Psychological Reserve/External Psychological Control in Psychotherapy: Review and New Models

This article is about the concept of external psychological control (having a sense of psychological control over the environment). This article examines the construct of external psychological control and differentiates it from similar concepts, showing its unique attributes and how it can help understand a diverse array of psychological phenomena. Of note, external psychological control differs from internal psychological control, which is about maintaining internal psychological equilibrium or being grounded. The term psychological control is similar to terms, but we show that it differs from them and is unique in how it is presently defined. Some of these terms include distress tolerance, self-efficacy, and many variations in terms of control as part of the terminology. Another term examined is related to psychological reserve, the depletion of which affects psychological control. The article presents an original questionnaire that could be used to research external psychological control. The article concludes with a formal mathematical representation of the interaction between psychological control and psychological reserve, and with simulation research that serves as a proof of concept of the constructs proposed. The concepts of psychological control and psychological reserve can help in understanding psychotherapeutic change mechanisms. The concepts of psychological control and psychological reserve are relatively novel terms that can help understand reactions to stress and consequent stress management.