In previous publications of the heading "" we have repeatedly focused on the fact that it is much easier and faster to find a way out of many difficult situations by turning to the help of a specialist. And if you - at least purely theoretically - already admit that someday you yourself or members of your family will turn to the help of a psychologist (psychotherapist, psychoanalyst), then the next interview will be useful for you.
Our regular guest, , will tell you about which problems a specialist of this profile helps to solve, and which he will not undertake in any case. How is the interaction between the psychologist and the client built, on what does the success of psychotherapy depend? How to choose the “right” consultant and the direction that will most effectively help you deal with your internal contradictions?
Psychologist - who is this?
— Alexandra, in Russian society there is traditionally a prejudice towards psychologists and psychotherapists. With what, in your opinion, it can be connected?
- First of all - with a lack of knowledge about this profession. In the West and the USA psychotherapy in the XX century. was already taking confident steps and bringing revolutionary results, and in the USSR, the society was aware of psychologists-scientists who put forward theories, set up experiments and conducted testing. Then a stream of all kinds of psychological and pseudo-scientific theories, concepts and techniques poured into the new Russia. Everything was “new” and was accepted with confidence and enthusiasm, without filtering or criticism: hypnosis, sect-like associations that save the soul, tests, teachings about leaving the body, S. Grof’s matrices, feng shui, psychoanalysis ... There was not enough information on systematization and adaptation of these approaches in our conditions, and for many people a mess of different (often contradictory) psychological concepts, theories and “recipes” has formed in their heads.
Education in psychology in Russia at the moment is not built quite adequately, in my opinion. Some people can, after completing two-month courses, obtain a diploma in psychology, conduct counseling not only without sufficient knowledge of techniques, but also without knowledge of the theoretical base and methodology. Many work alone, without consulting colleagues in difficult cases, without going through a certain number of hours of personal psychotherapy, which is unacceptable. In addition, charlatans are still good at fooling people who are ignorant of psychology, because they simply do not know what to expect and what they can demand from a psychologist. Many now also confuse a psychiatrist, psychoneurologist, psychotherapist and psychologist, although the differences between them are significant ( more details in - approx. ed.).
So public distrust is quite natural: it is caused by a lack of knowledge (who are psychologists, how do they work, what happens in sessions, what can be the results), superstitious fears about psychologists (“they see through”), a misunderstanding about the goals and possibilities of psychotherapy (“they will hypnotize and find out my secret or they will force me to give away the money”, “they will help me change my husband for the better”), a clash with unprofessionalism, as well as the historically sad experience of distrust of unfamiliar people (Stalin’s times). Therefore, I would like to debunk some myths about psychologists and tell a little about this profession. I’ll make a reservation right away, by the word “psychologist” I will mean a psychologist who does his job well and honestly.
So what is the job of a psychologist?
- In fact, a psychologist is a living tool for working with the human psyche, its normal and pathological manifestations. This is an ordinary person with professional training who uses modern knowledge and methods obtained in an educational institution, as well as as a result of attending training seminars, trainings, self-study, his psychotherapy and personal experience to work with the client's personality.
The psychologist in a certain way “tunes in” to the client, together with him identifies his request, i.e., specifies the behavior or state that is undesirable (now) and desired for the person, then, using special interaction techniques, helps the client to carry out internal work that changes the state or behavior in the necessary side. With the help of a psychologist, a person can review the current life situation and change it or change their attitude towards it. The task of the psychologist is to help the client identify the currently most relevant blocked needs, behaviors, goals and accompany the person on the path to the desired changes, making this path as fast and comfortable as possible, providing support and helping to find the strength to overcome emerging obstacles. That is, the client's psyche works mainly, and psychotherapy in the broadest sense accelerates the process of natural development. What a person alone can take years to achieve can be done in psychotherapy in a shorter period of time. At the same time, the initial impulse always comes from the client, psychotherapeutic work is possible only with sufficient motivation, since wandering around the inner world of another without a goal is useless and energy-consuming.
- That is, psychologists do not undertake to work with clients with insufficient motivation, e If a person came, for example, out of curiosity, or because he was pressured?
- If an adult was "brought" to a psychologist, unfortunately, the prognosis for this case is the most unfavorable. The initial message, we wrote, should be with the client, this is the basis of the therapeutic relationship and maintaining motivation for difficult work. If the person himself is sure that everything is in order with him or treats psychologists with a strong prejudice, or (attention!) He does not pay for psychotherapy himself, there is simply no point in it. The therapeutic relationship is very specific and requires certain conditions to be met: the person feels discomfort and lack of happiness; he wants, but cannot change his own state; he is ready to seek help from a certain person, to find a place and time for this in his life; he is ready to take an active part in the work and pay for the work of a professional to improve his condition. Failure to comply with these conditions casts doubt on the possibility of establishing a therapeutic relationship or (if established) does not bring beneficial changes to the person (especially when others pay for it).
- Is it important for a person to clearly formulate the problem himself, to set tasks for himself before a visit to a psychologist? Or can this happen during joint work, and for the “patient” the main thing is a purely emotional desire to change something in his life?
- Definition and formulation of the problem and the desired changes, of course, is desirable. This is what the first meeting with a psychologist will begin with, so it is useful to think first: why does a person go to a psychologist, what does he want to get from him? But, in fact, a clearly (and most importantly, correctly) formulated request is quite rare. Usually, what the client presents as a problem at the beginning undergoes significant changes by the end of the first consultation, again due to the psychologist's skills in guiding the client's thinking.
- In addition to working with insufficiently motivated clients, what else does a psychologist not do?
- The psychologist does not work to change the client's relatives (mentioned above "help change the husband"), the psychologist will work only with the client himself, his system of relationships. Some, of course, come only to "cry", but usually psychologists do not encourage such manifestations and are more willing to discuss the desired changes.
A psychologist cannot change a client's life without the cooperation and consent of the client. The psychologist is not a guru, he does not give advice and does not know how to do it right. He, together with the client, understands which behavior option is preferable for this client, based on his value system and needs. Two clients in a row, who come in with similar problems, will leave with a different result, optimally suited to them. In general, the psychologist does not give guarantees and cannot promise to achieve results in advance, because the work is carried out in pairs, together - by the psychologist and the client.
- If psychotherapy is work in pairs, then who is responsible for what?
— The psychologist is responsible for the process of psychotherapy itself, for its safety and success, for the selection of suitable techniques, for working with the client's condition, for the frequency of meetings. In different psychological approaches, there are different ideas about the optimal frequency of meetings for successful work. So, in psychoanalysis, clients undertake to visit a psychologist at least three times a week, in the Gestalt approach they talk about two, sometimes one meeting a week. In general, everyone agrees that the frequency of visits once a week is quite possible, and meetings with a two-week break are rarely effective, the psyche manages to “forget” new developments and “gets back on track”.
The client is responsible for his motivation for change, as well as for everything that happens to him outside the psychologist's office, that is, for bringing the ideas he has learned to life, completing the tasks that the psychologist sometimes gives, the end result of psychotherapy. The number of meetings is also determined by the party in need of assistance - the client. If he has achieved the desired or, on the contrary, does not see the results, he has the right to talk about the termination of work. Psychologists believe that the client knows better when it is time for him to stop, since it is possible to develop and improve internal regulation endlessly.
In contact with
What exactly happens in a psychological consultation?
- In a narrow sense - a conversation that includes dialogue, questions and answers, finding interesting logical connections or inconsistencies, storytelling, discussing feelings, thoughts, internal mechanisms and intensive work with them, exercises with the imagination, discussing dreams and fantasies, playing mini-scenes (sometimes with the involvement of objects), the creation of comparative lists, tables, graphs, drawings, sand paintings, and other creative products. In the broadest sense - interaction, communication, a meeting of two worlds, a journey into the depths with unexpected discoveries and interesting meetings.
The basis of psychotherapeutic work is that a specially trained person, thanks to a special trusting contact, adjusts to the personality of the client, analyzes his state, his state that has arisen in response to the client’s state, notices his “picture of the world” (worldview, values, goals, needs ), features of emotions and behavior, then determines with him the main “problem areas” and outlines the steps to be taken to eliminate them (the steps, of course, are carried out together). The contact of a person with a person works here, therefore one meeting with an ordinary person who happened to be on the life path of another in a certain way and reacted to him in a certain way can be psychotherapeutic and turning point. Artificially created by a psychologist, such contact is predictable to some extent, can be regular, has in its arsenal many studied tools for working with the psyche, that is, it represents a good opportunity for a person in need of help to receive it.
Psychological tools require the psychologist to be accurate in choosing the right method of action and the moment for its implementation, individual adjustment for each client and great skill in handling, because the psyche is not simple and non-linear. The psychologist often has to deal with client resistance (sometimes persistent), internal contradictions, repressed emotions, trauma, and different parts of the personality (separated, for example, by a traumatic event). Let's add here the constant monitoring by the psychologist of the emotional field, the words of the client, his non-verbal communication. One can imagine that the cuisine here is very thin, but the opportunities for a professional open up huge, a lot can be corrected in the psyche, although not immediately.
- Does the effectiveness of psychotherapy affect how well and quickly the personal contact between the psychologist and the client is established? Is it necessary to pay attention to one’s purely subjective reaction to a psychologist (whether a person is attractive or not), to an ideological coincidence (what books, CDs with music he has in his office), or only to the qualifications, education, methodology he uses?
- Psychotherapy is all built on communication and subjective reaction, projections of the client on the psychologist. This is its main tool, and the psychologist is trained to observe and analyze the field of these subjective reactions. The fact is that in any relationship (and with a psychologist too) we bring echoes of our past relationships with significant people. Therefore, many see a mother in a psychologist woman, a father in a man and react to them as their relatives, which gives the psychologist better material for research than all verbal descriptions, and helps to change their relationship with different people after working through the problems that arise in contact with a psychologist. At the first meeting on a non-verbal level, people somehow “scan” each other, the result of this “scanning” is reflected in the head: pleasant or unpleasant, worth trusting or not. Although the task of the psychologist is just to “tune in” to the client, so that he subjectively feels trust. This is taught, and a good psychologist can respect many and adapt to completely different clients - sometimes (due to individual differences) this is not possible, then we can say that a consultant psychologist is not suitable for a person. Well, so that psychotherapy does not turn into a kind heart-to-heart conversation and a cute joint bogging down in the client's problems, of course, you need to pay attention to the education and qualifications of the psychologist. Trusting your intuition or the reviews of acquaintances, determine whether the psychologist is a charlatan (see below, in the section “when to change the therapist”).
Sometimes psychologists talk about themselves first. You can ask about the methods used by the psychologist in order to determine whether the psychologist works within the framework of one psychological direction (or maybe he also has a certificate in it) or has a wide arsenal of techniques from different areas. This is important only from the point of view of the professionalism of the psychologist, the specialist will be able to adapt to the client using different versions of the same psychological approach. In general, the psychologist is responsible for choosing the appropriate technique, and in the case when the client’s request cannot be satisfied in advance by the means of this psychologist, he himself can redirect the client, for example, to his colleagues working in a different psychological approach.
The worldview and personal preferences of the psychologist are not important in the work, but are (with their similarity) good “strongholds” for strengthening relationships.
- Is the general cultural level of a psychologist, his erudition important? Indeed, in fact, many structures of the human psyche are formed precisely by culture. And, relatively speaking, can a psychologist who has not read Nietzsche successfully correct the experiences that a patient has formed after reading Nietzsche?
- The general cultural level is certainly important. I do not know a single psychologist who would be prevented by erudition. It helps in establishing contact, helps to speak the same language with the client (to a movie fan, give an example of the act of a film hero, to a farmer to explain using the example of growth, for example, vegetables, to an intellectual be able to answer with a philosophical parable). In the presence of a well-functioning head, a psychologist is, in principle, optional: even the most complex mental constructs of clients are always based on simple, if not primitive, needs and fears. Mindfulness, intuition and sensitivity, good command of the art of conversation and psychological methods of interaction are the key to good work.
— Returning to the issue of trust. Many patients are afraid to tell the "whole truth" even to a psychologist due to their own stereotypes and taboos. If the patient consciously or unconsciously lies, does the psychologist notice this, does he make any conclusions useful for himself? Can a psychologist be fooled? Or is verbal information itself not the main one for him?
- The psychologist receives information through several channels and compares it. Verbal information (the words of the client) is not so important, because, in addition to the variants of a conscious lie, it also happens that the brain “unintentionally” distracts from the necessary information with the words or throws out important points from the field. The non-verbal part of communication is very important, it is always analyzed not only in comparison with the verbal, but also in itself. Voice intonation, posture and its changes, unconscious movements of the arms and legs, gestures, even bodily sensations (feelings of a “lump in the throat” or heaviness in the stomach) are also peculiar signals for the psychologist, you can use them to navigate whether the work is going in the right direction. , track the reactions of the individual or its parts, monitor changes.
Therefore, a good psychologist, of course, will immediately notice the discrepancy between the verbal and non-verbal components and point it out to the client. Clients are constantly trying to deceive the psychologist in the broad sense of the word, replacing important information with trifling events, pointing out insignificant problems while ignoring the central ones, trying to hang some roles and masks on the psychologist and themselves, avoiding emotions, sometimes providing incorrect information about themselves or their past. But they do all this unintentionally. Few people like to deceive a person, while paying him a lot of money. A professional psychologist just does what does not allow the client to deceive. Falling into special, trusting relationships with deep tuning (by the way, it is even easier to see “unnaturalness” and mismatch of information in them), the psychologist nevertheless remains conscious and attentive, constantly monitoring the manifestations of the client’s personality, including his feelings, words, sometimes ambiguous meaning, intonation, posture and gestures.
- One of my friends has the biggest complaint about psychologists - this is that they do not offer "ready-made solutions", but simply characterize the situation, leaving the client with his problem. This is true?
- No, this also speaks of unprofessionalism and unfinished work. The initial stage is indeed a reflection of the client's feelings and a summary of the situation. It usually becomes clear: what exactly does the client not like in the situation and what changes would you like, what prevents them from being implemented, and what of all this can be set as the goal of working with a psychologist? Next comes the use of special psychological tools that achieve the goal, checking the result in the client's life, setting the next goal or a chain of steps towards a big goal, and work again (as long as the client wants to change).
It is completely unprofessional to give advice, because all people are unique, and the norms of happiness, needs and problems are also unique. Psychology is built on the study of certain general patterns, but never discounts everyone's personal picture of the world. And as for ready-made solutions, not a single psychologist gives them (the famous phrase among psychologists: “we do not give advice!”). But a good psychologist knows how to competently lead the client to make his own decision (as if by himself the person suddenly understands what he should do), and also, if necessary, offer different ways to implement the client’s previously realized desire (for example, a person who tells the psychologist that would like to become more confident, specific “homework” can be given to demonstrate confident behavior in social situations).
Unfortunately, it often happens that there is no initial motivation for change in a person, even if he claims the opposite. Such people come to the psychologist to complain, and noticing with displeasure that the psychologist does not sympathize, but talks about the need for changes, they leave. A psychologist is not engaged in saving lost souls and will not work if he does not see in a person a real desire and readiness for change, no matter how many problems the client is carrying. Otherwise, it will be, alas, to no avail, because changing your life for the better and becoming happier is a huge inner work that requires a lot of determination and strength. Thus, we have separated two concepts: "leaving the client with a problem" and "stating the client's unwillingness to change."
— Are there any indications that the most adult “patient” understands that the work with the therapist was effective? Can he somehow control the quality of the psychologist's work? On the basis of what can we conclude that the therapist should be changed?
- If after visiting a psychologist a person comes to some new conclusions or rethinks the current life situation, changes his life in a direction that suits him, achieves the goals set at the first meetings with a psychologist, feels that he has done a lot and does not want to move further, in general feels happier, then we can talk about successful psychotherapy. In general, the result is different for everyone and depends on the request. One client is satisfied that he got rid of allergies, the second - that he was able to save his family. The main condition is that the client's real life outside the psychologist's office must somehow change. Independence can grow, that is, the client, who at first timidly makes changes, ceases to feel the need for the support of a psychologist. This is also a sign that the therapy has been successful and is coming to an end.
The therapist should be changed if the client does not see the real results of going to him. If the psychologist has failed to establish a trusting relationship with the client and is unpleasant to him, if he gives advice or distributes “diagnoses” and saving amulets, behaves insecurely, speaks incomprehensibly, does not know how to work with feelings that arise in the process (leaves the client in an unpleasant mood , does not cope with the difficult experiences of the client, gets bogged down in emotions), accuses the client of ignorance, of the wrong approach to life, or, together with him, is looking for other “guilty ones”. Whatever the psychologist says, if it is incomprehensible to the client and does not lead to a change in the internal state and behavior, then this information should not be trusted.
Choosing your path
- Are there any restrictions on the passage of psychotherapy or the use of its individual methods? What is the danger of illiterate psychotherapy?
- I think that for an interested or at least a responding client, psychotherapy is always possible. Another thing is that the effectiveness of the work and the duration of the "course" vary significantly depending on the "impairment" of the client's psyche. Working for a month with an autistic person is not at all like working with a man who is afraid of airplanes.
Of course, there are limitations on methods, because what suits one person does not suit another, but a good psychologist usually knows this. He is able to choose an adequate technique, for the client it is only important to find him and come to a psychotherapeutic session. Choosing the wrong technique in 90% of cases simply will not lead to a result and will lead the work into a temporary dead end. So that the remaining 10% of cases do not occur, the psychologist studies for 5 years. What I mean to say is that psychotherapy is, of course, an intervention in the psyche, to which it reacts accordingly. The psyche begins to defend itself if it feels too intense an invasion or they go "in the wrong direction." So psychologists, especially illiterate ones, simply cannot do harm (for example, the art of bypassing client protection is quite complicated). The psyche, even a very disturbed one, is a structure that is balanced and wise in a certain way. In psychotherapy, it is believed that if the “door” is tightly locked, one must either go through the other, or come from the other side. All psychologists respect the inner world of the client and a kind of balance, the balance of internal processes, which exists even in the most disturbed natures. No one will ever "break" the internal structure of the personality, the art of psychotherapy is to help each unique person with his characteristics to adapt to the world. And the ideal psychotherapy, probably, intensifies the development of the personality and inner freedom with a minimum of interference.
Many are afraid of losing control of themselves in the psychologist's office and becoming a victim of deception or suggestion. The latter actions are, in principle, very difficult to perform, not so much because of technical difficulties (although this requires enormous professionalism!), but because of the so-called moral code of a psychologist, which unites all psychologists of all directions. In other words, not to harm with your intervention is the moral attitude of a professional psychologist.
Is there a risk that the client's life will become worse after a psychotherapy session? Life - no, evaluation of your life by the client - perhaps. If an imbalance occurs, it means that the client’s previous view of the situation is no longer satisfactory. This means that this is just the beginning of a great work, a movement towards change. However, more often, especially during an illiterately conducted psychological session, neither life nor its perception simply change in any way.
— What forms and methods of therapy can help an adult in solving different groups of problems?
– There are many directions in psychotherapy, in them there are approaches, in approaches there are special techniques, techniques for implementing successful interaction with a client. All this, from the ability to establish contact to techniques for working with fears, is still being studied and supplemented, has logical or not very, but always “working” explanations. Some psychologists are adherents of one school and become “aces” in it, others work in an eclectic approach, using a hodgepodge of different methods, selecting them for each individual problem. Choosing a psychological technique is a very difficult task, requiring:
- diagnosing the client's personality, determining its internal structure, defense mechanisms, favorite ways of responding, "weak" and "strong" sides;
- a clear understanding of the possibilities and limitations of this technique;
- setting a specific task that requires the use of this technique;
- ideas about the possible result, expected changes in personality, local or systemic.
All this is included in the professional training of psychologists, so we will leave the choice of equipment to them.
Now about the choice of a psychological direction in which psychological work is comfortable for a person. I will point out a few currently popular directions, since a complete list, in my opinion, can only mislead readers.
Psychoanalysis is suitable for intelligent people with a good level of word processing, who like to observe themselves, tend to analyze what is happening, and are tuned in to long, gradual and difficult work. A systematic approach allows you to change the personality to some extent. The psychologist often remains personally-closed, with the client adhering to the position of an attentive observer and a somewhat impersonal partner.
The Gestalt approach is suitable for many, especially those who want to increase their level of awareness, responsibility for their lives, get rid of fantasies in the perception of the world, establish contacts with people around them and achieve inner integrity. It is also a fairly systematic approach, but it has many tools in its arsenal for solving specific, particular problems. The psychologist for the client here is rather a sensitive and conscious partner.
Humanistic (client-centered) psychotherapy suitable for those who want to see a psychologist as accepting and approving, who want to go towards their goals through a creative search and release of resources, who need internal and external acceptance and a “soft” style of conducting sessions.
Existentialism more suitable in solving problems of the value-semantic sphere. It may be useful to those who are interested in self-determination, the meaning of life and seeing oneself through the system of one's values, questions of being and death.
Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy is especially effective for problems of adaptation to life circumstances or society, uses work with belief systems, various mental mechanisms that affect the perception of life situations or self-perception. Is short term. The psychologist does “work on mistakes” together with the client and helps to find rational and effective solutions to specific problems.
Body Oriented Psychotherapy involves working with the body, numerous techniques for working with mental components through bodily manifestations. Suitable for people who have difficulty reflecting their emotional state, or mentally healthy people who have problems with the body or emotional trauma.
Hypnosis/NLP deals mainly with the client's unconscious, its activation and activities within it. Hypnosis (more often) creates a special altered state of consciousness, in which at a deep level most of the psychological work takes place, sometimes not fully realized by the client. Both hypnosis and NLP are effective in dealing with anxieties, fears, bad habits, psychosomatic problems and neurotic symptoms, but can also be used as a systematic approach.
Art therapy (we will separately mention the popular sand therapy) works mainly on revealing creative potential and activating internal resources, is a “soft” method and a good diagnostic tool. Suitable for those who wish to find inner harmony, learn to express emotions more freely, and are not afraid to create.
- As far as I know, psychotherapy sessions can take place with a different number of "participants". You can come alone, with a partner, there is also group psychotherapy. Which form is best for which cases?
- Individual consultations, in fact, are visited by one person who is a client. Individual work from the point of view of safety is not taken out of the office by either the psychologist or the client. It's kind of a very personal thing. If, for example, a mother brings her child to individual therapy, she should remain in the hallway and wait for him. And the psychologist will not tell her the secrets that the child told, or retell what happened in the session. He can generally characterize for the mother the main problems of the child and say what kind of work is going on, give her any recommendations on how to behave with the child. If, by agreement, she attends classes with a child, she will also be a client, will perform tasks on an equal basis with him and answer questions. Such an option would rather be classified as a stripped-down one. Normal family therapy involves the simultaneous arrival of two or more family members, more often a married couple, or a complete family with all its members. Usually the number of participants in family therapy is negotiated immediately and depends on the complexity of the problems of family interaction. Sometimes individual work is useful in family therapy, but usually the family therapist himself, for ethical reasons, does not provide individual consultations to clients who are family members.
Group psychotherapy is a specific method of psychotherapy (no better and no worse than individual), the peculiarity of which is the use of group dynamics, social interactions of group members as a model of real life, with an emphasis on human relationships. The psychotherapeutic tool in such groups, unlike individual psychotherapy, is not a therapist, but a group of people. Each person can participate in a certain way in establishing relationships with each other and with a psychologist-therapist, bring their judgments, experiences, experiences and findings into the overall process. The phenomena of group dynamics (social and psychological forces and processes operating in the group) that emerge over time, if properly directed by the therapist, help to achieve therapeutic goals.
Group psychotherapy can be based on different methodological approaches, it is used in almost all major areas of modern psychotherapy. Therefore, groups can be psychoanalytic, gestaltist, humanistic in their idea. Accordingly, completely different people with different goals can come to group psychotherapeutic work, but all “social” difficulties can be worked out especially successfully in groups: shyness, insecurity, dependence on the opinions of others and the inability to make close contacts, difficulties in manifesting or restraining emotions among people , poor empathy, rivalry problems.
How to choose a psychologist? October 2nd, 2014
In Russia, there are a lot of difficulties with choosing a psychologist. You can get burned even in the case of a graduate of Moscow State University with a bunch of recommendations and a degree.
One day I needed a psychologist myself. I began to search the net, and found some strange people. One, in addition to psychology, still practices tarology, astrology, chirology (this is such a new scientific name for palmistry), the other at the end of each page of his site posted the phrase “for quoting without asking, I send the evil eye and damage.” This is such a strange contingent.
In general, we can assume that in our country there is a real revelry of pseudopsychology, a genuine bacchanalia, it is flourishing, and money is flowing into the hands.
But despite the complexity of the situation, I will try to formulate a few recommendations.
If a person claims to be practicing some form of psychotherapy, then he must have a document on the appropriate training. And you need to understand that the only way to get quality psychotherapy training is study abroad. People whose psychotherapeutic crusts were obtained in our Russian folk institutions can be safely discarded.
Just turn a blind eye to membership in any societies, associations: in most of these societies, associations there is remote membership, and admission to membership does not imply any selection, since the society is simply interested in membership fees. Domestic communities and associations of psychologists / psychotherapists do not deserve any attention at all.
If a psychologist practices scientifically dubious forms of psychotherapy, then it is better not to contact him at all. Here is a list of such dubious psychotherapies:
- Gestalt therapy
- humanistic therapy
- Client Centered Therapy
- NLP and hypnosis, including Erickson's
- Psychoanalysis
- (attachment therapy)
- (systemic family constellations)
- Rebirthing
- Body Oriented Therapy
- Transactional Analysis
- existential therapy
- Eclectic Approach
- jungianism
- And so on: you can check with me if you are not sure whether psychotherapy is questionable.
If you see religious, mystical, occult symbols, quotes from relevant sources on the site of a psychologist / psychotherapist, do not try to make an appointment.
You should be suspicious of psychologists/psychotherapists who are young, single, divorced, without children.
You should be suspicious of overtrained psychologists, for example, if a person first was an engineer, and then decided to become a psychologist. Most likely, such a person will solve the problem of his own disorder / incompetence at your expense.
As a rule, it is more likely that a psychologist is an amateur or a completely conscious charlatan if he does not work / did not work in any organizations of the corresponding profile, but is engaged only in private practice. If a person is generally engaged and is engaged only in private practice, then he is most likely potentially dangerous. Especially if he conducts his practice mainly online (Skype, webinars, etc.).
Private practice is good, but it is almost impossible to check its success, the absence of harmful consequences.
And here is a very good test to check the quality of a psychologist / psychotherapist: be sure to ask him what, in his opinion, the causes of psychological problems. If he talks about childhood traumas, repression, certain feelings that need to be responded to, from which you need to get rid of, the subconscious and the unconscious, scenarios, the influence of deceased relatives, parents - send away.
In general, if a psychologist is not very interested in the real situation in which you are, but is concerned with your past, your subconscious, then most likely you need to run away from such a psychologist.
If a psychologist / psychotherapist suggests that you do something physically difficult: breathe intensively, crawl under a pile of bodies, take a steam bath, etc., then there is a chance that he will simply kill you, literally.
If a psychologist pumps up negativity, makes you cry, then there is a chance that he will bring you to. Again, literally.
Group therapy must be treated with great care, because in the crowd your critical thinking is dulled, and the group has power over you. Such psychotherapeutic groups can turn out to be simply and even destructive psychocults.
Another important criterion. Psychologists/psychotherapists often attract clients by filming videos and posting articles. If such materials do not contain references to scientific works (preferably foreign, English-language ones), then such a psychologist/psychotherapist is most likely not familiar with the achievements of modern science, does not follow them, and probably uses scientifically unfounded, pseudoscientific approaches. . The same if there are references only to the works of all psychotherapists: Freud, Perls, Yalom, Rollo May, etc.
At the same time, the absence of the alarm bells listed above does not at all guarantee that you are not a charlatan or an amateur who can harm you, but a true professional.
Be sure to consult with doctors and try to pass tests and undergo an examination. Remember that often the cause of problems lies in your body, and this cause must be treated with medication or surgery. By the way, if a psychologist / psychotherapist immediately starts working only with your psyche and does not recommend that you see a doctor, then he is most likely a charlatan or an amateur.
If something alarms you in a psychologist, feel free to break off relations with him and get out of contact.
If you are uncomfortable doing what the psychologist suggests doing, you can just get up and leave. Nobody has the right to hold you back. And if someone dares to hold you - immediately call the police.
Keep in mind: common sense is important in assessing a psychologist.
If you realize that you made a mistake in a psychologist, feel free to send him away. Be sure to write a review about it and try to spread it. It is easy to make mistakes in this area. Don't be afraid to be funny or a loser. Tell people about your experience. Caution those who can not make a choice.
For example, I always publish this kind of information and strive to help the gorges of psychologists, psychotherapists, coaches and other gurus.
Remember: no one knows exactly why psychotherapy is effective. Often we are talking about the effectiveness of the so-called common factors: sympathy, care, the opportunity to speak out (see, for example, [Myers, 2008, pp. 685-686]). To get these things without the risk of falling into a sect or going through difficult trials that might not have happened, you can turn to your parents or friends, or to people who will not take money from you for this.
You can also keep a diary or talk about your problems on a video camera, so that later you can analyze your problem by looking at it from the outside.
I warn you: everything that is written in this article is not engraved on the tablets and is not cast in granite. Be critical of everything and do not perceive it as a 100% effective guide to action.
LITERATURE
Myers D. Psychology / David Myers. - Minsk: Potpourri, 2008. - 848 p.
I decided to write this article after I was asked to help find a psychologist. Without thinking twice, I figured out what and how. It turned out to be a pretty detailed article.
I hope it will help our clients understand who they should contact.
And yes, maybe sticks and stones will be thrown at me from some colleagues, but this is my vision and my opinion.
When choosing a specialist, we can rely on the type of specialist, his direction, cost and reviews. So, in order.
Psychologist, psychotherapist or coach?
I think many people know that in our country the concepts of a psychologist and a psychotherapist are often confused with a psychiatrist. Recently, so-called coaches have become more common. Who are all these people?
For starters, a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist is a doctor who deals with psychiatry and serious pathologies, such as paranoia, schizophrenia, delirium, multiple personality syndrome. That is, such disorders and damage to the psyche, in which the connection with reality is partially or completely lost or there is a threat to the life of the patient or his environment. And they are accepted in the relevant institutions.
Often the methods of psychiatry have two directions
- pathogenetic treatment (destruction and elimination of pathological mechanisms of the disease),
- palliative care (smoothing, reducing or eliminating symptoms). It is used when it is impossible to identify or eliminate the causes of the disease.
Psychotherapists and psychologists deal with mental disorders such as neurosis and some borderline disorders. With such disorders, a person does not lose touch with reality.
Moreover, with neuroses, a person is always aware that something may be wrong with him. He feels the border of "normality". In borderline patients, this boundary is blurred and can shift in one direction or another, but they may well catch themselves that something is wrong with them. In most cases, psychotherapy is aimed at eliminating the causes of the disease (the so-called etiotropic treatment).
Psychologists also provide support in life crises, in post-traumatic situations, in personal and family problems, where there is no need for psychotherapy, but it makes sense to consult a specialist.
The main difference between psychologists and psychotherapists in our country is education. For the first it is psychological, for the second it is medical. Moreover, psychotherapists, as a rule, are former psychiatrists who received additional training. education.
Coaches are, as a rule, also psychologists, but their activities are aimed at achieving specific indicators. The concept of "coach" is more of a business term, but recently coaches are called leading groups of personal growth (not to be confused with specialists leading group therapy). Accordingly, coaches do not affect the deep layers of the psyche, since their task is learning.
Thus, if you want to improve, say, your communication skills with the opposite sex or learn how to quickly get in touch with your business partners in a relatively short time, a coach is what you need.
Specialization
As in any profession, in psychology, with a set of experience, there is a narrowing of specialization, and, consequently, the range of problems that a psychologist works with. Moreover, work in some areas requires a separate specialization and time for additional education.
Some specializations work well together. For example, a family therapist can successfully work on psychosomatic problems, because with the external difference between family and psychosomatic problems, their causes are usually related. At the same time, working with children and working with adults require completely different skills. For example, the same family psychologist can help in solving "children's" problems, but he will work with parents.
Separately, there are psychologists - specialists in addictions. This requires not only a separate specialization, but also work in tandem with a narcologist. Even within the same school, specialists can be trained in different ways. For example, I studied and continue to study in the direction of "transactional analysis in clinical psychology", and in parallel, a special group "transactional analysis in narcology" is always conducted for future narcologists and clinical psychologists on addictions.
The school of psychology also influences the specialization. There are general schools, the same TA, which is used in clinical psychology, and in family therapy, and even in business consulting. There are highly specialized ones, for example, systemic family psychology or hypnotherapy. I will make a reservation that by narrow specialization I mean the number of areas of work, and not specific diseases and problems.
In our country, you can meet such interesting "psychologists" as tarologists, Vedic psychologists and even astrologers. They have nothing to do with academic psychology with all the consequences. They are also found among certified psychologists, but only because of the peculiarities of the laws of the Russian Federation in the provision of services and the peculiarities of the Russian market of psychological services.
Service cost
The cost of services also carries information, since the cost of any service is not taken from the head, but is the sum of several components. In the case of a psychologist, I would highlight the following points:
- Client's personal contribution. The experience that a person gets in the office should not depreciate. The price of the consultation should be meaningful to the client. And any qualified psychologist knows this.
- To ensure the quality of their work, psychologists and psychotherapists must constantly undergo their own psychotherapy, because the therapist's own unresolved problems can adversely affect his effectiveness, and supervision, that is, the analysis of difficult cases from his own practice, the analysis of mistakes, etc. with a more experienced colleague , training. All this is invested in the cost of the consultation, because it is, in a sense, production costs.
- The qualifications of a psychologist. This is experience, knowledge and, therefore, invested funds and time. And this is also invested in the cost, as in any other profession.
- Office rental. Everything is clear here.
Putting all this together, it becomes clear that the low cost of these services raises a number of questions about the qualifications of a specialist.
So what is the average cost of a qualified psychologist? It depends on the city, but in general, the average price starts from 1500 - 2500 rubles in the regions to 3000 - 3500 rubles in Moscow (prices for the summer of 2015). In fairness, I note that the low cost may be due to the fact that work in the field of psychology may be the main one for a particular specialist, or, for example, is associated with the beginning of a career. The latter, by the way, does not always negatively affect the quality of work.
A few words about volunteering and open days. Many psychologists also work as volunteers. But usually these are one-time meetings, and if we are talking about psychotherapy, you will still be invited for paid treatment. And this will be correct from the point of view of therapy (see the paragraph about the cost of services).
Now there are many good psychologists and psychotherapists, and the question arises: how to choose the right one for you?
In this article, I decided to tell you how to choose a psychologist based on my client experience. I’ll tell you what I paid attention to, what methods of choosing a psychologist I used, their pros and cons.
I must make a reservation right away that I do not pretend to make a qualitative description of all the ways to choose a psychologist. This is just my personal experience, the experience of a woman with a psychological education who was looking for a psychologist. Some great specialists fall under my selection criteria, some, alas, do not. I have many colleagues whom I respect, but they do not fit the criteria that I used. For some of my clients, my methods of choosing a psychologist will suit, for some not. Probably, first of all, my experience will be useful to people who are inclined to listen to their feelings and analyze what they see and hear, and what kind of contact is being made.
I consider the moments that you can pay attention to in contact with a specialist to be quite universal, suitable for a dialogue with psychologists of different directions. Paying attention to them is a good way to take care of your safety.
Part 1. How to find and choose a psychologist.
The advantages of this method:
- Most likely, you will be given contacts of a really good specialist, whose work helped someone from your relatives.
- We all have individual characteristics, and the specialist who suits your loved one may not suit you;
- Not all people say that they go or went to a psychologist, that is, they may not answer your request;
- Well, yes - you yourself will have to admit that now you want to get advice from a specialist ... As far as I know, not everyone is ready for such confessions.
There are a few things to keep in mind when looking for a psychologist on your own.
First of all, you can pay attention to the following: higher psychological education. It is better if it is in a “strong” specialized university, with a specialization in clinical psychology or advanced training in clinical psychology. There are still good practicing psychologists with fundamental psychiatric education. Not all good psychologists have an education from a specialized university, but the probability of finding a good psychologist among practicing psychologists with a good basic education is higher.
Advanced training in one of the areas of psychotherapy. It can be Gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, psychodrama, cognitive behavioral therapy, etc. It is important that this is a fundamental psychotherapeutic direction, and a person has studied it for some long time, and also undergoes personal therapy.
Participation (membership or training) in a professional psychological community and in various professional events.
If your psychologist is undergoing or has undergone long-term personal therapy, seeks supervision, is integrated into the professional community, then this person probably observes "professional hygiene", and working with him is safe and useful for his clients, he does not violate professional ethics. These are some formal signs that you can go to a person and you can trust him / her in working with your problems.
Secondly, see what kind of content this person produces, that is, what he / she writes. What the specialist writes about himself, about psychotherapy, and what articles he writes. You can read all this and figure out whether it is useful for you, whether what the author offers suits you, whether you have points of contact, whether dialogue is possible.
Thirdly Look at the photo of the person. Do you like his face? If you come for a consultation and decide to stay for long-term therapy, you will see this person for a long time. Maybe the psychologist has a video, and then you can make a more detailed impression.
Fourth, if you want to contact a specialist, but for some reason are in doubt, you can simply call the number indicated and ask a few questions about what interests you. For example, you can clarify something about education and qualifications, ask if the psychologist works with the problem that worries you. Just listen to what the person answers and how they answer, and listen to yourself whether you are ready to go for a consultation.
The advantages of this method:
- There is a high probability of finding the right psychologist for you;
- While you are reading the materials of psychologists, you are improving your psychological literacy for free, and this contributes to solving problems.
- Such a search takes time.
Third way– visiting any psychological event, conference, festival, master class, where you can see or try to work with a specialist.
Pros:
- If this is a large event, then you can see the work of several specialists and choose the right psychologist for you.
- As a rule, it turns out to be cheaper than individual psychological counseling.
- A lot of people come there, it can be embarrassing for some.
- At an individual consultation, all attention is on you, and at events with group work, the attention of a psychologist extends to the entire group.
Part 2. Contact with a specialist.
Often you need 1-2 consultations to understand whether this specialist is right for you, and it’s normal if you came to a good, competent specialist, but he didn’t suit you, something didn’t work out. This is simply a matter of human preferences, people are not universal, and trusting contact is not possible with everyone.
There is a more subtle point - the benefits and safety in working with a psychologist. There are many competent specialists in the world who can be contacted, working with them will be useful. But, alas, there are actions of a psychologist that can harm the client. These are abuses on the part of the psychologist, for example, sex with clients or some other use of the client for their own purposes.
How to find out about the usefulness and safety of working with a specialist?
First of all If you are interested in some question about a psychologist (education, experience in personal therapy, attitude to something or to a group of people), then do not hesitate to ask about it right away. It is better to indicate some important things right away, the psychologist will be able to tell you whether working with him will be useful to you, or it is better to contact another specialist.
Secondly, listen to how the dialogue is built, to how you feel during the consultation, whether it suits you.
Does the psychologist hear you? If a specialist does not hear you, does not understand what you are talking about, then, probably, working with such a specialist will be useless for you.
Does the psychologist want something from you, besides attending consultations and paying for them. If the psychologist wants admiration or friendship from you, is offended by you or shames you, or wants some other relationship with you (for example, some kind of joint activity outside of your consultations), then the work may not be safe. Because it is not clear what are the goals of a psychologist in working with you.
So, if you want to go to a psychologist, then I hope my article will help you choose a specialist who will be useful to you. Perhaps, at first, this may seem like a difficult and time-consuming task, because you may want to pay attention to many things. But it is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Plus, while you choose a psychologist for yourself, you read articles by various specialists and learn a lot of useful things for yourself. In the meantime, you are looking at the features of contact, you are acquiring useful skills of staying in a dialogue, increasing your social competence. And the very process of finding and choosing a specialist increases psychological literacy and develops the client.
Instruction
First, decide if you are ready for group work or if you are more attracted to individual therapy. The advantage of group work is in supporting people with similar problems, the opportunity to compare their own experience with the experience of other people and make sure it is not unique, teaching different styles of problem solving and interaction with the outside world. In addition, working in a group is often more cost effective.
Individual work with a psychologist or psychotherapist is more suitable for pronounced introverts, people with a high degree of anxiety, closed, distrustful (with the exception of special group trainings aimed at developing self-confidence), in addition, individual work involves a more detailed study of your personal situation. Choose the format of individual meetings. If you do not have the opportunity to visit in person, you should be aware that a very small number of professionals are willing to work by correspondence due to the apparently low efficiency of this method of communication with the client. Many have recently been using the format of Skype sessions or telephone consultations for remote work.
Choose the direction of psychotherapy that suits you best. The choice today is quite rich, so it is better to rely on personal preferences - for example, if you are not set up for a long, at least a year, job, then psychoanalysis will not suit you. In addition, many psychotherapists now combine several methods in their work.
A lot depends on his qualifications, practical experience. When choosing, recommendations from friends will help you. However, keep in mind that their personal experience does not match yours, which means that what worked for them may not necessarily work for you. Pay attention to the education of a specialist. If this is a consultant psychologist, he must have a higher education in the specialty "". The psychotherapist receives, in addition to it, a medical or psychological education in the specialty "clinical psychology", and also specializes in a specific type of therapy. It is good if a diploma is issued to a specialist by a well-known university, and not by a branch of an unknown non-state institution.
Experience in practical work is mandatory, and the more it is, the better for you. Do not hesitate to ask if the psychologist has undergone advanced training, whether he is a member of any international associations, whether the specialist has undergone personal therapy (this is a prerequisite for a practicing psychologist). If your psychologist is interested in clients, has sufficient qualifications and a high degree of responsibility, you will hear positive answers to these questions before you have time to ask them.
Your personal impression means a lot. The first meeting with a psychologist is both indicative and not at the same time - many personal and professional qualities are revealed only in the process of work, however, if a person at first sight causes distrust and rejection in you, it is better to look for another psychologist in whom you will have more confidence - so your working with him will be more effective.
