Attentive techniques. Psychology: its methods and techniques - M.S. Levels of Basal Emotional Organization

Counseling techniques are special techniques that a psychologist uses to perform certain procedures at each stage of counseling.

The main counseling techniques are as follows:

• 1. Asking questions. Questions can be considered a basic counseling technique. During the counseling process, the psychologist does not so much speak himself as ask questions and thus guide the client to an understanding of his problem and a solution. Consulting questions may include:
  • open - questions that cannot be answered “yes” or “no”, for example: “What do you think about relationships in your family?”;
  • closed - questions that can be answered “yes” or “no”, for example: “Are you married?”;
  • alternative - questions containing alternative answers, for example: “Did you feel offended, angry or irritated?”

Open questions are used in the following cases:

• 1) start of consultation. At the beginning of the consultation, open-ended questions are more appropriate, as they provide an opportunity to obtain more information;
• 2) encouraging the client to continue or add to what was said (“What did you feel?”);
• 3) encouraging the client to illustrate his problems with examples (“Tell me about a specific situation”);
• 4) focusing the client's attention on feelings (“What do you feel?”).

However, be aware that open-ended questions may increase the client's sense of threat and anxiety, so they should be asked at the appropriate time and carefully worded.

Closed questions are used to obtain specific information (“How old are you?”) and clarification. Closed questions are sometimes necessary to obtain more precise material for the formulation of advisory hypotheses, and are more often used at the hypothesis testing stage. However, frequent use of closed questions can create a feeling of “interrogation” in the client, provoke his closedness and worsen the advisory contact. Therefore, excessive questioning must be avoided. When asking this or that question, it is necessary to clearly understand for what purpose it is being asked, to test what hypothesis it is aimed at.

Alternative questions are used when the client cannot answer a question because he has no experience talking about this topic. Most often these are questions to clarify feelings. The question gives an example of how to talk about feelings, but the client does not necessarily have to choose from the alternatives proposed by the consultant; he can offer his own option.

The following problems may arise due to over-indulgence in questions.

• 1. The conversation turns into an exchange of questions and answers (becomes similar to an interrogation).
• 2. The consultant, by asking a lot of questions, takes responsibility for the course of the consultation and removes responsibility from the client, thereby violating the principle of client responsibility.
• 3. Many questions often shift the conversation from emotions to facts, and this reduces the depth of the consultation.
• 4. The question-and-answer form destroys the liveliness of the conversation and makes it overly formal.

To avoid the listed problems, you must follow the rules for asking questions.

• 1. In a consultative dialogue, open questions should prevail; closed questions should be used with caution.
• 2. Questions that begin with the words “who, what” are fact-oriented and are used at the beginning of the client’s questioning.
• 3. Questions starting with the word “how” are focused on the client’s inner world and are used to clarify and test advisory hypotheses.
• 4. A question starting with the word “why” can provoke actualization defense mechanisms, therefore, it is better to avoid such questions in counseling (especially since they are useless - the client does not know why he does this and not otherwise, and can only express his own rationalizations).
• 5. It is necessary to avoid asking double questions and asking two questions at the same time, for example: “Why do you drink and be late for work?” Here one question contains two questions at the same time.
• 6. You should not ask the same question in different formulations.
• 7. You cannot ask a question ahead of the client’s answer (for example: “Is everything going well at your work?” This question contains the answer - “it’s going well.” It’s better to ask: “How are things going at your work?”).
• 2. Limiting the consultant’s speech in the dialogue. Approaching the client's speech. Brevity and accuracy of the consultant's statements. The mistake of a novice consultant is the desire to talk a lot without allowing pauses. During the reception, the client should do most of the talking. The consultant should minimize his statements, asking only necessary questions. At the same time, the consultant’s speech should not be perceived by the client as alien and incomprehensible; it should be structured in the style of the client’s speech. To do this, it is important for the consultant to use in his speech those words and expressions that are characteristic of the client’s speech. It is important to be brief and precise.

Rules for a consultant's statements in a consultative dialogue.

• 1. You should not indulge in unnecessary explanations of why this or that question is asked.
• 2. Must be used short questions, in which all words that are clear from the context are omitted.
• 3. The ideal structure of a question during the consultation process (especially at the questioning stage, when the client talks about his problem): 1) an indication of some event that the client mentioned; 2) interrogative word “what”, “how”, etc. For example: “You met... so what?”

Sometimes you can only say question words, since the rest is clear to the client from the context of the conversation. In this case, the client may not notice that this question was asked. Thus, the consultant is, as it were, integrated into internal dialogue the client, gently guiding his story in the right direction.

3. Encouragement and support of the client is the basis of the advisory contact. If the consultant somehow expresses assessment or disapproval of the client’s actions, the contact may be destroyed. However, providing support does not mean a positive assessment of the client's actions, which may be truly immoral. This means that the consultant does not evaluate the client, but supports him in any case, such as he is. To create and strengthen contact, short phrases are used to indicate agreement and understanding (for example: “Continue”, “Yes”, “I understand”, “Okay”, “So”, “Yeah”, “Mmm”).

Support helps the client believe in himself and take risks, accept complex solutions, for example: “Very good”, “Don’t worry”, “You’re right”, “It may not be easy.” However, it is important not to overuse this technique, as this can limit the client’s ability to solve problems and forms the client’s dependence on the consultant.

4. Reflection of content: paraphrasing and summarizing. In the counseling process, it is important that the counselor accurately understands what the client is talking about. Without an accurate understanding, it is impossible to correctly formulate hypotheses and select further methods of influence. However, the client’s story is not very coherent and confusing, so it is difficult for the consultant to understand the situation. In addition, there is always a difference in the semantic fields of the words used in a conversation, which can also lead to misunderstandings on the part of the consultant. Content reflection techniques are used to clarify the meaning of what the client said. More often, such techniques are used in the second phase of questioning to test advisory hypotheses.

Paraphrasing (paraphrase) is a key technique for reflecting content. The meaning of this technique is that the consultant, in his own words, conveys the meaning of what the client said. Purposes of paraphrasing (paraphrase):

• show the client that the consultant is attentive and trying to understand him;
• crystallize the client’s thought, make it clearer;
• check the correct understanding of the client’s thoughts.

Rules for performing a paraphrase.

• 1. The client’s main thought is paraphrased, and its main meaning (or idea) is conveyed.
• 2. You cannot distort or replace the meaning of the client’s statement, or add something of your own.
• 3. It is important to avoid verbatim repetition of the client’s statement; you need to express his thoughts in your own words.

Another technique for reflecting content is generalization. Unlike a paraphrase, which is used to express a single idea, a summary is an expression of the main idea of ​​several interrelated thoughts of the client or a confusing statement.

Generalization is used in the following cases.

• 1. To structure the beginning of a conversation in order to combine it with previous conversations.
• 2. When the client speaks for a very long time and is confusing.
• 3. When one topic has been exhausted and a transition to the next stage is planned.
• 4. When trying to give direction to the conversation.
• 5. At the end of the meeting, in an effort to emphasize important points and give a task.
• 5. Positive rephrasing is a way of presenting something negative in a positive light. This technique allows the client to see his problem differently.

By performing positive rephrasing, the consultant, using the client's complaint or comments, changes them in such a way that what was negative becomes the cause positive emotions. For example, a client says: “My son has completely stopped listening to me.” The consultant paraphrases: “Yes, apparently, your son has matured and become more independent.” Thus, the client sees that in the phenomenon that he considered absolutely negative (the behavior of his son), there is a positive moment - a manifestation of his son’s independence and maturation.

6. Reflection of feelings in the counseling process is no less important than reflection of content.

In what the client says, two plans can always be distinguished.

The first plan is justifications, explanations, logically constructed details of the story (content).

The second plan is the emotions, feelings of the client and the people around him. It is the disclosure of this plan that helps to understand what is happening to the client, the essence of his problem.

We can say that reflecting the client's feelings is paraphrasing with an orientation not to content, but to feelings.

In counseling, clients talk more often about facts, so questions about feelings need to be given significantly more attention to achieve a balance between reflecting facts and feelings.

Typically, the question used to reflect feelings is: “What did you feel when..?” Sometimes you can name the feeling that the client experienced: “Did you feel anxious?” But this can only be done when the client himself said this word, and the consultant wants to emphasize it, or when the consultant is absolutely sure that this is the feeling the client experienced in this situation. If the feeling is incorrectly named, it will cause resistance in the client, the feeling that the consultant does not understand him, and accordingly will lead to a deterioration in the advisory contact.

Just as the generalization technique is used to reflect a fragment of content, the generalization technique of feelings can be used to reflect and demonstrate to the client his typical emotional reactions - to demonstrate to the client the actual unity of opposites in the emotional sphere.

Principles of using the technique of reflecting feelings.

• 1. Identify the feeling as accurately as possible.
• 2. The advisability of using the reflection of feelings in the context of a conversation - not all feelings should be reflected, but only those that lead to testing the advisory hypothesis or lead to a moment of insight.
• 3. Be sure to pay attention to feelings, if they cause problems in counseling, they can support the client and help him.
• 4. The consultant can also express own feelings, but only related to the topic of conversation.
• 5. It is necessary to help the client control overly intense feelings.
• 7. Emphasis on emotional experiences. Another way of working with feelings in the counseling process is to emphasize emotional experiences through emphasizing so-called emotionally charged words. In this case, the “echo” technique is used. This technique involves the consultant repeating exactly the word the client said. However

It is not just any word that should be repeated, but the most emotionally charged one. Then the conversation will develop in depth, towards an understanding of the client’s main motives. After all, it is known that emotions are markers of motives.

The “carriers” of emotions in the client’s story are adverbs and adjectives, and if they are not there, verbs. It is adverbs and adjectives that denote the client’s attitude towards something, the quality of the action. By emphasizing and clarifying this word, the consultant can reach the level of feelings. Consistently emphasizing feelings makes it possible to develop dialogue in depth.

For example, the client says: “I walked slowly towards the house.” The consultant asks: "Slowly?" In this way, the key emotional word is emphasized, since it is this word that concentrates the client’s emotions. Such an echo question directs the client’s story towards explaining his feelings and his attitude to what is happening.

8. Pauses of silence. Many new consultants are afraid of pauses. They feel that pauses in the conversation can be interpreted as a sign of the consultant’s low qualifications. Sometimes this is true - when a pause occurs because the consultant does not know what to say next. In this case, you need to contact a supervisor and work on your counseling technique. But sometimes pauses can have a powerful therapeutic effect, and then they can be considered special counseling techniques.

Pause time is perceived in a special way during the counseling process. The pause is usually perceived as much longer than it actually is. It is not so easy to withstand even a minute pause. A normal pause can last 30-40 seconds.

Silence during a consultation can have different meanings:

• meaningless silence - when the interlocutors feel awkward, most likely caused by the fact that the consultant does not know what to do next;
• meaningful silence - when silence is filled with meaning; Such pauses are experienced as significant moments of counseling and can last much longer than ordinary pauses. For example, such a pause can mean comprehension, generalization without words of everything said after an important semantic fragment of the conversation.

The therapeutic value of silence lies in the fact that silence at significant moments increases the emotional mutual understanding of the consultant and the client, provides the client with the opportunity to immerse himself and explore his feelings, attitudes, and also allows the client to understand that responsibility for the outcome of the consultation lies with him.

The client's silence during the counseling process can have different meanings.

• 1. Pauses at the beginning of a conversation can be caused by anxiety, confusion, or poor health of the client. In this case, it is necessary to encourage the client and relieve anxiety.
• 2. Real activity of the client - he is silent, as he selects words, thinks about what he will say next. In this case, you need to give him time to think about it.
• 3. A pause may be caused by the fact that both the client and the consultant hope for the continuation of the conversation from each other. In some cases, the counselor may use this as a technique to demonstrate to the client that he is responsible for the conversation. However, this technique cannot be abused either.
• 4. Both the consultant and the client found themselves at an impasse, and there was a loss of contact. In this case, the pause causes unpleasant feelings and awkwardness. Then the consultant needs to try to correct the situation and restore contact with the client.
• 5. A pause may mean resistance from the client, an attempt to manipulate the consultant (“Come on, let me see”). In this case, you need to interrupt the manipulation by entering into open communication and work with the client’s resistance.
• 6. Many pauses occur when the conversation proceeds at a superficial level, i.e. client and consultant avoid discussing important issues. In this case, the consultant can use confrontation techniques or try to deepen the dialogue in other ways.
• 7. The meaning of a pause can be a deep generalization without words - in this case it should be maintained as long as necessary.

The general principle of working with pauses is to interrupt empty silence and not rush to interrupt productive silence.

9. Tone and volume of voice. It is important to choose the right tone of voice when talking with a client. The general principle is that the tone, volume, and speed of speech of the consultant should be close to relevant characteristics the client's speech, i.e. it is necessary to “adjust” to the client according to the parameters of para- and extralinguistics.

The consultant's voice should be friendly while at the same time being consistent with what is being said.

A muffled voice helps create a feeling of trust and intimacy. Varying the volume of the voice when changes in the client’s condition helps to maintain and strengthen the advisory contact and create a feeling of mutual understanding.

10. Providing information. The psychologist does not give direct advice during the consultation process, as this violates the principle of client responsibility. However, in some cases, the client needs additional information to make a decision or eliminate the problem, and such information can be provided to him by a psychologist. Providing information can be considered as a separate counseling technique.

Types of information that can be provided during the consultation process: information about the consultation process, the behavior of the consultant, the conditions of consultation - the place and time of its holding, payment.

Sometimes clients ask questions in order to avoid discussing their problems. This is a kind of departure from the counseling situation, for example: “What do you think about the modern family?” In this case, it is necessary to shift the conversation to their own problems: “Why are you interested in this? What do you think about it yourself? What is happening in your family?” - otherwise the consultant may wander away from the topic of consultation into general discussions. But if these questions are an expression of the client’s real concern, it is better to answer them briefly and then still go to the client’s personal problems.

11. Interpretation is the transformation of meaning. Using interpretation helps establish causal connections between the client's behavior and experience, allowing the client to see himself and his difficulties in a new way.

Let us list the types of interpretation.

• 1. Establishing connections between separate statements, problems, events.
• 2. Emphasizing the characteristics, contradictions of the client’s behavior or feelings.
• 3. Interpretation of methods of psychological defense, reactions of resistance and transference. (“Based on our conversation, running away is your way of dealing with your fear of failure.”)
• 4. Linking current events, thoughts and experiences with the past.
• 5. Giving the client another opportunity to understand his feelings, behavior or problems.

Interpretation is the main technique of influence, therefore it is used towards the end of consultation, at the stage of influence, but never used at the beginning of consultation.

Rules for using interpretation.

• 1. The interpretation should not be too deep, it only relates to what the client already knows.
• 2. The timeliness of the interpretation and the client’s willingness to accept it are important.
• 3. The effectiveness of using interpretation depends on the client's personality. Clients with high self-esteem and education are more sensitive to interpretation.
• 4. You should not use many interpretations in one consultation - this may cause the client to actualize psychological defenses.
• 5. Interpretation should be formulated as assumptions, hypotheses, but not categorically. This formulation promotes acceptance of the client's interpretation.

The effectiveness of the interpretation can be evidenced by the client's reaction to it. If the client reacts indifferently to the interpretation, without noticing it, and then tells something of his own, this means that the interpretation, most likely, was erroneous and did not affect the client’s key motives; in this case, it is necessary to reconsider the advisory hypothesis. If the client reacts hostilely to the interpretation and rejects it, perhaps the interpretation got to the root of the problem, but was not expressed in a timely manner, the client is not ready to accept it. An accurate and timely interpretation causes an “aha reaction” in the client, insight, a new look at the problem, while he may experience different feelings - from deep thoughtfulness to delight, and sometimes he may burst into tears.

12. Confrontation is a demonstration to the client of his methods of psychological defense. The use of confrontation techniques is possible only with mutual trust, otherwise confrontation may be perceived by the client as aggression on the part of the consultant.

Let us list the cases of using the confrontation technique.

• 1. Confrontation in order to draw the client’s attention to contradictions in his behavior, thoughts, and feelings. This technique is performed in two stages:
  • a) a certain aspect of the client’s behavior is stated;
  • b) “but (however)…” - describes contradictory behavior. In contrast to interpretation, when using confrontation, the causes and origins of the contradiction are directly indicated.
• 2. Confrontation in order to help see the situation as it really is, contrary to the client’s idea of ​​it in the context of his needs.
• 3. Confrontation in order to draw the client’s attention to his avoidance of discussing certain problems (“You don’t say anything about your sex life”).
• 4. Interrupting the client's narration is also a type of confrontation, used when the client leaves the topic.

Limitations of using confrontation:

• 1) do not use it as punishment for the client;
• 2) do not use confrontation to destroy psychological defense mechanisms;
• 3) do not use confrontation to satisfy the needs and self-expression of the consultant. The incorrect use of confrontation usually means that the consultant is dealing with his own personal problems.

Rules for using confrontation:

• 1) carefully characterize the content of the client’s inappropriate behavior and its context, but do not express everything at the same time;
• 2) detail the consequences of controversial behavior;
• 3) help the client find ways to overcome problems;
• 4) confrontation should not be categorical and aggressive (use softening words “it seems to me”, “if I’m not mistaken”).
• 13. Self-disclosure of a consultant during the counseling process is a rather controversial technique. In some theoretical orientations, self-disclosure is not allowed at all (for example, in classical psychoanalysis). In some, it is one of the main techniques. Self-disclosure means the consultant demonstrating his emotional attitude towards the client, the problem being discussed, etc. - i.e. open presentation self to the client.

Let us list the restrictions on the use of self-disclosure techniques.

• 1. When a client knows too much about the counselor, he fantasizes less about him, which is why self-disclosure is not used in psychoanalytically oriented counseling.
• 2. The consultant's frankness implies sharing his problems with the client, which is anti-therapeutic.
• 3. At the beginning of counseling, self-disclosure is unacceptable, since its use can increase the client's anxiety.

Types of self-disclosure:

• 1) expression of one’s immediate reactions in relation to the client or the situation “here and now”;
• 2) a story about your life experience, similar to the client’s situation.

Positive self-disclosure - when the consultant expresses support and approval of the client; negative - essentially confrontation with the client.

Self-disclosure rules:

• 1) self-disclosure must be sincere, otherwise contact with the client will be lost;
• 2) self-disclosure cannot be abused, it must occur only under the control of a professional personal position, otherwise the consultation cannot be called professional consultation;
• 3) self-disclosure must be timely and consistent with the consultant’s goals; self-disclosure must not be unnecessarily delayed;
• 4) self-disclosure cannot be used at the beginning of consultation, it is used in the later stages of consultation if there is a good consultation contact.
• 14. Structuring counseling is the organization of the relationship between the consultant and the client, highlighting individual stages of counseling, evaluating their results, providing the client with information about the counseling process, and summarizing.

Structuring occurs throughout the consultation, step by step. Each new stage of consultation begins with an assessment of what has already been achieved. It is important for the client to participate in planning the counseling process.

Structuring is also important because it ensures that the client understands what happened during the consultation and, accordingly, increases its effectiveness.

• See: Aleshina Yu. E. Individual and family psychological counseling

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ASTRAKHAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Institute of Pedagogy and Social Work

Psychology faculty

Department of Developmental Psychology, Acmeology

Course work

in the discipline "Psychological counseling"

on the topic: METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING

Performed:

student of group PP41,

correspondence department

Puchkina I.V.

Scientific adviser:

Ph.D., Associate Professor

Bryukhova N.G.

ASTRAKHAN 2011

Introduction

Chapter 1. Technique psychological counseling

1 Client meeting in psychological consultation

2 Relieving psychological stress in the client

3 Techniques used when interpreting a client’s confession

4 Consultant’s actions when formulating advice and recommendations

5 Final stage of consultation

Chapter 2. Basic methods of psychological counseling

1 Interview as the main method of psychological counseling

2 Individual counseling

3 Group counseling

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

This topic is of current importance, since psychological counseling is a special area of ​​practical psychology associated with the provision of direct psychological assistance by a specialist psychologist to people who need it, in the form of advice and recommendations. They are given by a psychologist to a client based on a personal conversation and a preliminary study of the problem that the client has encountered in his life.

Psychological counseling is the established practice of providing effective psychological assistance to people, based on the belief that everyone is physically and mentally healthy man able to cope with almost all psychological problems that arise in his life. The client, however, does not always definitely and accurately know in advance what the essence of his problem is and how best to solve it, relying on his own strengths and capabilities. A professionally trained psychologist-consultant should help him with this. This is the main task of psychological counseling.

Psychological counseling differs from other types of practical psychological assistance in the following main features:

it assumes a relatively short period and episodic nature of personal contacts between the consulting psychologist and the client;

the consulting psychologist basically only gives advice to the client, and their practical implementation becomes the client’s own business; he retains an active role;

psychocorrectional work is most often carried out by the client himself in the absence of a psychologist, without direct or constant interaction with him.

psychodiagnostics at the beginning of work with a client is reduced to a minimum and is mainly based on the results of the consultant’s direct observation of the client’s behavior;

The psychologist-consultant does not bear direct personal responsibility for the final result of the work (the consultant is not responsible for whether the client uses or does not use his advice).

The consultant is responsible only for the correctness of his conclusions about the essence of the client’s problem and for the potential effectiveness of the practical recommendations offered to the client.

The purpose of this work is to consider the methods and techniques of psychological counseling.

Job objectives:

)describe the technique of psychological counseling;

)reveal the basic methods of psychological counseling.

The structure of the work is an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references.

Chapter 1. Techniques of psychological counseling

Techniques of psychological counseling are special techniques that a psychologist-consultant, acting within the framework of certain counseling procedures, uses to perform these procedures at each stage of psychological counseling. This technique can be universal, successfully used at each stage of psychological counseling, and specific, most suitable for a particular stage of psychological counseling.

We will consider the technique of psychological counseling step by step in connection with various counseling procedures, without particularly highlighting counseling techniques that are universal in nature.

1.1 Meeting a client in a psychological consultation

Starting a conversation with a client

The process of psychological assistance begins with a meeting. Considering the meeting process in more detail, we will dwell on the characteristics of the procedural and procedural aspects of the meeting in the provision of psychological assistance. [Abramova G.S. p.214]

When considering the initial moments of contact, it was found that the first 4 minutes of contact are decisive for the initial orientation to a partner in a communication situation, the formation of one’s own sense of self, which influences the choice of one or another strategy of behavior with the interlocutor. They are the most difficult for both partners. During this time, the consulting psychologist most often develops unconscious, but strategically far-sighted decisions related to accepting a partner, assessing his personality and predicting possible relationships. The first minutes of a meeting are extremely important as an unattached space for forming a first impression of a person and, in our case, assessing the client’s personal (psychotherapeutic) potential.

Of the three phases of any human communication - the beginning of a relationship, its development, dynamics and termination - the first phase is unconditionally the leading one, especially in situations of providing psychological assistance.

In the experience of 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. It is desirable (as the experience of consulting work in many countries shows) that even 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, marital status , by whom he was 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 fruitful 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 the consultative conversation, it is preferable 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 also undesirable to enter into an argument with the client, to refute his statements (this does not mean, of course, that the psychologist is obliged to agree with the client in everything, to share his misconceptions or obvious prejudices, but to actively resist unprofessionally); praising the client or giving him hope 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 only with you or another psychologist; support the client in his attacks on other persons (parents, children, spouse, other psychological consultant, etc.). [Nemov R.S. p.351]

Additionally, trends in the perceptions of counseling psychologists should be considered. From psychological research At least the following features of clients’ perception of consulting psychologists 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 a description of the consultative conversation itself. Let's start with a definition. Consultative conversation is one of the main methods of providing psychological assistance. A consultative conversation is a person-oriented communication in which the client’s personal characteristics and problems are oriented, a partnership type of relationship is established and maintained (as equals), and the necessary psychological assistance is provided in accordance with the needs, issues and nature of the advisory work. Depending on the stage of work, advisory conversations are divided into initial, procedural, final and supporting.

The objectives of the initial advisory conversation are: to make the client feel good about himself and relieve tension; establishing contact with the client; encouraging discussion of issues and identifying (if necessary) temporary and other opportunities for the client to work together; provision of information; establishing trusting working (collaborative, partnership) relationships with the client - “working contact”; encouraging self-understanding, own activity and responsibility; Setting realistic expectations for teamwork.

The most difficult task for a consultant is to demonstrate a willingness to respond emotionally to the client’s psychological needs, to help him begin to talk about himself and his problems. If the client feels a sense of trust in the psychological consultant and does not feel any interpersonal disagreements, it should be borne in mind that psychological defenses may be activated, especially if the patient is concerned about too personal, sometimes intimate, problems. If a person did not seek help himself, but was referred by another specialist, teacher, or acquaintances, or parents, resistance can pose a significant difficulty for the consultant. It is certain that not a single person, no matter what age he is, will come to another, stranger, person without any particular reason, just like that, heart to heart, to talk about topics that cannot always be revealed not only to a close friend, but also to oneself to yourself. [May R., p.132]

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 possible ways reducing resistance. Questions that relate to the client’s condition and his sense of self in a counseling setting also help relieve tension. The initial task of the counseling psychologist is to serve as a catalyst to facilitate the communication process. [Bondarenko A.F., p.289]

It is necessary to feel a person, to know his needs, experiences, aspirations. Typically, during a meeting, the client will unintentionally express his needs and problems more than once. 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 true problems), the very first meeting provides rich material for understanding the client’s personality, probable problems and real, albeit hidden, needs .

Completing the first consultative conversation is no less important than its beginning. The criteria for a positive conclusion of the first meeting are so important that modern literature they are identified as a 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 a feeling of disappointment, a feeling of being misunderstood or being treated at the wrong address most often - despite all equal and professionally impeccable parameters - 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, designated completion of a meeting and conversation with the potential incompleteness of a given situation.

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 own preferences.

.2 Relieving psychological stress in the client

The term “confession” - a concept more religious than psychotherapeutic - was first used by psychologists from the beginning of the 20th century, when psychoanalysis and psychotherapy imitating church confession came into fashion. The client’s story about himself, his problems, difficulties, and his emotional state can be compared to a confession. The main task of the psychologist is to awaken the client to be sincere. To do this, you need to use active listening.

In order to create this initiative, the consulting psychologist needs to use various techniques that support the client’s sincerity.

Active listening is the art of understanding. An active listener, in our case a psychologist, must assure the client that everything spoken will be correctly understood by him. An understanding listener seems to tell the speaker: “I care about you, I accept you. I want to understand your experience, your feelings and especially your needs.” Such a message, given to a person as a basic basis for conversation, will influence the way he thinks and feels (towards himself and others). The main goal of active listening is to maintain or create trust in a conversation. To do this, the psychologist must respect the speaker and accept him as he is. [Obozov N.N., p.207]

There are some conditions under which the use of active listening is simply necessary:

when you need to check whether you correctly perceive the client’s emotional state;

when you are dealing with strong emotions;

when the client's problem is emotional in nature;

when a client tries to force you to make the same decision that he/she made;

where there is open-ended exploration and interaction.

All of the above will help you:

clarify for yourself the feelings of another person;

structure complex emotional states;

define the problem more precisely;

allow the client to solve the problem or understand in which direction it needs to be solved;

increase client self-esteem;

reduce protection (if any existed at the beginning of your contact);

increase willingness to listen to others;

develop the client's sensitivity to others. Requirements for successful active listening:

sincere interest in the person and desire to help;

great attention to the slightest manifestations of the client’s emotional state;

temporarily discard any opinions, judgments, feelings;

believe in a person’s ability to make a decision on his own and cope with his problem, giving him time and creating favorable conditions.

Nonverbal means of communication. Nonverbal communication is communication between individuals without the use of words, i.e. without speech and language means presented in direct or any symbolic form. The human body, which has an exceptionally wide range of means and methods for transmitting or exchanging information, becomes an instrument of communication. At the same time, both consciousness and the unconscious and subconscious components of the human psyche endow him with the ability to perceive and interpret information transmitted in non-verbal form. The fact that the transmission and reception of nonverbal information can be carried out at unconscious or subconscious levels introduces some complications into the understanding of this phenomenon and even raises the question of the justification of using the concept of “communication”, since with linguistic and verbal communication this process, one way or another, is recognized by both parties. Therefore, it is quite acceptable when we're talking about about nonverbal communication, also use the concept of “nonverbal behavior”, understanding it as the behavior of an individual that carries certain information, regardless of whether the individual is aware of it or not.

The main means that “body language” has are posture, movements (gestures), facial expressions, gaze, “spatial command”, and voice characteristics. [Rogers K.R., p.147]

In recent decades, interest in the world psychological science to non-verbal methods of communication has noticeably increased, since it has become clear that this component of human social behavior plays a more important role in the life of society important role than previously thought.

Visual contact is a means of mutual regulation of the conversation process. The time devoted to visual contact in communication varies from 28 to 70%. A lack of visual contact can cause the client to feel that the counselor is not interested, while too much visual contact can make the client feel uncomfortable and experience an attempt on the part of the counselor to dominate, control, infiltrate, and even take over. The use of facial reactions allows you to see the psychologist’s emotional response to the client’s confession. Nodding your head is a way of showing the client that you are listening to him, this is also an element of active listening. Nodding is a direct confirmation to the other person that you are following him step by step and understand what was said. This simplest skill performs the function of feedback. However, it is worth noting that head nods require moderation; if there are too many of them, they are more likely to irritate and confuse than contribute to dialogue.

Synchrony of interaction, i.e. consistency of people's movements in the process of interaction. Synchrony is manifested as the similarity of movements, for example, when both people simultaneously, as if in a mirror, change their posture or when people speak at the same speed. If you are intensely involved in a conversation, you may suddenly notice that your interlocutor's posture is a mirror image of your own posture. Awareness of this phenomenon of mirroring can also occur if a change in posture by one of the participants leads to a change in the posture of the interlocutor, a kind of unconscious following. Such “bodily attunement” is, as a rule, evidence of fruitful contact between two people.

Repeating the client's key phrase - “periphrase”. It is necessary to clarify and detail the meaning of what was said. In addition, it shows that the counseling psychologist listens carefully to the client and understands what is said. Periphrasis appears in the form of clarifying questions or statements: “You said that...”, “Did I understand you correctly...”, “your words about...”, “You are talking about...”, etc. d. In addition to paraphrase, during confession a generalization of what the client said can be used, which usually begins with the words: “Did I understand you correctly...”, “To sum it up, then...”, “To put it briefly... is this so?” etc.

.3 Techniques used when interpreting a client’s confession

In order to correctly and comprehensively interpret the client’s confession, the consulting psychologist needs to be well acquainted with various psychological theories. They should cover the various problems that the client may come up with. It is very important to draw the attention of the consulting psychologist to the need to develop several interpretation options so that the conclusions are not one-sided, using various theories. The interpretation must be uniform, but not the only one. There should not be too many options so as not to confuse the client. Immediately after confession, the client must be given time to rest and distracted with something. The consulting psychologist should use this short pause to collect his thoughts, formulate recommendations and main conclusions. And to the client given time necessary to calm down and prepare for further conversation with a psychologist. During this break, the consulting psychologist must remember whether anything significant has been missed, since this circumstance may affect the illogicality of the recommendations given, and this cannot be allowed. If the psychologist's words contradict each other, this may undermine the client's trust in him. In addition, the psychologist must keep in mind previous meetings and ensure that the recommendations given earlier do not contradict and are consistent with the present ones. Ultimately, the recommendations given to the client must be accessible, not oversaturated with theory, and be specific in nature. [Sytnik S.A., p.215]

.4 Consultant actions when formulating advice and recommendations

The actions of a consulting psychologist when formulating advice and recommendations must be thoughtful in nature, and in order to achieve this, they take into account various factors.

When interpreting a client’s confession, one should not adhere to any one scientific school or directions. Advice should combine various options for solving the client's problem. As a rule, there should be at least two or three of them, so that the client can choose how to subsequently structure his behavior. To do this, you need to study the features of life well enough, typical situations behavior, notice the main mistakes, etc. In addition, it is necessary that advice and recommendations are practical and consistent with the client's real life. You cannot advise a man to go on a cruise around the world if he is “attached” to his paralyzed wife and cannot leave her alone for long. There are quite a lot of such examples. If there is a first meeting with a client, and at this stage it is necessary to develop some initial recommendations, it is natural that the client’s personality, his mental characteristics consultant have not yet been sufficiently studied. In this case, it is advisable to pay attention to the non-verbal characteristics of the client’s behavior. They are quite eloquent and, as a rule, are not controlled by humans. Alan Pease, in his book Body Language, formulated the following basic recommendations on the basics nonverbal communication[Pease Alan, p.178]:

the “hands on the belt” pose is typical for a decisive, strong-willed person;

tilting the torso forward while sitting on a chair indicates that the person, as soon as the conversation with him ends, will be ready to act;

a person who sits with his legs crossed and his arms wrapped around his legs often has a quick reaction and is difficult to convince in an argument;

ankles pressed together while sitting indicate that the person has negative, unpleasant thoughts and feelings at a given moment in time;

picking up non-existent lint from clothes characterizes a person who does not fully agree with what he is being told at a given moment in time;

a straight head during a conversation indicates a person’s neutral attitude towards what he hears;

tilting the head to the side while listening indicates that the person has become interested;

if a person’s head is tilted forward, then this is most often a sign that he has a negative attitude towards what he heard;

crossing your arms over your chest is a sign of a critical attitude and a defensive reaction;

sometimes crossing arms indicates that a person has a feeling of fear;

crossing your legs is a sign of a negative or defensive attitude;

the “stroking the chin” gesture means that this person is trying to make a decision related to what he has just been told;

leaning back on the back of a chair or armchair is a movement indicating a person’s negative attitude;

if, after a person has been asked to report his decision, he picks up an object, this means that he is not sure of his decision, doubts its correctness, that he still needs to think;

when the head of a listening person begins to lean towards his hand in order to lean on it, this means that he loses interest in what is being said to him;

if a person rubs the back of his head with his palm and averts his eyes, this means that he is telling a lie;

people who often rub the back of their necks tend to show a negative, critical attitude towards others;

those people who often rub their foreheads are usually open and flexible;

putting your hands behind your back indicates that the person is upset;

touching parts of the face and head while pronouncing words is a sign that the person is not entirely sincere and is telling a lie;

the position of the fingers in the mouth indicates that the person currently needs approval and support;

tapping your fingers on the table top or something else while listening indicates a person’s impatience;

open palms are associated with sincerity, trust and honesty;

hidden palms, on the contrary, speak of a person’s closeness, dishonesty, and insincerity;

a powerful person tries to keep his hand on top when shaking hands;

a submissive person tends to keep his palm down during a handshake;

someone who expects an equal relationship tries, during a handshake, to keep his palm at the same level as the person with whom he is shaking hands;

a person who is not entirely confident in himself pulls the other’s hand toward himself during a handshake;

clasping your fingers while talking can mean frustration.

A person’s facial expressions may also contain a number of signs that with a high degree of probability may indicate his neuroticism. Let's consider these signs:

in an ever-smiling person, optimism is most often feigned and, as a rule, does not correspond to his real internal state;

those who outwardly demonstrate their supposedly impeccable restraint, in reality often cover up well-concealed anxiety and tension;

In a neurotic person, the corners of the mouth are most often downturned, and on the face there is an expression of despondency and lack of interest in people. Such a person is: usually indecisive;

the neurotic's gaze is intense, and his eyes are open wider than usual;

the neurotic's facial expression is frightened, his color is pale and painful;

It is not easy for a neurotic to laugh heartily; his smile often resembles an ironic grin or smirk.

In addition, the client may hesitate in favor of one or another recommendation, and the psychologist-consultant must argue his position, show the negative and positive consequences of various options for solving the client’s problem. The client must realize that regardless of his choice, he will receive a positive result, acquire something new for himself, and gain the necessary experience. [Nemov R.S., p.219]

Thus, the client must independently come to a decision and be able to explain the choice made. This is one of the effective methods of providing psychological assistance if the client is indecisive and cannot choose an alternative.

.5 Final stage of counseling

psychological counseling

When the consultation comes to an end, the client, regardless of whether a positive result is achieved, should retain the impression of the consultation and the desire to solve his problem. A consulting psychologist can ask the client to report how things are going in solving his problem, how recommendations are being implemented. Together with the client, at the end of the consultation, a program is developed for the implementation of the advice and recommendations developed, and deadlines for the implementation of this program can also be assigned.

The client must develop confidence that he has not wasted his time and that his problem can and should be solved. The consultant must make a favorable impression on the client upon parting and leave the impression that he is ready for further cooperation, if necessary. After the consultation, you need to fill out a personal client card, as well as draw up questions for the next proposed meeting. All subsequent meetings are organized according to a pre-thought-out plan, but correspondence and telephone conversations with the client are also allowed, when the consultant can check how the recommendations are being implemented, the client can receive additional support or incentive to continue to implement the recommendations. It is recommended to draw up a plan for subsequent meetings together with the client so that he knows and prepares for the upcoming meeting and follows the recommendations more carefully.

Thus, the technique of psychological counseling is the special techniques that a psychologist-consultant, acting within the framework of certain counseling procedures, uses to perform these procedures at each stage of psychological counseling.

Chapter 2. Basic methods of psychological counseling

.1 Interview as the main method of psychological counseling

Describing the interview as the main method of psychological counseling, we proceed from the following preliminary considerations: the consulting psychologist works with the client’s order. If this order involves dialogical work, then it is carried out at a specially designated time or by another psychodiagnostic specialist. A consulting psychologist does not make a diagnosis; he analyzes the client’s situation as unique, using specialized knowledge.

The interview is one of special methods analyzing the unique situation of a customer’s order in order to create for him alternative options actions, experiences, feelings, thoughts, goals, that is, with the aim of creating greater mobility of his inner world.

What distinguishes an interview from other methods of work of a practical psychologist? First of all, the interview is always individualized; it involves constructing the subject of interaction between the psychologist and the client. The subject of interaction will be the client’s inner world, and the modalities in which it will be described will form the theme of interaction between the psychologist and the client. [Gladding S., p.199]

For example, the topic could be the client's experiences or actions.

But what is essential for conducting an interview is that the subject of interaction, which determines the relationship between the client and the psychologist, will be the client’s inner world. The interview process is aimed at changing the client’s attitude towards his inner world when discussing various topics - making it more dynamic.

The topic of the interview is set by the client in a certain, strictly individual life context; the same topic, for example, the experience of one’s parental incompetence, can be asked in different contexts; for example, a single-parent family, remarriage, or a person with the rights of a guardian rather than a parent.

An interview involves influencing the client through questions and special tasks that reveal the client’s current and potential capabilities. Questions are the main way a psychologist influences a client during an interview.

The literature typically describes a five-step model of the interview process. Let's look at it in more detail.

The first stage of the interview is structuring, achieving mutual understanding, or as it is often labeled - “Hello!”

What goals are resolved by the psychologist and the client at this first stage, which can last from a few seconds to ten minutes? The psychologist structures the situation by determining what will be the topic of his interaction with the client. He gives the client information about his capabilities. At the same time, the psychologist solves the problems of establishing contact, compliance, and rapport with the client. Specific solutions to these problems depend on the individual and cultural characteristics of the client.

At this stage of the interview, the client solves the problem of achieving psychological comfort, that is, the task of emotional and cognitive acceptance of the interview situation and the personality of the psychologist.

This stage of the interview ends when a correspondence between the psychologist and the client is achieved, which can be expressed by them approximately in the following formulation: “I feel him, I understand him” (psychologist), “They listen to me, I trust this person” (client). [Gladding S., p.200]

The second stage of the interview usually begins with collecting information about the context of the topic: the problem is identified; the issue of identifying the client’s potential capabilities is resolved. Labeling this stage of the interview: “What’s the problem?”

The psychologist decides next questions: Why did the client come? How does he see his problem? What are its capabilities in solving this problem? Based on the stated topic, the psychologist understands the client’s positive possibilities in solving the problem.

Once the client's goals are clearly understood, the psychologist returns to defining the topic.

After this, the third stage of the interview begins, which can be described as the desired result. The marking of this stage of the interview is “What do you want to achieve?”

The psychologist helps the client determine his ideal and decide what he wants to be. There is also discussion about what will happen when the desired outcome is achieved.

Some clients start at this stage. If the psychologist is already clear about the client's goals, then recommendations should be given immediately.

The fourth stage of the interview is the development of alternative solutions. The marking of this stage is “What else can we do about this?”

The psychologist and the client work with various options for solving the problem. The search for alternatives is carried out with the aim of avoiding rigidity and choosing among alternatives. The psychologist and the client explore the client's personal dynamics. This stage can be lengthy.

The psychologist must take into account that the decision that is right for him may be wrong for the client, at the same time, for some clients clear directive recommendations are needed.

The fifth stage of the interview is a generalization of the previous stages, the transition from learning to action. The marking of this stage is “Will you do this?” The psychologist makes efforts to change the thoughts, actions and feelings of clients in their daily lives outside of the interview situation. It is known from counseling practice that many clients do nothing to change.

The generalization made by the psychologist takes into account the individual and cultural characteristics of the client identified in the first stages of the interview. Let's take a closer look at each stage of the interview. First stage "Hello!" - this is establishing contact and orienting the client to work. If the relationship does not work out within 5 minutes, then the counseling situation, as practice shows, is difficult to correct.

At this stage, the psychologist shows the client his position in the interaction. It can be, like any position in communication, described in terms of equality and inequality. The options here could be the following:

)the psychologist takes a position above the client;

)the psychologist takes a position of equality with the client;

) the psychologist invites the client to take a position above him, that is, he is ready to follow the client.

During the interview, positions may change, but this will be a situation of a professional interview if the psychologist reflects on the topic of interaction with the client and gives him the opportunity to track the logic of the interview.

.2 Individual counseling

Naturally, the content of individual consultation is determined by the client’s order. Precise custom work distinguishes a professional psychologist from a non-professional one. [Nelson - Jones R., p.274]

An analysis of the work of a practical psychologist in the situation of individual counseling shows that this type of professional work requires the psychologist’s directed reflection on two important scientific concepts - norms of mental development and positions in interaction. Let us dwell on the reasons for updating the content of these concepts in the work of a practical psychologist.

The main reason we see is that professional interaction with a client requires making decisions about its content. In addition to the client’s order, this content is structured by the psychologist’s ability to navigate the actual and potential properties of the client’s inner world. This orientation is impossible without the psychologist’s reflexive elaboration of the concept of norms of mental development.

Naturally, a psychologist works in his own chosen way of his own generalized theory, so it is quite difficult to describe the whole variety of ideas about the norm of mental development that function in psychological practice. This problem appears most prominently when solving professional tasks counseling forecast, when a psychologist uses the content of the concept of normal mental development in his idea of ​​the periodization of mental development and its mechanisms.

Thus, the concept of the norm of mental development requires the use of a theoretical concept of the periodization of mental development in individual counseling.

In accentuating the character of clients, the psychologist will have to work with anomalies that are determined by a combination of unfavorable hereditary factors and social influence factors. Among the hereditary factors, a distinction is made between prenatal, natal and early (first 2 - 3 years of life) postnatal somatogenic hazards (trauma, intoxication, infections, etc.). The unfavorable influence of the social environment - neglect, overprotection, a difficult moral atmosphere in the family - with prolonged exposure can disrupt the development of an individual, even with favorable heredity.

In psychiatry, it is believed that the pathogenesis of accentuation is based on a partial failure of social adaptation, which blocks precisely that form of behavior towards which the accentuation is expressed.

During individual counseling, a practical psychologist must check the severity of accentuation in the client and make an informed decision about the possible working together with doctors (therapist, psychiatrist, psychoneurologist, neurologist, sexologist and others).

The following types of character accentuation can be distinguished:

asthenoneurotic variant;

sensitive;

psychoasthenic;

epileptoid;

unstable;

infantile-dependent accentuation;

schizoid type;

hyperthymic option.

The asthenoneurotic variant is characterized by a tendency to low mood, increased fatigue and irritability; such people have had restless sleep since childhood, poor appetite, night fears, moodiness, tearfulness, stuttering, etc. The tendency to low mood - hypochondria - remains with most of them for life . [Abramova G.S., p.127]

Sensitive accentuation is touchiness, indecision, a tendency to form obsessive fears, concerns, thoughts, ideas and actions. Under the influence of failures, these people become wary and withdrawn.

Psychoasthenic accentuation (mental variant) - love of introspection, a high sense of duty and responsibility, high vulnerability, this type cannot stand rudeness and everyday cynicism. They find many shortcomings in themselves and are often tormented by remorse, which leads to timidity and shyness.

The epileptoid variant is characterized by a tendency to affective tensions and explosions, viscosity, rigidity, and inertia, which leaves an imprint on the entire human psyche. Anger and unstable mood are distinguished by their duration, melancholy tone, and simmering irritation.

Along with claims to leadership and the desire for power, epileptoids are thrifty and careful, which often turns into an end in itself. Sexual desire with this type of accentuation is closely related to masochistic and sadistic tendencies, an increased readiness to form various sexual perversions. Being hyper-correct in one situation, in another they show extreme selfishness, malice, aggressiveness and cruelty.

An unstable version of character accentuation is determined by lack of will, which is clearly manifested in work, study, and performance of duties at home. From childhood they are disobedient, restless, get into everything and everywhere, but at the same time they are cowardly and afraid of punishment. They easily and willingly obey other children, and passively avoid the influence of teachers and parents, using any excuse to shirk. Early on, a craving for entertainment, pleasure, idleness and simple idleness is revealed, they begin to smoke early, commit petty thefts, and indifference to their future is expressed. They are not capable of deep feelings and assimilation of moral and ethical standards.

Infantile-dependent accentuation is characteristic of adults - it is prolonged helplessness, selective dependence on one of the members of the parental family.

The schizoid type is distinguished by autism, isolation, isolation from the environment, inability or unwillingness to establish contacts, decreased need for communication, unexpressed ability to empathize - schizoid coldness or weakness of emotional resonance.

The lack of internal unity in this type of accentuation is manifested in a combination of coldness and refined sensitivity, stubbornness and pliability, wariness and gullibility, apathetic inactivity and unexpected importunity, shyness and tactlessness, rational reasoning and illogical actions, the richness of the inner world and the colorlessness of its external manifestations. [Stone J.L., p.258]

With the hyperthymic variant of accentuations, high spirits with sudden outbursts of irritation predominate. Such people find it difficult to endure forced idleness and a regulated lifestyle, which leads to more frequent outbursts of irritation.

The study of character accentuation during individual counseling allows the psychologist to navigate the choice of possible behavioral alternatives for the client, taking into account stable and situational forms of his response. For example, when working with a hyperthymic personality, one can use his desire to use energy, initiative, and establish broad contacts to develop alternative forms of behavior.

In addition to analyzing character accentuations, a practical psychologist, turning to his ideas about the mechanisms of mental development, must explore such an important natural characteristic a person, as the state of his somatic health.

.3 Group counseling

The most common option for working in a group counseling situation is for a psychologist to analyze child-parent relationships or relationships between adults in conditions of industrial conflict. As practice shows, orders to study the psychological compatibility of two people (most often newlyweds) are much less common. In modern practical psychology, there is a narrow specialization of counseling psychologists, and it is very rare that a specialist in individual counseling is also a specialist in group counseling. This is due to the complexity of the subject of interaction between a psychologist and a client, which requires its comprehensive development in the light of the scientific theory chosen by the author.

In group counseling, regardless of the psychologist’s initial theoretical positions, he has to deal with complex system, which is what any group is. Therefore the basics systematic approach are implicit in any theory about group counseling.

So, the first thing a psychologist begins to work with in group counseling is the system of actually existing relationships between people (which may not actually be present in a counseling situation).

Describing the entire variety of relationships that can exist between group members is difficult and often practically impractical, since not all types of relationships are included in the content of the psychological task that the psychologist solves - to highlight the most significant relationships, to present them to the group as an object of interaction that unites the group . [Kottler J., Brown R., p.302]

The content of these relationships can be very different, but it is important for the psychologist to translate it into the language of describing the subjective modality of each group member, so that in the process of interviews with all group members, everyone can develop their own alternatives in the situation under study. The development of alternatives is associated with the need and opportunity of each group member to express their current capabilities (“I can”), their feelings (“I feel”), their thoughts (“I think”), their desires (“I want”), as well as their ideas about their change.

The psychologist’s task is to find an object of interaction between group members, in which the interconnected models of the inner world of each group member would be presented. To solve this problem, the psychologist must have psychological material about the type of relationship between group members.

Diagnosis of the type of relationship is based, as we have already noted, on the theoretical model of the family used by the psychologist. Since there is no generally accepted classification of family types, each psychologist can use his own classification. In most cases, the typology is based on the idea of ​​parental attitudes and parenting styles. The influence of these factors on personality characteristics has been described by many authors, including E. Bern, Z. Freud, A.I. Zakharov, V. Satir, E.G. Eidemiller, A.E. Lichko et al.

Identifying these stable relationships in a psychodiagnostic procedure is possible, for example, using graphic methods (examples in tasks for independent work) or through studying the human condition. Indicators of the presence of permanent traumatic factors may be a state of global family dissatisfaction, a state of family anxiety, a state of guilt associated with the family, a state of unbearable, unbearable neuropsychic and physical stress. In all these cases, the family acts as a group that determines the stable state of the individual. A psychologist's work with this condition is only possible when he works with the content of family relationships.

Other indicators of the presence of a stable relationship, in this case a conflict one, may be a person’s somatic diseases; the presence of somatic diseases in one of the group members can create conditions for the reproduction of the same type of relationship in the group. In this case, the work of a psychologist with a conflicting personality can become the basis for changing group relations. Types of stable personal conflicts are described in people suffering from chronic somatic diseases, for example, with peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, a person has a constant conflict - dependence on others with intense fear of this dependence. In behavior, this can manifest itself as tyranny of others, constant dissatisfaction with them, which creates a stable content of relations with this person and determines the content of the interaction of all members of the group.

In people with hypertension, there is an intrapersonal conflict between aggressive impulses and the need to depend on significant others or another type of intrapersonal conflict - the desire to achieve high social goals and high standards social life, which gives rise to a situation of chronic stress. [Osukhova N.G., p.155]

For coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction intrapersonal conflicts caused by haste, impatience, lack of time, and a sense of high responsibility.

Stable intrapersonal conflicts of one of the group members create conditions for stabilizing the group; they can deprive it of the psychological information necessary for the development of relationships, which, as we have already noted, is characterized by relativity and dynamism.

Stable personal qualities of group members, if they are opposite in content, create the basis for stable, persistent conflicts, which, without developing, become a source that disorganizes the group. Such qualities include, for example:

extroversion - introversion;

rationalism - romanticism;

dominance - subordination;

hostility - friendliness;

rigidity - flexibility;

hot temper - calmness;

stability - lability;

optimism - pessimism;

activity - passivity;

responsibility - carelessness, etc.

The presence of conflicting intrapersonal and interpersonal qualities among group members complicates the psychologist’s work on creating a common subject of interaction for all group members.

That one of the ways to create a subject of interaction can be a graphic representation of the relationships between group members and their description, based on this content, of the main modalities, both their own inner world and the modalities of the inner world of other group members.

Thus, studying the structure of a group allows a psychologist not only to highlight hierarchical relationships - who is the leader and who are the followers, but also to analyze the content of the influence of one group member on another. Impact, the measure of influence that each member of the group is capable of, is an important indicator of the content of psychological information that is available to each member of the group.

Conclusion

As a result of the work done, we will draw appropriate conclusions.

Thus, counseling can be carried out under the following conditions:

Providing prompt assistance to the client in solving problems that have arisen. People often have problems that require urgent intervention, an urgent solution, problems for which the client does not have the opportunity to spend a lot of time, effort and money. For example, an employee of an enterprise may have a serious problem that he will have to resolve in communication with his immediate supervisor during a short meeting scheduled for one of the coming days.

Providing assistance to the client in solving those issues that he could independently cope with without outside interference, without the direct and constant participation of a psychologist in his affairs, i.e. where special professional psychological knowledge, as a rule, is not needed and is only necessary general, everyday, common sense advice.

Providing temporary assistance to a client who actually needs long-term, more or less constant psychotherapeutic influence, but for one reason or another is not able to count on it at a given time. In this case, psychological counseling is used as a means of providing ongoing, prompt assistance to the client, restraining the progressive development of negative processes, preventing further complications of the problem faced by the client.

When the client already has a correct understanding of his problem and he, in principle, is ready to begin solving it himself, but still doubts something, is not entirely sure that he is right, then in the process of psychological counseling the client, communicating with the consulting psychologist, receives the necessary professional and moral support from him, and this gives him self-confidence.

Providing assistance to the client in cases where he has no other option other than receiving advice. In this case, when conducting psychological counseling, the psychologist must make it clear to the client that he actually needs to receive more thorough, fairly long-term psychocorrectional or psychotherapeutic help.

When psychological counseling is used not instead of other methods of providing psychological assistance to the client, but together with them, in addition to them, with the expectation that not only the psychologist, but also the client himself will deal with the problem that has arisen.

In cases where the psychologist-consultant does not have a ready-made solution, since the situation is beyond his competence, he must provide the client with at least some kind of assistance, even if it is minimal and not effective enough.

In all these and other similar cases, psychological counseling solves the following main tasks:

clarification (clarification) of the problem faced by the client;

informing the client about the essence of the problem he has encountered, about the real degree of its seriousness (problematic client information);

a psychologist-consultant studying the client’s personality in order to find out whether the client can independently cope with the problem that has arisen;

providing ongoing assistance to the client in the form of additional practical advice, offered at a time when he had already begun to solve his problem;

teaching the client how best to prevent the occurrence of similar problems in the future (the task of psychoprophylaxis);

transmission by a psychologist-consultant to the client of basic, vital psychological knowledge and skills, the development and correct use of which is possible by the client himself without special psychological training (psychological and educational informing of the client).

List of used literature

1.Abramova G.S. Workshop on psychological counseling. Ekaterinburg. M., 2005

2. Abramova G. S. Psychological counseling. Theory and experience. M. 2007

Abramova G.S. Practical psychology. M. 2004

Bondarenko A.F. Psychological assistance: theory and practice. M.: Independent company "Class", 2006.

Gladding S. Psychological counseling. St. Petersburg 2007

Zakharov A.I. How to overcome fears in children. M. 2005

Kottler J., Brown R. Psychotherapeutic counseling in St. Petersburg. "Peter" 2003 P. 464

May R. The Art of Psychological Counseling. M., 2002

Nelson - Jones R. Theory and practice of counseling. St. Petersburg 2002

Nemov R.S. Psychological consultation. M. 2002

Nemov R.S. Basics of psychological counseling. M.: VLADOS. 2005

Obozov N.N. Psychological counseling: Methodological manual. St. Petersburg, 2006

Osukhova N.G. Theoretical position and practice: A comparative analysis of two approaches to counseling. M. 2004

Pease Alan Body Language. M.: EKSMO-Press, 2004.

Rogers K.R. A look at psychotherapy. The Becoming of Man. M.: Progress. Universum, 2000

Rogers K.R. Counseling and psychotherapy. Latest approaches in the field practical work. M.: Eksmo-Press, 2002.

Serova I.V. Consultative work with fears in preschool children. M. 2003

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Hello, dear readers!

In the last article we talked about what is dangerous polite address with men, today we will talk about psychological manipulation

When you build a relationship with any person, in fact you agree: what you need from each other, what you want from each other. If you did this correctly, then 80% of all relationship problems are solved on their own, without the use of manipulation.

If an issue goes beyond the scope of a worked-out relationship, you usually try to negotiate. If it doesn’t work, then use manipulation. Those. in a relationship with a more or less sane person, you rarely need manipulation. Plus, manipulation will be useful to you in relationships with unfamiliar people.

People love to be manipulated. And this is 100% true. Average normal person Quite not independent in life. Many people lack some kind of strong figure; they like it when someone tells them how to live, what to do. But not always, but only when it happens beautifully and imperceptibly, and the person himself agrees to it.

Influence can be for the benefit or harm of the one you are manipulating. Influence can be qualified (when you manipulate skillfully) or unqualified (when you manipulate unskillfully).

If you know how to manipulate for the benefit of people and do it skillfully, there is nothing wrong with that. The danger is posed by unskilled manipulations to the detriment of humans.

Direct influence

How does direct influence occur? Let's highlight 3 main stages:

• Capture attention. You must first get a person's attention before influencing him. Make sure that this person is listening to you carefully so that your words do not go somewhere into emptiness.
• . At this stage we perform the influence itself: request, offer, demand and order. Each technique is heavier than the previous one, there is no need to use an influence technique if you have not used more before it. easy option(for example, there is no need to demand if you have not already asked). An example of a request: “Please screw in the light bulb.” Example, instructions: ask an employee to make a report for the month.
• Expectation. You are waiting for the person's reaction.

People often make mistakes by neglecting one of the three steps. For example, if you fail to capture the attention of your interlocutor, your influence goes to waste. Or: you influenced a person and did not wait for his reaction, thinking that your influence did not work, or the person deliberately sent you.

When is direct influence effective?

1. When you have the right to do so. Let’s take a situation: you have clear agreements in the family (for example, the man decides everyday issues), and the wife asks her husband to hang up the closet.
2. When you and the object of influence have the same goals. For example, you take a taxi for two with stranger to get to the place cheaper.

Indirect (hidden) influence

This is a hidden influence towards another person. Here you are not giving the person direct direction (as opposed to direct influence).

There are 5 stages:

1. Capture attention. Hidden influence also has no meaning without capturing attention.
2. Distraction. You drew attention to yourself, and then transferred it to something else. That is, you redirect the interlocutor’s attention in a direction that is not related to your real goal. For example, it could be a completely unrelated question, holding out an object, shaking off a speck of dust from clothing, a non-standard thought or a joke. Those. anything that will distract the interlocutor.
3. Hidden influence technique. There may be several techniques.
4. Distraction. We repeat the distraction stage.
5. Expectation. We are waiting for the person's reaction. The wait may take a long time - it depends on your interlocutor.

In hidden influence there is no clear certainty of the result. As a rule, to make a complex change in the interlocutor’s behavior, you need to do several manipulations and techniques.

For hidden influence to work, it must fall into a person’s unconscious thinking. Those. if you made a direct instruction, the person will notice it; and you need the influence to get into the unconscious mind (this is why 2 distractions are made).

Gradually, you will learn to insert all these influence techniques as background in your speech. You will not need to go through all these 5 stages sequentially. Just by talking to a person, you will integrate everything you need on autopilot.

Conclusion: Essentially, we throw an idea into the unconscious of our interlocutor. And the deeper we throw it, the better it will work. Then your indirect influence will go into the background. Those. you will master the techniques of “stuffing”, and will continue to build hidden influence into the natural background of communication with your interlocutor.

Attention capture technique

The main task is to capture the attention of the interlocutor. You capture the attention of another person through the channels of perception. A person can visually perceive information by ear and body (sensations). And the more channels you use, the stronger the capture will be. Those. if you look your interlocutor in the eyes, speak loudly and shake his shoulders at the same time, then the grip will be very strong.

Basic gripping techniques:

• Eye contact. Before you talk to a person, make sure they can see you.
• Voice greeting.
• Ask some question. Can be applied to both an acquaintance and a stranger.
• Unobtrusive kinesthetics - touch. You can touch unfamiliar people in neutral zones: the outer part of the shoulder or forearm, the outer side of the arm.
• Join your interlocutor's action. Thus, you automatically fall into the person's area of ​​attention.

Request- this is an optional influence, i.e. You can do it, you can not do it. Most people don't know how to use it. The request can be made on equal terms, from a position above or below. It may carry a veiled order or demand (i.e., with a request you simply soften a more stringent instruction).

When is it effective to use a request? When it is easy for a person to do what you ask. Or you have significant authority. Or you have a formal right to ask for something (family and household issues). Either you have a good relationship with this person.

How to strengthen the request? You need to back up your request with something. It can be light, a compliment, a smile, gratitude, a touch.

Offer- a request to do something in exchange for something on your part (mutual exchange). A common mistake is that you do not understand why another person should respond to your offer. Those. you must know what to offer your interlocutor so that he agrees to it, show him the benefits of your offer for him.

Requirement- this is a demand to fulfill something, you do not offer anything in return. Used much less frequently than a request or an offer. The effectiveness of the requirement will greatly depend on whether you have a formal right to do so, a trusting relationship, and authority.

Order– when you have the right to order, and a person cannot refuse (example: employer - employee). The efficiency of orders is usually 100%. The main difficulty here is how to give orders in order to get exactly what you want from a person.

To enhance direct influence use the following techniques:

• "A broken record." You repeat the same thing and don't switch to discussing something else. Often people give up after 2-3 repetitions.
• "Logical sales". This is a quality offer, presented correctly, i.e. you are selling a person some idea, an action. Usually this works when the interlocutor is logically stupider than you and he is easily fascinated by logic; or if the interlocutor is smart, open to new information and your goals overlap. You must understand what problems the other person has + you must understand what solution to those problems you can provide + what benefits he will receive from this solution.

Most people do not understand the true problem of the interlocutor or cannot articulate the benefits for him.

Indirect Influence Technique: Public Morality

These are all forms of phrases beginning with “You must...”, “Men must...”, “A woman must...”, “Every mother must...”, “Every student must...” and modal operators (“ Clever man must…").

Those. you take any category and add duty. The interlocutor’s mind is spinning: “I belong to this category, so I should too.”

This also includes generalizations: “Everyone always does this”, “People do this”, “No one does this.”

Indirect Influence Technique: The Lost Performer

This is all science, statistics, experimental data: “British scientists have proven...”, “According to statistics...”, “Scientists have proven...”, “According to experiments carried out...”

Conclusion: you talk to a person and throw in that there are some statistics according to which... And then you give statistics that reinforce the behavior you want.

For example, in a conversation with the manager, “Working from home is now popular in European companies, this reduces the company’s budget, expenses by 25%, etc.” Here you threw in the idea that working from home is good. This works when looking for remote work for hire.

Hidden Influence Technique: Story-Metaphor

Very strong technique. People are brought up on stories and fairy tales from childhood, so your stories penetrate the brain just fine.

What's the best way to use this? Tell a story in which someone acts as you would like them to act. Moreover, such behavior leads to something good for the hero of the story.

So that this story does not look stupid and you are not exposed, you need some disguise. You are not talking about yourself, but about someone else.

You create a story (preferably a real one), which contains the target behavior that you want to impose on your interlocutor, and you build this story in a chain: so that ideally it is a story about the fourth person from the third person to the second person. This chain enhances the “amnesia” and better transfers your command (hidden suggestion) to the unconscious level. People don't like being pressured, so we create a kind of information environment.

We probably cannot predict the result, but we can be sure that after using a metaphor story, a person starts some kind of internal search. You give a person a story, then he processes it and thinks about it. And ultimately this will affect his behavior.

Hidden Influence Techniques: Compliments and Support

Any sincere compliment is better made about a person’s merit, and not about an innate quality: “What a cool hairstyle you chose!”, “You chose a beautiful suit.”

How to use this as a hidden influence? You need to compliment the behavior that you want to reproduce and recreate in the person. Those. you compliment a target behavior or a behavior that doesn't exist yet.

For example, you want a woman to cook delicious food more often, you say: “I like the way you cook borscht deliciously.”

Important point— we voice a compliment as a matter of course.

Hidden influence technique: You yourself

The essence of the technique: you present the desired behavior as something that the interlocutor came up with himself. Why does this work well?

People love themselves and love to build their self-esteem. Therefore, when a person understands “what a great guy I am, what good idea I came up with it!”, then it is much easier for him to agree with this idea if he came up with it himself.

Verbal options use of technology:

• "You said that..."
• “I learned from you that...”
• “I remember you suggested...”
• Admiration and admiration for the actions of the interlocutor: “I like it when you...”
• “I liked your idea...”
• “I thought about what you told me last time...”

As a result, the person sees that you liked his opinion and you further decided to act on the basis of this opinion. And now all you have to do is remind your interlocutor what kind of “his opinion” you liked.

Hidden Influence Technique: Aikido

The technique is similar to the previous two.

The essence: we agree with any idea that the interlocutor gives us. And when we have already agreed, we use this moment as a starting point for our subsequent logic (where we need to go). You base the logic of agreement not on your own position, but on the position of your interlocutor.

Your task: learn to agree with people. You need to develop the skill of agreeing with the phrases of your interlocutor that you need.

Verbal manipulations:

• “I like your idea, and then, you know how best to do it...”
• “I liked your idea, I propose this...”

If something is imposed on you that you cannot agree with, you agree anyway, but then you come up with conditions under which this proposal should have gone well. But these conditions are far from the current situation. And you formulate it. It turns out that you kind of liked the idea, but it becomes clear to the interlocutor that the idea does not fit into the current moment.

Let's summarize the technique:

1. Agree with other people. Not thoughtlessly, but find in their words something with which you can agree.
2. Next, you begin to build the logic for your position step by step. You begin to slowly lead your interlocutor from agreeing with his idea to your position. Those. you find for him what he can agree with in your position.

Hidden influence techniques - Emotional Impact and Emotional Background

If emotions are difficult for you, then these techniques will require significant effort from you, and you will be terribly exhausted (if you repeat the technique often).

Technique Emotional Strike- this is a sharp release of a large amount of emotions that strongly contrast with your calm state before. Those. you dump out all your experiences, emotions, feelings. No logic, no accusations or suggestions. You are simply dumping KAMAZ pain on your interlocutor.

At the same time, carefully monitor the reaction of your interlocutor. Often, if this happens unexpectedly for a person, his logical thinking and manipulations that he previously did are temporarily turned off. And your task is to quickly find your bearings and take the next step (for example, apply some action or technique) to take the situation to where you need it to go

Ideally, react with a different emotion than was expected from you; It’s good to know your interlocutor’s reaction. But this technique may not always go smoothly for you - in this case, the situation will not improve.

Conclusion: That is An emotional blow does not solve the problem on its own. We create an opportunity for you to solve the problem. He knocks your interlocutor out of the rut in which he was traveling. At this moment, you gain control of the situation and can pull your interlocutor where you need him to go.

Technique Emotional background- this is when you create an emotional background with your nonverbals, but you don’t show anything verbally. Those. you do not pronounce the emotion, but simply show it physically (for example, show anger with sudden movements, no eye contact). Example: show resentment or sadness with a retracted head, nervous tension, drooping shoulders, a meaningless look into the distance.

Those. you show emotion, create such “quiet emotional theater”.

This technique is quite “dirty” because it exploits your partner’s guilt. If you use it often, it will have Negative consequences for your psyche and for your relationships. This technique causes pain to your partner because... you deliberately cut off contact with him and thereby force him to act.

If you don't calculate the pressure in this technique, you can make things worse. Your partner will respond to you with their emotions or outplay you when you find yourself in a position guilty(-Ouch).

The technique is very complex and does not always work. It is more common in couples where one partner is emotionally virtuoso, and the other is an emotional “tree” (man - woman).

Hidden Influence Techniques – Information Environment

This is a complex technique that integrates the others. It is usually used when we want to push into the interlocutor’s unconscious some non-obvious idea, a proposal with which it is difficult for him to agree. And we don’t yet know how he will react to this.

You begin to throw small pieces at your interlocutor, which form in him a certain information environment, a certain information environment. How to do these stuffings? Story techniques - metaphor, canard, small pieces of information. Those. you gradually surround the person with the information that will form his ability to make the decision you need.

A classic example of the technique from the movie "Star Wars 3" when Anakin Skywalker goes to dark side strength. He meets Chancellor Palpatine and worries about Padmé. The Chancellor gradually feeds information into the young Jedi's mind. And at the end he sums it up: come to the dark side and save Padmé, I have the power to raise the dead. The formula worked problem -> solution -> benefit: you have a problem with your wife’s health, I have the power, go to the dark side and we will save her.

You prepare a non-obvious proposal, but do not roll it out right away, but throw in pieces of information ahead of time. Ideally, the interlocutor will come to your proposal himself.

Open Loop and Fractal Loop Techniques

These techniques make a person susceptible to influence, manipulation, and suggestion.

Open loop technique. The purpose of this technique is to interest and arouse curiosity. Those. you create within a person an internal need to somehow either communicate with you further, or find out something about your question, or find out something about a specific product.

The essence of the technique is open loops. The human brain has such a property that it tries to finish any thought it starts. For example, it makes you watch an uninteresting movie or finish reading a boring book (you want to know how it ends at the end).

And we can exploit this thing. We create an interlocutor in our heads an open loop and some kind of distraction(examples: “We need to talk, but not here and not now, let’s do it later”, “I know something about you, but it’s better to talk about it somewhere else in private”). And the interlocutor’s brain tries to close this cycle. And the interlocutor himself will initiate a continuation to close the cycle.

Depending on your goals, you can close this cycle or extend it further. You can stall for time so that the interlocutor himself asks you.

Classic examples of the use of technology:

• This is how Apple products are sold. First there are news, expectations, reviews, pre-orders, and then the product is released onto the market (iPhones, iPads).
• Trailer before the release of the new film.
• Almost any series. For example, “Breaking Bad”, “Game of Thrones”. Each episode ends with an open loop.

If you leave the loop open for too long or open too many loops and don't close them, you can get the opposite effect, loss of interest or aggression.

To make the technique work even more powerfully, create open loops that will be interesting to your interlocutor.

Conclusion: These open loops force our interlocutor to initiate what we want. Those. we want him to be interested in something, we create an open cycle for him on this topic, and he himself asks us about it. This works great to create curiosity and interest.

Fractal loop technique. Very similar to the previous one, but there are differences. The essence of the technique: you open a phrase without finishing it, start the next phrase without finishing the second, start a third, and so on in a spiral.

At the same time, the interlocutor’s brain tries to maintain several open cycles at the same time. And this is where it burns out.

Reaction Technique

These are simple variations on how you can react to manipulations addressed to you.

“Dead End” technique- This is an unpredictable reaction. The task is to knock the interlocutor out of the pattern in which he is currently located and to confuse him; then you seize the initiative and can do whatever you want with him. For example, you react positively to a negative, ignoring a question, answering a question with a question, or responding with humor to some phrase, or a quote to some phrase.

This technique helps stop someone's influence on you. You can prepare quotes or unexpected phrases in advance that always baffle you.

Conclusion: By putting your interlocutor at a dead end, you do not solve the problem, but you have time to further take control of the situation and take it where you need it.

“Brick face” technique. Techniques, reactions to requests or offers to you that are not interesting to you. You make a brick face and with this facial expression silently look at your interlocutor. You can say some monosyllabic answers, but with the same facial expression.

How it works: the interlocutor expects some kind of reaction, emotion, justification from you, but there is none. The person simply falls into a stupor, and you can do whatever you want with him.

This technique should not be used with close people, but it works great with strangers.

Conclusion: The technique handles those situations where people expect a template reaction from you. As a rule, they ask you for something or offer something, and they expect emotion, explanations, justifications from you, but none of this happens. Plus your face is like a brick. This generally knocks the interlocutor out of the pattern, rejects the manipulation and gives you the initiative.

Once, in a dark room, people who did not know what an elephant was were shown this animal. One entered the room where the elephant was, felt the trunk with his hands and said: “An elephant looks like a snake. It's long and flexible." Another felt the elephant’s side and said, “An elephant is like a wall—it’s big and flat.” And the third, grabbing the elephant by the tail, shouted: “You are all wrong! An elephant is a long rope!”

And none of them knew that it was Just an Elephant, because each of them knew only the Part.

Although many people believe that psychology is either a science or just testing, I don’t think so. In my opinion, psychology is an art. And also, psychology is a practical action. That. Psychology is the art of working practically with people: with relationships between people, with a person’s attitude towards himself, towards others, towards the world. “Psyche” is a soul that lives and develops, so psychology is also the art of working with a person’s soul, I would even say, with his heart. A psychologist, for example, unlike a doctor in traditional medicine, does not give any pills - this is a non-drug art of helping a person. Help a person open up, help him show the full range of feelings, feel alive, capable of living life to the fullest and take a deep breath, help you gain clarity in your life, help improve relationships and lift yourself up - that’s what psychology is. Through a word or a creative action, be it focusing on the body, dance movements or drawing, the psychologist influences a person unnoticed, gradually. A psychologist helps a person see himself from the outside. The psychologist is not above the client, pulling him by the hair from his problems, but is next to the client, giving support and showing those directions in which the client could move, finding himself, discovering more and more new ways of interacting with himself and the world.

Psychology has many directions, for example, child psychology and educational psychology they will talk about how a child develops and how to take this development into account in upbringing; family psychology will tell you how, according to what laws, a family is built and how to make family relationships harmonious; clinical psychology understands severe cases of distortion of human personality (schizophrenia, etc.); social Psychology will make you understand the structure of society and will not allow you to lose yourself in this society. There are also areas of psychology in business, for example, this psychology of organizations, which allows you to learn more about the organization, its development, the interaction of its members and proper leadership.

Psychology also has many practical techniques for working with people. I'll name just a few. This is, of course, Freud's psychoanalysis, which is designed to understand the problems that occur in a person’s life. NLP- a technique for programming a person to better perform assigned tasks. Gestalt therapy Perzl- the so-called “contact therapy”, which considers a person as a whole and works with his feelings and awareness. There is also bodily techniques, which are aimed either at working with unconscious emotional tensions in the body (Alexander technique), or at awareness of one’s own movements (Feldenkrais method), or at restoring the body to its natural spontaneity through a system of exercises (Loewen bioenergetics). Psychology has not forgotten about the use of such art as dance: There are a lot of techniques here, because every dancer who turned to psychology left his unique contribution to the work, with a person - the freedom of his movements and feelings. Even drawing can be used as a psychological technique - this art therapy, which, with the help of drawing, helps a person to open up creatively and see something new in himself. There are even techniques taken from theatrical art - Psychodrama Moreno, - which uses improvisation to change the client’s inner world, where he plays out, as if truly living, many roles, working on his problem in order to better understand it. Similar to psychodrama "Hellinger arrangement", there is a method of working with the body and its reactions "bodynamics", - in general, a lot of techniques and methods! All of them can vary and depend on what technique the psychologist has learned himself, which technique he is better at. Also, the methods of group work can be different and depend on the preferences of the psychologist - from a simple so-called “therapeutic group” to serious large trainings and seminars.

So, psychology today has very, very many techniques and methods, both individual and group, and at the beginning of its professional path the psychologist chooses between them, but as his experience grows, he begins to look at psychology as a whole. From this moment on, the psychologist either begins to use all the techniques and methods - i.e. any technique that suits the client’s personality, or he remains in his chosen direction of work - and this direction begins to expand and include many techniques and methods. And the psychologist then becomes a kind of artist, the creator of his own path. And as in the epigraph to this article, psychology for him becomes not a set of techniques and methods - “trunks”, “sides” and “tails” - but a single whole - “Just an Elephant”.

Maxim Sviridov
psychologist, consultant, coach