteries most often occur in doctors, lawyers and employees of executive bodies.

Currently, a number of psychosomatic disorders that are of psychogenic8 origin have been identified: obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, bronchial asthma, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, hypertension, cardiac neurosis, gastroenteritis, etc.

Age-related psychosomatic manifestations and children's response to various inadequate relationships with their mother are also highlighted. These can be stomach cramps, 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, such as the accuracy or punctuality of a partner, a trip 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 the impact of extreme situations on a person in terms of the main dynamic stages. These steps are the following.

Non-pathological psychophysiological reaction.

Usually lasts for several days. At the psychological level, it is characterized by emotional stress, decompensation (sharpening) of personal accentuations, sleep disturbance. At the social level, it is characterized by a critical assessment of what is happening, purposeful activity. The reaction is transient.

Psychogenic8 adaptive response. 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 the critical assessment of what is happening and the possibilities of purposeful activity, the emergence of interpersonal conflicts.

neurotic state. Lasts three to five years. At the psychological level, it is characterized by neuroses, exhaustion, obsessive-compulsive states, hysteria6. At the social level, he is characterized by the loss of critical understanding and the possibilities of purposeful activity, a high degree of inconsistency and mismatch of the values ​​of the personality structure, and interpersonal conflicts. The neurotic state is transformed into the neurotic development of the personality.

Pathological development of personality. Manifested 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 excitation or, conversely, 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 an extreme situation

behavior extreme situation affectation

Behavioral strategies are revealed in various forms of adaptation, which are closely related to the problem of health versus disease. This continuum is integral to the individual's life path. The multifunctionality and multidirectionality of the life path determine the interconnection 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 complexity of the behavior of the individual in them and increases the likelihood of their pathogenic impact.

Personally 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 understanding 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 personality development, on its basis a person chooses and forms 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 disorder or under the influence of mental illness. The causes of suicides are varied and rooted both in the personality deformations of the subject and the psycho-traumatic environment surrounding him, and 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 the weakening of motives and interests, a sharp weakening of attention. Apathy occurs against the background of reduced physical and psychological activity and can be short-term or long-term. Formed mainly as a result of fatigue, exhaustion, or a long-term mental disorder, this condition sometimes occurs with certain organic brain lesions, with dementia, and also as a result of a prolonged somatic illness. Outwardly similar state of depression in neuroses differs from apathy. At present, the problem of social apathy arising as a result of a personal crisis in an era of social crisis and covering the widest strata of the population is relevant.

Autism is an extreme form of psychological alienation. It is expressed in the removal, "withdrawal", "escape" of the individual from contacts with reality and immersion in the closed world of his own experiences. In a state of autism in an individual:

the ability to arbitrarily control one's thinking, to disconnect from painful thoughts is reduced;

there are attempts to avoid any contact;

the need for joint activities disappears;

the ability to intuitively understand others, to play the roles of others is lost;

there is an inadequate emotional response to the behavior of others.

Other forms of behavior of victims in extreme situations are as follows:

Unmotivated vigilance. The victim is closely watching everything that happens around him, as if he is constantly in danger.

Explosive reaction. At the slightest surprise, the victim makes rapid movements: rushes to the ground at the sound of a low-flying plane or helicopter, turns around sharply and assumes a protective pose if someone approaches him from behind, etc.

Dullness of emotional manifestations. Completely or partially the victim loses the ability to emotional manifestations. He has difficulty establishing close or friendly ties with others. Joy, love, creativity, spontaneity, fun and games are not available to him.

General anxiety. The victim has constant anxiety and preoccupation, paranoid phenomena, for example, fear of persecution. In emotional experiences - a constant feeling of fear, self-doubt.

Outbursts of rage. It is attacks, even outbursts of rage, that occur in the victim, and not bursts of moderate anger.

6.2 Periods in the dynamics of the development of post-traumatic mental disorders

In the dynamics of the development of an extreme situation and, as a result, post-traumatic mental disorders, there are three periods that 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. It lasts from the beginning of the impact of the situation to the organization of rescue operations. The main traumatic factors:

a sudden threat to one's own life;

physical injury to the victim;

physical injury or death of close relatives;

severe damage or loss of property and other material assets.

non-pathological neurotic; it is based on fear, mental tension, anxiety;

appropriate behavior is maintained;

acute reactive psychoses in the form of affective-shock states with motor excitation or lethargy;

loss of control over their actions among victims;

a change in the state of "petrification", inactivity with aimless movements, flight, screams, 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.

The main mental reactions of the participants:

maintaining adequate self-esteem and the ability to purposeful activities;

gradual weakening of affective-shock states and a decrease in the depth of their manifestations;

inadequate behavior of the victims;

inappropriate motor actions;

a state of numbness;

manifestation of phobic neuroses13, for example, fear of enclosed spaces (the victims refuse to enter the car, the tent).

The third period is the evacuation of victims to safe areas. The main traumatic factors:

change in life stereotype;

fear for the state of their health and the health of loved ones;

experiencing the loss of loved ones, separation of families, material losses.

The main mental reactions of the participants:

psycho-emotional stress;

sharpening of character traits;

phobic neuroses;

neurotic personality development;

increased use of alcohol, tobacco, medicines, drugs;

activation of interpersonal contacts;

normalization of the emotional coloring of speech, restoration of dreams;

an increase in conflict situations.

People who survived 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 following are most common:

Violations of memory and concentration of perception. Victims have difficulty concentrating or remembering something.

Unwanted memories. Terrible scenes associated with a psychotraumatic situation suddenly pop up in the memory of the victim. In reality, these memories arise in cases where the environment 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 have come from “there”. Unwanted traumatic memories are accompanied by intense feelings of anxiety and fear.

Nightmares. Dreams of this kind are usually of two types:

some, with the accuracy of video recordings, convey the traumatic event as it was imprinted in the memory of the person who survived it;

others only vaguely resemble the traumatic event. A person awakens from such a dream completely broken, with tense muscles, in copious sweat.

hallucinatory experiences.

A special kind of unsolicited memories of traumatic events, when what happened is so vivid 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 is re-experiencing a past traumatic event: he acts, thinks, feels like 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, so as not to see a terrible dream again. Insomnia can also be caused by very high levels of anxiety, a person's inability to relax, or a persistent feeling of physical or mental pain.

Survivor's Guilt. The feeling of guilt arises from the fact that the victim survived in an extreme situation that cost the lives of others, especially relatives or close relatives, friends that were extremely important to him.

It is believed that this condition is typical for those who suffer more from "emotional deafness", i.e. inability to experience joy, love, compassion after a traumatic event.

A strong sense of guilt provokes bouts of auto-aggressive behavior.

Different social groups are involved in extreme situations - 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 and after rescue operations. People experience fear and horror from what they see (according to some estimates, up to 98% of participants):

nightmares, insomnia at night, daytime sleepiness, depressed mood (50%);

dizziness, fainting, headaches, nausea, vomiting (20%).

Other, specific, forms of reaction among rescuers have also been noticed:

Irritability. It occurs when one feels one's powerlessness, the inability to do something. The effectiveness of efforts (often subjectively) falls. A person begins to get angry for no reason at someone or at anything around him, swears, falls into a rage.

Failure to act correctly. Suddenly, a person finds that he cannot work normally, and he himself does not know why this is happening. He is unable to remember what his tasks are, he 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 do a good job.

Anxiety. The person is extremely busy and cannot stop working. He takes on everything, not understanding what is really important and what is not.

Escape. A person suddenly stops doing something for himself. 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 hide from his place of work unnoticed.

Despair. Suddenly, a person notices that he can no longer cope with his feelings. He doesn't understand why this is happening. He experiences a complete breakdown, the absence of any feelings, hides somewhere in a quiet place, devastated and desperate. He feels dizzy, he staggers, he wants to sit down.

Exhaustion. Suddenly one feels unable to take even one step. He wants to sit up, he tries to catch his breath. All his muscles ache, any "thinking" is too hard for him.

Typical psychovegetative reactions of rescuers in extreme situations are as follows:

Palpitation. Suddenly a person feels pain in his chest, and although he knows that everything is in order with his health, nevertheless he is really scared and worried. He thinks that he might have a heart attack, and he tries to sit somewhere in a calm place.

Nervous chill. Just as suddenly, the rescuer begins an uncontrollable nervous tremor, 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 has
tears, although he tries to hold them back. He is ashamed of what is with him
happening. He tries to retire, pull himself together and restore disturbed mental balance. Conclusion

The normal state is the most important part of the entire mental regulation, plays an essential role in any kind 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 the doctor of psychological sciences L.V. Kulikova, “personal potentials that allow regulating the state remain little explored”.

The analysis of the influence of emotional stress on the body is devoted to the research of authors - specialists in the field of sociology, psychology and physiology. 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, the collapse of hopes 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. Significant and the role of positive experience, a sense of satisfaction in connection with the task. All this leads to an increase in self-confidence, which contributes to better adaptation to extreme situations that may arise as a result of emergency situations.

In conclusion, it is also possible to draw a conclusion on how to proceed in order to avoid the depressed state of people in an emergency.

Firstly, it must be taken into account that a person who has suffered a severe mental trauma restores his mental balance much faster if he is involved in some kind of physical work and 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 education of will are needed. That is why the main content of psychological preparation is the development and consolidation of the necessary psychological qualities.

Thirdly, preparation for psychological stress, increased stamina, development of endurance, self-control, a steady desire to fulfill the tasks set, the development of mutual assistance and interaction are of particular importance.

It must be remembered 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 - stress) - a character trait that is within the clinical norm (in some sources - personality), in which its individual features are excessively enhanced, as a result of which selective vulnerability is found 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 a deterioration in performance, mental fatigue, deterioration in attention, memory, increased reactivity with irritable weakness.

3. Asteni? I (from other Greek.<#"justify">Literature

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Survival in extreme situations requires a person's endurance and unshakable faith that there are no hopeless situations. We have collected 5 stories whose heroes managed to survive in the most difficult conditions.

Long flight and 4 days of struggle

The record height, after falling from which a person managed to survive, is 10,160 meters. This record is listed in the Guinness Book and belongs to Vesna Vulovich, the only survivor of the plane crash on January 26, 1972. She not only recovered, but also wanted to return to work again - she did not have a fear of flying, because she did not remember the very moment of the disaster.

On August 24, 1981, 20-year-old Larisa Savitskaya and her husband flew from their honeymoon on an An-24 plane from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Blagoveshchensk. In the sky at an altitude of 5220 meters, the plane in which the newlyweds were flying collided with a Tu-16.

Larisa Savitskaya was the only one of 38 people who managed to survive. On the wreckage of an aircraft measuring three by four meters, she fell in free fall for 8 minutes. She managed to get to the chair and squeeze into it.

Later, the woman claimed that at that moment she remembered an episode from the Italian film "Miracles Still Happen" where the heroine survives in similar conditions.

Rescue work was not very active. Graves have even been dug for all the victims of the plane crash. Larisa Savitskaya, in the end, was found last. She lived for three days among the wreckage of the aircraft and the bodies of dead passengers. Despite numerous injuries - from a concussion to spinal injuries, with broken ribs and a broken arm - Larisa Savitskaya not only survived, but was also able to build herself something like a hut from the wreckage of the fuselage.
When the search plane flew over the crash site, Larisa even waved to the rescuers, but they mistook her for a geologist from an expedition stationed nearby.

Larisa Savitskaya is twice listed in the Guinness Book of Records: as a person who survived a fall from a great height, the second time - as a person who received the minimum amount of compensation for physical damage in a plane crash - 75 rubles (in 1981 money).

On a small raft

On November 23, 1942, a German submarine torpedoed the English ship Belomond. All members of his crew were killed. Almost all. Sailor Lin Peng managed to survive. He was lucky - during the search on the surface of the water, he found a life raft, which had a supply of food.

Lin Peng, of course, understood that food and water would run out sooner or later, so from the first day of his "Robinsonade" he began to prepare equipment for collecting rainwater and catching fish. He stretched an awning over the raft, made a fishing line from the threads of the rope found on the raft; from a nail and wires from a flashlight - hooks; from metal from a tin can - a knife with which he butchered the caught fish. Interesting fact: Lin Peng could not swim, so he was tied to a raft all the time.

Lin Peng caught very little fish, but he took care of its safety - he dried it on ropes stretched over the deck of his "ship". For a hundred days, his diet was one fish and water. Sometimes algae came overboard, the consumption of which prevented Lin Peng from getting scurvy.

The bitter irony of Lin Peng's record-breaking voyage is that he could have been saved multiple times. Once he was not taken on board a cargo ship just because he was Chinese. Then the US Navy noticed him and even threw him a rescue buoy, but the storm that broke out prevented the Americans from completing the rescue mission. In addition, Lin Peng saw several German submarines, but for obvious reasons did not turn to them for help.

Only in April 1943, Lin Peng noticed that the color of the water had changed, and birds began to appear in the sky every now and then. He realized that he was in the coastal zone, which means that his chances of success increased many times over. On April 5, he was found by Brazilian fishermen, who immediately took him to the hospital. Surprisingly, Lin Peng was able to walk on his own after his journey. He lost only 9 kilograms during the forced “Robinsonade”.

Well-read cabin boy

"Robinsonade" is the survival of a person alone for a long time in the natural environment. The record holder in this "discipline" was Jeremy Beebs, who lived on the island for 74 years.

In 1911, during a hurricane in the South Pacific Ocean, the English schooner Beautiful Bliss sank. Only 14-year-old cabin boy Jeremy Beebs managed to get to the shore and escape on a desert island. The boy was helped by his erudition and love of reading - he knew by heart the novel by Daniel Defoe.

Following the example of the hero of his favorite book, Beebs began to keep a wooden calendar, built a hut, learned to hunt, ate fruit and drank coconut milk. While Beebs lived on the island, two world wars took place in the world, the atomic bomb and the personal computer were created. He didn't know anything about it. We found Biebs by accident. In 1985, the crew of a German ship unexpectedly discovered a record holder among Robinsons, who had already reached the age of 88, and delivered him to his homeland.

Father's daughter

In the story about Larisa Savitskaya, we recalled the film "Miracles still happen." It is based on real events. On December 24, 1971, a Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft of the Peruvian airline LANSA fell into a vast thunderstorm area, was struck by lightning, entered the turbulence zone and began to collapse in the air at an altitude of 3.2 kilometers. He fell into the jungle, 500 kilometers from Lima.

The only survivor was 17-year-old schoolgirl Juliana Margaret Koepke. At the time of the fall, the girl was fastened to a chair. Her collarbone was broken, her right hand was injured, she was blind in one eye. Juliana's survival was helped by the fact that her father was a famous zoologist, who from childhood instilled in his daughter the skills to survive in extreme conditions. Immediately after the crash, putting aside attempts to find her mother among the bodies of the dead, the girl examined the luggage for food, but found only a few sweets - also the result.

Then Juliana found a stream near the place of the fall and went down its stream. Only nine days later she was lucky enough to go to the boat on the river bank. With gasoline from a canister, the girl treated the wound on her right shoulder, in which at least 40 larvae had already bred.

The owners of the boat, who turned out to be local lumberjacks, did not appear until the next day. Juliana was fed, treated for wounds and taken to the hospital of the nearest village.

Alone with the snow

On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying the players of the Uruguayan rugby team Old Christians from Montevideo, as well as their relatives and sponsors, crashed in the Andes highlands. 27 people survived after the fall. Later, due to the avalanche, another 8 people died, three more died from their wounds.

The fact that there was nowhere to wait for help, the Uruguayans realized 11 days after the accident, when they said on the radio that their search had been stopped and they were declared dead. The dire situation in which the passengers found themselves was aggravated by the fact that supplies were leaving very quickly. Miraculously surviving after the crash, they made a difficult decision - to eat the meat of the dead.

The victims were rescued only 72 days after the disaster. Only due to the fact that the group sent three people on the road, who needed to cross the Andes and report what had happened. The most difficult transition was overcome by two. W

and 11 days, without equipment and warm clothes, they walked 55 kilometers through the snowy Andes and went to a mountain stream, where they met a Chilean shepherd, who informed the authorities about the surviving passengers.