Counseling and its types. Types of psychological counseling

The review and analysis of foreign literature on the problem of counseling allows us to identify the following main areas of application of psychological assistance:

1. Mental (and spiritual) development of the child (overcoming the Oedipus complex / Electra complex, satisfaction of emotional needs in gaining personal identity, help with emotional trauma and development of stable moral standards, etc.).

2. Existential and personal problems of a teenager (crisis of psychological separation from parents, identification of a teenager, etc.)

3. Marriage and family (premarital counseling, family and marital psychotherapy, psychological assistance to unmarried and unmarried, divorced, remarriage support).

4. Issues of mental and personal health (traditional preventive and current care for mental and somatic illness, mental suffering, alcoholism, conflicts, etc.).

5. Psychological assistance to the dying and psychotherapy of grief (an almost completely absent sphere of psychological activity in Russia).

6. Problems of the elderly.

7. Places of detention, hospitals, barracks, college campuses (personality problems, general mental state).

8. Psychological assistance and support in crisis situations ( sudden death, suicide attempt, rape, betrayal, loss of love, etc.).

9. School counseling.

10. Student counseling.

11. Career guidance counseling.

12. Psychological assistance related to cross-cultural issues: problems in adaptation, overcoming ethical prejudices and stereotypes among emigrants, support for consultants in working with ethnic minorities.

13. Management consulting.

Types of psychological assistance

According to the competent opinion of Lydia Berngardovna Schneider, psychological assistance can be classified according to different indicators (criteria):

1. By duration:

- urgent- necessary for complex mental states, the possibility of suicide, cases of violence, etc. This most often refers to the competence of the helpline, helpline, emergency psychological assistance services;

- long- useful in the event of difficult life situations, psychological crises, conflicts (systemic psychological consultations);

2. Directionality:

- straight- aimed directly at the client, at his request for help;

- responding- response to the current situation and appeals of people from the client's environment;

- proactive- in response to a predicted unfavorable situation for a person. Often found in the psychological service of the family.

3. By spatial organization:

- contact when the client's conversation with the psychologist takes place face to face;

— distant, which is subdivided into telephone and Internet;

4. According to the performance of functions by a psychologist:

― diagnostic- making a psychological diagnosis psychological portrait individuality;

― control room- sending to the right specialist: specialized psychologist-consultant, psychotherapist, psychiatrist, etc.;

— informational- collection of information about the client, his family, surrounding people, social conditions;

― correctional is a system of measures aimed at correcting the shortcomings of psychology or human behavior with the help of special means psychological impact;

― advisory- this is direct psychological work with people, aimed at solving various kinds of problems associated, in many respects, with difficulties in interpersonal relationships;

- therapeutic- for the purpose of treating behavioral disorders or disease states by psychological means, using techniques available to patients, with a very specific goal and on the basis of the theory of normal and abnormal behavior;

― psychiatric- assistance to mentally ill people - diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, work with family members where there are mentally ill people.

5. By the number of participants:

― individual- when, for personal, social or public reasons, a group form is not possible and is not acceptable, for example, with emotional and sensory problems of an intimate and personal nature;

- group- the emphasis is on the developmental, training program of skills, the group form is also used if necessary for the socio-psychological support of participants;

6. By the intervention of a psychologist:

— directive- indicating, "giving advice" on how to live;

- non-directive- “going” for the client, “indulging” his personality.

Scheme of activity of the consultant in general view looks like that:

problem identification → diagnosis → fact analysis → intervention plan → counseling intervention → evaluation of the results of the joint activities of the consultant and client.

The classification of psychological counseling can be approached based on different criteria. So, taking as a classification criterion, first of all, age, we must, first of all, consider the age periodization adopted in Russia :

- infancy (from birth to 1 year);

- pre-preschool or early childhood (1-3 years);

– preschool childhood (3-6 years);

– junior school age (6-10 years);

- adolescence (10 - 15 years);

- youth: I period (senior school age or early youth - 15 - 17 years old), II period (late youth - 17 - 21 years old);

– middle (mature) age : I period (21 - 35 years - early and late youth), II big period (35 - 60 years - maturity, late maturity);

- old age (60 - 75 years);

- senile age or old age (75 - 90 years);

- centenarians or age of centenarians or decrepit age (90 years and above).

It should be noted that the category of age used in counseling can mean two different things. Firstly, indicate the age of the client, Secondly, the age of the person about whom the client applied. Counseling a child under the age of 15 is almost meaningless : he cannot yet be fully responsible for himself and be a socially and professionally productive person. Moreover, the personality itself is not yet fully systemically formed, and, therefore, not advisory, but psychotherapeutic or psycho-correctional assistance is applicable to children. In old age, counseling loses its effectiveness every year, as the needs corresponding to age and the personality itself change, a person can less and less be responsible for himself, his own productivity is lower and lower.

Age (in psychology) is a conceptual content category that serves to designate the temporal characteristics of individual development. Age(in the most general sense) - the period of time, starting from the birth of an individual and up to this particular time moment (chronological age). The chronological framework and features of each age are not static, but dynamic; they are determined by the action of socio-historical factors, the needs of society, i.e. - so-called. the social order of society. Unlike chronological age, which expresses the duration of the existence of an individual from the moment of his birth, the concept of psychological age denotes a certain, qualitatively unique stage of ontogenetic development, determined by the laws of the formation of the organism, living conditions, training and education and having a cultural and historical origin. Age characterized by those specific tasks of mastering the forms of culture that are solved by a developing person, as well as by qualitatively new types of activity and the corresponding psychological neoplasms that arise at a given stage of development and determine the consciousness of a person, his attitude towards himself and to the world around him as a whole. Each age period is studied taking into account general development trends, taking into account the characteristics of the previous and subsequent ages. Each age has development reserves that can be mobilized in the process of a child’s activity specially organized by an adult, or activated by the personality itself (according to David Iosifovich Feldshtein).

In the psychotherapeutic encyclopedia, edited by B.D. Karvasarsky described the following types of psychological counseling:

1. Problem-based counseling. The semantic emphasis here is on behavior modification, analysis of the external causes of the problem. The goal of working with a client is to form and strengthen the client's ability to act appropriately to the situation, to master techniques that improve self-control. Many significant techniques used in this direction are taken from behavioral therapy.

2. Person-centered counseling. This kind of counseling is centered on the analysis of individual, personal causes of the problem, the process of forming destructive personal stereotypes, and preventing similar problems in the future. The consultant here fundamentally refrains from advice and organizational assistance, as this leads away from the internal, underlying causes of the problem. Many techniques used within this direction are taken from numerous psychoanalytic and post-psychoanalytic currents of Western psychotherapy. First of all, this should include the techniques of Gestaltherapy, humanistic psychotherapy.

3. Solution-oriented consulting. The substantive emphasis here is on activating the client's own resources to solve the problem. Representatives of this approach draw attention to the fact that the analysis of the causes of the problem inevitably leads to increased feelings of guilt in the client, which is an obstacle to cooperation between the psychologist-consultant and the client. Many of the techniques used in this approach are taken from short-term positive therapy.

In addition, the types of psychological counseling can be distinguished according to the nature of the tasks to be solved: age-psychological, vocational ("professional"), psychological-pedagogical, family and other types of psychological counseling.

APPENDIX No. 9

The scientific concept of "theory"

Let's take a look concept "theory" in principle, as such, generalized. THEORY(English - theory), in a broad sense, is an integral set of formalized rational views and representations aimed at interpreting and explaining a phenomenon (phenomenon). Theory is an extended form of organization of scientific knowledge , which gives a holistic view of the basic laws of a certain area of ​​reality (the sphere of the surrounding world). Target any theories- the creation of detailed and reliable knowledge about the most significant connections and patterns of reality. Theory as a form of cognitive development of the world by a person functions in the system culture along with other forms of scientific knowledge (hypotheses, classifications, typologies, laws, patterns), and as the most complete of them. AT structure any theories usually single out a number of main components : 1) the empirical basis data ; 2) theoretical basis - postulates, principles or axioms; 3) rules of inference (derivation) of the main provisions - a set of rules (logical premises) of inference and proof recognized as acceptable within the framework of each given theory; 4) internal and external assessments of the scope of applicability - clearly identified (identified) prerequisites for the application of the theory; 5) a set of statements derived within the framework of this particular theory, put forward by the theory as predictive and subject to verification (verification). AT modern science formation theories usually follows the path of nomination and selection (selection) of time-tested theoretical models ("formulas") that explain certain aspects of a particular field of knowledge. Development theories goes not only along the path of advancing and proving the consequences of the axioms according to the established rules of inference, but also by revising and clarifying all the components (elements) included in its structure. All of the listed components of any real scientific and practical theory fully relate to the theories of psychological counseling that have proven themselves on a global scale, for example, to the client-centered approach of K. Rogers discussed above (to the so-called Rogerian psychotherapy).

APPENDIX No. 10

“Modern ideas of basic psychological (psychotherapeutic) trends and schools (fundamental theories)

AT Psychotherapeutic Encyclopedia The following types of psychological counseling are described: > ".

1. Problem-oriented consulting. The emphasis here is on modification. behavior,

analysis of the external causes of the problem. The goal of working with a client is to form and strengthen the client's ability to act appropriately to the situation, to master techniques that improve self-control. Many of the techniques used in this direction are taken from behavioral therapy. MGOPU students study them in detail in the course "Concepts and methods of psychological assistance."

2. Person-oriented counseling (counseling). Based on the analysis of individual, personal causes of the problem, the process of forming destructive personal stereotypes, preventing similar problems in the future. The consultant here fundamentally refrains from advice and organizational assistance, as this leads away from the internal, underlying causes of the problem. Many techniques used within this direction are taken from numerous psychoanalytic and post-psychoanalytic currents of Western psychotherapy. First of all, this should include the techniques of Gestalt therapy, humanistic psychotherapy.

3. Solution-oriented consulting (solution talk). The emphasis here is on activating the client's own resources to solve the problem. Representatives of this approach draw attention to the fact that the analysis of the causes of the problem inevitably leads to increased feelings of guilt in the client, which is an obstacle to cooperation between the psychologist-consultant and the client. Many of the techniques used in this approach are taken from short-term positive therapy.

Let's take a closer look at some of the techniques. decision-oriented psychological counseling. Activation of resources, search for them from the client are carried out using questions or chains of questions. The search for resources can be focused on past(“What helped you overcome such problems before?”, “How did your relatives and acquaintances solve such problems?”), the present(“What is helping you solve the problem right now, at least temporarily?”) and future(“Who or what could help you solve the problem?”).

The most used methods:

• "Reliance on progress". Was in recent times such a period when the problem disappeared or significantly decreased?

Why do you think? What contributed to this? What can we all do to secure these mechanisms?

• "Fantasies about the future". When can the problem be resolved? What can contribute to this? Imagine if we met you when you were already all right and asked: “What helped you? ", then what would you say? What else could help you?
• "Thanks in advance." Think about how you will thank the people included in your program for their help.

• "Problem as Solution". What has this problem taught you? How was it useful for you?
• "New positive name". Come up with a good name for your problem so we can use it in the conversation.

Search good name for his problem encourages him to start analyzing its positive aspects.

R.V. Ovcharova allows us to identify six binary oppositions, according to which a whole kaleidoscope of types of psychological counseling can be compiled:

v Individual and group counseling. Group psychological counseling is most often organized after preliminary individual consultations for clients with similar psychological problems or if they are all members of the same system of interpersonal relationships (for example, families).

v Single and multiple consultations.

v Personal consultations - consultations as a result of a call, a referral.

v No additional testing and with additional testing.

v Without the involvement of methods of psychological correction(bringing to the client relevant to his pro-

problems of psychological information) and with the involvement of these methods.

v Consultations isolated and combined with other methods of psychological assistance(for example, psychosocial training between consultations).

In addition, the types of psychological counseling can be distinguished by the nature of the tasks to be solved: age-psychological, professional, psychological-pedagogical, family, etc.

As a basis for identifying the types of psychological counseling, one can also use the nature of the theoretical approach in which the psychologist-consultant works: cognitive psychology, behaviorism, humanistic psychology, psychoanalysis.

It can also be used as a basis for distinguishing within psychological counseling types the degree of directness or indirectness of contact between the psychologist-consultant and the client. In this regard, we can talk about face-to-face counseling, counseling on a helpline, counseling through distance writing, counseling through writing popular books on psychology or psychologists' open responses to letters from readers in popular publications. All of the forms of psychological counseling listed above, except for full-time psychological counseling, can be combined under a single concept - remote psychological counseling.

Consider the specifics of remote counseling. Let's start with counseling on the helpline. The following are the benefits of telephone counseling:

1) Minimizing competitive interfering influences (road, premises, registrars, consultant's appearance, etc.).

2) Greater availability, greater possibility of repeated requests, including from other cities, countries.

3) Great cheapness.

4) Greater anonymity, confidentiality.

5) Greater security of the psychologist-consultant.

6) Urgency, timeliness of assistance.

7) The psychologist and the client are less worried, complex.

8) Fewer opportunities for negative attributions, a tendency towards mutual idealization, which increases the importance of the psychologist's information for the client, and helps the consultant in accepting the client and an objective attitude towards him, expanding his zone of proximal development.

9) It is much easier to solve the problem of delimiting personal and professional relations, which ensures greater sincerity and semantic richness of communication.

10) Helpline is not only a means of counseling, but also a form of social work. Those who have nowhere else to turn come here for emotional support - mentally ill people, disabled people who sometimes do not leave their beds for years, children if their mother left home and they are scared.

11) The helpline performs educational functions in the community: here people often receive information about what they do not understand.

12) Helpline - an adequate form of work with teenagers and youth. It is believed that this way they are less complex about their appearance.

13) This is an adequate form of bringing people out of crisis states. For example, if a person has not left his apartment for several weeks or even months, then it is easier to return to normal life by contacting the helpline.

14) Helpline can effectively perform the functions of selecting people who really need face-to-face counseling.

15) A 24-hour helpline in an organization can also perform the function of protecting the premises, used for the operational coordination of various issues within the organization.

16) Helpline can be an effective form of monitoring the emotional state of the community.

Disadvantages and problem areas related to the operation of the helpline:

1. "Jokers" and people with a sick imagination who want to use a consultant as a means of satisfying their perverted needs interfere with work.
2. A much higher erudition and development in moral and ethical terms is required from a telephone helpline consultant than from a full-time consultant psychologist, the stability of his mental sphere, and a high sense of responsibility.
3. It is much more difficult to control how much the client is really involved in the dialogue, the possibilities for empathic listening are limited - only through verbalism can one reflect one's participation in the conversation.
4. The anonymity and remoteness of the client's gratitude from the place where the help was actually provided. According to the results of some studies, this can be the reason for the "burning" of the helpline consultant.
5. The danger of disrupting the social ties of the psychologist-consultant. His clients are his whole life. Sometimes, outside of the consultation and helpline, he only takes a break from the intense workload associated with intense and deep interpersonal communication.
6. For some people working on the helpline, the fact of anonymity of the consultant's personality can lead to personality degradation, such as alcoholism, a sense of superiority over other people.
7. Prolonged intensive work on the helpline can lead to obsession with negative aspects being. The helpline provides a lack of positive examples.
8. Working on the helpline sometimes easily develops into an over-involvement of the consultant in the work, resulting in overwork and breakdown. Number of calls for help

for one watch can significantly exceed the capabilities of a consultant.

Psychological counseling via distance writing has the following advantages:

1. A letter always leaves time for a thoughtful and balanced response.

2. The letter enhances the client's reflective analysis of his problem, because much needs to be expressed in a few words, concisely and clearly.

3. One letter from a client can be answered by several consultants, which encourages the client to make an independent choice, making him more free in making decisions about his life.

Disadvantages and problem areas associated with distance writing:

2. There is a significant amount of time between the writing of the letter by the client and the response of the psychologist, and the situation can change dramatically.

3. A letter to a psychologist can be addressed from a very long distance. The psychologist may not know all the realities of the context in which his respondent lives, but the possibilities to find out something are limited.

Before discussing the types of psychological counseling itself, it should be noted that counseling as such exists in a number of other professional areas that are extremely different from psychology (for example, technical ones), as well as closer to it - natural sciences and the humanities. These include medical consulting, legal, management consulting, etc.

The classification of psychological counseling proper, which, as mentioned above, refers to the provision of psychological assistance to mentally normal people in order to achieve their goals of personal development, can be approached based on different criteria.

So, taking age as a classification criterion, we must first of all consider the age periodization adopted in Russia:
- infancy (from birth to 1 year);
- pre-preschool childhood (1-3 years);
- preschool childhood (3-6 years);
- junior school age (6-10 years);
- adolescence (10-15 years);
- youth:
I period (senior school age 15-17 years),
II second period (17-21 years);
- mature age:
I period (21-35 years),
II period (35-60 years);
- old age (60-75 years);
- senile age (75-90 years);
- centenarians (90 years and above).

If in the second case, the age from 0 to 90 years and above can theoretically be the age of the person for whom the consultation took place, then in practice the real age range is somewhat narrower: from pre-preschool childhood to old age.

Moreover, the limitation of the age of the counselees is connected both with a certain age problem, personal maturity necessary for solving psychological problems, and with the essence of the counseling itself as a method.

Counseling a child under the age of 15 is pointless: he cannot yet be responsible for himself and be a productive person. Moreover, the personality itself has not yet been formed, and therefore, not advisory, but psychotherapeutic assistance is applicable to children. In addition, there are a number of special sectors, such as training, education, correction and development.

In the elderly, and especially senile age, counseling loses its effectiveness every year, as the needs corresponding to the age and the personality itself change, the person can less and less be responsible for himself, his own productivity is lower and lower.

Another category that serves as the basis for classifying the consultative process is space, i.e. spatial organization of the consultation.
From this point of view, 2 types of counseling can be distinguished:
1. Contact, in which a psychologist-consultant meets with a client, a face-to-face conversation takes place, what is called "face-to-face counseling" in foreign literature.
2. Remote consulting, which is divided into telephone and written.
Synonymous with the first type of counseling is "full-time counseling", the second - "correspondence".

The next basis for classification should take into account the number of clients consulted by one consultant at the same time. According to this criterion, consultation can be, firstly, individual, and secondly, group. Moreover, the latter should apparently be understood as a conversation between a psychologist and two or more clients, since in a number of socio-psychological works the union of two, and even more so three people, is already called a small group (although the question of the lower quantitative boundaries of a small group remains debatable).

Another classification of counseling can be built on the basis of the scope of application. AT this case Probably, the following types of psychological counseling can be distinguished:
- school counseling;
- professional;
- family and matrimonial;
- focused on the problems of the individual and others.

Psychological counseling- a set of procedures aimed at helping a person in solving problems and making decisions regarding professional career, marriage, family, personal development and interpersonal relationships.

Target counseling - to help clients understand what is happening in their living space and meaningfully achieve their goals through informed choice in resolving emotional and interpersonal problems.

Gelso, Fretz (1992), Blosher (1966) distinguish specific features of psychological counseling, distinguishing it from psychotherapy:

counseling is focused on a clinically healthy person; these are people who have psychological difficulties and problems in everyday life, complaints of a neurotic nature, as well as people who feel good, but set themselves the goal of further personal development;

counseling is focused on the healthy aspects of the personality, regardless of the degree of impairment; this orientation is based on the belief that "a person can change, choose a life that satisfies him, find ways to use his inclinations, even if they are small due to inadequate attitudes and feelings, delayed maturation, cultural deprivation, lack of finances, illness, disability, advanced age " (1968);

counseling is more often focused on the present and future of clients;

counseling is usually focused on short-term assistance (up to 15 meetings);

counseling focuses on the problems that arise in the interaction of the individual and the environment;

in counseling, the value participation of the consultant is emphasized, although the imposition of values ​​on clients is rejected;

counseling is aimed at changing the behavior and development of the client's personality.

Types of counseling:

I. By area of ​​application:

1. baby; 2. teenage; 3. family and matrimonial; 4. professional; 5. individual, focused on the problems of the individual;

II. By number of clients: 1. individual; 2. group;

III. By spatial organization: 1. contact (full-time); 2. remote (correspondence) - by phone, correspondence.

Types of psychological counseling according to Nemov

Intimate-personal psychological counseling, the need for which arises quite often and for many people. This type includes counseling on such issues that deeply affect a person as a person, cause him strong feelings, usually carefully hidden from people around him. These are, for example, such problems as psychological or behavioral deficiencies that a person would like to get rid of at all costs, problems associated with his personal relationships with significant people, various fears, failures, psychogenic diseases that do not require the intervention of a doctor, and much more. This may also include a person's deep dissatisfaction with himself, problems of intimate, such as sexual, relationships.

The next type of psychological counseling in terms of importance and frequency of occurrence in life is family counseling. It can include counseling on issues that arise in a person in his own family or in the families of other people close to him. These are, in particular, the choice of a future spouse, the optimal construction and regulation of relationships in the family, the prevention and resolution of conflicts in intra-family relationships, the relationship of a husband or wife with relatives, the behavior of spouses at the time of divorce and after it, the solution of current intra-family problems. The latter include, for example, the solution of issues of distribution of responsibilities between family members, family economics, and a number of others.

The third type of counseling– psychological and pedagogical counseling. It can include a discussion between a consultant and a client on the issues of educating and raising children, teaching something and improving the pedagogical qualifications of adults, pedagogical leadership, managing children's and adult groups and teams. Psychological and pedagogical counseling includes the issues of improving programs, methods and teaching aids, the psychological justification of pedagogical innovations, and a number of others.

Fourth Among the most common types of psychological counseling is business counseling. It, in turn, has as many varieties as there are various cases and activities for people. In general, such consulting is called business consulting, which is associated with the solution of business problems by people. These, for example, include issues of choosing a profession, improving and developing a person's abilities, organizing his work, increasing efficiency, conducting business negotiations, etc.

Methods of psychological counseling

The main methods of psychological counseling include: conversation, interview, observation, active and empathic listening. In addition to the basic methods in psychological counseling, special methods are used, developed within the framework of individual psychological schools, based on a specific methodology and individual theories of personality.

Conversation A professional conversation is built from various kinds of techniques and techniques used to achieve the appropriate effect. An important role is played by the techniques of conducting a dialogue, approving the client's opinions, stimulating statements, brevity and clarity of the psychologist's speech, etc. The goals and functions of a conversation in psychological counseling are related to collecting information about the mental state of the subject, establishing contact with the client. The conversation can serve as a psychotherapeutic function and help reduce the client's anxiety. Consultative conversation serves as a way to get to the psychological problems that the client has, is the background and accompaniment of all psychotechnics. The conversation can be structured, conducted according to a pre-drawn plan, program. This structured conversation is called the interview method.

Stages of conversation:

1. Asking questions. The goal is to obtain information about the client, encouraging him to introspection.

2. Encouragement and calming . Important for creating and strengthening the consultative contact. Encouragement expresses support - the main component of contact ("Go on", "Yes, I understand"). Calming helps the client to believe in himself ("Very good", "You did the right thing").

3. Reflection of content: paraphrasing and summarizing. Reflection of content shows the client that he is being actively listened to and that he is understood. Reflection of the content also helps the client to better understand himself, to sort out his thoughts. Paraphrasing has three rules: the main idea of ​​the client is paraphrased; you can not distort or replace the meaning of the client's statement, add from yourself; avoid verbatim repetition.

4. Reflection of feelings - attention focuses on what is hidden behind the content. contact, because it shows the client that the consultant is trying to get to know his inner world.

5. Pauses of silence . Silence - increases the emotional understanding of the consultant and the client; - provides the client with the opportunity to "immerse himself" in himself and study his feelings, attitudes, values, behavior; - allows the client to understand that the responsibility for the conversation lies on his shoulders.

6. Provision of information. The consultant expresses his opinion, answers questions, informs the client about various aspects of the problems discussed.

7. The consultant's interpretation gives a certain meaning to the expectations, feelings, behavior of the client, because it helps to establish causal relationships between behavior and experience. A good interpretation is never deep. It should link to what the client already knows.

8.Confrontation - any reaction of the consultant, contrary to the behavior of the client. By confrontation, they try to show the client the methods of psychological defense used in an effort to adapt to life situations that are oppressed and limit the formation of a person.

9. Feelings of the consultant and self-disclosure. The counselor's self-disclosure can be: expressing immediate reactions to the client or to the counseling situation, limited to the "here and now" principle; a story about his life experience, a demonstration of its similarity with the situation of the client. The consultant, through the expression of his feelings, is revealed to the client. Opening up in the broadest sense means showing your emotional attitude to events and people.

10. Structuring counseling - organizing the relationship of a consultant with a client, highlighting individual stages of counseling and evaluating their results, providing the client with information about the counseling process.

Interview types:

standardized - has a stable strategy and clear tactics;

Partially standardized - based on a firm strategy and more flexible tactics;

• freely guided diagnostic interview - based on a strong strategy, but has a completely free tactics, which depends on the characteristics of the client, relationships, etc.

Observation - deliberate, systematic and purposeful perception of mental phenomena in order to study their specific changes in certain conditions and to find the meaning of these phenomena, which is not given directly. The consultant must have the skills to observe the verbal and non-verbal behavior of the client. The initial basis for understanding non-verbal behavior is a good knowledge of various types of non-verbal languages.

Active listening aims to accurately reflect the speaker's information. This method contributes to a more accurate understanding of each other by partners, allows you to create an atmosphere of trust and emotional support, and also serves to expand the client's awareness of the problem situation. Active listening involves the use of a number of techniques:

An interested attitude towards the interlocutor, demonstrated by the posture of an interested listener, a benevolent look directed at the interlocutor;

Clarifying questions: “Did I understand correctly that ...?”, “Do you want to say that ...?”;

Getting an answer to your question;

Repetition of what the interlocutor said "You say ...";

Reformulation of the interlocutor's thought: "In other words, ..."

Supporting reactions: “uh-huh-reactions”, “Yes-yes”, encouragement of the interlocutor in expressing the thought: “this is interesting”, “speak, speak”;

Generalization: “In general, you want to say ...?”, “So, it turns out ...”, “We talked about ...”, “We can conclude ...”.

The method of "active listening" is a mandatory method of psychological counseling, and mastering all its techniques is one of the requirements for the professional skills of a counseling psychologist.

an accurate reflection of the experience, feelings, emotions of the interlocutor with a demonstration of their understanding and acceptance.

Important characteristics and means of effective communication (during consultation) are:

Empathy - empathy, understanding of another at the level of feelings, experiencing the same emotional states experienced by the other person;

Reflection (awareness of how he is perceived by a communication partner, the ability to introspect mental states, actions, deeds),

Identification (likening, identifying oneself with another person, transferring oneself to the place, to the situation of another person).

Method as a set of psychotechnics developed within the framework of individual psychotherapeutic and personal theories:

method of person-centered counseling,

Existential counseling method

method of psychoanalytic counseling,

method of behavioral counseling,

method of cognitive counseling,

solution-focused counseling method,

· multimodal counseling, etc.

Stages of psychological counseling. (Nemov)

1. Preparatory stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant gets to know the client according to the preliminary record available about him in the registration log, as well as according to the information about the client that can be obtained from third parties, for example, from the employee of the psychological consultation who accepted the application from the client for a consultation. At this stage of work, the psychologist-consultant, in addition, prepares himself for the consultation, performing almost everything that was discussed in the previous section of this chapter. The working time of a psychologist-consultant at this stage is usually from 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Adjustment stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant personally meets the client, gets to know him and tunes in to work with the client. The client does the same. On average, this stage in time, if everything else is already prepared for the consultation, can take from 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Diagnostic stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant listens to the client's confession and, on the basis of its analysis, clarifies and clarifies the client's problem. The main content of this stage is the client's story about himself and his problem (confession), as well as the client's psychodiagnostics, if it becomes necessary to clarify the client's problem and find its optimal solution. It is not possible to accurately determine the time required for this stage of psychological counseling, since much of its definition depends on the specifics of the client's problem and his individual characteristics. In practice, this time is at least one hour, excluding the time required for psychological testing. Sometimes this stage of psychological counseling can take from 4 to 6-8 hours.

4. Recommendation stage. The psychologist-consultant, having collected the necessary information about the client and his problem at the previous stages, at this stage, together with the client, develops practical recommendations for solving his problem. Here, these recommendations are refined, clarified, concretized in all essential details. The average time usually spent to go through this stage of psychological counseling is from 40 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Control stage. At this stage, the counseling psychologist and the client agree with each other on how the practical implementation of the practical advice and recommendations received by the client will be monitored and evaluated. Here the question of how, where and when the psychologist-consultant and the client will be able to further discuss additional issues that may arise in the process of implementing the developed recommendations is also resolved. At the end of this stage, if necessary, the counselor and the client can agree with each other on where and when they will meet next. On average, work at this final stage of psychological counseling takes 20–30 minutes.

Summarizing all the above, it can be established that on average, it may take from 2–3 to 10–12 hours to complete all five stages of psychological counseling (without the time allotted for psychological testing).

Pedagogy

Psychological counseling is one of the types of psychological assistance provided by a professional to clients in situations of various life difficulties and psychological crises. The method originates from psychotherapy, but the consultation differs from it in the direction and intensity of the impact.

Psychotherapy is possible for people with various mental states, including those with borderline disorders, and as an auxiliary method with the help of mentally ill patients. Psychological counseling is an option for mentally healthy people with a relatively high level of self-awareness and responsibility, who are ready to take responsibility for the decisions made in the session and work intensively on themselves.

The directions of psychological counseling can be different - it can be help to people who find themselves in a difficult life situation, as well as recommendations for personal growth and the search for a life path.

talking plain language, psychological counseling is necessary in two situations:

• when a person is faced with new circumstances, but does not know how to behave in them;
• when a person is in a familiar environment, but wants to change it.

Passing through the stages of psychological counseling, a person changes his attitude to the world around him, to himself, learns new ways of behavior.

Fundamentals of psychological counseling

Psychological counseling is based on a set of measures aimed at improving the mental well-being of a person, harmonizing relationships - within the family, team and other groups. The client in the process of psychological influence changes the form of his behavior, attitude towards himself and the world, receives recommendations and

The main areas of consulting are:

• stimulating the individual to make informed decisions;
• teaching new forms of behavior;
• development of the client's personality and expansion of his horizons.

The central formation of counseling is conscious interaction, where special emphasis is placed on the responsibility of the client, in other words, the counseling emphasizes the independence of the client as a person, his ability to make independent decisions and work to change his own personality.

The goals of psychological counseling are determined in each case individually, depending on which of the psychological schools the professional adheres to, and with what request the client came to him. However, it is possible to identify the main areas in which they work

• transformation and improvement of behavioral responses. Changing the forms of behavior habitual for the client contributes to increased productivity in the client's life, harmonization of relationships, a satisfied attitude towards the quality of one's own life, even in the absence of changes in the financial situation;
• development of coping skills in the course of facing everyday difficulties and changing world conditions;
• training in balanced and effective decision-making that is important for the client;
• facilitating personal growth and self-realization;
• improving interpersonal relationships.

Despite the difference in approaches to the actual process of counseling, all psychological schools converge in a single scheme of the consultative process. It consists of several successive stages, replacing each other, the meaning of each of which follows from the content of the previous one. Counseling is divided into the following stages:

1. Establishment of mutual confidential contact. Study of the problem area of ​​the client.
2. Definition of a specific problem situation. At the same time, the problem is investigated, as it were, in two planes - in the cognitive and emotional spheres.
3. Search for alternatives. Establishing possible solutions to the problem.
4. Planning. Development step by step plan for each solution to the problem.
5. Consistent implementation of the developed plan.
6. Evaluation of the work done. Feedback from the client to the consultant. Checking satisfaction with the achieved result.

In practice, not everything happens as consistently as described in this diagram. For example, there may be difficulty in identifying the problem, or the client may refuse to make contact with a psychologist. In the course of the implementation of the planned plan, difficulties with its implementation are likely, it may be necessary to return to the previous stages of the consultation process. At the last stage, the client may remain dissatisfied with the changes that have taken place, and then the process will have to start from the first stages. Thus, the process of counseling is much more complicated than described in the diagram - it all depends on the client's problem situation and his readiness to work on himself.

Types of psychological counseling

There are several types of psychological counseling, depending on the problem situations and the characteristics of the people who turned to a professional. Psychologist's clients may vary in age, marital status, personality traits, religion and culture - all this requires different approaches from a psychologist. There are the following types of psychological counseling:

• according to the form of conducting - individual, group, family;
• by orientation - psychological and pedagogical, business, multicultural;
• by age - and adults.

These are not all possible types of counseling in psychology - they are created by various scientific schools, as well as a practical application requires more and more new options for psychological services.

Individual counseling is practically the most common type of psychological counseling. In its course, the client is left alone with the consultant. This form of counseling is suitable for those people who want to solve the problem in their own mind - get rid of fears, grow personally, become more successful, etc. Psychological counseling is common, as is aggressiveness among schoolchildren.

Group counseling involves the presence of several clients and one consultant. Counseling is carried out on common problems that unite clients, for example, counseling teams at work about cohesion, or counseling different married couples.

Family counseling involves members of the same family as clients in order to resolve their interpersonal conflicts or prepare for important event such as the birth of a child. This form of counseling is the most difficult from the standpoint of the organization, since it is especially difficult to gather people separated by conflicts for a common cause.

Psychological and pedagogical counseling is aimed at teaching people how to interact with children and older students. The issues of optimization of training programs, application of methods, educational innovations, etc. are revealed.

Business psychological counseling can be characterized different ways, depending on the organization or field of activity in which it is applied. In addition to focusing on professional activity, the goals of business psychological counseling are to rally employees, improve work efficiency, advise managers on more effective management, etc.

Psychologist counseling for children

1. Greetings. During the greeting, the consultant uses standard phrases that indicate his location and openness: “Good to see you”, “Nice to meet you”, etc.
2. Conducting the client to the place. The consultant leads the visitor, showing him the way and inviting him to the office in front of him.
3. Establish a positive attitude. In psychological counseling, both active and passive methods are used for this. Passive methods include pleasant appearance consultant, office, friendly facial expression, observance of etiquette and communication areas. Active methods mean direct encouragement or other positive impact on the client through words or actions.
4. Release from psychological barriers. It is quite natural for a client to feel anxiety before the first visit to a psychologist, and the true thoughts and feelings of the client cannot always get through this excitement. It may take more than one session to remove psychological barriers. However, this process can be facilitated with the help of free conversation, music and other techniques.

The second stage is devoted to collecting information about the client and his problem. It includes the following methods of psychological counseling:

1. Diagnostics consists of a combination of observation, conversation and interview. Observation takes place in a passive mode throughout the communication session. The consultant notes the behavior, gestures, and conversation of the client. The conversation flows in a free mode and allows you to set the client to "speaking", to freely express their thoughts. An interview differs from a conversation in that the consultant practically does not take an active position in it, but only asks questions. In addition, unlike a free-flowing conversation, interview questions are purposeful and should lead the conversation to a specific point.
2. Clarification of the essence of the problem is carried out using two techniques - dialogue and active listening. During the dialogue, the consultant actively leads the client to the disclosure of his deepest experiences. If the client is already mentally prepared and talks about what worries him, the active listening technique is used. In its course, the psychologist, without interrupting, listens to the client, showing him that he is included in the conversation, nodding, paraphrasing and asking clarifying questions.

The third stage is drawing up a strategy to overcome the difficulties of the client. It can be divided into three stages, each of which involves the use of special techniques:

• Identification of possible ways out of a problem situation. For this purpose, techniques such as advice, information, persuasion and clarification are used. It should be noted that "advice" should be understood conditionally - the client should not take the recommendation given by the psychologist on faith. It should be discussed in detail during a joint discussion, as a result of which the client should put forward his own version of the solution to the situation.
• Coordination of the action plan. At this stage, the client, together with the psychologist, will have to develop a plan for the implementation of the option that was selected at the previous stage. This is done using techniques for finding multiple solutions, specification of expectations, stimulating questions and sequencing of solutions.

Thus, in the course of resolving the psychological difficulties of the client, they are used. There is no universal scheme that will help to cope with the problem of any client - the skill of a consultant lies in owning a wide range psychological tools and virtuoso selection of the necessary equipment in each specific situation.

Conditions for the effectiveness of consultations with a psychologist

Psychological counseling is successful only when several factors are combined:

• The client is motivated to make positive changes in life and work on consciousness and behavior. A psychologist conducts a consultation, but the results depend on whether the person himself wants to influence his life, because in consultations, a specialist only helps to come to conclusions, but does not do the work for the client.
• The process and stages of psychological counseling are selected individually, taking into account the characteristics of the person who applied and his problem situation. It is not possible to advise everyone in the same way. A professional always shows flexibility in the selection of certain techniques and their options in order to convey to a person the essence of his internal problems.
• The client attends all necessary sessions scheduled by the consultant. In addition to the fact that during psychological counseling a person comes to the conclusion that changes are necessary, it is necessary that he learns to behave in a certain way and consolidate the achieved result. Many clients abandon visits to a psychologist, and as a result, they cannot resolve the situation, because after some changes, others occur, for which the person is also not ready. As a result, the problem returns again without finding an adequate solution.
• During consultations, a mutual trusting relationship is established between the client and the professional. This is important, because otherwise the consultant will not be able to obtain reliable information or influence the person necessary for productive work.
• The consultant is not focused on a temporary effect. Even if a strategy for solving a certain situation has been developed together with the client, a person, having got out of the problem, at any moment may encounter new problem. Therefore, it is important that the professional does not direct all his attention to temporary relief of the situation, but works on the root cause of the current situation - the lack of necessary forms of behavior or the presence of an internal unresolved conflict.

Thus, the effectiveness of psychological counseling depends not only on the personality and professionalism of the consultant, but also (to a greater extent) on the work that a person does on himself. If you are looking for a professional, we recommend that you contact a psychologist-hypnologist