Every year on October 10, Mental Health Day is celebrated all over the world. And the Psychological Center of MEPhI, according to tradition, holds a Week of mental health dedicated to this date. This year, the mythologists were waiting for a lecture, an immersive performance, a discussion, and a mini-conference. But about everything in order.
Mini-conference "Psychological research at the MEPhI National Research University"
weeks of mental health was held at our university from October 8th to 10th. One of the most significant events was the mini-conference "Psychological research at the NRU MEPhI". The Vice-Rector of the MEPhI National Research University, Elena Vesna, presented a report on the psychological characteristics of the Olympic athletes, voiced important data obtained as a result of a really large-scale longitudinal study. The focus of attention is on 14 thousand students who studied at MEPhI from 2013 to 2023. A study conducted at MEPhI showed that Olympiads are characterized by high cognitive motivation, self-sufficiency, creativity, creative thinking and openness to new experiences, which allows them to demonstrate higher achievements in educational and other activities significant for future professional development.
Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the MEPhI Department Oksana Musatova spoke about the results of the study of the psychological characteristics of MEPhI students. The psychological portrait of the mythologist has a number of very attractive qualities: developed abstract thinking, good learning ability, high creative potential, the need to set difficult goals. According to these characteristics, MEPhI students are superior to students of other universities. But there are also problems characteristic of mythologists: the desire to be in the shadows, the tendency to complicate everything, to approach everything too carefully, the inability to be aware of one's emotions and feelings, to feel another person, avoiding social contacts, social activity. These traits are also more common in mythologists. How to solve these problems was told at the following event: The Meet up "Let's get acquainted" allowed the participants of the event to learn more about the activities and capabilities of the Psychological Center and the Center for Assessment and Development of Managerial and Business Competencies of MEPhI.
Immersive staging "The butterfly effect or the right to make a mistake"
In the second day, the immersive production of "The Butterfly Effect or the Right to make a Mistake" turned mythologists into artists. Before the performance, the actors of the H.L.A.M. Studio of Arts divided the audience into groups and prepared with them one scene from the works of science fiction writers and classics of fantasy cinema - "The End of Eternity" by Isaac Asimov, "All Summer in One Day" by Ray Bradbury and "Mr. Nobody" by Jaco Van Dormal. The audience analyzed each character of the work and, together with psychologists, found out which emotions guide the characters and why they commit certain acts. The main idea of the event is to show students that everyone has the right to make mistakes, and the first thing to do is to learn how to accept them. In addition to the acting lesson, there was also a master class in choreography. For an hour, the guys practiced individual movements that formed into a single composition that answers the question: "Do we have the right to make a mistake?" Many students admitted that they performed for the first time, but the organizers of the performance helped overcome the fear of public speaking.
the lecture "Procrastination" aroused great interest among students: how to overcome this" which was read by Igor Parshutin, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology of the IFP SGN MEPhI, Candidate of Psychological Sciences. He gave interesting figures: the prevalence of procrastination among students is up to 75%! As you know, there are two age peaks of procrastination — 17-23 and 30-45 years old. In both cases, the main reason is a lack of motivation due to problems with goal setting. But if we know the mechanism of procrastination formation, we can prevent its occurrence, Igor Parshutin has no doubt. Procrastination is a kind of bug that can be fixed by understanding how it originated. And here art comes to our aid. Examples from works of art and films helped the audience to take a fresh look at the problem of deferred cases and decisions, to determine the right emotional mood for the timely completion of various tasks. At the end of the lecture, everyone took an online test to determine the level of procrastination and identify the main causes of its occurrence.
Panel discussion "How to maintain mental health"
The psychological marathon was completed by the panel discussion "How to maintain mental health", in which leading experts in the field of psychology and medicine were traditionally invited to participate. The discussion was attended by the Vice-rector of MEPhI, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor Elena Vesna, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Psychology and Sociology of MEPhI Marina Sokolskaya, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, psychologist of the Psychological Center of MEPhI Maria Fokina, head of the consulting department, clinical psychologist Evgenia Shtabova, as well as guests from clinical hospital No. 85 – Deputy Chief physician of the polyclinic for outpatient care and industrial medicine, Candidate of Medical Sciences Evgeny Savelichev, Candidate of Medical Sciences, psychiatrist-narcologist, psychotherapist, head of the Center for Mental Health and Rehabilitation Andrey Shevtsov, Candidate of Medical Sciences, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist Denis Yastrebov, clinical psychologist, head of psychological service KB 85 Margarita Veklenko Svetlana Arkhipova spoke from the competence center. Experts discussed such important topics as the dangers of self-medication for depression, myths about mental illness, and the importance of developing social skills for mental health. The experts also answered the students' questions and told them how to behave correctly in case of any health disorders, why addictions are formed, what is the healing power of love and why physicists need to develop emotional intelligence.
Weeks of mental health is a good reason to pay attention to your inner state, try to learn how to better cope with your experiences, emotions, mistakes, resentments. It has ended, but the MEPhI Psychological Center continues to work and you can always contact it for support.
