From the author: original article. Not published except on my own blog (in a slightly different version) sodrugestvo.blogspot.com “...Life seems hard and unbearable. It seems that yesterday problems were solved easily and independently, but now it doesn’t work out. Everything is bad, it has piled up and there is no way out in sight...” This is often heard from my clients in the process of psychological counseling. What happens to a modern person when he finds himself in a stressful situation? Strong muscles and good physical shape will not help here. Something else is needed, which we have little of or sometimes simply don’t have. Some other strengths, capabilities and skills. This is resistance to stress. There is an expression that everything in this world is neutral until we evaluate it. And this is related to our resistance to stress under relatively small stimuli. Under normal conditions, stress occurs under very strong influences in particularly difficult conditions at home and at work. In life, we often react very violently in seemingly not very serious circumstances. We lose appetite, lose weight, experience muscle weakness, muscle pain, weakness, drowsiness. Or, on the contrary, we eat our fear, pain, bitterness of resentment. And again worries due to increased weight. This is how we try to adapt to the surrounding, threatening world. The price for excessive and improper adaptation is mental and psychosomatic illnesses of civilization. And diseases lead to disability and complete limitation and inferiority in this world. An unwillingness to live appears and you want to hide or die... How many broken families, children with nervous and emotional problems who will remain for the rest of their lives along with hatred of their parents. However, stress can be both negative for us and positive when we understand that something we couldn’t understand before or we make a very important choice in our lives. According to some Western experts, up to 70% of diseases are associated with emotional stress. In Europe, more than a million people die every year due to stress-related dysfunctions of the cardiovascular system. The symptoms of stress that destroys us are also clearly defined. If you find five or more of the listed signs, this means that the stress you have needs psychological and psychotherapeutic help. Headache, absent-mindedness Loss of energy Reluctance to do anything Loss of faith in the improvement of the situation in the future Excited condition, desire to take risks Partial memory loss due to shock Reluctance to think and analyze the situation that led to a stressful state Changeable mood Fatigue, lethargy Loss of a sense of humor Complete absence of sources of joy Sources of stress can be completely different factors, but those people who are more susceptible require special attention stress. These include: people with low self-esteem, extroverts (people who are open, sociable and active), neurotics, people who abuse alcohol, people with a genetic predisposition to stress. The process of destruction of life unfolds according to a certain pattern: first anxiety appears, then the person begins to resist. And then exhaustion sets in, when a person can no longer cope with stress on his own. However, with anxiety and fear, a person also needs psychological help. Stress is just one of many adaptive reactions of the body. With prolonged stress, depression often develops. Practical work in psychological counseling leads me to the idea that special attention needs to be paid to depression. Depression is one of the mental disorders that occurs after negative events in a person’s life, but often develops without any reason. The great Russian poet, A.S. Pushkin's high period of mood was periodically replaced by severe depression. In letters to friends, Pushkin complains of complete apathy, lack of