Stressful situations are a completely common and familiar phenomenon for humans. At work, management puts pressure on me, loading me with tons of tasks or forcing me to work overtime. Something is not going well in my studies; deadlines for coursework and essays are pressing. Disagreements or misunderstandings may arise in the family, the husband/wife or parents begin to sort things out, which invariably leads to conflict.
All these stresses and hassles undermine the human nervous system, resulting in the emergence of various complexes, psychological problems and pathologies. To prevent their development or correct already acquired deviations from the norm, there are many types of psychological assistance.
What does this kind of help look like?
Any external intervention in a person’s psyche is aimed at stabilizing his state of mind, correcting possible behavioral disorders, or identifying and subsequently eradicating personal problems.
Psychological assistance can be provided at a domestic or professional level, it all depends on the severity of the problem. If it is troubles at work or, for example, a quarrel with friends, then even a simple layman who is not a specialist in psychology can help his neighbor by simply listening to him, showing sympathy and understanding. For a long time, this function in the Middle Ages and in modern times, before psychology was formed as a science, was performed by priests. The principle of confession allowed parishioners to perform psycho-emotional relief, stabilizing their state of mind, providing a certain type of socio-psychological assistance.
In some cases, simple verbal support and sympathy are not enough. When a person is mentally ill, when there is deformation and splitting of his personality, when he is no longer able to think adequately, psychiatry comes to the rescue, combining counseling and drug therapy.
Variety of psychological assistance
Depending on the tactics used during treatment and the severity of the situation, different types of psychological assistance are distinguished. One type can be applied to a patient to remove his speech and internal barriers, thereby helping him to reach a greater degree of his potential.
Another type is aimed at restoring the patient’s emotional balance, which has been disturbed, for example, due to nervous exhaustion. For different problem conditions and situations, the principle of individual meetings or group trainings can be used.
Why do you need help?
Most often, people turn to psychologists when something in their life stops going according to plan, when relationships with loved ones deteriorate, when problems arise with work. There are many reasons, but they all lead to one thing - an imbalance in mental balance.
If the picture is not clinical, then regular counseling is sufficient to achieve results. A positive result in this case is overcoming difficulties in communication, removing internal pressures that prevent one from engaging in fruitful work.
An improvement in the patient's condition is usually observed when he begins to understand that he will be listened to carefully and understood, and will also be able to help and relieve mental anxiety. Even then the person feels relief. However, one session is rarely enough; on average, counseling takes from 2 to 15 sessions, which should be conducted by a specialist qualified as a psychologist.
Diagnosis of the patient's condition
Before determining the methods by which treatment will be carried out, the specialist needs to understand the depth of the problem and, in general, whether it actually exists. At the end of the 19th century, for the first time, attempts were made to determine the state of mental functions by measuring the level of perception, reaction speed, and so on.
In the 1920s, a famous Swiss psychologist went further in diagnosing mental disorders, developing a special system of spots that were later named after him. These “blots” are still used by specialists in providing many types of psychological assistance, as they are an effective way to determine the personality characteristics of a particular patient.
For diagnosis, various tests and questionnaires are often used, which are completed by the patient under the supervision of a doctor, but without his direct participation. It is also impossible to find out the full picture of the disease without ordinary conversations and observations. They often provide the most valuable information, but it can take several months to collect.
Psychological counseling
In most cases, without suffering from serious mental disorders, people still turn to psychologists for help, feeling internal discomfort. Psychological counseling as a type of psychological assistance, first of all, sets itself more important tasks than simply listening to the patient and the accompanying assent.
The main goal is to show a person in what course he can lead his life, to realize and, perhaps, rethink his intentions, attitude towards life, to highlight his goal and the meaning for which he lives. In this case, it is impossible to help with medications, so the psychologist must be not only a specialist in psychology, but also in philosophy and sociology.
Family counseling
Psychological counseling can work successfully not only within an individual, but also within an entire family. When disagreements arise between husband and wife that they cannot resolve, then psychology helps them. Couple counseling consists of 3 stages.
At the first session, the specialist gets acquainted with the content of the problem, collects general information, and selects the most preferable type of psychological assistance to the family. At the next stage, he listens to opinions about the problem and ways to solve it from both spouses, testing and solving projective tasks are carried out. The third stage is the most important and long, it can take several weeks depending on the depth of the problem. At this time, the psychologist tries to solve the problem using different approaches that require the participation of both spouses. His goal at this stage is to show the couple how important it is to hear each other and accept the point of view of a loved one.
Psychotherapy. What's the point?
Psychotherapy is a systematic influence on the human psyche in order to eliminate his internal problems associated with his attitude to society and to himself. The term “psychotherapy” was coined by the English physician Daniel Tuke back in the 19th century and denoted the influence of the soul on the body after influence from a doctor.
Now there is no clear definition of this term, but the task and means of this type of psychological assistance are clear: it is to improve the patient’s quality of life by establishing deep and trusting relationships for the further use of treatment methods, including medications. There is also clinical psychotherapy, which focuses on biological changes in the body and their impact on the human psyche.
Behavioral and cognitive therapy
One of the most popular branches of psychotherapy is behavioral, or, in other words, the goal of this technique is to change deviant behavior to the level of the norm, as well as to develop new individual models of behavior that are useful in everyday life and professional activities.
Behavioral therapy does an excellent job of releasing fears and phobias, so it can be considered as a type of psychological help for children. In the case of adult patients, a very positive result from therapy is observed even with severe and long-term addiction: drugs, alcohol.
Cognitive therapy differs from behavioral therapy primarily in that it does not focus much on the patient’s behavior. Particular attention is paid to his thoughts and feelings in order to direct them in a direction in which a person can think more realistically. This type of psychological assistance has been successfully used to treat patients with depression or clinical perfectionism. The direction of their thoughts (“I have no future” or “it’s all or nothing”) changes in a more positive and realistic direction.
General conclusion
The psyche is the most important and at the same time the most fragile complex of mental processes, without which human existence is impossible. Severe stress and anxiety due to problems in relationships with loved ones, friends, or an influx of difficulties at work can shake this complex.
If this happens, then there is no shame in seeking help from a specialist. Modern psychology and psychiatry offer a huge range of psychological approaches in treating patients, from simple calming conversations to a complete change in the course of life in a positive direction. What type of psychological help is suitable can only be decided by a professional psychologist, but you need to be sure that hopeless situations do not exist.
Psychological help- a set of measures aimed at assisting citizens in preventing, resolving psychological problems, overcoming the consequences of crisis situations, including by activating citizens’ own capabilities for independent prevention, resolving emerging psychological problems, overcoming the consequences of crisis situations and creating the necessary conditions for this, to inform citizens about the causes of psychological problems and ways and means of preventing and resolving them, for the development of personality, its self-improvement and self-realization.
Types of psychological assistance
· Psychoprophylaxis (prevention).
· Psychological education (in counseling, in psychoprophylaxis - lectures, seminars) one of the leading experts in this field was Adler.
· Psychodiagnostics (identification of problems and other psychological indicators).
· Psychological counseling (psychological assistance to people who are within the psychological norm in adaptation, development and expansion of personal potential).
· Psychotherapy (aimed at solving deep-seated personal problems and profound transformation of personality), can be clinical and non-clinical.
· Psychiatry (a medical type of care, the use of medications, or humanistic psychiatry, which views a person not as a patient, but as a person with a different worldview, uses medications to a limited extent, and therefore follows the psychotherapeutic path).
· Psychocorrection (restoration of the norm, both in terms of the emotional state and in terms of personality traits).
The types of psychological assistance cannot be strictly separated. There are areas of overlap. The criterion is who provides assistance (difference in education), with whom the specialist works with the client or patient (the criterion of the norm is adaptation), what helps (the use of medications, psychotherapeutic, counseling techniques).
The process of psychological assistance: duration, stages, position of the psychologist.
First meeting
The process of psychological assistance begins with a meeting.
In living the first meeting with a client, there is literally not a single detail that is not important for the successful implementation of the first contact: from facial expression, gaze, intonation and distance to the client (optimal - 1.5 m) to introducing the client into the semantics of advisory and psychotherapeutic work. Of course, all subsequent psychological work cannot be determined by the first meeting, and the experience of psychological assistance as retraining, education or psychotherapy goes through several stages, but in advisory work, in particular, the matter may be limited to one single conversation. This is why initial contact is so important.
What is necessary and desirable for the successful implementation of the first consultative conversation?
Information. In principle, it is desirable (as the practice of consulting work in many countries shows) that before the first meeting, for example, when making an appointment for a consultation, the client provides orienting formal information about himself in approximately the following volume: first and last name, age, profession and education, family status, who referred, whether he has experience communicating with a psychiatrist or psychologist. The presence of such formal information frees up the working time of the psychologist and the client for meaningful work.
Psychodiagnostic examination. In some cases (professional consultation or other situation requiring non-medical psychotherapy), preliminary personal diagnosis is useful. This makes it easier to navigate the client’s personal characteristics and condition. If the examination is carried out before a consultative conversation, it is better that it is carried out not by the consulting psychologist himself, but by his employees or colleagues.
What is undesirable and contraindicated for a successful first meeting?
It is undesirable to burden yourself with information about the client’s personality and life that does not come from him personally. It is undesirable to: argue with the client, refute his statements (this does not mean, of course, that the psychologist is obliged to agree with the client in everything, share his misconceptions or obvious prejudices, but to actively counteract them from the spot is unprofessional); praise the client or give reassurance for no apparent reason; make false promises; interpret his behavior or evaluate his actions and actions; ask the client additional questions about aspects of life or problems to which he is especially sensitive; convince the client of the need to work with you or another psychologist; support the client in his attacks on other persons (parents, children, spouse, other professional, etc.). In addition, trends in the perception of psychologists + consultants should be taken into account. From psychological research, at least the following features of clients’ perception of psychologists + consultants are known:
physically attractive psychologists are perceived more positively than unattractive ones; the same psychologists are perceived differently depending on what problem the client comes with - personal or social (loss of job, professional consultation); people are more inclined to rely on those professionals whose sociocultural values (religious, ideological) do not diverge from their own; people differ in their assessments of the degree to which a psychologist corresponds to social norms of well-being and status accepted in society (marital status, compliance with the “face of the profession,” the degree of visible well-being, etc.). These and many other circumstances, not to mention reputation and authority, play a role in holding the first meeting.
Let us now move on to the description of the actual consultative conversation. . Let's start with a definition. Consultative conversation is one of the main methods of providing psychological assistance. Going back to the sociological survey technique called “in-depth interview”, a consultative conversation is a person-oriented communication in which the client’s personal characteristics and problems are oriented, a partnership style of relationship is established and maintained (on an equal basis), and the required psychological assistance is provided in accordance with needs, issues and nature of advisory work. The advisory conversation, depending on the stage of work, can be initial, procedural, final and supportive. The objectives of the initial advisory conversation include: placing the client at ease and relieving tension; establishing contact; encouraging discussion of issues and identifying (if necessary) temporary and other opportunities for the client to work together; provision of information; establishing working (collaborative, partnership) relationships with the client - what is called “working contact”; encouraging self-understanding, own activity and responsibility; Setting realistic expectations for working together. One of the most difficult tasks is to encourage the client to talk about himself and his problems. Even if the client has confidence in the consultant and does not feel any interpersonal barriers, psychological defenses can come into play by activating resistance, especially when the person is concerned about very personal, sometimes intimate problems. If, moreover, the person did not seek help himself, but was referred by another specialist, a teacher, or, most often, friends or parents, resistance often poses a significant difficulty for the consultant. It is clear, among other things, that not a single person, no matter what age he is, will come to another, stranger, without any particular reason, just like that, “heart to heart”, to talk about topics that cannot always be opened not only to a close friend, but also to himself. Speaking out, recognizing the subjective barriers that the client had to overcome, expressing respect and a positive, understanding attitude in this regard is one of the possible keys to reducing resistance. Questions related to the client’s condition and his sense of self in a counseling setting also help relieve tension. The main initial task of a consulting psychologist is to serve as a catalyst, a “facilitator” of the communication process. It is extremely important to feel a person, to grasp his needs and experiences, and to deliberately demonstrate his needs and problems. No wonder Freud said that “a person’s secret oozes through the pores of his skin.” Although the client may not directly say what worries him most (in fact, sometimes he is not aware of his real problems), even the first meeting provides rich material for understanding the personality, probable problems and real, albeit hidden needs of the client.
Completion of the first consultation conversation- is no less important than its beginning. The criteria for the positive completion of the first meeting are so important that in modern literature they are identified as the basis for preference in choosing a psychologist and psychotherapist. Practice shows that it is the last minutes of the first meeting that can cause a feeling of discomfort in both the consultant and the counselee. The main reason for the feeling of disappointment, the feeling of being misunderstood or being treated in the wrong way most often - with all the parameters being equal and professionally impeccable - is the feeling of incompleteness of the situation. In fact, from a doctor the patient receives a referral for analysis or a prescription, from a lawyer - advice and guidance for action, and from a psychologist - disappointed expectations: not only did they not write out a prescription, but did not even give advice... Therefore, a very significant point is precisely verbal, signified completion of a meeting and conversation with the potential incompleteness of a given situation.
Here are some key closing remarks:
Unfortunately, our time is up for today. Our next meeting, as we said, could take place on Tuesday at 14:00. If you make a final decision about our joint work in the scope that we have outlined, please
call me the day before.
Well, today we managed, if not completely, then at least in part, to see what is happening to you. I hope our future work will deepen the process. So, until Tuesday?
Today we talked about so much... And, you know, it seems to me that even more remains unspoken. If you really decide to deal with this situation and yourself, I will wait for your call until the end of the week in order to more accurately determine the date and schedule of our work.
The first meeting, the first advisory conversation introduces the client into the context of psychological assistance as specific in content and goals of psychosocial practice. Of course, it is far from exhaustive and cannot even partially cover the entire complex repertoire of psychotechniques that a psychologist uses, depending on the client’s problems, the intensity and nature of psychological assistance and one’s own preferences. The techniques of advisory and psychotherapeutic work will be discussed in detail in the following sections, which provide a detailed analysis of the psychological paradigms used in the practice of psychological assistance. Now, according to the logic of the presentation, we will characterize the basic communication techniques, the mastery of which is required during any, especially the first, advisory conversation, and we will explain some working and procedural aspects related to the situation of psychological assistance itself.
COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES
IN ADVISORY CONVERSATION AND ETIQUETTE
It is well known that the less experienced the consultant, the more important communication techniques are for him. This is understandable: techniques and techniques allow you to avoid feelings of uncertainty, “step away” from the client behind technical techniques sanctioned by the authority of science and practice, and resort to them in situations where the course of things is not entirely clear or when adherence to the chosen paradigm instills the idea that “ everything is going as it should”, about the controllability of the process, etc. At the same time, as they delve deeper into the practice of psychological assistance, a psychologist, consultant or psychotherapist, for whom the well-being of the client, the content and assessment of the results of activities, and their own experience begin to acquire greater importance than the initially chosen method of work or the preferred paradigm, may discover that despite , for example, in response to the requirement of an unconditionally positive attitude towards the client in the Rogerian tradition, to which they have always been faithful, this particular client does not in any way evoke positive feelings, but even vice versa. Or a psychologist who prefers transpersonal psychology, in particular psychosynthesis, discovers that in a particular case the concept of “subpersonalities” does not work, because emotional trauma captures the whole person, his entire personality, and not individual aspects. In such cases, the resulting cognitive dissonance leads to the fact that the individual style and experience of the professional ultimately wins out. And most often - a certain generalized invariant containing communicative techniques and techniques of a universal nature. Let's name the most common and most often provoked communication techniques in a situation of a first meeting.
Silence . Although silence, more or less long pauses, sometimes painful for an inexperienced specialist, seem at first to be an almost insurmountable obstacle, in fact it is one of the most important techniques in the process of providing psychological assistance. You need to be able to comprehend it, you need to master it. The meaning of silence can be different: a sign of resistance, a sign of introspection, an expression of despair and hopelessness, or, conversely, the eve of insight. To recognize the psychological and symbolic face of silence, and to use it more effectively, is a great art. The most common methods of responding in a situation of silence: nodding, repeating the last words (one's own or the client's), rephrasing the last statement (one's own or the client's); if the client continues to remain silent, help him express his state: “It’s difficult for you to speak now”; “You may not know how to react to this” or “This may have upset you.” As a last resort, if the silence continues, the consultant must respect the client's behavior and accept it as a given.
Epathic Listening . The consultant listens carefully to the client, non-verbally or verbally expressing his adherence to the client’s thoughts and feelings, at times almost imperceptibly with a look, word, verbalization, encouraging the client to a deeper expression of himself and to self-disclosure. The basic rule of empathic listening (i.e., the receiver telling that the listener is experiencing the same feelings as the speaker) is not to sympathize, but to empathize, creating an emotional resonance with the client’s experiences.
Clarification . The technique is aimed at revealing the meaning (motivational, target, operational) for both the consultant and the client of his own actions. Helps track ambivalence of feelings and relationships, features of defense mechanisms used, thinking, etc.
Client. I feel bad. It's just bad, that's all.
Psychologist. Perhaps some sensation makes you focus especially strongly on this particular wording?
Client. Don't know.
Psychologist. Now, when you say “I don’t know,” are you really just “don’t know,” or are there other feelings present?
Client: You see, it’s so hard to talk about this... When my soul hurts, when I understand that no one can help... (cries).
Reflexive verbalization . Refers to varieties of verbalizations, the purpose of which is to enhance the emotional and semantic resonance of the client’s statements. It is not of an intellectual nature, as in methodology, but rather of an emotional nature, which distinguishes a reflexive paraphrase from an interpretation. The content of reflexive verbalization reflects not the motivational-causal, but the emotional-modal layer of statements. There are different levels of reflexive verbalizations - from “echo-verbalizations” to “verbalizations-generalizations”.
Interpretation. A technique of explaining to the client the hidden meaning of his statements. An interpretation can be expressed in an affirmative, propositional or interrogative form. One of the most difficult and controversial techniques to evaluate, interpretation has extremely powerful therapeutic potential, helping, when used correctly, to cope with anxiety, gain awareness or mitigate psychological defenses. The most productive way to use interpretations is to give the client the opportunity to interpret their statements or behavior themselves. Sometimes interpretation can look like “reading between the lines.”
Example. When asked about family life, the client spent a long time talking about what a wonderful wife he had.
Client. She is an amazing woman... Simply amazing...
Psychologist. In that case, she must not be easy to live with?
Client. Yes, damn it! Not that word...
Interpretation itself requires a special presentation technique. It is advisable to soften the interpretation with the words “possibly”, “probably”, “maybe”, “one gets the impression”; categoricalness can transform interpretation from a therapeutic communication technique into a means of exacerbating inappropriate defenses and resistance.
Self-disclosure . The functions of this communication technique are interpreted differently and used in different concepts of counseling and psychotherapy. In the humanistic paradigm, the psychologist’s self-disclosure is interpreted as one of the fundamental techniques in establishing working relationships and facilitating the client’s self-disclosure. In behavioral concepts, self-disclosure is understood as a type of behavior modeling by a psychologist, the meaning of which is to reinforce the desired course of action on the part of the client. Be that as it may, the essential point in self-disclosure is the following: the technique should not be applied according to the principle “But I, too, I remember, it was...”, but in line with the flow of the client’s experiences, responding to his feelings and confirming that he experiences are understood and shared.
Confrontation . The technique is designed to responsibly expose contradictions, games, and unrealistic defenses that complicate the client’s self-understanding and lead the counseling conversation to a dead end. Complex and requiring great skill in application (for example, in the Rogerian direction it is not used at all), the technique creates a certain tension in the conversation and therefore must be used with special skill. Since it can cause a feeling of pressure, excessive categoricalness, accusatory tone, and evaluative judgments should be avoided. On the contrary, gentleness, neutrality, even some emotional detachment contribute to the more effective impact of this technique.
Client. You know, I’m already consulting with you for the third time, and the impression is the same: or what am I doing?<то не понимаю, или меня не хотят понять.
Psychologist (after a pause). Don't you think that one way to escape the stress of trying to understand is to visit psychologists? The benefits are multiple. The feeling of self-importance increases: after all, I am a mystery. Responsibility is removed from oneself - “let them think”, decision-making is postponed, isn’t it?
Summarizing. This technique is one of the most preferred when completing the first meeting. The specificity of its application lies in the fact that it can be used as a real generalization and tying together sometimes confusing, fragmentary statements of the client and, conversely, by demonstrating the refusal to use final generalizations in order to emphasize the significance, complexity of the issues discussed and the reluctance of the consulting psychologist to simplify them. The current summing up, in contrast to the final one, helps to structure the process of the consultative conversation and set some semantic milestones. In addition to the purely professional, technical aspects of psychological assistance in the process of establishing relationships, during the first meeting many seemingly insignificant, spoken and unspoken issues arise, which, nevertheless, should be foreseen and taken into account. These questions together characterize the professional etiquette of the behavior of the consulting psychologist and the general atmosphere of the situation.
Let's look at the simplest of these questions.
Smoking. Sometimes nervous clients ask if they can smoke. Forbidding a client to smoke is tactless. This may be perceived as pressure or an unwanted restriction of freedom. Encouraging smoking is unhygienic and harmful to health. One acceptable course of action is to separate the smoking process from the counseling conversation. Tactfulness and appropriateness of motivation, a partnering tone of address will help relieve the tension that encourages the client to smoke.
Record keeping. Any method of recording information (tape recordings, notes, etc.) must certainly be discussed with the client and unconditionally rejected at the slightest objection. However, after the meeting is completed, the psychologist has the right to record in his work diary significant moments of the client’s communication, behavior or experiences in order to comprehend them and prepare more thoroughly for the next meeting.
Frequently late. If a client—most often, of course, a woman—is regularly late to a pre-agreed time, the possible reasons for the delay should be worked out: resistance, demonstration, decreased motivation, etc. A psychologist’s lateness to a meeting, if it is not caused by an unfavorable combination of circumstances, also requires, in addition to an apology, special elaboration.
Payment issues. In cases where a psychologist provides consultations in private practice, the cost of services and the payment procedure (hourly, based on results) should be specifically agreed upon in advance on a mutually acceptable basis. Due to the specifics of psychological assistance, charging for a psychologist’s services may not depend on the successful or otherwise outcome of the psychologist’s actions.
Client orientation in time. Practice shows that explaining to the client the time frame of work, including a general orientation on the possible timing of advisory work as a whole and the duration of each individual meeting, is an important point both procedurally and behaviorally. The psychologist should feel free to inform the client about the end of the meeting time, analyzing the client’s relationship with time, since the corresponding behavior may hide very important reasons for psychological elaboration.
Clothes and image of a consultant. The clothing, appearance and demeanor of a psychologist (male or female) must comply with generally accepted standards in society. Excessive makeup, too flashy, expensive or, conversely, overly democratized clothing, an overly official or deliberately careless style of behavior - all this can signal obvious or implicit personal problems of the specialist himself, undermining trust in him even before the start of collaboration. Facial expression, eyes, manners, clothing - everything should indicate a healthy lifestyle of the consulting psychologist, the balance of his (her) personality and instill confidence in the client that they can help him.
PROCESS STEPS
AND FORECAST OF PROSPECTS
Psychological assistance in all its varieties (from counseling to non-medical psychotherapy), if not limited to a one-time situational consultation, regardless of the form of implementation, individual or group, as a rule, goes through several stages.
Psychology is a discipline that aims to study mental states. Psychology is a special science that studies the characteristics of the psyche from different sides in different directions and angles. Psychology is divided into several types.
Throughout all the centuries of human existence, scientists have paid great attention to the study of:
- personal qualities;
- character types;
- differences in perception of the world;
- behavior in each specific situation.
Analyzing the results obtained, scientists tried to find answers to questions such as: what, how and why, this happened, for what reason, how to avoid certain situations, how not to fall under the influence of oneself, and so on.
Modern psychology, continuing research into human behavior, characteristics and conditions, moves in several directions and uses different methods.
Types of psychology
Thus, psychology is aimed at studying the nervous psychological processes of human consciousness. All types of psychology, depending on the field of study, are divided into:
- clinical;
- abnormal development;
- cognitive;
- comparative;
- advisory;
- developmental psychology;
- educational psychology;
- biological psychology.
All types of psychology are aimed at predicting human reactions, behavior, and actions. Various areas are used in medicine, educational institutions, educational centers, prisons, judicial practice, and so on.
Clinical psychology
The first type, clinical psychology, includes studies of a person in a stressful situation, during its influence, the effects of stress are studied, which lead to various changes that occur in the body for a psychological reason. Clinical psychology is a discipline whose main task is to study personality development, its impact on emotionality and well-being.
When studying mental characteristics, judicial testimony is taken into account in cases of identified clinical indicators of neuropsychology. For this, specialists use a model of adapted therapy in order to create a therapeutic effect, which helps to study psychological problems in order to determine a new form of thinking and behavior of a person.
Abnormal psychology
The second type includes the branch of anomalous psychology, which deals with the study of abnormal behavior. The main task of abnormal psychology is to recognize, study and promptly identify changes in mental state in order to take timely measures and avoid the appearance of an abnormal mental disorder.
Cognitive psychology
The third type is cognitive psychology. Its main task is to study mental processes in order to determine human behavioral characteristics. The cognitive type of psychology uses various kinds of educational experiments aimed at assessing the perception of memory and attention. Therefore, this type of psychology is often called experimental.
The cognitive type of psychology is the result obtained through the contribution of neuroscientists, linguists, and logisticians, thanks to whom the importance of theoretical development in the formation and implementation in the psyche is determined.
Comparative and Consultative Psychology
This is a special type of psychology that studies the behavior model of animals, the results of which, when compared with the model of human behavior, help influence human behavior. Analysis of animal behavior and evaluation of the results obtained during experiments with animals gives scientists the opportunity to apply new knowledge with an emphasis on the emotional, social, and professional educational spheres.
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology is a type of science, the result of which is aimed at determining the patterns of development of the human mind. The object of study of developmental psychology is:
- moral;
- intelligence;
- development of the two listed components.
Scientists pay special attention to the study of human behavior in natural conditions with the influence of a physical factor on a person. Developmental psychology is a direction and type of science, the study of which is closely related to the influence of external factors and the characteristics of the development of the human mind.
Pedagogical psychology
The task of educational psychology is to study the educational process. This method of psychology uses experiments aimed at studying education, its influence on the human psyche, and studying the characteristics of a person of a certain age. This is necessary in order to apply the results obtained in schools and institutes in order to improve the effectiveness of the educational process.
Biological psychology
Biological psychology studies a person in a biological cross-section. This type of psychology is aimed at studying the biological characteristics of the psyche that can influence the development, behavior and psyche of a person. Much of the discipline is aimed at analyzing the results obtained from experiments using neuroscience, that is, assessing neural processes.
The main task of the type of biological psychology is to determine all the functions of the brain. This is necessary in order to understand the connection between the brain’s reaction and the perception of the psyche, as well as their influence on human behavior.
The goal of any psychological intervention is to change the mental state and behavior of the individual; in the case of psychological assistance, it is to eliminate psychological problems and behavioral disorders.
Psychological assistance is aimed at eliminating psychological problems and behavioral disorders through the use of special scientifically based psychological methods
There are various types of psychological assistance, which differ in goals, theoretical orientations underlying them, areas of application, as well as the degree of professionalism of the person who provides this assistance. It is important to understand that sometimes psychological help can be provided to us by non-professional relatives and friends, clergy and even casual acquaintances who are not indifferent to our condition at the moment. In addition to such “spontaneous” assistance, some types of assistance can be purposefully applied by specially trained volunteers (Section 3).
Depending on the main goals of assistance, the following are distinguished:
psychological counseling;
psychotherapy;
psychological correction;
crisis intervention;
psychological rehabilitation;
psychological training.
Psychological counseling is focused on helping the client resolve a specific problem situation and makes it possible to expand his understanding of various aspects of his personality, as well as his social environment.
Psychotherapy is focused on improving the mental state of people with mental and behavioral disorders, eliminating the symptoms of these disorders using psychological influence.
Psychological correction is a targeted psychological impact on certain mental structures in order to ensure the full development and functioning of the individual.
Crisis intervention is emergency psychological assistance to persons in crisis (victims of interethnic conflicts, natural disasters, catastrophes; people who have lost loved ones, etc.), aimed at preventing the development of mental disorders and behavioral disorders.
Psychological rehabilitation is assistance to the patient, focused on the fullest possible restoration of his abilities, improving the quality of life, improving social adaptation, integration into society, preventing the development of persistent personality disorders and negative changes in life style.
Psychological training to develop the client’s necessary psychological and behavioral skills: overcoming stress, resolving conflicts, making decisions, etc.
Psychological assistance can be provided both individually and in a group (family, group therapy), as well as within an entire organization (organizational counseling).
Depending on the scope of application, M. Perret and U. Baumann propose to distinguish psychological-pedagogical, organizational-psychological and clinical-psychological interventions.
There are no strict boundaries between different types of psychological assistance; they are based on the use of similar methods of influence. This applies primarily to psychological counseling, psychological correction and psychotherapy.
The division between them is largely artificial and is due to legislative restrictions on the functions that a psychologist can perform in a medical institution:
“At this time [late 1970s, approx. author] psychologists began to actively work in the field of psychotherapy, primarily group. Discussions about whether a psychologist can engage in therapeutic (psychotherapeutic) work were predominantly theoretical in nature, because in practice psychologists not only wanted, could and successfully implemented this opportunity, but were also at that time more prepared for this type of activity, especially in as group psychotherapists. But since psychotherapy is a medical practice, and by law only a person with a higher medical education can engage in it, the dissemination of the term “psychological correction” was aimed at overcoming this situation: the doctor deals with psychotherapy, and the psychologist deals with psychological correction. ... Abroad, the term “psychological psychotherapy” has become a more common designation for the activities of a psychologist in the field of psychotherapy; in our country, “psychological correction.”
From the above quote it follows that the term “psychological correction” was introduced in order to make psychological practice in the clinic more legitimate. At the same time, we believe that its use is completely justified in cases where we are talking about the correction of abnormal development.
The nature of psychological assistance is largely determined by the theoretical orientation of a particular specialist. In this regard, the American psychologist R. Comer notes that within a professional group there are much more differences caused by theoretical disagreements than, for example, between doctors, clinical psychologists and social workers who adhere to the same concept1. Today, there are a significant number of areas of psychological assistance: psychoanalysis, behavioral and cognitive behavioral therapy, existential psychotherapy, rational emotive therapy, Gestalt therapy, etc. Each of them is determined by what is specifically put forward as the main cause of psychological problems in the client and what are the main characteristics of a healthy, adapted personality. The most important areas of psychotherapy will be discussed in Chapter 1.4.
One of the most difficult tasks today is assessing the effectiveness of psychological assistance. Patient self-reports as well as therapist reports are insufficient to accurately determine progress achieved. The fact is that both the patient and the therapist, who have invested a lot of effort in the treatment process, tend to evaluate any positive changes in treatment as a kind of “reward for labor”2. In addition, it is not always clear what to use as a criterion for success, how long after the end of therapy to take measurements and, most importantly, what other factors influenced the change in the client’s condition.
According to the German psychotherapist W. Lauterbach, the most studied in this aspect are cognitive and behavioral psychotherapy, client-centered psychotherapy according to C. Rogers, as well as various methods of relaxation and hypnosis. Research results indicate their high effectiveness. Note that research methods not included in this list can also lead to the desired results. The lack of information about the success of their use in the clinic is largely due to the theoretical orientation towards the idiographic approach to data analysis (primarily this applies to various classical and modern areas of psychoanalysis).
W. Baumann and K. Reinecker Hecht note that the study of psychological assistance should not be limited only to assessing its effectiveness; it is necessary to approach this problem in a differentiated manner, taking into account the nature of the relationship between the therapist and the client, therapy techniques, and the features of its various stages1. They suggest using the following criteria:
effectiveness (the presence of statistically and clinically significant changes, as well as positive changes, i.e. changes that relate to a wide range of situations, are stable, lacking negative effects, i.e. deterioration of the condition, cessation of therapy, etc.);
profitability, i.e. a reasonable ratio of material and moral costs and benefits of providing assistance;
customer satisfaction level;
theoretical validity.
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The defense mechanisms of the human psyche are aimed at reducing negative and traumatic experiences and manifest themselves at the unconscious level. This term was coined by Sigmund Freud , and then more deeply developed by his students and followers, most notably Anna Freud. Let's try to figure out when these mechanisms are useful, and in what cases they hinder our development and better respond and act consciously.
website will tell you about 9 main types of psychological defense that are important to realize in time. This is exactly what the psychotherapist does most of the time in his office - he helps the client understand the defense mechanisms that limit his freedom, spontaneity of response, and distort interaction with people around him.
1. Displacement
Repression is the removal of unpleasant experiences from consciousness. It manifests itself in forgetting what causes psychological discomfort. Repression can be compared to a dam that can break - there is always a risk that memories of unpleasant events will burst out. And the psyche spends a huge amount of energy to suppress them.
2. Projection
Projection manifests itself in the fact that a person unconsciously attributes his feelings, thoughts, desires and needs to the people around him. This psychological defense mechanism makes it possible to relieve oneself of responsibility for one’s own character traits and desires that seem unacceptable.
For example, unreasonable jealousy may be the result of a projection mechanism. Defending himself against his own desire for infidelity, a person suspects his partner of cheating.
3. Introjection
This is the tendency to indiscriminately appropriate other people's norms, attitudes, rules of behavior, opinions and values without trying to understand them and critically rethink them. Introjection is like swallowing huge chunks of food without trying to chew it.
All education and upbringing is built on the mechanism of introjection. Parents say: “Don’t put your fingers in the socket, don’t go out into the cold without a hat,” and these rules contribute to the survival of children. If a person as an adult “swallows” other people’s rules and norms without trying to understand how they suit him personally, he becomes unable to distinguish between what he really feels and what he wants and what others want.
4. Merger
In merging there is no boundary between “I” and “not-I”. There is only one total “we”. The fusion mechanism is most clearly expressed in the first year of a child’s life. Mother and child are in fusion, which contributes to the survival of the little person, because the mother very subtly feels the needs of her child and responds to them. In this case, we are talking about the healthy manifestation of this protective mechanism.
But in relationships between a man and a woman, merging hinders the development of the couple and the development of partners. It is difficult to show your individuality in them. Partners dissolve in each other, and passion sooner or later leaves the relationship.
5. Rationalization
Rationalization is an attempt to find reasonable and acceptable reasons for the occurrence of an unpleasant situation, a situation of failure. The purpose of this defense mechanism is to maintain a high level of self-esteem and convince ourselves that we are not to blame, that the problem is not ours. It is clear that it will be more beneficial for personal growth and development to take responsibility for what happened and learn from life experience.
Rationalization can manifest itself as devaluation. A classic example of rationalization is Aesop's fable “The Fox and the Grapes.” The fox cannot get the grapes and retreats, explaining that the grapes are “green.”
It is much more useful for yourself and for society to write poetry, draw a picture, or simply chop wood than to get drunk or beat up a more successful opponent.
9. Reactive formation
In the case of reactive formation, our consciousness protects itself from forbidden impulses by expressing opposing impulses in behavior and thoughts. This protective process is carried out in two stages: first, the unacceptable impulse is suppressed, and then at the level of consciousness the completely opposite one manifests itself, while being quite hypertrophied and inflexible.
