In 1984, Soloviev and Kizim spacewalked 6 times in a few weeks in an attempt to repair a leak outside of Salyut 7. They disconnected, reconnected hoses, replaced valves, poked inside the protection of the station, and all this 50 feet away from the hatch and succeeded!
In 1985, Dzhanibekov and Savinykh were sent to save Salyut 7 that was drifting, completely cold and uncontrolled. Dzahnibekov performed a manual docking with only his eyes to judge (as no signal was sent from the station) and managed it. Then it took them less than two weeks to defrost and wipe all the liquid globes left by condensation inside the station (and restore energy).
Salyut 7 then got a crew (Volkov, Savinykh) meant to last 10 months aboard. But after a few months, the commander Viktor Savinykh developed a fever and even threw up (usually, this happens at the beginning of a flight). It got too serious and it was decided the whole crew would return back home.
What Viktor had was a prostate infection (it didn't develop fast because of the cold temperature in the station, in the beginning). That's something I didn't know.

The flight interruption also cancelled the all-women crew meant to spend some time aboard the station, right after this one.

The Soviets-Russians became very good at repairing stations and this also kept them focused and helped them pass the time aboard the station.

If everything goes well (like it's advertized in Mars bound missions), psychological factors will become far more important than we think. But if there are real problems, the crew will be focused in repairing them and that would help pass the time.

Raoul