Definition of psychological counseling. Psychological counseling as one of the types of psychological assistance

Psychological counseling is one of the leading and “energy-intensive” types of activity from the point of view of the efforts made by the psychologist. A study of military experience shows that the share of counseling in the total budget of spent official time is from 10 to 25% or more for various psychologists (according to length of service and skill level). The most typical topics of interaction with which various categories of military personnel and members of their families turn to the psychologist are the problems of family relationships, relationships between various officials, the need for assistance in adapting to the conditions of military service. In structural and psychological terms, the main conditions that determine the appeal to a psychologist as motives are anxiety, despondency, shock, doubt, uncertainty, search for participation, etc. experienced by people.

The nature of counseling in a military unit differs from that carried out by psychologists-consultants in specialized psychological counseling: here the subject of treatment can be not only an individual (serviceman), but also a group of servicemen. The range of problems covered is much broader, along with purely personal problems, counseling (including commanders) is also provided on issues related to the processes taking place in military collectives that affect the well-being of each of its members.

The activity of a military psychologist is also distinguished by the very nature of the order for his professional actions, as well as by the peculiarity of using information obtained in the course of counseling. As the results of studies show, about a third of cases related to the provision of psychological assistance are initiated not by those who need this assistance themselves, but by other persons (mainly the command of the unit, units and the psychologist himself). This is due to the special nature of military labor and service conditions, the increased responsibility of commanders for the life and safety of servicemen. Often, military psychologists are assigned as if responsible for a particular serviceman, which to a large extent forces them to shift the focus in their actions from a purely psychological professional component (implying a person’s activity and responsibility for their own changes) to educational actions. At the same time, often the recommendations of a psychologist to officials regarding specific urgent measures related to the organization of the conditions necessary for the successful solution of acute psychological problems of a serviceman are not taken into account properly or cannot be promptly implemented due to a number of objective circumstances.

Assessing the situations of counseling available in their own experience, most psychologists tend to consider them as very complex, requiring more experienced colleagues (about 70% of the interviewed psychologists). The results of psychologists' self-assessments in this regard are supplemented by data from an expert assessment of their professional actions in a counseling situation. The most typical mistakes in the actions of psychologists were the lack of ability to develop the necessary options for solving the problem, inertia in the search and selection of the right words, directiveness in formulating conclusions and recommendations, stereotyped and uniform responses and reactions. In a significant number of cases, the psychologist began direct work with the initial "hypothesis" of the client himself, building on this basis a further dialogue to develop specific ways to solve the problem.

In the process of interaction with the client, there was a lack of a clear structure and clear objectives of the interview, which is quite explainable by the lack of ability (especially among novice psychologists) to promptly update previously learned theoretical constructs that make it possible to correlate the empirical signs of behavioral patterns and emotional responses of the client with each other and adequately interpret them within the framework of a certain psychological theory, in building a model of the psychological situation and the problem as a whole. This fact It is also confirmed by the fact that only 23% of psychologists correlated their professional actions in a consulting situation with any theoretical direction. To a large extent, the reason for the difficulties is also the insignificant professional experience of psychologists. Thus, the expressed orientation, the focus of the psychologist on helping a particular person does not find reinforcement in "technological" actions that make it possible to implement it in a sufficiently qualified manner.

Taking into account both the complexity and the comprehensive demand for this method of psychological assistance (on the part of potential clients-military personnel, command of units and subunits), in this paragraph Let us turn to some theoretical and methodological aspects of psychological counseling itself, which will make it possible to clarify some of its fundamental points.

The theoretical basis of psychological counseling is counseling psychology - a branch of practical psychology that develops methods of psychological assistance to a client who does not need psychotherapy. The term "client" refers to a normal, physically and mentally healthy person who has experienced psychological or behavioral problems in his life. He is not able to resolve them on his own and therefore needs outside help.

Classification of types and forms of counseling may be different. According to the nature of the tasks to be solved, age-psychological, professional, psychological-pedagogical, crisis and other types of psychological counseling are distinguished.

Depending on the main focus of the analysis, counseling is distinguished:

1) problem-oriented (aimed at analyzing external causes and finding ways to resolve the problem with the participation of the client's environment);

2) personality-oriented (centered on the analysis of personal determinants of the problem);

3) solution-oriented (centered on identifying resources for solving the problem).

Depending on the theoretical approach within which the psychologist works, the following methodological approaches to psychological counseling are distinguished: humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, psychoanalytic.

Psychological counseling can be carried out in individual and group forms. Consultations can be single and multiple, upon personal appeal and as a result of a call, without additional testing and with it, without involving methods psychological correction and using these methods. It can be full-time and remote (for example, "helpline").

Counseling models may also differ depending on the positions occupied in the process of counseling by the client (for example, client orientation positions - business, rental, play) or by the psychologist himself (advisor, assistant, expert). Taking into account the emotional tone of the consultant's actions, it is necessary to highlight the following positions: interaction on an equal footing; interaction from a position "from above"; interaction from the bottom up.

The main differences between counseling and psychotherapy and psychocorrection are as follows:

The subjects of an appeal to a counseling psychologist are healthy people who do not have signs of deviations from the social or mental norm and unfavorable psychological formations;

The main goal of counseling is not to overcome psychotraumatic factors, but to prevent them;

The main role in overcoming difficult situation belongs to the client himself, his internal reserves, and the task of the psychologist is to psychologically educate the person who applied for help, mobilize, through special techniques that create the necessary emotional and motivational mood, the client's efforts to implement in the future a certain line of behavior developed jointly with the psychologist;

Counseling covers a wider range of problems: these are the problems of adaptation, building the most optimal system of relationships with other people, resolving interpersonal conflicts, problems of personal, professional growth, education and training, etc. .

The ratio of the process of counseling with other types of assistance to a person can be displayed in the form of a table in which the degree of deviation from the mental norm can be conditionally correlated with one or another type of assistance (Fig. 1.21).

Rice. 1.21.

Ratio various kinds psychological help with conditions

Human psyche

During the consultation, the following main tasks are solved:

Assessment of the level of mental health of a serviceman and determination of indications for other types of psychological assistance;

1 in providing emotional support to the client and providing professional assistance in solving the problem stated by him;

Informing a serviceman about his psychological characteristics in order to use them more adequately, teaching him the skills of self-disclosure and introspection, the most complete use of his psychological characteristics and capabilities;

Change of attitude to the problem, mobilization of hidden psychological resources of the client, providing an independent solution to the problem;

Improving the general psychological literacy of military personnel and officials;

Correction of violations of adaptation and personal disharmony;

Identification of the main directions of further development of the personality;

Development of realism and pluralistic worldview;

Increasing stress and crisis tolerance;

Increasing responsibility and developing the client's readiness for creative exploration of the world.

Individual psychological counseling is carried out by a psychologist, as a rule, in the form of a special conversation with a serviceman who has applied for help.

Counseling conversation is the main form of psychological counseling; the process of dialogical communication, during which one person (the consultant) helps another (the client) to use their internal resources for personal development in a positive direction. The psychologist reflects the results of consultative work in a journal, which also contains information regarding the dynamics of the client's condition over a certain period. In the course of counseling, the tasks of psychological education are also solved, for example, explaining to military personnel the typological traits of their character, possible negative manifestations associated with them, and recommendations are given for self-control and correction.

Group counseling is carried out in order to reduce general psychological tension in military teams, improve interpersonal relationships, optimizing the moral and psychological climate, increasing group cohesion, improving leadership style, eliminating unwanted emotional states or their consequences, and increasing the efficiency of performing professional tasks. An important task for a psychologist is to find the subject of interaction between group members, taking into account the interests of each of them. To do this, the psychologist must have preliminary data on the military collective - on the type of relations between members of the group, the existence of microgroups, the authority of the leaders and leaders of the collective, etc.

The general model of the structure of the consultative process includes interrelated stages, the description of the number and content of which differs for different authors. Let's take one of them as an example (see Appendix 16).

1. Establishing contact with the client, achieving mutual trust.

2. Clarification of the client's problem, giving him the opportunity to speak out, to understand his role in the problem.

3. Awareness of the desired state, finding positive aspects in problem situation, putting forward an advisory hypothesis.

4. Nomination and joint discussion of possible alternatives for solving the problem, drawing up a plan for its realistic solution and securing the appropriate motivation from the client.

5. Summarizing the results of the interaction: strengthening the client's positive mood for his independent actions to implement the chosen solution to the problem outside the consulting situation, if necessary, determining homework, scheduling new meetings, discussing the need to contact other specialists.

It should be noted that the term "to solve a psychological problem" for a psychologist and a client has different meanings. In this sense, for the client to solve a psychological problem means to get rid of the yoke of existing difficulties, to acquire peace of mind, and for the consultant - to find ways and means of providing psychological assistance to the client. Moreover, the resolution of the problem on the part of the client is understood not as the elimination of the problem according to the principle of displacement, i.e., its imaginary elimination, but such work, as a result of which a person not only overcomes current difficulties, but also enriches his experience, harmonizes his own life.

Consultative conversation as the main method of counseling always has two aspects: diagnostic and psychotherapeutic.

To solve the first (diagnostic) task, a counseling psychologist needs to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the necessary information about the client and his situation and determine (identify) the problems that made the person seek help.

The second (therapeutic) task is the actual process of implementing psychological assistance using special techniques and techniques. It includes psychological support, optimization of the mental state and actualization of the client's own psychological resources.

Psychological counseling is based on the following principles:

Equal interaction between psychologist and client, non-manipulative iodine move;

Invaluable attitude towards the client and respect for him as a person, orientation to his norms and values;

Establishing a mindset for clients to solve problems on their own;

Acceptance of responsibility for joint decisions by the participants of the consultation;

Separation of personal and professional relationships;

Abstention of the psychologist from direct and specific advice [1, 44, 87, 109].

The effectiveness of counseling will also be facilitated by: the psychologist’s conversation “in the language” of the client (starting with the use of those words that are found in his statements and ending with the use of his semantic semantic units), trusting relationships and the psychologist’s sincere interest in the client’s statements.

Methods of influence used by psychologists in the process of counseling are quite diverse. We present some of them using the scheme (Table 1.8) proposed by G. S. Abramova for this.

Table 1.8

No matter how fruitful the consultant's efforts may be in clarifying the true meaning of the client's problem at the diagnostic stage, they alone are not able to change the client's position, stimulate him to the possibility and necessity of constructive changes in himself and his environment. Therefore, the solution of the actual therapeutic problem is possible only if the techniques and methods of corrective influence on the client are implemented. In this regard, the allocation of the psychological mechanisms of such influences implies an answer to the question: “Due to what do positive changes occur?”, And the allocation of methods of corrective influence - the answer to the question: “How to implement these changes through certain actions of the consultant?”.

The main mechanisms of corrective action are known, short description which are listed below.

1. Relief of the oppression of psychological problems. This mechanism involves the removal of chronic tension and anxiety of the client after the free presentation of confidential information by him to the psychologist. By conveying their anxieties and doubts, people believe that they are no longer alone in the face of their problems, and the psychologist's words will certainly come true. The free expression of emotions underlies the effect of emotional response. Emotional response is the completion of emotional experiences caused by psychotraumatic factors, conflicts and other causes associated with a person’s psychological problems that have been repressed from consciousness. Such a reaction gives an emotional release. Freed from the pressure of emotions, the interlocutor is ready to more carefully and consistently tell and understand what the psychologist tells him.

2. Search for a new perspective on the vision of the problem. Assessing the problem and his possibilities of solving it, a person can rarely independently rise above the situation with which (in his opinion) all his failures are connected and from the point of view of which all his failures are thought. For this, a change in the “position of observation” is necessary, a change, perhaps, in life philosophy, that is, a certain style of attitude to life events. This mechanism can be implemented, for example, through:

Transition to a new plane of focusing information. The purpose of this mechanism is to translate the previously emotionally focused life impressions of the client into a new plane - the plane of problematic focus. This is achieved through the psychologist clarifying the details of the information being communicated, shifting points of tension, rearranging accents in the course of interpreting the client's words, etc.;

Reconstruction of lost meaning. Whatever caused the frustrations and despair of a person - the death of loved ones, an incurable disease, a physical defect or injury, unrequited love, a boycott of others, an internal conflict - in all cases it is necessary to find meaning in something: in the past, present, future;

Expansion of the horizons of vision of the world and reassessment of values. We are talking about the development of new spiritual horizons by a person, changing the “scale” of seeing oneself and the world around, adjusting the “measurement” with which a person approaches the assessment of his misfortunes. At the same time, the psychological meaning of any life problem will change depending on the frame of reference in which it is considered;

Reassessment of values, which is useful for those who are "obsessed" with their own negative experiences and emotions, for whom it is not so much the events of life as their own suffering on this occasion that "clouds the light." It is worth talking with them about the fact that every experience, even painful, also has value. That, only by overcoming difficulties, a person develops and truly begins to understand himself and others.

3. Incitement to opposite actions. Often in life there are situations when it is futile, and even harmful, to fight "on the forehead" with any phenomenon. In this case, the well-known saying: "forbidden fruit is sweet" may suggest a more subtle version. psychological impact. We are talking about encouraging the client not to perform some actions, for the implementation of which (knowing the everyday psychology of most people to violate or not comply with the prohibitions) a positive psycho is designed to perform. therapeutic effect.

4. Liberation from psychological conventions and restrictions. The implementation of this mechanism involves the elimination of artificial restrictions to achieve harmony and balance in a person, a sense of inner freedom. These restrictions and circumstances that do not allow a person to manage his own life at his own discretion may include: the laws of social life, the principles and norms of morality, false stereotypes and attitudes. The most important therapeutic factor here can and should be the feeling of a person's inner freedom, which implies the ability to put forward and implement a large number of alternatives.

5. Organization of situations of high emotional intensity. The corrective effect of such a situation, when the psychologist provokes strong emotional experiences of the client, is aimed at the preventive “exposing” of his feelings by him, which makes it possible to reveal a hidden intrapersonal conflict without waiting for its spontaneous and uncontrolled resolution.

6. Organization of the effect of delayed aftereffect. The meaning of this effect is to inform (warn) a person about certain consequences of non-constructive (or, on the contrary, constructive) behavior, provided in the form of psychological information-generalization of such cases. This is a balanced, causal rationale for future changes in the client's life. It is necessary to distinguish between constructive and non-constructive warnings aimed at manipulating a person's consciousness. Among the constructive ones, the following stand out: a) positively meaningful, opening up emotionally attractive prospects; b) negatively meaningful, bearing negatively colored pictures of the future; c) neutral, stating something without certain emotional connotations.

7. Support for a positive "I-concept". The therapeutic effect of this mechanism is based on the formation of the client's positive attitudes towards his own future behavior through a positive assessment of him as a person, his real actions now. Advancing by trust is a powerful incentive for self-change. It has been experimentally established that positive behavior is formed mainly by positive expectations and reinforcements from significant other people.

In conclusion, let us dwell on some rules regarding the behavior of a consultant during a conversation, as well as on his common mistakes and measures for their prevention.

The rules-generalizations expressed in a number of works on psychological counseling by various authors relate to the following aspects of the counselor's behavior:

A) speech: should be limited in time; should not be perceived as something alien and incomprehensible; the top statements of the psychologist should be benevolent; pause after each statement of the client;

B) non-verbal contact: during the conversation, you should look not to the side, but to the interlocutor; the psychologist should not betray his confusion; an involuntary grimace of irritation can nullify all previous efforts of the consultant;

C) be yourself: the desire to appear infallible and omniscient engineer human souls reduces the chances of a true understanding of the client's problems, and the client himself provokes isolation;

D) recognition of the limitations of one’s capabilities: it is unacceptable to deceive a client, “feed” him with unrealistic promises; the desire to see positive results at any cost can lead to false professional conclusions and steps in professional interaction;

E) do not hope for quick results: one must be able to wait until the client is ripe for certain actions of the psychologist, until he realizes and rethinks the usual ways of self-defense, understands his role in the origin and solution of the problem;

E) not to dissolve in the problems of clients: getting bogged down in the problem of the client, participating in his life circumstances, attempts to help outside the situation of counseling remove responsibility from the client himself, turning the psychologist into a guardian.

Possible errors of a consultant, made in a counseling situation, are presented in the diagram (Table 1.9), which also shows ways to prevent them.

Knowing these mistakes will help novice specialists pay attention to the individual characteristics of their practical work with clients and work more purposefully to prevent these shortcomings.

– Applied branch of modern psychology. In the system of psychological science, its task is to develop theoretical foundations and application programs psychological assistance to mentally and somatically healthy people in situations where they face their own problems.
The purpose of psychological counseling(according to R. Kociunas) is defined as the provision of psychological assistance, that is, a conversation with a psychologist should help a person in solving his problems and establishing relationships with others.
Principles of psychological counseling:
- benevolent and invaluable attitude towards the client;
— Orientation to the norms and values ​​of the client;
- careful attitude to advice;
— differentiation of personal and professional relations;
- the involvement of the client and the psychologist in the counseling process.
Psychological counseling usually consists of several meetings, separate conversations.
Generally psychological consultation how the process is broken down into four steps:
1. Getting to know the client and starting the conversation. This stage can be divided into a number of sub-stages: the first contact, encouragement, a short pause, the actual acquaintance, formalities, "here and now", initial questioning.
2. Interrogation of the client, formation and testing of advisory hypotheses. Sub-steps: a) empathic listening; b) accepting the model of the client's situation as temporary; c) structuring the conversation; d) understanding the model of the client's situation; e) criticism of hypotheses; f) presenting your hypothesis to the client; g) criticism of the hypothesis, finding the truth.
3. Making an impact. Sub-steps: a) let the client live with new knowledge; b) correction of client settings; c) customer behavior modification.
4. Completion of psychological consultation. This stage includes: summarizing the conversation; discussion of issues related to further relations of the client with a consultant or other specialists; parting.

Types of psychological counseling

1. Intimate-personal counseling. It is carried out on the problems of psychological or behavioral deficiencies that the client would like to get rid of; personal relationships with important people about various fears, failures, deep dissatisfaction of the client with himself, intimate relationships.
2. Family counseling. It is resorted to when choosing a spouse, in order to prevent and resolve conflicts in intra-family relations and in relations between family members and relatives, regarding the solution of current intra-family problems (distribution of responsibilities, economic issues of the family, etc.), before and after divorce.
3. Psychological and pedagogical consultation. Psychological and pedagogical counseling provides for a discussion by the consultant and the client of the issues of teaching and raising children, improving the pedagogical qualifications of adults, improving pedagogical leadership, and managing children's and adult groups.
4. business consulting. Business consulting is associated with people overcoming business problems of choosing a profession, improving and developing abilities, organizing work, improving efficiency, and conducting business negotiations.

Differences between psychological counseling and psychocorrection and psychotherapy

Traditionally, there are three types of psychological assistance:
— psychological counseling;
- psychocorrection;
- psychotherapy.
They represent influences on various aspects of the personality and have differing goals and methods; they can be used separately and in combination.
The main goal of psychological counseling is the formation of a personal position, a specific worldview and outlook on life, fundamental and non-principled aspects of human existence, the formation of a hierarchy of values.
The task of psychological correction is the development and mastery of skills that are optimal for the individual and effective for maintaining the health of mental activity that contributes to personal growth and adaptation of a person in society.
Psychotherapy in the narrow sense of the term, its main task is to relieve psychopathological symptoms, through which it is supposed to achieve internal and external harmonization of the personality.
The difference between different types of psychological assistance can be determined by parameters such as:
- goal;
- an object;
- subject;
- method of exposure and position of the patient.
The main differences of psychological assistance

The main directions in family counseling

Family counseling- this is one of the varieties of family psychotherapy, which has its own distinctive features and boundaries of therapeutic intervention. Family counseling has developed in parallel with family therapy, mutually enriching each other.
main goal The challenge facing family counseling is to examine the problem of a family member or members in order to change the interaction in it and provide opportunities for personal growth.
What is the difference between family counseling and family therapy??
Firstly, family counseling does not accept the concept of illness.
Secondly, it puts emphasis on the analysis of the situation and aspects of role interaction in the family.
Thirdly, it is designed to help in finding the personal resource of the subjects of counseling and discussing ways to resolve the situation.
Among the leading theoretical concepts of family counseling cognitive-behavioral therapy, rational-emotional therapy and others are given. This is due to the variety of techniques and methods that are in his arsenal.
On the this moment exists several areas of family counseling, the most common of which are psychodynamic and systemic.
1. Psychodynamic direction It is aimed at solving problems within the family based on quarrels and problems in the past. According to this direction, it is family problems that have not been resolved in the past that sow discord in current relations between family members. The therapist tries to identify and help solve these problems.
2. According to the system direction, all family problems arise due to the unproductive organization of the family. The existing structure of the family is examined, the past is not considered.
3. Very often methods of individual psychotherapy are ineffective due to the fact that the problem lies within the family, and the patient cannot change properly, as he again falls under the "unhealthy" influence of his loved ones. That is why family psychotherapy most often has a much better effect than individual psychotherapy, since its techniques are aimed at changing the entire family system.
Basic principles and rules of family counseling come down to the following points:
1) establishing contact and joining the consultant to clients.
2) collecting information about the client's problem using meta-modeling techniques (NLP) and therapeutic metaphors. To achieve this goal, the consultant can ask clarifying questions such as: “What result do you want to achieve?”, “What do you want?”, “Try to say this without the negative “no” particle, that is, words that describe a positive result.”
3) discussion of the psychotherapeutic contract.
4) clarification of the client's problem, the resources of the family as a whole and each of its members individually are also determined. This is facilitated by questions like: “How did you deal with difficulties in the past? What helped you in this?”, “In what situations were you strong? How did you use your power?”
5) conducting the actual consultation.
6) “environmental check”. The consultant invites family members to imagine themselves in a similar situation in 5-10 years and explore their condition.
7) “insurance” of results. This is because clients sometimes need activities to help them gain confidence in learning new behaviors. They can get some advice from a consultant. homework and an invitation to come back for a follow-up consultation some time later to discuss the results.
8) disconnection.

Professional advice

- This is a special type of psychological counseling, the distinguishing feature of which is that the client's problems are somehow related to his professional self-determination and career development, professional activities and behavior in the workplace, finding or losing a job.
Professional advice- this is a type of psychological assistance aimed at harmonizing the individual professional capabilities and needs of the client with the interests of the organization or the labor market, as a result of which the professional self-determination of the client occurs, his professional plan is formed or improved, productive changes are made to his professional activities and behavior.
career counseling- this is a special activity of a consultant aimed at assisting the client in solving the problems of individual employment, taking into account its characteristics and the real situation on the labor market. Vocational counseling helps to solve the following problems of individual employment:
- choice of profession;
– determination of the profile of vocational training;
- employment;
- change of field of activity and related emotional difficulties and problems of social adaptation.
So, it should be noted, which by definition career counseling is one of the types professional advice and has a number of narrow, clearly defined tasks.
In modern conditions, professional consulting can be carried out both with adults and with children of different ages.
In Russia, historically and four areas of vocational counseling work have been implemented to varying degrees:
- information;
- diagnostic;
- consulting;
- training.
Information direction is traditional in vocational guidance. Its main task is to form knowledge about professions, vocational education, the labor market, and the requirements of professions for human qualities. Within the framework of this direction, it is believed that it is the lack of knowledge that turns out to be the main problem of a person choosing a profession. The leading forms of work are lectures, seminars, individual consultations, sometimes meetings with representatives of various professions, excursions to employment and vocational education institutions, acquaintance with workplaces.
Diagnostic direction most popular among psychologists involved in career guidance and career selection, psychological assessment personnel at a certain stage professional activity. Based on usage psychological tests, questionnaires, questionnaires for assessing professional suitability and includes reporting test results to the client, discussing interests, opportunities and recommendations for mastering professions that are most appropriate psychological characteristics client.
Consulting direction is relatively new in Russian vocational guidance and is based on the premise that knowledge may not be enough for an effective professional choice. The main problem of the client lies in the difficulties associated with making decisions, which may be due to the client's unfavorable emotional state, internal motivational conflicts, personality traits or inadequate beliefs. In this case, the consultant is forced to work with the causes of difficulties, such as fears, insecurity, dependence on loved ones, excessive demands on oneself.
Training direction also fully meets the requirements of the time and is used by Russian professional consultants. It is based on the use of special, most often group, games and exercises, followed by a discussion of the process and results of their implementation. Active learning methods in vocational counseling are designed to encourage the client to make choices and to develop problem-solving skills. It is believed that clients may have sufficient knowledge to choose a profession, but be unable to put it into practice due to ignoring problems and difficulties, unwillingness or inability to set and solve professional problems. The practical implementation of training tasks allows you to increase the activity of clients, their interest, simulate situations that are quite rare in life, and form behavioral skills in these situations.

CHRISTIAN HUMANITARIAN-ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

Academic discipline: "Psychological counseling"

Topic: "WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING"

Odessa 2008

Plan

Introduction

1. What is psychological counseling

1.1 Definition and objectives of psychological counseling

1.2 Psychological counseling and other types of psychological assistance

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

In our difficult, rapidly changing times, a person needs great inner strength. He needs to find his place in the new socio-economic conditions, to determine the meaning of his unique life among the general blurring of value orientations, the collapse of old ideals, not to let himself be enveloped by depressive tendencies, to preserve faith, aspiration, joy of life. And if this is missing inner strength? Then we will inevitably go into apathy, illness.

It can be said that modern life is replete with difficult or critical situations that a person cannot always cope with on his own. Therefore, the issue of organizing psychological support for people of different ages is particularly acute.

The further a person moves away from traditional culture, the more and more often there is a need for his psychological support on different stages life path. And if not so long ago a psychologist was often perceived by people as a psychiatrist, and one could hear: “Why do I need a psychologist, am I crazy or something?” Now practical psychology has become widespread in various areas of our life.

The main purpose of this work is to reveal the essence of the concept of "psychological counseling", its goals and difference from other types of psychological assistance.

1. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING

1.1. Definition and goals of psychological counseling

Psychological counseling as a profession is a relatively young field psychological practice, exuded and psychotherapy.

This profession arose in response to the need of people who do not have clinical disorders, but need psychological help. Therefore, in psychological counseling, we primarily deal with people who experience difficulties in everyday life. The range of problems is truly wide: difficulties at work (dissatisfaction with work, conflicts with colleagues and managers, the possibility of being fired), unsettled personal life and family troubles, poor school performance, lack of self-confidence, painful hesitation in decision-making, difficulties in starting and maintaining interpersonal relationships, etc.

On the other hand, psychological counseling, as a young area of ​​psychological practice, does not yet have strictly defined boundaries; a wide variety of problems fall into its field of vision.

Such uncertainty of the subject of psychological counseling is reflected in the variety of definitions.

Thus, the US Association of Employees and Managers Licensing Commission, which issues permits for private practice, offers the following definition: “Counseling is a set of procedures aimed at helping a person solve problems and make decisions regarding professional career, marriage, family, personal development and interpersonal relationships. ".

Psychologists have proposed the following definition: Counseling is the professional relationship of a qualified consultant to a client, which is usually presented as a “personality-personality”, although sometimes more than two people participate in it. The purpose of counseling is to help clients understand what is happening in their living space and achieve their goal in a meaningful way through informed choice in resolving emotional and interpersonal problems.”

There are other similar definitions, but they all include several basic provisions:

1. Counseling helps a person choose and act according to his choice and discretion.

2. Counseling helps you learn new behaviors.

3. In counseling, the responsibility of the client is emphasized, i.e. it is recognized that an independent responsible individual is capable, in appropriate circumstances, of taking independent solutions, and the consultant creates conditions that encourage the client's volitional behavior.

4. The core of counseling is the counseling interaction between client and counselor, based on the philosophy of "client-centered" therapy.

In this direction, there are three main principles:

a) every person has an unconditional value and deserves respect as such;

b) each person is able to be responsible for himself;

c) each person has the right to choose values, goals, make independent decisions.

Thus, the definition of psychological counseling covers the core attitudes of the consultant in relation to the person in general and the client in particular.

The question of determining the goals of counseling is not simple, since it depends on the needs of clients seeking psychological help and the theoretical orientation of the consultant himself.

The universal goals of psychological counseling are:

Facilitate behavior change so that the client can live a more productive, fulfilling life despite some inevitable social constraints;

Develop coping skills when faced with new life circumstances and demands;

Ensure effective decision-making;

Develop the ability to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships;

Facilitate the realization and increase of the potential of the individual.

Despite a certain commonality of the goals of psychological counseling, the main psychological schools still differ in their understanding and definition. So, for example, the psychoanalytic direction sees the main goals in bringing into consciousness the material repressed into the unconscious; help the client reproduce early experiences and analyze repressed conflicts; reconstruct the basic personality. And existential therapy is to help the client realize his freedom and his own capabilities, to encourage him to take responsibility for what happens to him; identify factors blocking freedom, etc.

The goals of the consultant and the client, ultimately, are in contact, although each consultant has his own system of general goals in mind, and each client has his own individual goals that led him to a specialist.

One session of psychological counseling takes place in the form of a personal conversation between a psychologist and a client, lasting on average from several tens of minutes to one and a half, two or more hours. During this conversation, the client tells the psychologist about himself, about his problem. The psychologist, in turn, listens attentively to the client, trying to understand the essence of his problem, to understand it, to clarify it for himself and for the client himself. During the consultation, the personality of the client is assessed and, taking into account his individual characteristics, the client is given evidence-based, reasoned recommendations on how best to practically solve the problem.

The advice and recommendations offered by the client psychologist-consultant, in most cases, are designed to ensure that, using them on their own, the client can fully cope with his problem without the help of the psychologist-consultant. Psychological counseling is an established practice of providing effective psychological assistance to people, based on the conviction that every mentally and physically healthy person is 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. In this he should be assisted by a professionally trained psychologist-consultant. This is the main task of psychological counseling.

1.2 Psychological counseling and other types of psychological assistance

Psychological counseling differs from other types of practical psychological assistance to people in the following main features. Unlike, for example, individual and group psychiatry, it involves a relatively short period and episodic nature of personal contacts of a counseling psychologist with a client. Different types individual and group psychiatry are usually designed for a longer period of continuous interaction between a psychologist and a client - from several weeks to several months and even years, with a significantly larger total number of hours spent working with a client.

In psychiatry, in contrast to the practice of psychological counseling, the psychologist plays an active role in ridding the client of psychological problems. It is he who takes active actions aimed at solving the problems of the client, and the client himself plays a mostly passive role, that is, he simply perceives the impact of the psychotherapist and reacts to them. In psychological counseling, the situation is different, here the psychologist-consultant basically only gives advice to the client, and their practical implementation becomes the business of the client himself, he retains an active role.

In other types of practical psychological work with clients, in contrast to counseling, the ongoing psychotherapeutic practice is direct personal communication, the interaction of the client and the psychologist, even at the time when the client is solving his problem. The main psycho-corrective work associated with the practice of psychological counseling is most often carried out by the client himself in the absence of a psychologist, without direct or constant interaction with him.

Psychological counseling- professional assistance to the client in finding a solution to his problem situation. Psychological counseling is focused on mentally healthy people who find themselves in a difficult life situation or who want to improve the quality of life.

Target psychological counseling - to help the client in solving his problem. Recognize and change ineffective behavior patterns in order to accept important decisions solve emerging problems, achieve goals, live in harmony with yourself and the world around you.

A psychologist helps a person to find their inner resources, to realize previously suppressed experiences and stereotypes of behavior. At psychological counseling, people understand the causes of their difficulties and learn to cope with them.

There are several types of psychological counseling:

1. Intimate-personal counseling. It is supposed to work with internal problems and states of the client (search for the meaning of life, increased anxiety, difficulties in interacting with people, etc.).
2. Family counseling. This includes not only direct work with couples, but also counseling in the premarital period, as well as during the divorce period. In addition, this also includes counseling on parent-child relationships, as well as relationships with parents and relatives of the husband / wife.
3. Professional advice- This is a psychological consultation on the choice of profession (career guidance).
4. Organizational (industrial) consulting is aimed at solving issues of interaction in a team, effective management, staff motivation, etc.

Ethical principles of psychological counseling

The psychologist-consultant in his work adheres to a kind of "ethical code", the observance of which allows you to create the safest possible atmosphere for productive work with the client. Below are the main points "Ethical Code of Psychology".

1. Confidentiality. Any information received from the client cannot be transferred to third parties (even relatives and friends) without prior consent.
2. Non-judgmental and friendly attitude towards the client. The consultant listens attentively to the client, trying to understand him and accepting him as he is, without giving his own assessments of the actions taken.
3. Orientation of the psychologist to the norms and values ​​of the client rather than socially accepted norms and rules, which may allow the client to be sincere and open.
4. Lack of advice and ready-made solutions. The psychologist helps the client find the best way out of the current situation for him. But at the same time, he will never give ready-made "recipes" for what to do.
5. Separation of personal and professional relationships. The relationship between the psychologist-consultant and the client is of a special nature and in itself has a certain therapeutic effect. Therefore, the presence of other relations between the psychologist and the client (friends, relatives, workers) is extremely undesirable. For this reason, psychologists are prohibited from consulting close friends, relatives, spouses.

There is an opinion that a person "should" solve his own problems. This is true for those cases when he is really able to do it successfully. However, it should be remembered that a person does not "should" be left without help when he needs it. Accepting psychological help, especially provided as a professional service, is not at all shameful. It's an act strong man who cares about their health, well-being and personal effectiveness.