What is Psychological Self Help? Self-help is the ability and ability to be in reality without compromising the vision of ourselves and the vision of the world in which we live. It includes those structural abilities that in turn define us as a person. Today on site psychological help site we will describe those structural abilities that can be developed in oneself
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Headings:What are you living for now? If the meaning of life cannot simply be borrowed from others, then perhaps there are methods that indicate the direction for finding, or rather, taking responsibility for choosing one's own, individual meaning of life? On the psychological help website, we have given below a psychological technique that will help you get to know your motives and values better. Maybe
Headings:Welcome everyone! Today we decided to publish an article on how to manage your emotions on your own. We hope that this article will help you learn to be in harmony with yourself. Instructions for psychological technology. Step 1. You need to learn to recognize an inadequate response! You notice that your reaction in this or that situation, on sensible reflection, is somewhat inadequate.
Headings:Today on the site of psychological help, we decided to present you with a psychological technique that will help you to remove the most difficult - unconscious chronic muscle clamps on your own. It is important for you to just follow the instructions clearly, and you will understand everything in the process. It should be practiced while lying in bed - when, it would seem, our body is already so relaxed. It would seem that! When you
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Headings:We publish a list of psychological techniques, confirmed by practice. Perhaps some of them resemble manipulation ... However, these same techniques can be used in communicating with you, and whoever is warned is armed!
1. At the beginning of an acquaintance, pay attention to the color of the eyes of one of those present. Let this information not be useful to you (unless, of course, you are going to dedicate poems to him). But this technique helps to achieve optimal eye contact, showing your interlocutors your friendliness and self-confidence.
2. People remember best what happened at the beginning and end of the day, and everything that happens in between is perceived as blurry. Therefore, when scheduling an interview, try to be first or last on the list of candidates.
3. The position of the feet of people participating in a conversation can give away their hidden emotions. For example, if you approach two acquaintances and they turn to you only with their bodies, keeping the position of their feet, they are clearly not disposed towards you. Similarly, the toes of the interlocutor's shoes or boots turned away from you indicate that he wants to leave as soon as possible.
4. When a group of people burst into laughter, everyone instinctively glances at the one they like the most. By the way, this is a great way to calculate office romances.
5. If you want to get an honest answer to a question, and the interlocutor shirks, pause, as qualified psychotherapists do. Be silent for a while, continuing to look into the eyes of the interlocutor. As a rule, a person becomes embarrassed and he seeks to fill a pause.
6. If you feel like your boss is getting ready to give you a flyover, sit right next to him. Your close proximity will lower his aggression level and you can get away with it.
7. If you ask people for small favors, they start to like you. This is the psychological mechanism: we value more those who have been taken care of at least once.
8. Try to remember the person's name when you first meet and use it in subsequent communication. This will position him towards you.
9. Unobtrusive mirroring of other people's gestures contributes to the establishment of trust. The main thing is not to overdo it.
10. Making your way through the crowd, try to look at the gaps between people, and not at themselves. It forces people to step aside in front of you.
11. An adrenaline-fueled date—like a rollercoaster ride, watching a horror movie, or flying together in an airplane—stimulates the arousal centers in the brain and brings you closer to the object of your passion.
12. Try not to start sentences with "I think" and "I think". This goes without saying in your speech, but shows sometimes unnecessary uncertainty.
14. For people, their own self-image is important. Try to figure out how others see themselves in their own eyes.
15. If your job is customer service, put a mirror behind you. This will allow people waiting in line to be less bored and angry about it.
16. Are you dating someone you want to like? Then, as brightly and emotionally as possible, demonstrate the joy of meeting with him. This will make him enjoy you almost as intensely next time.
Lecture 5. Basic techniques and stages of the counseling process. 1) Review of basic counseling techniques. 2) Techniques for regulating the emotional state of the client. 3) Stages psychological counseling. 4) Models and algorithms of counseling. 5) The specifics of the first conversation with the client. 6) Formation of strategy and tactics of long-term advisory support and short-term counseling.
Review of basic counseling techniques.
What is Psychological Counseling Technique?
The technique of psychological counseling is a system procedure specially organized by a psychologist, which includes a set of techniques, prescriptions, actions carried out by him in relation to the client as part of the consultative process. The technique pursues a specific goal and is aimed at solving one or more advisory tasks. Most of the techniques can also be used for diagnostic purposes to gain information about the client and how they function psychologically.
What techniques are used in the counseling work of a psychologist?
Building a relationship with the client through questions. The questions that the educational psychologist asks the client are aimed at solving a number of problems: 1) maintaining contact with the client; 2) obtaining information; 3) revealing feelings; 4) verification or refinement of hypotheses.
Open-ended questions usually begin with the words "what", "how", "why", "could", "and if". They require a detailed response from the client, since it is difficult to answer them with “yes” or “no”.
Closed questions contain the wording of the answer or its variants. They can be answered "yes" or "no". Closed questions are used to collect information, as well as to find out something, to focus attention, to narrow the area of judgments.
Paraphrasing (paraphrase) - formulating the client's thoughts in other words. Paraphrasing is always a certain risk for an educational psychologist, since you can never be sure that you understand another person correctly. The purpose of paraphrasing is to test how accurately the therapist understands the client. There are standard statements with which paraphrasing often begins: “As I understand it ...”, “Do you think ...”, “In your opinion ...”, “In other words, you think”, “If I understand correctly, you are talking about ...” and others
Clarification (clarification, clarification) - microtechnics that helps to make the client's message more understandable for the teacher-psychologist. The psychologist addresses the client with a question or request to clarify what he said. The following key phrases can be used: "Will you repeat it again?" and etc.
What are listening techniques?
Non-reflexive listening (passive listening, the principle of silence) is the most basic type of listening. It consists in the ability of the teacher-psychologist to remain silent, remaining attentive and not interfering with the client's story or activity. This process can be called passive only conditionally, since it requires great attention from the teacher-psychologist. “Non-reflexivity” is also a conditional concept, since at the same time the educational psychologist remains in contact with himself, his feelings, continues to build therapeutic hypotheses or consider a further strategy for working with the client.
Empathic (active) listening is a technique used in the practice of socio-psychological training, psychological counseling and psychotherapy, which allows you to more accurately understand the psychological states, feelings, thoughts of the interlocutor with the help of special methods of participating in a conversation, implying the active expression of one's own feelings and considerations.
There is one more kind of listening that should be briefly mentioned.
Directed, critical listening. With this type of listening, the participant in communication first carries out a critical analysis of the message (often in advance, coming with an attitude towards critical perception of information), i.e. determines how true, reliable or probable the information can be, and only after that he understands whether he agrees with it and whether he wants to perceive and respond.
What are impact techniques?
In addition to the micro-techniques of listening, there are techniques for influencing the client. Influence techniques are methods of active involvement of a teacher-psychologist in the process of resolving the client's actual life problems. All counseling theories are based on the fact that the psychologist acts as an agent of change and personal growth clients. In the case when the educational psychologist uses special methods of influence, changes can occur faster and more efficiently.
Directive is the most powerful of the techniques of influence. When using a directive, the psychologist tells the client what action to take. As part of different theories various types of directives are used, for example,
1. free associations: “Remember and tell us what moments from your childhood this feeling is associated with ...”;
2. Gestalt method of working with an empty chair: “Imagine that your partner is sitting in this chair. Tell him everything you think and feel. Now sit down and answer yourself on his behalf”;
3. fantasizing: “Imagine that 5 years have passed ... You are in the future ... Before you is a young woman ... This woman is you ... Come closer to her ... Look at what she is wearing, how she looks ... What is she doing? How does he live? You can ask her about something important…”
4. relaxation: “Close your eyes… Feel your body… Relax your facial muscles…”
5. wish: "I would like you to do the following ..."
Confrontation. During confrontation, the psychologist draws the client's attention to those facts in his story that are contradictory, inadequate. The concept of “disagreement” is important for understanding confrontation. The client gives double messages during the interview (yes…but); demonstrates opposite or contradictory feelings and thoughts. The psychologist points out these double messages to the client and thus confronts the client with the facts. The purpose of counseling is the identification and confrontation of the main contradictions of the client. Having noticed contradictions in the client's story, the psychologist can use the following template: "On the one hand you think (feel, act) ..., but on the other hand you think (feel, act ...)".
Self-disclosure is a technique of influence based on the fact that an educational psychologist shares personal experience and experiences, or shares the feelings of the client. It is connected with the feedback technique and is based on the "I-statements" of the specialist.
Techniques for regulating the emotional state of the client.
What techniques are involved in working with the client's emotions?
Before you begin to discuss with the client the content of his problem, it is necessary to release the feelings and emotions associated with it, to let them flow freely. One of the most famous methods for this - the verbalization of emotional states - was proposed by K. Rogers. We are talking about the fact that the consultant gives the client the opportunity to "let off steam", relieve tension, speak out in the presence of an attentive and empathic listener (this technique is based on the idea of catharsis - "cleansing experience"). K. Rogers noted his own internal therapeutic nature of pronunciation, since the unrestricted flow negative emotions gradually changes to positive by itself. In the course of verbalization, the client independently moves towards finding psychological balance. The same effect can be achieved if the client is asked to keep diary entries as homework, “speaking out” to himself in writing. Gradually freeing himself from the captivity of emotions, the client becomes able to discuss the essence of his problem more rationally and balanced, and the feeling created by the consultant that he understands not only the essence of his statements, but also inner experiences, strengthens the atmosphere of trust and facilitates further self-disclosure of the client. In working with the emotional sphere, it is important for the consultant to recognize and understand for himself and make the client aware of exactly what feelings accompanied the emergence of the problem and are associated with its current experience.
The technique of alternative formulations is a specific form of "prompts" of 2 - 3 variants of experiences that could arise in the situation experienced by the client. This technique allows you to stimulate the activity of the client in relation to his own inner world, gives him an example for a possible description of his experiences. The starting point here is that with regard to significant issues in your life, especially those related to heartache, suffering, a person knows and feels much more than he is sometimes able to express on his own in words, but “recognition” of feelings is easier for him than their naming and description. This technique "pulls out" unspoken experiences, giving the client a more subtle and differentiated sense of himself, and the consultant - more reliable and colored by the client's personal meanings material for analysis. In many cases, only a small, but unusual push for the client is enough to encourage him to think about something that previously did not cause doubts or internal interest.
Technique of emphasizing experience - allows you to identify and accurately name the experience experienced in relation to significant circumstances and persons in order to understand its meaning by the client. The consultant should notice himself and draw the client’s attention to adverbs and adjectives in the client’s text, to verbs denoting the attitude and quality of the action: “When he calls me to the office, my legs give way”, “I don’t want to return in the evenings home, I sit late at work until the janitor starts rattling the keys”, “When the father comes drunk, we all try to be silent” - behind these emotionally charged phrases there are deeper feelings than it seems at first glance. And here it is enough to push the client to further conversation, focusing his attention on the used word: "The legs give way ... why?", clarifying what this means specifically for him.
Clarification of the depth of experience, allowing the client to take an important step from “I must feel ...” to “I feel ...”. The opportunity to realize one’s own true feelings is created by the consultant due to internal strengthening, additional “recharging” of the experiences already somehow indicated by the client (“How quickly were you able to recover after these words?”, “Did it unsettle you for a long time? "). The purpose of the reception is to “lure” the client deeper into their own experiences and help them realize their individual significance for further actions.
This technique brings the psychologist closer to careful interpretation through the formulation of "That is ...", paraphrasing "So that means ..." and questions "How exactly do you ...?". Being simple in form, they require from the psychologist a good understanding of the client's feelings and contribute to a deeper understanding by the client of the individual meaning of their own experiences. It is important that the consultant's comments do not provoke confrontation or resistance, but expand the client's plane of awareness, preparing for corrective action.
Stages of psychological counseling.
How can a consultant schedule a meeting with a client?
Counseling must begin with time planning. The optimal time schedule allows the consultant to perform his professional duties at a high technological level, maintain professional excellence and improve your professional skills.
Structuring the counseling process begins with scheduling a meeting with the client. Preparation for it consists of a number of stages:
1. Drawing up a preliminary idea about the client and his problem. The information obtained by the consultant before starting work with the client will help to implement the following stages of preparation for the consultation.
2. Systematization of knowledge on the existing problem. On this stage the consultant can review the literature on the issue; consult with colleagues; check out new research.
3. Development of a consultation plan. It should be noted that having a plan can have positive and negative sides. The consultant must be able to change the planned plan depending on the situation, otherwise you can miss important points for the client, the main directions of further work.
4. Selection of psychodiagnostic means.
Following this algorithm will allow, especially novice consultants, to feel confident in the process of work.
The process of counseling can also be presented in the form of sequentially replacing each other stages. Scholars offer different models of counseling.
What is the five-stage counseling model?
Most specialists in practice use a five-stage counseling model:
I stage. Establishing and maintaining a trusting relationship with the client (maintaining a trusting relationship with the client by the consultant should be carried out throughout the entire counseling process). The consultant supports the client, creates psychological safety conditions for him and inspires the client's confidence in himself as a professional.
II stage. "Confession" of the client to the consultant (subjective emotional verbal presentation by the client of his psychological and socio-psychological problems). The consultant has a general idea of the internal and external causes of the client's psychosocial problems, and the first working hypotheses appear - a hypothetical judgment about the natural (causal) connection of phenomena. Through counseling hypotheses, the counselor can formulate the range of psychosocial problems that the client comes to him with. The specialist begins to formulate a preliminary professional advisory opinion.
III stage. Analysis (comprehension, reflection) of the client's socio-psychological problems; verification of the general working advisory hypothesis.
IV stage. Comprehensive professional study of the client's significant problems by the consultant, search for the implementation by the consultant together with the client of optimal solutions to the client's problems and finding resources (in order to resolve the client's socio-psychological difficulties and get out of his difficult life situation).
V stage. Recommendations to the client and completion of the consultation process, a brief summary by the consultant of what happened during the entire consultation process, repeated “talking” (to the client) of the options for solving the problem chosen together with the client.
The final part of the consultation process also discusses, if necessary, the subsequent communication (professional interaction) of the consultant with the client.
What are the central steps in the counseling process?
In social work, the counselor helps the client solve a specific problem. In this regard, it is convenient to consider the stages of counseling using the J. Egan model. This model considers counseling as "problem management", which means management, not solution, since not all problems can be permanently solved. The central stages of the model are:
1. identifying the problem (helping the client tell their story; focusing; activating);
2. formation of goals (development of a new scenario and a set of goals; assessment of goals; selection of goals for specific actions);
3. implementation of actions (development of action strategies; implementation of strategies).
The first stage, in which trust is established, is aimed at creating a picture of the "current scenario", i.e. problematic situation. In the second stage, the consultant, together with the client, forms a “new scenario” with the help of which the situation can be improved. At the third stage, strategies are developed to achieve the goals, actions necessary to move from the "current scenario" to the "desirable" one.
There are cultural and individual issues that arise at different stages (stages of counseling) that the counselor needs to consider. It is impossible to follow strict norms in conducting a consultative conversation, but it is necessary to structure the process of counseling. The budding counselor should especially learn to plan the consultation and the counseling process according to the stages of the counseling.
Models and algorithms of counseling.
What is meant by the model of psychological counseling?
A specific counseling model is often chosen depending on the overall theoretical orientation:
- psychoanalytic,
- person-centered,
- behavioral,
- cognitive, etc.
Counseling models include 1) life skills training, 2) human relationships and communication skills training, 3) problem solving and decision making training, 4) support training. healthy lifestyle life, 5) orientation and development of abilities, 6) assistance in the formation of self-identity and personal development.
At the present stage of development of the theory and practice of psychological counseling, one can single out the emergence of a number of new models of counseling:
. short-term positive counseling,
. counseling using the psychotechnology of neurolinguistic programming,
. personality reassessment counseling, etc.
Counseling models can be specified in accordance with life situations that cause mental maladjustment. So, special models of counseling on the problems of alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, learning difficulties, etc. have recently been formed.
What does the algorithm of psychological counseling look like?
The main task of the consultant in the conversation is to bring the client to an understanding, awareness of himself, his behavior, his leading motives and values, his resources and limitations. The client's progress towards the goal can occur at different speeds - faster, slower, which depends on many reasons. Sometimes a client gets stuck in their own insights about themselves. Scattering, lack of focus, incoherence destroy the counseling process. The art of the consultant is to regulate the intensity of progress towards the goal in accordance with the individual capabilities of the client. Psychological counseling is a process that has a number of stages. Counseling has a beginning, a middle and an end, and the counselor must know how to start counseling, by what means to continue it, to make it intense and productive, and how to end it.
Its staging is clearly seen in the main method of psychological counseling - the interview.
An interview is a special method of analyzing a client's unique situation in order to increase the dynamism of his attitude to various aspects of subjective psychic reality.
The literature usually provides a "five-step" model of the consultative interview, which is the algorithm of the consulting process.
1. Establishing contact and orienting the client to work.
2. Collecting information about the client and highlighting the "problem".
3. Formulation and awareness of the desired result.
4. Development of alternative solutions.
5. Generalization of results, transition to action.
The specifics of the first conversation with the client.
How does the first meeting between the client and the psychologist begin?
At the first meeting with the client, the consultant should Special attention, even if there were many visitors that day. The client comes for psychological help with two strong feelings - fear and hope. The counselor's duty is to ease fear and increase hope.
The first meeting begins with an introduction. Immediately striking and testifying to the client's character is the way he enters the office - with a firm step, demonstrating determination and courage, or hesitantly, reluctantly, which speaks of fear, shyness, doubts. With a handshake, the consultant from the first minutes of the meeting shows friendliness, interest and readiness to help, since shaking hands is considered to be a symbol of the unity of two people. Having introduced himself, the consultant learns the name and surname of the client and can devote a couple of minutes to generally accepted phrases that reduce the anxiety and tension of the first meeting.
How to deal with client anxiety?
Even if there are no visible signs of anxiety in the client's behavior, it should not be forgotten, because the very situation of counseling provokes anxiety. Finally, the client is anxious about his own problems, as well as doubts about whether the consultant’s qualifications are sufficient, whether he is ready to really help, what will happen during the consultation, etc. Anxiety and tension prevent the client from speaking, so the first task of the consultant who noticed the excitement of the client - to help him feel safe. First of all, it is necessary to be active both at the beginning of the conversation and during the entire first meeting. The client hopes that the consultant will be the first to start the conversation. If the counselor sees a client's apparent tension, it is helpful to identify and comment on this state: "You are very concerned"! or "You seem scared"; "What are you concerned about?" Talking about anxiety helps relieve stress. The counselor may ask the client, "Are you concerned about what we should talk about today?" or “Are you afraid of my questions that you would not like to answer?” Sometimes the client is afraid of evaluation, diagnosis, worried about the possible detection of mental disorders. To find out, the counselor might ask, "Are you worried about being diagnosed with a psychiatric diagnosis?" or “Some people are afraid to go to psychologists and psychotherapists, assuming that they will be mistaken for the mentally ill. Do you experience similar anxiety? Anxiety of this kind should be eliminated at the beginning of the conversation. The consultant should explain that the client himself chooses what and how much to talk about, that most people turn to psychologists and psychotherapists because of life problems, and they cannot be considered illnesses.
Anxiety of the first meeting is reduced by familiarizing the client with the counseling procedure. Most clients feel insecure because of the ignorance of the consultant's actions. Some clients understand counseling as a magical help, and the consultant is perceived as a mind-reading magician. For other clients, counseling is a kind of first aid, giving wise advice or work for which the consultant is fully responsible, etc. Such unrealistic expectations partly reflect social stereotypes associated with psychotherapy. A correct explanation of the counseling process, emphasizing the full dependence of success on the cooperation of the consultant and the client, corrects the client's expectations and reduces anxiety. Anxiety can be reduced simply by asking the client to sit comfortably in a chair and relax.
How to listen to a client at the first meeting?
During the first meeting, we carefully listen to the client and try to determine the main topic of the conversation, the range of problems and difficulties. First of all, attention should be paid to the understanding of the problem by the client, to the probable causes of its occurrence, to attempts to solve this problem, the difficulties associated with it and related factors. The consultant should allow the client to talk freely, sometimes inserting phrases such as: “So, all attempts to solve the problem were unsuccessful ...”, “Only with these cases do you connect your problem?” etc. You should not interrupt the client and show your personal agreement or disagreement, you should avoid ridiculing and humiliating the client, you don’t need to show your sympathy either (rather, the client should feel the consultant’s empathy), you shouldn’t offer hasty interpretations and rush to conclusions.
The consultant should not persistently and intrusively encourage the client to “tell everything”. If in any way we force the client to tell about his life, relationships, feelings more than he is ready, then another time the client may not come, experiencing anxiety, guilt and shame due to excessive frankness with a stranger.
Often during the first meeting, the client talks about many problems, because there is almost never a single problem. At first glance, the problems appear to be disparate. However, if the counselor listens carefully to the client, he will see all sorts of connections between the events, feelings, and attitudes described. During the conversation, it is important to note the recurring elements in the client's speech. They indicate the most intense reactions, the most emotionally charged areas of experience. Such repetitions serve as specific "keys" and help the consultant to conduct a conversation more effectively.
From the very beginning of the first meeting, the consultant should ensure that the client takes responsibility for his problems, i.e. acknowledged their authorship in their origin. The client is also responsible for the meaningful use of counseling time. The consultant shares responsibility with the client and indicates that he is interested in discussing the client's problems and possible alternatives for solving them. Our upbringing often conflicts with the requirement of shared responsibility for counseling with the client. The counselor believes he can do a better job by caring for the client's problems more than the client himself. However, we will greatly benefit the client by encouraging him to think deeper about his problems. At the same time, one should not try to completely relieve the client of the anxiety associated with taking responsibility. The client should learn to be tolerant of some dose of anxiety, as life is full of situations in which one has to be personally responsible.
Sometimes it is thought that every time a client should leave a consultant happier than when he arrived. In reality, he should leave the consultant more self-confident, but with a painful understanding that something should be changed in himself and his life. The consultant's duty is not so much to free the client from suffering as to give a constructive direction to his suffering. Suffering can be used as an important force to bring about personality change in the counseling process.
What tasks are solved in the context of the first meeting with a psychologist?
1. Encourage open, sincere and inclusive communication on issues that the client wants to discuss during the meeting, with disclosure of the factors that cause these problems.
2. Move towards a deeper understanding of the client, more respect to him and mutual understanding.
3. Attune the client to the specific usefulness of each consultative meeting.
4. Convey to the client the understanding that he must be an active participant in solving his problems.
5. Identify problems for further work.
Sometimes, at the end of the first meeting, clients ask why it is necessary to meet with a consultant several or even many times. In such cases, the counselor should explain: “Your problems didn't start right away; they have evolved gradually and you have been living with them for some time now. To understand the problems, first of all, you need to get to know them in some detail. It takes time, just like discussing and solving problems. It is impossible to eliminate in one hour what has accumulated over the years. This explanation helps the client understand that problem solving is not a one-time activity, but rather a lengthy process.
Formation of strategy and tactics of long-term advisory support and short-term counseling.
What are the features of the formation of tactics and strategies for long-term counseling?
Let us dwell in more detail on the principles and methods of providing long-term psychological assistance to adults experiencing an age crisis. As a rule, the age crisis in adults is exacerbated by certain non-normative factors. These are strong emotional experiences and major failures - the loss of important family ties, death of a child, relative, end of significant love relationship, divorce; physical factor - illness, accident, operation, childbirth, miscarriage, abortion, extreme physical stress, prolonged deprivation of food, excessive sexual experience, etc. At the present stage, the number of people experiencing certain crisis conditions, is steadily increasing. On the one hand, this may be due to drastic changes in living conditions (instability of social structures, illnesses, changes in the social environment), on the other hand, with a certain evolutionary stage in the development of the psyche of people as a whole.
The duration of crisis experiences, the possibility of a constructive or destructive way out of the crisis are largely determined by the type of coping, the attitude of the individual to an unfavorable life situation. The most typical variants of a person's attitude to crises are: ignoring; exaggerating; demonstrative; voluntaristic; productive.
The purpose of psychological counseling in a crisis is to bring the individual to the awareness of events that are the cause of the state of imbalance, to greater integrity, to less conflict, fragmentation of consciousness, activity, behavior. The tasks of a psychologist are:
1. Help the client survive conflicts and other traumatic situations;
2. Help the client to activate creative, intellectual, personal, spiritual and physical resources to get out of the crisis;
3. Contribute to strengthening the client's self-esteem and self-confidence;
4. To promote the expansion of the client's range of socially and personally acceptable means for an independent solution of emerging problems and overcoming existing difficulties;
5. Mitigate the impact of the stressful event by providing direct emotional assistance and mobilizing the client's efforts to overcome the crisis.
What should be taken into account during long-term psychological support?
Psychological counseling of clients in a state of psychological crisis and requiring long-term counseling should be based on the principles of an existential-humanistic approach; it is necessary to provide the client with a sufficient amount of information about what is happening to him as a result of individual spiritual evolution. Strategies for professional interaction with a client showing signs of crisis should take into account the following points:
1. Counseling for people in crisis should be based on models that take into account changes in the psyche and its potential for self-healing and self-renewal;
2. Accounting for the integrative capabilities and energy resources of the individual; a long-term crisis, especially against the background of the use of strong psychotropic drugs, depletes the potential of the individual and reduces the possibility of positively overcoming psychopathological disorders when using intensive psychotherapy;
3. The willingness of the psychologist to face in the course of work with a crisis personality, with phenomena that are far beyond the prevailing (including professional) ideas about the mental norm, and the ability to regard them as potentially healing for the personality as a whole.
What are the main principles in short-term counseling?
The main organizing principles of the short-term counselor are confidence that the client is able to solve his problem, and that a brief contact with the counseling psychologist is enough to start this process. Thus, he begins his work, being determined to complete it himself and preparing the client for this. To do this, the consultant must be able to:
. identify the most relevant aspects of the client's problem situation,
. to consider the request presented by the client in a wider system context than it represents, and has already solved it independently,
. to shift the client's attention to those levels of his system of relationships where the solution of the problem can be carried out most constructively, i.e. quickly and efficiently,
. place in therapeutic focus those aspects of the situation that are maximally available for change by the client at the moment.
The frequency of meetings depends, firstly, on the nature of the request, and secondly, on the capabilities of the client and the psychologist. In practice, this is once a week, less often - once every two or four weeks. Sometimes separate meetings are held, each at a new request from the client. Then, on the one hand, they are built as the only ones, and on the other hand, in each subsequent meeting it becomes possible to rely on the material of previous meetings and the results achieved by the client between sessions.
What are the characteristics of short-term psychological counseling (CTC)?
1st session: Introductory
The first meeting with a client has several key tasks:
. establishing contact, and then trusting relationships,
. collection of information about the current situation of the client
. identification of complaints, problems and persons responsible for their development - according to the client,
. formulating expectations, desires, intentions and goals from meetings with a psychologist (from this session and from all work with him as a whole),
. conclusion of a contract for the conduct of the CPC.
The main difference between short-term work with a specific client is the focus on how he thinks about his current situation - as insoluble or as available for its favorable change. If the client is immersed in his problem, then the first session should be organized in the form of an attachment (emotional and intellectual) psychologist to the experiences and cognitive constructions of the client. If the client already at the first meeting is able to talk about the desired solution to the problem for him, then counseling can be immediately organized in the paradigm of a conversation about the goals and planned results of the CPC.
2nd session: Psychocorrectional
At this meeting, the main work is carried out to change the client's thinking about the current situation and the possibilities for changing it. The therapeutic approach and the psychotherapeutic techniques used by the psychologist correspond to his qualifications, competence and choice in accordance with the client's request. Thus, the principle of "selecting therapy for the client, and not adjusting the client to the type of therapy" is implemented. This requires a psychologist to master a wide range of psycho-corrective techniques, which is ensured by his special training for CPC and constant professional growth.
3rd session: Conclusion
This meeting is a stage, firstly, of summarizing the achievements obtained by the client in resolving the problem situation during the CPC period, and, secondly, of building plans for the future, when the client independently (without the help of a consultant) will manage his life. The whole process of the CCP is aimed at completion, so the implementation of this stage is its quintessence. The consultant builds the last meeting, directing the client's attention to the results already achieved and the positive dynamics of his situation. It is on the manifested achievements and abilities of the client in their organization that the psychologist builds a conversation about the possibilities of transformation and future life. Using the possibilities of psychological counseling, he creates a context for directing the client's thinking along the path of further development of his abilities and opportunities to improve his life situation. Thus, the psychologist addresses the client as the author, creator and expert in building his life. Such professional support is maintained by patients for many years, helping them cope in difficult life situations.
Recommended literature:
1. R. Kociunas "Fundamentals of psychological counseling". Moscow, ed. "Academic prospect", 1999
2. Yu. Aleshina "Individual and family psychological counseling". Moscow, ed. "Class, 2004
3. S.V. Frolov "Counseling psychology: theory and practice". Saratov, ed. Saratov University, 2010
4. A.N. Elizarov "Fundamentals of individual and family psychological counseling". Moscow, ed. "Os-89", 2000
In the psycho-correctional direction, individual and group forms of work are distinguished.
Individual shape
The individual form of work is carried out in the form of conversations of a psychologist with the parents of a child with developmental disabilities. Unlike group classes, in which the thematic and interactional orientation is the leading one, individual psycho-correctional work is aimed mainly at studying the biography of the family of a child with developmental disabilities, the life path of his parents, their personality traits, the child’s medical history, relationships with relatives and acquaintances. During the conversation, a contact is established or expanded that has already taken place at the stage of educational work, diagnostic procedure and counseling.
Trusting relationships, manifestation of sympathy for the problems of parents allow the psychologist to see and identify those problems that concern them. At the same time, receiving feedback also makes it possible to see disharmonious characteristics in the structure of the parents' personality, which make it difficult for them to rethink their own situation related to the child's condition and to acquire a new worldview position. Gradually, the features of the occurrence of neurotic symptoms, as well as pathocharacterological features of the personality of the parents, are revealed.
Psychocorrective techniques
Due to the fact that the personality-oriented approach is a system that is open for integration with various psycho-correctional approaches, separate methods of gestalt therapy are used in the individual form of work.
Gestals of the "Unfinished Business" technique
This is a technique aimed at resolving any unsatisfied, often not fully realized need of a person. Such unsatisfied human needs can be unreacted emotions, unexpressed feelings, claims to emotionally significant persons (unspoken love, tenderness for her sick child in an authoritarian mother, or feelings of a woman rejected by her ex-husband). Parents are encouraged to express their feelings to an imaginary person using verbal and non-verbal means of communication. The father of a child with developmental disabilities is more often chosen as such a person of the mother, sometimes the child himself becomes such a person. The tears that often appear in mothers are encouraged by the psychologist, since in the process of such work, the mothers' relationship to other persons significant to them is "clarified". Tears have a cleansing and calming effect on the emotional state of the mother. Sometimes such a "clarification" is accompanied by an intellectual "enlightenment" - an insight.
Many parents experience great difficulties in relationships with their spouses. There are cases when, in the heat of intermarital conflicts, husbands reproach their wives for having given birth to sick children. This is a very serious reproach and, in our opinion, unacceptable. However, not all of the women we interviewed manage to reach out to their husbands' understanding of their problems and inner feelings.
As an example, consider the monologue of one of the mothers. Olya M.'s mother voiced the thoughts that she would have addressed to her husband, who, in her opinion, is indifferent to her suffering.
“It’s hard for me to speak. I don’t know where to start ... The main thing is that I really want you to understand me. At least for one minute, a minute, a second, you would take my place, you would fit into my skin. It’s so difficult for me physically "Sometimes it seems that I won't be able to anymore. I won't be able to get up early in the morning and drag Olga in a wheelchair across the city to school. I won't be able to climb up the stairs in the underground passages and at the exit of the metro with a wheelchair (there are no ramps). I won't be able to feel those curious glances of passers-by or passengers in transport again.
These words beat like a hammer on an anvil in my brain. (Tears appear in the eyes of the parent, her voice begins to sound excited. She breathes heavily. Pause.) But then I will look at Olga, my angel, in her face, I will sigh and go again. I so want to feel support in you, I really need your support, your male shoulder ... Where is it? Where?.. If you knew how much I want it. And it's good that I can talk about it now, I can tell you about it. It's good that I can turn my words to you. I can tell you! Can you hear me? I really want to believe that you will hear me. I almost believe that you will hear me and understand... I'm sorry, I can't go on anymore... (wipes tears).
Psychologist: "How do you feel? Are you relieved that you were able to express your painful problems to your husband?"
Olya's mom: "When I spoke, it was very difficult, I could hardly find words. And now it has become easy. I will definitely talk to my husband like that. I think that now I will succeed. Now I have experience."
Gestaltechnique "Dialogue between the sides of the self"
According to the theory of Gestalt therapy, the person experiencing the problem is bifurcated. The "Dialogue..." technique allows for the integration of a fragmented personality, the merging of its opposite parts. The most significant opposite, contrasting personal properties for a person are used: "masculinity - femininity", "aggressiveness - passivity", "dependence - alienation", "rationality - emotionality". The "Dialogue..." procedure is performed using an empty chair, which is placed in front of the person being tested. Alternately transplanting the parent from one chair to another and changing the tone of his descriptions, the psychologist achieves harmonization in him. opposite sides personality. At the end of the "Dialogue ..." the parent must realize that the culprit of difficult relationships with other people is none other than himself.
If subsequent group sessions are necessary, the result of a special psycho-correctional influence of a psychologist on a parent - a vertical "contour of interaction" - should be the consent of the parent to attend psycho-corrective classes in a group.
group form
In group classes, the instrument of influence is the psycho-correctional group (horizontal "contour of interaction"). The group discussion is the most productive and objectively reconstructing the self-consciousness of the parents of the form of work. The topics specially selected by the psychologist, which are especially significant for this category of people, become the material for discussions. These are topics covering:
- internal psychological problems of parents who raise children with developmental disabilities;
- problems arising from the interaction of parents with a sick child in micro- and macro-society;
- problems arising in the relationship of spouses, family members in which a child with developmental disabilities is brought up, etc.
Psychocorrective techniques
Each group lesson has certain stages. At each stage of the classes, special psycho-corrective techniques are used, aimed at specific goals - the formation of an adequate emotional state, the neutralization of emotional experiences, etc. Emotional interaction of a person with the outside world is carried out at various levels of emotional activity (V. V. Lebedinsky, O. S. Nikolskaya, E. R. Baenskaya, M. M. Liebling, 1990). There are four levels of organization of the contact of the subject with the environment, which make up a single, coordinated structure of the basic affective organization:
o level of field reactivity;
o level of stereotypes;
o level of expansion;
o level of emotional control.
Each level has its own specific tasks that do not replace others. The exclusion of any one of the levels can lead the individual to a general affective maladjustment. At the same time, attention is drawn to the fact that "excessive strengthening of the mechanisms of one of the levels and its falling out of common system can also cause affective deficiency" (V. V. Lebedinsky, O. S. Nikolskaya, E. R. Baenskaya, M. M. Liebling, 1990, p. 9).
Field reactivity level provides "the process of choosing the position of greatest comfort and safety" (ibid., p. 8). Affectively significant at this level are impressions of the dynamics external influences- changes occurring in the environment (observations of the movement of a candle flame, the movement of water in a river, "enchantment" by the swirling of falling leaves, snowflakes, etc.). This level of emotional contact with outside world limited for the individual passive contemplation of the environment and the choice of the most comfortable position for the implementation of this contact. In this regard, for the correction of maladaptive states of this level, one should use such psycho-corrective techniques that would include the so-called "pure" impressions from the contemplation of nature, the universality of the world.
Immersion in a state of "fascination" with nature (glare of water, fire, flashing of a sunbeam) gives a feeling of deeply affective peace and tranquility. Parents receive aesthetic pleasure from the contemplation of a harmonious landscape, paintings, interior decoration. According to the definition of VV Lebedinsky (ibid., p. 12), these are "impressions vitally necessary for a person", which serve to correct the psychological states of individuals.
level of stereotypes.
The main task of the second level is the adaptation of the individual to the world around him, the development of affective stereotypes of sensory contact with him. Affective stereotypes are a necessary background for the most complex forms of human behavior. Affective fixation by the subject of ways of contact with the environment gives him the opportunity to develop an optimal manner of interaction with the environment for himself. This level selectively enhances sthenic conditions and counteracts the development of asthenic ones. Affective mechanisms of toning the somatic sphere in the process of human cultural development turn into complex psychotechnical methods of maintaining positive emotional states.
This level is particularly sensitive to various rhythmic influences. Techniques for actively stimulating a person with rhythmically organized sensory impressions underlie the development of folk songs, dances, folklore, with their tendency to rhythmic repetition, whirling and swinging, etc.
A sense of rhythm permeates such arts as music, painting, poetry, and choreography. Due to the fact that their affective impact on a person is organized rhythmically, including affective memory and direct sensory experience, rhythm-forming movements are used to correct maladaptive states - dance, singing, etc.
expansion level.
The task of this level is to actively influence the subject on a changing, dynamic environment. This level is the most dynamically strong and plays a leading role in the process of emotional interaction of a person with the objective world and social environment. Active interaction with the environment makes it vitally necessary for the individual to check the assessment of his strengths and gives rise to the need for him to collide with an obstacle. The ability to overcome fear, to enter into a struggle arises only if the subject is sufficiently confident in his success. Such impressions acquire an independent tonic significance for a person. This level is associated with the dynamics of transforming negative impressions (fear, defeat) into positive ones (success, victory). Psychotechnical techniques of this level underlie many traditional cultures: in gambling, games (bullfight, bullfight, cockfight), sports competitions (fistfight, tug of war), in the cultures of the heroic epic ("Iliad", "Odyssey" , "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", etc.), and "terrible" tales. These cultural psychotechnical techniques are based on a mechanism called by V. V. Lebedinsky "swing". This mechanism contributes to overlapping the feeling of danger with the feeling of victory and self-assertion. The level of emotional control is responsible for organizing the behavior of the subject. At this level, the affective orientation in oneself is improved, the prerequisites for the development of self-esteem are created. Affective experiences of this level are also associated with empathy for others. The emotional experience of a person at this level fixes prohibitions and preferred forms of contact with the outside world, which is the basis of his arbitrary organization of behavior.
Stimulation at the fourth level is associated with the implementation of natural contacts between people. Toning the emotional system is carried out through the transfer, "infection" with sthenic affective states of people from each other: the joy of contact, confidence in success, a sense of security. In this regard, one of positive images can serve as the personality of the psychologist himself, who is a teacher for parents, an ideal from which they take an example.
In each of the above levels of emotional contact with the environment, the following mechanisms of self-regulation of affective processes are identified:
first level- love for contemplation, lonely walks, perfect landscape, proportions and colors of a work of art;
second level- love for rhythmic movement, bright sensual contact with the environment;
third level- passion for risk, excitement, game;
fourth level- need in emotional communication, empathy.
In view of the foregoing, special psycho-corrective techniques are also included in the methodology as mechanisms for self-regulation of the individual's affective processes. They are used at various stages of a group lesson.
Levels of basal emotional organization
1. Level of field reactivity
Contemplation of nature in natural conditions;
creating in the imagination of parents a picture of a harmonious landscape of nature: a summer meadow, a blue sky, a stream, a winter road, a sea, an autumn forest breeze, falling snowflakes, etc .;
the formation of a sense of comfort, convenience and security from the aesthetic organization of the interior of the premises (at home, in the psychologist's office, at work)
2. Level of stereotypes
Rhythm-forming movements used in dance, singing (choreotherapy, vocal therapy, music therapy), poetry (bibliotherapy), painting (art therapy)
3. Level of expansion
The "swing" mechanism used to develop a sense of victory, resistance to resistance, success in stressful situations;
playing conflict situations (behavioral techniques);
reproduction of interactions on problem situations (personally oriented techniques);
identification of the individual's internal resources for rethinking the worldview position and achieving success (cognitive techniques)
Development of self-esteem, empathy, empathy, "feedback";
development of preferred forms of contact with the outside world (client-centered therapy, gestalt therapy, person-oriented techniques)
Group psycho-correctional lesson has the following stages of work.
1. Warm up
This is the stage of the lesson at which the group members prepare for psychological work. For this purpose, special introductory psycho-gymnastic exercises are used, which set up parents for a certain type of internal psychological work. Separating the warm-up into a separate stage of the lesson is especially important at the initial stages of group development, as this allows five tension and stiffness of the participants. The main means of communication at this stage is motor expression (the second level of emotional regulation). At the warm-up stage, exercises are used to focus, to relieve tension, to reduce emotional distance, to train understanding of non-verbal behavior, as well as to train the ability to express one's feelings through non-verbal behavior. The warm-up begins with a greeting.
Greetings
At the beginning of the warm-up, the group members, standing in a circle, greet each other. Saying greetings, the group members follow the psychologist's instructions about the ban on repeating the words that have already been heard. words of welcome. In subsequent lessons, greetings can be transferred to a non-verbal level and named as handshakes, hugs, curtsies, or some other way. in an unconventional way. One of the greeting options can also be a form of addressing the individuality of each of the participants, for example: “Your eyes are amazingly shining today, I am very glad to see you”, or “You are energetic as always today, I greet you”, or “Your appearance is always makes me feel optimistic", etc.
Exercises for developing contact in a group (body-oriented therapy)
Exercise "I wish you well"
Target: conveying positive feelings to each other through tactile contact.
The members of the group become in a circle, join hands and, according to the instructions of the psychologist, convey their positive feelings to each other with the help of tactile contact; The result is checked with a survey.
Exercise "We feel each other's support"
Purpose: same.
Group members work in pairs. They turn their backs to each other and touch, mentally conveying warmth, love, support to each other.
Exercise "Do as I do"
Target: activating the attention of group members.
Psychologist doing simple moves, and the group repeats them; the psychologist claps the simplest rhythm with his hands, and the members of the group repeat it one by one or all together.
Exercise "I will overcome everything"
Target: removal of emotional stress.
According to the psychologist's instructions, the group members must imagine and then show themselves walking on shards of glass, cold snow, slippery ice, hot sand.
Exercise "I Can Do It"
Purpose: same.
Group members should imagine and show themselves hurrying home after work, going to the dentist in the office to the boss, going after working week to the cottage, etc.
Exercise "I give you the sun"
Target: reducing the emotional distance between group members.
The group members pass each other in a circle a yellow ball, symbolizing the sun, while everyone wishes their neighbor good, health, happiness.
Exercise "Conversation through glass"
Target: understanding the non-verbal behavior of others. Group members establish contact with each other using gestures and other paralinguistic means.
Exercise "I'm not afraid"
Target: fear release training. Group members belonging to anxious and psychasthenic individuals learn to respond with anger to a problem that causes them fear.
Exercise "I'm not angry"
Target: anger release training.
Group members who are impulsive, rigid and optimistic learn to release their anger through exercise.
2. Main part (psychoanalytic approach)
This stage of the lesson is devoted to rethinking the life positions and ideological attitudes of parents.
To realize the main goal of psychological correction - restructuring the life stereotype of a parent of a sick child - included special shape conducting classes, which allows you to discuss certain life situations that are familiar to parents. The techniques used to bring participants to insight and catharsis correspond to psycho-corrective techniques. higher levels basal emotional regulation (level of expansion and level of emotional control). Also discussed are inner feelings, feelings and own conclusions of parents about a particular situation.
The psycho-corrective effect during the discussion is achieved with the help of specially written stories (psychoanalytic approach). These stories, devoid of everyday phrases and slang expressions, are a literary processing of "everyday" stories of the parents of sick children. They present a generalized life experience of the group members, as well as new philosophical and worldview attitudes proposed by the psychologist, which contribute to the reconstruction of the life stereotype of each of the participants.
The story describes a typical situation in which parents of children with developmental disabilities have to or have had to be often. This situation usually includes typical personal and behavioral reactions of both parents and those around them. At the same time, the story is used as the leading mechanism for corrective action, in which discussion or playback conflict situation carried out not from the first, but from the third person.
The text of the story, written in large print, is placed in front of the group members in such a way that each of the listeners can clearly see it. This text is then read aloud by the psychologist. Each story ends with questions relating to the specific life situation that is being discussed. According to the nature of the construction, as well as the reproduction of life situations, two types of stories are distinguished:
a sample story that tells about the productive forms of relationships within the family and between its individual members; a problematic story in which there are no ready-made tips; the members of the group must tell the main characters their way out of a difficult situation based on personal experience.
At the end of the discussion of such a story, questions are usually asked, for example:
What would you do in the place of the heroine? What do you recommend?
How to find constructive ways out of this situation?
So, for example, the sample stories "Sunday is a day of communication" (V.V. Tkacheva, 2C00) and "Is it worth spending your whole life on a sick child?" (V. V. Tkacheva, 1999) demonstrate the possibility of obtaining a constructive version of modeling interpersonal relationships in a family raising a child with developmental disabilities.
The problematic story "The Insurmountable Barrier" (V.V. Tkacheva, 2000) tells about the misunderstanding of the experiences of a woman who gave birth to a handicapped child, her husband and the father of this child. Such stories lack turnkey solutions.
The problematic of the situation involves the search for several possible options that the members of the group themselves must find.
The stories presented to parents are systematized by topic in accordance with the main problem situations. The topics of discussion are divided into three areas:
o problems relating to the interaction between a mother and a child with developmental disabilities;
o problems relating to the interaction between the mother, the child with developmental disabilities and his father;
o problems relating to the interaction between the mother, the child with developmental disabilities and other family members (relatives, healthy brothers, sisters) or strangers.
The following stories are devoted to the problems of the relationship between a mother and her child:
"Mom, don't hit me, I love you", "Bicycle", "My son doesn't love me. Help!" (V. V. Tkacheva, 1999). The first of the proposed stories is devoted to the problem of rejection, irritation and affective outbursts that arise in a mother as a result of the physical and mental disabilities of her child. The story "Bicycle" reveals the mother's experiences associated with the child's motor deficiency, and reflects her desire and attempts to overcome this inferiority. The story reveals the dramatic nature of the relationship of a woman who gave birth to a sick child with society. Healthy children do not accept a sick girl into the game. Their mothers show false empathy. All this together greatly injures the heroine of the story, traumatized by the illness of the child. In the story "My son does not love me. Help!" tells about a woman who could not bring up love for herself in her son. Now she was born with envy for other mothers who, despite the illness of their children, are happy, because their life is full, they feel their love.
The story "Is it worth spending your whole life on a sick child?" tells the life stories of two women who dealt with their tragedy in different ways. It aims to reorient life values parents and contributes to the restructuring of their worldview positions.
The second group of stories reveals the problems of relationships between fathers and sick children, as well as relationships between parents. The story "Daddy, play with me" (V.V. Tkacheva, 2000) tells about the emotional rejection of a sick child and the father's misunderstanding of the mother's position.
In the story "Who is to blame?" the problem of finding out the guilt of parents in the child's illness is raised. The husband blames his wife for this. Similar position loved one hurts an already suffering woman.
The story "Sunday - the day of communication" tells about the mother's desire to introduce the father to friendly relations with a sick child through Sunday walks with him. The story "The Impossible Barrier" tells about the difficult relationship between the parents of a sick girl.
The last direction highlights the problems faced by parents raising a child with developmental disabilities in society. The story "He is to blame for the death of grandfather" describes the condition of a woman whose son, bedridden, is accused by her mother of the death of his grandfather. This story reveals the depth of the shock of the soul of the mother of a sick child in a conflict relationship with a loved one - her mother. The story "Mothers like you and me must be killed!" - tells about tragic fate two sisters who gave birth to sick children.
After reviewing the text of the story, each member of the group expresses his understanding of this problem, answering the psychologist's question: "What would you do in the place of the heroes of the story?" The emergence of the discussion is facilitated by the fact that the positions of the group members on this issue can be polar. At the end of the discussion, the psychologist draws a conclusion, summing up what everyone has said.
The generalized results of the discussions of the stories form the basis of the "Models of Behavior", recommendations for parents on overcoming difficult situations in their lives (behavioral therapy, coping therapy).
At the same time, group members receive homework, which may have various forms and content, for example:
think over your position or behavior on any issue;
analyze your life situation, similar to that proposed in the story, and write it down; keep a diary of your feelings.
Auxiliary forms of psycho-correction, used in the main part of the training, solve the same tasks as the discussion, but with the use of other psycho-corrective techniques. Some of them, namely thematic questionnaires, are preparatory stage for discussions on the presented stories.
Thematic questionnaires (Gestalt therapy)
These questionnaires are compiled by a psychologist on topics relevant to the group. Thematic questionnaires are the very first productive form of work to which the group responds positively. Having received the form with the text of the questionnaire, the group members answer it right here, in the lesson. The responses are then discussed. Below are the options for the topics of the questionnaires that are offered to participants:
My life path: my failures and my successes.
What I do not like and like in the work of the psycho-correctional group.
My fulcrum in life: what hinders me and what helps me.
What qualities in a person do I not like, and what do I like.
What I don't like and what I love about my child.
Thematic questionnaires help to structure the positions of the participants, contribute to the awareness of their own position. This form of work leads the group members to re-evaluate their life attitudes, and also prepares them for the planned discussions.
Due to the fact that most of the semantic load of psychocorrection falls on the main part of the lesson, special importance at this stage is given to the development of general positive approaches to solving a particular problem.
Projective drawing (arterania)
This form of work is usually received with particular enthusiasm by the members of the group. Depicting their own feelings and experiences with the help of paints, felt-tip pens or pencils helps parents overcome personal problems that are sometimes difficult to verbalize. Suggested topics are:
My coat of arms and my life problem.
How I imagined a child before birth and how I see him now.
What was my relationship with my husband before the birth of the child and what they became after his birth.
My mood.
Other topics may be suggested. To reproduce their feelings on a piece of paper, group members use both concrete and abstract images. After the drawing process is completed, the feelings depicted and the attitude towards them are discussed in the group. First, the psychologist invites the whole group, excluding the author, to understand the meaning of the feelings expressed in the drawing and asks to tell about it. Then the author of the drawing shares his thoughts about the drawn images and feelings.
This form of work contributes to switching the group from the verbal level of comprehension of the participants' problems to the non-verbal one, and also reveals some depth of their own experiences hidden from the participants themselves. The use of art therapy techniques allows materializing the experiences of parents and contributes to their understanding and comprehension. But only a subsequent discussion can lead to the elimination of the causes of these experiences, their neutralization.
Role situations (psychodrama Moreno)
This form of work is presented to group members at more advanced stages due to the complexity, as practice has shown, of its implementation. Group members may experience great difficulty in verbalizing their own and other people's feelings, presenting them for open discussion, playing certain roles, and reproducing stressful situations that have already been experienced. The following situations are offered as played ones.
Role-playing situation "Conversation with a doctor" The diagnosis of a child is perceived by the parent as the collapse of all hopes, as the most difficult period in his life. Therefore, in our opinion, it is very important to reorient parents to a productive perception of the doctor's advice.
Role-playing situation "Discussing the state of health of a child with a friend, relative or mother."
Reflections of the mother of a child with severe developmental disabilities about what to do with a sick child, how to live now, when it seems that all life has collapsed in an instant. Correction of mothers' reactions to the advice of close people about what is better: to leave the child in the hospital or "surrender". The reaction of mothers who have already made their choice regardless of such an offer.
Role-playing situation "Difficult conversation with neighbors" The idle curiosity of a stranger seriously hurts the soul of a parent of a sick child. Purpose: development of adequate role behavior in society.
Role situation "Dialogue with the child's father" The situation of divorce aggravates the woman's tragedy. A man, leaving a woman, involuntarily betrays a sick, helpless child. Correction of fathers' positions. The child needs not only his father's financial help, but also his emotional warmth, etc. The role-played situations are then also subject to discussion and analysis by the group members.
It should be especially noted that at the initial stage of group formation, this form of work can cause the most negative reactions of the participants. Parents of children with developmental disabilities do not want to recall and play out again the hard feelings associated with the child. More acceptable is such a form in which the discussion or playing of the conflict situation is carried out not from the first person (as is traditionally proposed in the personality-oriented approach), but from the third person, as was proposed in the thematic stories. Therefore, this psychotechnics can be used only at the stage of a mature, constructively working group.
Autotraining (autosuggestive approach)
At this stage, the relaxation technique according to E. Jacobson and I. G. Schultz is used, aimed at developing the ability to relax muscles at rest (body-oriented therapy). With the help of concentration of attention, each member of the group develops the ability to relax various parts of the body, the ability to capture a feeling of tension and relaxation in the muscles. The psychologist teaches parents to tense and relax muscle groups. At the same time, the ability to self-regulate involuntary functions of the body is being developed: the ability to calm the heart rhythm, smooth breathing, etc.
The method of progressive muscle relaxation has a positive effect on persistent reactions of anxiety, fear and depressive states. The group members are given the task of observing themselves on a daily basis, to note which muscles tense up during excitement, fear, anxiety. At the same time, recommendations are given for targeted reduction and then removal of local muscle tension. In general, auto-training is aimed at developing the ability of group members to switch from traumatic experiences to harmonious emotional states.
Musical relaxation
This part of the lesson can be presented in different forms: music therapy, bibliotherapy, choreotherapy and vocal therapy.
Music therapy and bibliotherapy
The group members sit in chairs. The psychologist gives the installation: close your eyes and imagine what he will talk about. Next, the psychologist reads the text - a description of the picture of nature (the level of field reactivity).
The reading of the text is accompanied by the quiet sound of excerpts from the classical works of domestic and foreign composers. Texts for conducting music therapy and bibliotherapy are presented in the manuals of V.V. Tkacheva (1999, 2000). In the process of listening, classical literary works can also be used (poems by I. A. Bunin, A. S. Pushkin, A. A. Fet, etc.).
The text read to the music necessarily has the following structure: an anxious beginning, a stormy middle and a calm optimistic end. The optimistic content of the text allows the members of the group to form a positive attitude and images that evoke positive feelings and moods. The following images are chosen for the composition of the texts.
Summer meadow. Blue sky. The brook is a full-flowing river. A weak stem is a beautiful flower. Winter road. Mother and child. Breeze. Sea. Autumn forest. Sail. Tree. First snowflakes. New Year's celebration. Spring drops.
The corrective effect of bibliotherapy is manifested in filling the lack of positive images and ideas of parents. This contributes to the replacement of thoughts and feelings that traumatize the psyche with positive sensations. In addition to the text of musical relaxation or poetry, parents are also offered to read in class or at home specially selected excerpts from classical literary works of philosophical content that have an aphoristic orientation. It is this form of implementation of the bibliotherapeutic approach that helps parents bring order to their own feelings, rethink their own being, find joy in the little things of everyday life.
The nature of the musical work is selected taking into account the same structure that was present in the literary text: the presence of anxiety, strong protest, happy resolution and appeasement.
The following works are selected for listening: "Moonlight Sonata" by L. Van Beethoven; "Second Piano Concerto" by S. V. Rachmaninov; "The Seasons" by P. I. Tchaikovsky; music for the film "Snowstorm" by GV Sviridov; waltzes by I. I. Strauss and others.
As you know, the value of music therapy lies in the positive emotions received when listening to a piece of music. Artistic enjoyment, according to L. S. Vygotsky (1934, 1986), is not pure reception; on the contrary, it requires highest activity psyche. At the same time, painful and unpleasant affects undergo discharge, destruction, and transformation into opposite ones. Thus, the aesthetic reaction in the members of the group is reduced to a complex transformation and then purification of feelings (catharsis).
When listening to music and text, group members sit or lie in chairs with their eyes closed. After the end of the sound of the text and music, the members of the group are surveyed to find out the images that arose in their minds during this stage of the lesson. At the beginning of the course of psychocorrectional classes, the imaginary images offered by the psychologist do not always coincide with the images that arise in the members of the group. This is also the subject of discussion. It should be noted that at the initial stage of training, most of the group members experience difficulties in reproducing any images at all. Some of them have only negative impressions. Then, in the process of learning, almost all parents develop the ability to create positive images in their minds that reproduce individual pictures of nature or pleasant memories.
Choreotherapy
Musical-rhythmic activity helps to revive psychomotor skills, improve behavioral reactions, relieve the stiffness of movements in passive and inert parents, and also develops their rhythmic and auditory perception. In authoritarian parents, choreotherapy releases accumulated aggressiveness, irritation and transforms them into physical exercises. Thus, dance, free movement to the music allow you to refresh the sensations, make positive emotions brighter and more durable.
This form of psycho-correction achieves the greatest optimal effect when used at the end of classes, as it helps to consolidate the parents' maximum self-actualization in movement, feeling complete freedom and your own perfection. For these purposes, it is better to choose small excerpts from modern dance melodies that have a clear rhythm.
Vocal therapy
Vocal Therapy Presents milestone musical relaxation. Singing (perhaps a sareia) is carried out under the guidance of a psychologist, who initiates this process at the initial stages of the implementation of psychotechnics. A prerequisite for singing is that the participants have the lyrics. The use of this technique also contributes to the removal of clamps from parents, the development of a sense of freedom and self-actualization. At the same time, the joint process of singing contributes to the development of group cohesion, forms a sense of support and empathy.
5. Summing up the lesson
At the stage of completing the lesson, the psychologist thanks all the participants in the group and offers homework: formulate the motto of your family; describe the joyful events of married life; record and reproduce the words of admiration spoken by the child to his parent; describe the actions that testify to the love of the child for the parent; answer the questions posed by the psychologist, etc.
