Introduction	………………………………..
	Egyptian version of death	………………………………..
	Ancient Greece and death	………………………………..
	Death in the Middle Ages	………………………………..
	Modern attitude to death	………………………………..
	Conclusion	………………………………..
	Literature	………………………………..

Introduction

Attitude towards death has a huge impact on the quality of life and the meaning of existence of a particular person and society as a whole. In the history of human civilization, there are various ideas about death: mythological in archaic societies, courageously optimistic in the ancient Roman era (Aristotle, Epicurus), tragic and pessimistic in the Middle Ages, pantheistic in modern times (Spinoza, Hegel, Goethe), romantic (Schopenhauer , Nietzsche) and ethical (L.N. Tolstoy) in the 19th century. The attitude towards death changes depending on the level of socio-cultural development of society and its system of spiritual and moral values.

What is the reason that among the problems of the history of culture and worldview developed by modern historians, the problem of death occupies one of the prominent places? Until relatively recently, it almost did not occupy them at all. Silently proceeded from the postulate that death is always death (“People were born, suffered and died...”), and there is, in fact, nothing to discuss here. Now the problem of the perception of death by people in different eras, their assessment of this phenomenon has emerged. And it turned out that it the highest degree a significant problem, the consideration of which can shed new light on the systems of worldview and values ​​accepted in society.

F. Aries outlines 5 main stages in the slow change of attitudes towards death:

1st stage, which is not a stage of evolution, but rather a state that remains stable in large sections of the people, from archaic times to the 19th century, if not to the present day, he denotes by the expression "we will all die." This is the state of "tamed death". Such a classification does not mean at all that before that death was “wild”. Aries only wants to emphasize that the people of the Middle Ages treated death as an everyday occurrence that did not inspire them with special fears.

The idea of ​​the Last Judgment, worked out, according to Aries, by the intellectual elite and established between the 11th and 13th centuries, marked 2nd stage evolution of attitudes towards death, which Aries called "Death is one's own." Starting from the 12th century, scenes of the afterlife were depicted on the western portals of cathedrals, and then, from about the 15th century, the idea of ​​the judgment of the human race was replaced by a new idea - of an individual judgment that occurs at the time of a person’s death.

3rd stage The evolution of the perception of death according to Aries - "Death far and near" - is characterized by the collapse of the mechanisms of protection from nature. Both sex and death return to their wild, untamed essence.

4th stage centuries of evolution in the experience of death - "Death is yours." The complex of tragic emotions caused by the death of a loved one, spouse, child, parents, relatives, in the opinion of Aries, is a new phenomenon associated with the strengthening of emotional ties within the family. With the weakening of faith in afterlife punishments, the attitude towards death changes.

Finally, in the 20th century, a fear of death and its very mention develops. "Death inverted" - so means Aries 5th stage development of the perception and experience of death by Europeans and North Americans.

“For a long time, people have been afraid of death and at the same time interested in it. But she always remained mysterious and incomprehensible. Man cannot live forever. Death is a necessary biological condition for the turnover of individuals, without which the human race will turn into a huge, inert monolith. For the stability of any public formation, a clear designation of moral criteria related to the phenomenon of human death is required. This ... helps to keep society in a dynamic moral balance, preventing aggressive instincts from rising to the surface, uncontrollable mass murder and suicide."

Egyptian version of death

Among the slave-owning states that arose in the valleys of large rivers after the collapse of the tribal system, Egypt was the first to achieve true power, became a great power dominating the surrounding world, the first empire claiming world hegemony - albeit on the scale of just that insignificant part of the earth that was known to the ancient Egyptians.

Once it has been possible to create on earth such a power that has subjugated everything to itself, is it really impossible to perpetuate it, that is, to continue beyond the threshold of death? After all, nature is renewed annually, because the Nile - and Egypt, as Herodotus wrote, is the "gift of the Nile", - overflowing, enriches the surrounding lands with its silt, gives birth to life and prosperity on them, and when it goes back, drought sets in: but this is not death, for then - and so every year - the Nile floods again!

And so the creed is born, according to which the resurrection awaits the dead. The grave is only a temporary dwelling for him. But in order to provide the deceased with a new, already eternal life, it is necessary to preserve his body and provide in the grave with everything that he needed during his life, so that the spirit could return to the body, just as the Nile returns annually to the land it irrigates. So, it is necessary to embalm the body, turn it into a mummy.

And in case the mummification turns out to be imperfect, it is necessary to create a semblance of the body of the deceased - his statue. And therefore in ancient egypt the sculptor was called "sankh", which means "creator of life." Recreating the image of the deceased, he seemed to recreate life itself.

The passionate desire to stop, overcome death, which seemed to the Egyptians as “abnormality”, a violation of the natural course of life, the passionate hope that death can be overcome, gave rise to a funeral cult that left its mark on almost all the arts of ancient Egypt.

The funeral cult in ancient Egypt was not a cult of death, but, as it were, a denial of the triumph of death, a desire to prolong life, to make sure that death - an abnormal and temporary phenomenon - would not violate the beauty of life.

Death is terrible when a worthy burial does not await the deceased, allowing the soul to reconnect with the body, terrible outside of Egypt, where the ashes are “wrapped in a sheepskin and buried behind a simple fence.”

In the "History of Sinuhet", a literary monument created about two thousand years BC, the pharaoh admonishes the nobleman who fled to another country to return to Egypt with such promises: "You must think about the day of burial and about the last path to eternal bliss . Here is prepared for you a night with fragrant oils. Here await you the burial shrouds woven by the hands of the goddess Tait. They will make you a sarcophagus of gold, and a headboard of pure lapis lazuli. The vault of heaven (canopy or inner cover of the sarcophagus with the image of the sky goddess) will spread over you when they put you in the sarcophagus and the bulls lead you. The musicians will go ahead of you and at the entrance to your tomb they will perform a funeral dance... They will announce the list of sacrifices for you. They will slaughter sacrifices for you at your funeral stele. They will place your tomb among the pyramids of Pharaoh's children, and its columns will be erected of white stone.

By a special ritual, which was part of the funeral ceremony, the deceased was likened to Osiris himself, the son of heaven and earth, killed by his brother and resurrected by his son to become the god of fertility, the eternally dying and eternally resurrecting nature. And everything in the tomb, in its architecture, in its murals and sculptures, in all the luxury items with which it was filled to “appease” the deceased, had to express the beauty of life, the majestically calm beauty, as the imagination ideally pictured it to itself. ancient egyptian. It was the beauty of the sun in an eternally blue sky, the majestic beauty of a huge river that gives coolness and abundance of earthly fruits, the beauty of the bright greenery of palm groves amidst a grandiose landscape of boundless yellow sands. Smooth distances - and the colors of nature, full-sounding under the dazzling light, without haze, without halftones ... This beauty was cherished in his heart by an inhabitant of Egypt and wished to enjoy it forever, overcoming death.

The Egyptian texts testify that the views of the Egyptians on the nature and essence of man were quite complex. In their view, a person consisted of a body (Het), a soul (Ba), a shadow (Hybet), a name (Ren) and, finally, from Ka, which can perhaps be best expressed by the words: “double, invisible double.” Ka is born together with a person, relentlessly follows him everywhere, is an integral part of his being and personality; however, Ka does not die with a person's death. He can continue his life in the grave, which is why it is called the "house of Ka". His life depends on the degree of preservation of the body and is closely connected with the latter. It is easy to see that the idea of ​​Ka formed the basis of all funeral rites. Thanks to him, the corpse was turned into a mummy and carefully hidden in the closed room of the tomb; the possibility of accidental destruction of the mummy was also foreseen; in this case, the statues, which conveyed as close as possible the features of the deceased, could replace the mummy and become the seat of the Ka. Ka's life did not depend on the integrity of the mummy alone - he could die of hunger and thirst; tormented by them, he could go so far as to feed on his own excrement and drink his own urine. Regarding food, Ka was completely dependent on the voluntary alms of children and descendants, funeral services were performed solely for him; he was destined for all the property that was put together with the dead man in the grave. The deceased enjoys only conditional immortality; the part of it that remains after death is closely connected with the grave and continues to lead an earthly life. This primitive idea caused the establishment of funeral rites in Egypt, which survived throughout Egyptian history.

Along with Ka, Ba also matters. Ba is already mentioned in the most ancient inscriptions, but with the current state of our knowledge, we cannot single out the pure Egyptian ideas about the soul, since they soon fell under the influence of views about Ka. Initially, Ba was presented in the form of a bird, and in this one can see a hint of the role of the soul after the death of a person: obviously, she was not connected with the grave and could freely retire, rise from it on wings to heaven and live there among the gods. We sometimes meet Ba in the grave visiting the mummy; she also dwells on earth and enjoys all earthly blessings; in contrast to Ka, the soul is not constrained in its movements. According to the pyramid inscriptions, the deceased flies up into the sky in the form of a bird; he sometimes also assumes the form of a grasshopper - the Egyptians considered the grasshopper a bird - and in this form reaches the sky or rushes there in clouds of incense smoke. There she becomes Hu - "brilliant" and rejoices, being in the company of the gods.

ancient Greece and death

Antique culture is considered the greatest creation of mankind. Initially, it was perceived as a collection of myths, tales and legends. However, in the 19th century, views on the processes of antiquity changed fundamentally. It turned out that it was no coincidence that ancient Greek culture the problem of life and death has become one of the meaningful. Religious and philosophical movements in Ancient Greece deal with death in a dramatic way. In the classical period of ancient Greek philosophy, attempts were made to overcome the fear of death. Plato created the doctrine of man, consisting of two parts - an immortal soul and a mortal body. Death, according to this teaching, is the process of separation of the soul from the body, its liberation from the "dungeon" where it resides in earthly life. The body, according to Plato, as a result of death turns into dust and decay, the soul, after a certain period, again inhabits a new body. This teaching in a transformed form was subsequently adopted by Christianity.

A different understanding of death is characteristic of the philosophy of Epicurus and Stoicism. The Stoics, seeking to alleviate the fear of death, spoke of its universality and naturalness, for all things have an end. Epicurus believed that death should not be feared, that a person does not meet with death. His words are known: "While I live, there is no death; when there is death, I am not."

The ancient philosophical tradition has already approached the consideration of death as a blessing. Socrates, for example, speaking before the judges who sentenced him to death, stated: "... it really seems that all this (the sentence) happened for my good, and this cannot be so that we understand the matter correctly, believing that death is evil. “On the eve of the execution, Socrates confessed to his friends that he was full of joyful hope, because the dead, as ancient legends say, have a future. Socrates firmly hoped that for his just life after death he would fall into the company of wise gods and famous people. Death and what follows is the reward for the pains of life. As a proper preparation for death, life is a difficult and painful business.

death in the Middle Ages

In the era of the European Middle Ages, the point of view that death was the punishment of the Lord for the original sin of Adam and Eve dominated. Death in itself is evil, misfortune, but it is overcome by faith in God, faith that Christ will save the world, and the righteous after death awaits a blissful existence in paradise.

For the early Middle Ages, a person's attitude to death can be defined as "tamed death." In ancient legends and medieval novels, death appears as a natural completion of the life process. A person is usually warned of an impending death through signs (signs) or as a result of inner conviction: he is waiting for death, preparing for it. The expectation of death turns into an organized ceremony, and the dying person organizes it himself: he calls his closest relatives, friends, children. Aries specifically emphasizes the presence of children at the bedside of a dying person, because later, with the development of civilization, children begin to be protected in every possible way from everything connected with the image of death. Hence the concept of "tamed" chosen by the historian: "tamed" death is not in relation to the ancient pagan ideas, where it would act as "wild" and hostile, but precisely in relation to the ideas modern man. Another feature of "tamed death" is the rigid separation of the world of the dead from the world of the living, as evidenced by the fact that burial places were moved outside the medieval city.

In the late Middle Ages, the picture changes somewhat. And although during this period the natural attitude towards death continues to dominate (death as one of the forms of interaction with nature), the emphasis is somewhat shifting. In the face of death, each person rediscovers the secret of his individuality. This connection is affirmed in the consciousness of a person of the late Middle Ages and still occupies a firm place in the spiritual baggage of a person of Western civilization.

Along with Christian ideas about life and death in the Middle Ages, there is a very powerful layer of ideas and ideas inherited from the traditionalist, patriarchal ideology. This layer is associated mainly with rural culture and, as historical facts show, is a fairly stable formation that has existed for centuries despite the strong influence of Christian ideology and practice and has had a strong influence on Christian ideas themselves. What does this layer include? It encompasses, first of all, a set of spells against death, predictions of the time of death, conspiracies about bringing death to the enemy. All this is a legacy of the "magical death" of the epoch of the patriarchal society. As for the predictions of death, for example, in Germany, the shadow of a man without a head on the wall is considered a harbinger of imminent death; in Scotland, dreams appear as a warning, in which the burial of a living person appears, in Ireland it was believed that the spirit of Fetch takes the form of a person who is destined to leave this world soon, and appears to his relatives, and another spirit of the dying person - Beansidhe - two nights before song warns of death. In European folklore, animals also play a significant role in predicting death: a black ram, a rooster-singing hen, and so on. A lot of fortune-telling is widespread: in Naples, it was believed that death was foreshadowed by certain outlines of pieces of wax thrown into the water; in Madena they used to read ice crystals; in Brittany, pieces of bread and butter were thrown into the fountain for the same purpose.

The process of Christianization of ideas about death does not mean the complete destruction of the magical world of pre-Christian beliefs. The process of interaction and mutual influence of both types of consciousness continues to deepen, leading to a radical change in both types. Thus, under the influence of the traditionalist image of death, a new image appears in Christianity - the passion of Christ, and then many holy martyrs. Ideas about the afterlife are changing: although the images of paradise are still very rare and scarce, the image of hell absorbs the description of all the horrors accumulated in the popular consciousness over the previous centuries; the importance of purgatory is also growing, although it is still weakly rooted in the people's consciousness. Aries calls the structuring of ideas about the afterlife "the most important phenomenon in the history of mentality", reflecting the assertion of individual moral consciousness.

The knight of the early Middle Ages died in all simplicity, like the gospel Lazarus. The man of the late Middle Ages was tempted to die like an unrighteous miser who hoped to take his goods with him even to the next world. Of course, the church warned the rich that, being overly attached to their earthly treasures, they would go to hell. But even in this threat there was something comforting: the curse doomed a person to hellish torments, but did not deprive him of treasures. The rich man, who unjustly acquired his wealth and therefore ended up in hell, is depicted on the portal in Moissac with the same purse around his neck.

In a painting by Hieronymus Bosch in the National Gallery in Washington, which could serve as an illustration for some treatise on the "art of dying", the devil with obvious difficulty drags a heavy thick bag of gold coins onto the bed of a dying person. Now the patient will be able to reach him at his death moment and will not forget to take him with him. Which of us, "today's" would have thought of trying to take a block of shares, a car, diamonds with us to the afterlife! The man of the Middle Ages, even in death, could not part with the acquired good: dying, he wanted to have it near him, to feel it, to hold on to it.

The question of attitudes towards death has always had an ethical connotation. But long before the late Middle Ages, a situation arose when the confrontation between the interpretations of death in European civilization reached incredible tension (the struggle between traditional Christianity and Manichaeism).

The polarity in relation to the world manifested itself in these faiths in this way: the Manicheans considered matter, the commodity world, human flesh to be evil, and the Void to be good, in contrast to Christians who claimed that God's creations cannot be carriers of Eternal Darkness, who did not deny the significance of the joys of the flesh life for the human soul.

“The easiest way out for the Manicheans would be suicide,” writes L.N. Gumilyov, “but they introduced the doctrine of the transmigration of souls into their doctrine. This means that death plunges the suicide into a new birth, with all the ensuing troubles. Therefore, for the sake of salvation souls, something else was proposed: the exhaustion of the flesh either by asceticism, or by violent revelry, collective debauchery, after which the weakened matter should release the soul from its claws.Only this goal was recognized by the Manicheans as worthy, and as for earthly affairs, - evil, then any extermination of it is good, be it murder, lies, betrayal ... Everything does not matter. In relation to the objects of the material world, everything was allowed. It is not surprising that the Manichaeans disappeared from the face of the Earth by the end of the XIV century, for they, in fact, aspired to this.Hating the material world, they had to hate life itself, therefore, they had to affirm not even death, for death is only about the moment of change of states, but anti-life and anti-world" .

contemporary attitude towards death

The revolution in relation to death, according to Aries, comes at the beginning of the 20th century. Its origins are in a certain frame of mind, which was formed back in mid-nineteenth centuries: those around spare the patient, hide from him the severity of his condition. However, over time, the desire to protect the last moments allotted to a person in this world from unnecessary torment takes on a different color: to protect not so much the dying person from emotional shock as his loved ones. So gradually death becomes a shameful, forbidden subject. This trend has been increasing since the middle of the 20th century, which is associated with a change in the place of dying. A person now passes away, as a rule, not at home, among relatives, but in a hospital, he meets death alone. Again, the "protagonist" of the drama changes: for the 17th-18th centuries, Aries states the transfer of initiative from the dying person himself to his family, but now the doctor, the hospital team, becomes the "owner of death". Death is depersonalized, banalized. The rites are preserved in their main features, but they are deprived of drama, too open expression grief no longer evokes sympathy, but is perceived as a sign of either bad upbringing, or weakness, or a mental shift.

Today's attitude towards death includes the following features-attitudes:

1. Tolerance. Death has become accustomed to, it has become an ordinary and commonplace in the games of politicians (Chechnya), among criminals (contract killings) and "thugs" (to kill a grandmother because she did not give a drug addict grandson a dose). Death, thus, goes to the periphery of consciousness, becomes invisible, subconscious, repressed. Moreover, this happens not only in the minds of the above-mentioned "representatives" of the human race, but also in the ordinary minds of the average layman.

2. Manufacturability. A tolerant-personal attitude to death pushes one's own death as such into the background, but brings forward the issues of after-death technology: funerals, money spent on them, tombstones, monuments, obituaries, etc. relative prestige factors. These technologies do not lose their significance after funerals and commemorations: tombstones, slabs, monuments are made for several months, sometimes even years.

3. The phenomenon of immortality. “They are dying all around, others are dying, but not me, my death is still far away. Death is an invention of science fiction writers.” This immortal installation is in the subconscious of modern man. The words of Thomas Aquinas: "We live for others, and each one dies for himself personally," acquire an ominous meaning, all the time pushed back "for later." Have you ever seen people think soberly about their own death in the face of the death of another? This is not, because there is no awareness of one's own death.

4. Theatricality. There is no death as an event, empathy. As Epicurus said: "While we are, there is no death, and when there is death, then we are not." So death plays out literary scenarios and furnished according to the scenarios. As a result, death appears before us in the form of a performance in the theater. The theatricality of death makes life itself theatrical.

5. game character. The games that people play: business, politics, cars, weapons, women, drugs, money - all this works for win-win or suicide. Any game aimed at winning at any cost "rehearses" death. Those. either a win, like a rehearsal of death, or a loss, like a "little death", a fall down the social ladder. That. the death of a person becomes a stake in his "game".

6. No one is equal in the face of death. Inequality in dying is due to the presence of capital - social, economic and political. The death of a lonely homeless man in a heating main and the death of the first president of Russia are different deaths. People die in accordance with the capital and hierarchy that they had before death.

It can be said that in given time a tolerant attitude towards death turns into an intolerant attitude towards people and their diversity (polysubjectivity), as a result of which a person is depersonalized, leveled to a simple representative of the consumer society, an impersonal agent of mass culture.

The current Western society is ashamed of death, more ashamed than afraid, and in most cases behaves as if death does not exist. This can be seen even when looking at Internet search engines, which return, on average, eight times fewer links to the word "death" than to the word "life". One of the few exceptions is the popularity in the West of the ideas of natural death and the "correctly" lived preceding period.

Today we live in a society that repels death, forcing a person to die alone. Meanwhile, death is what should prepare us, emotionally and spiritually, to see the world in its respective perspective. The dying person thus becomes the center of a necessary and useful drama, an important part of the study of life. Hospitals sometimes help shut the individual out of living contact with family and friends, making it more difficult to end a life due to lack of expressions of love.

Alas, as the modern French chansonnier Georges Brassans sang: "Today, death is not the same, we ourselves are not the same, and we have no time to think about duty and beauty."

Today's model of death is defined by the popular word "privacy", which has become even more rigid and demanding than before. And next to this comes the desire to save the dying from his own emotions, until the last moment hiding his condition from him. Physicians are also invited, and in some countries even pledged, to participate in this loving lie.

Fortunately, the above applies to the so-called Western civilization, and some other cultures give us examples of a different cultural attitude towards death.

There are sentiments over the modern civilized world that death is a simple transition to better world: to a happy home where we will find again our disappeared loved ones when our hour comes, and from where they, in turn, come to visit us. Thus, the comfort of life in the West is simply projected onto the afterlife. In addition, every fourth inhabitant Central Europe believes in the transmigration of souls. This was recently stated by the German researcher Jutta Burggraf, speaking at the XXII International Theological Symposium.

Europeans willingly believe in reincarnation, as if they want to reserve "a chance to try again." Over the past forty years, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls has spread throughout Western world because it seems very attractive to those minds that refuse to look into the "eyes of death". If we so easily change the place of residence, profession, spouse, then why not assume that life will change to another? Although from the point of view of Christian theologians (equally Catholic or Orthodox) salvation is possible immediately for the body and soul, which is why the Eastern doctrines of the transmigration of souls do not seem to be something necessary.

conclusion

If people die, then someone needs it. But seriously, this is how the world works... Not only man, but all life on Earth is mortal. But, dying, every living being leaves behind a trace. This is the way development happens. It is only interesting - why is it necessary? Who needs it? After all, there is no eternity... Probably, every sane person at least once in his life asked himself these questions. But the answer to them has not yet been found ... It's a pity ...

And therefore, you just need to live, just do good, in order to leave at least something good for those who will come after us. Who knows, maybe this something can help someone and then we will be remembered with a kind word. Even though we won't hear it...

Literature

1. Aries F. Man in the face of death. M., 1992.

2. Lavrin A. P. Chronicles of Charon. Encyclopedia of death. M., 1993.

3. Anthology of world philosophy. T. 1. Part 1. M., 1983.

4. Fedorova M.M. The image of death in Western European culture. //Human. No. 5. M., 1991.

5. Kovtun A.V. Contemporary context of death. //Sofia: Manuscript Journal of the Society of Zealots of Russian Philosophy. No. 3 (Ural State University). Yekaterinburg, 2002.

6. Schopenhauer A. Death and its relation to the indestructibility of our being. http://sopenga.narod.ru/sopa_books/Smert/smert_08.htm.

Thesis

Bakanova, Anastasia Alexandrovna

Academic degree:

PhD in Psychology

Place of defense of the dissertation:

St. Petersburg

VAK specialty code:

Speciality:

Psychology of Personality

Number of pages:

Chapter I. EXISTENTIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF LIFE AND DEATH

1.1. Problems of life and death in philosophy.111.2. Concepts of life and death in psychological science and their historical development.

1.2.1. The idea of ​​life and death in the psychoanalytic concept

1.2.2. Understanding life and death in the existential-humanistic paradigm.

1.3. A critical situation as a collision with death in the domestic and foreign psychology

1.3.1. Crisis in the understanding of foreign psychologists.

1.3.1. Critical situations and their significance for the formation of personality in domestic psychology.

1.4, Impact on the personality of the experience of facing death.

Chapter P. METHODS AND ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH.

2.1. Research stages.

2.2. Characteristics of the surveyed sample.

2.3. Organization, methods and techniques for studying the attitude of the individual to life and death in critical situations.

Chapter III. RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE RESEARCH TO LIFE AND DEATH OF THE PERSON IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE CRITICAL SITUATION of the life of freedom.

3.1.1. Understanding life and death by prisoners.

3.1.2. The relationship between the concepts of life and death among prisoners according to the results of a correlation analysis.

3.1.3. The influence of a critical situation of deprivation of liberty on the attitude of prisoners to life and death according to the results of factor analysis

3.2. Features of the attitude of military personnel who took part in hostilities to life and death.

3.2.1. Understanding life and death by combatants

3.2.2. Interrelation of ideas about life and death among military personnel who have passed through "hot spots", according to the results of a correlation analysis

3.2.3. Features of the critical situation of participation in hostilities according to the results of factor analysis.

3.3. Features of attitude to life and death by women with cancer.

3.3.1. Understanding life and death by women with cancer

3.3.2. The relationship of attitudes towards life and death according to the results of correlation analysis.!.

3.3.3. Features of experiencing a critical situation by oncological patients with women according to the results of factor analysis.

3.4. Comparative analysis of general and specific features of attitude to life and death in various critical situations.

Introduction to the thesis (part of the abstract) On the topic "Attitude to life and death in critical life situations"

Human thought has always tried to penetrate into everything unknown and mysterious, but, apparently, death has been and remains the most unknown for a person, which frightens with the uncertainty of experience and at the same time with the accuracy of knowledge of its inevitability. According to some scientists (F. Aries, M. Vovel, O. Thiebaud, L.-V. Thomas, P. Shanu), death is one of the fundamental parameters of the collective consciousness and the attitude towards death can even serve as an indicator of the level of development of civilization. Therefore, "the study of attitudes towards death, which deserve attention in themselves, can also shed light on people's attitudes towards their life and its basic values.

The attitude of people towards death has changed along with the worldview throughout the course of the entire history of mankind, which can be seen by referring to the works of the great philosophers of different eras. These relationships were built from the understanding of death as a natural continuation and completion of life to their complete rupture in the human mind, breeding them as two different entities, their mutual negation.

The problem of death is currently being studied not only by philosophers, but also by physicians, biologists, ethnographers, archaeologists, literary historians and even physicists. The study of the problem of life and death is acquiring a new round in connection with a change in the spiritual situation not only in our country, but throughout the world.

There is now a growing awareness that the spiritual dimension human experience is a full-fledged area of ​​research and study within the framework of psychological science. Modern psychology involves the formation of ideas about the mental and spiritual development of the individual in the context of a transcultural and multi-level approach to solving the problems that confront humanity at the turn of the century.

XX and XXI centuries.

In this connection special place in the system of psychological knowledge, the existential-humanistic paradigm occupies, which considers the development and formation of the personality as a creative search by a person for his destiny, agreement with himself, actualization of his capabilities. The life path of a person is associated with the passage of various Critical situations, which, according to E. Jomans, "can be designated as the stages of destruction, when there is a breaking, dying off or" positive disintegration "of some of our natural ways of seeing the world, knowing ourselves and relating to the environment" .

The strongest critical situations of a person are those that are associated with awareness of one's own mortality (an incurable disease, participation in hostilities, etc.) or encounters with the death of another (experience of loss loved one). However, in the existential-humanistic paradigm, any critical situation can be viewed as a kind of "collision with death." Moreover, death in this context is understood as a transforming process, the rejection of old, familiar ways of being and the selection, improvement of new ones more adequate to the changed conditions.

A critical situation is experienced by a person in different ways. On the one hand, it can be devastating by increasing anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, which can lead to life crisis. On the other hand, to give meaning to life, to make it more complete and meaningful. In any case, a collision with a critical situation is painfully experienced by a person and changes his attitude to life, death, himself and values, which forms various life strategies that help a person get out of a critical situation. All of the above allows us to talk about the need for psychological assistance to people in a critical life situation.

However, an analysis of the literature shows that at the present stage of development of psychology, despite the social demand and practical orientation, the theory of crises is not sufficiently developed - its own system of categories has not been developed, the connection between the concepts used and academic psychological notions, the ways and mechanisms of overcoming critical situations have not been identified, the psychology of personality in critical situations has not been studied. All of the above allows us to speak about the relevance of this dissertation research, which is designed to fill in some gaps in the theoretical and empirical study of the problem of attitudes towards life and death of a person in critical situations.

The practical significance of the study is determined by the possibility of using the results obtained in group and individual psychological assistance to clients in a critical life situation or experiencing post-traumatic stress. Psychotherapeutic work in these areas requires knowledge about how death is understood and, accordingly, one's own life in such states, as well as what personal resources and life strategies are used to cope with critical situations.

Thesis materials are used in lecture courses in preparation practical psychologists in psychological counseling, psychological assistance and correction, in the form of a special course for undergraduates in the psychology of personality and individuality, as well as in psychological training for psychology students.

The purpose of our study is to find out the attitude of the individual to life and death and their relationship in various critical situations.

The hypothesis lies in the assumption that the attitude of the individual to life and death includes rational and emotional components that interact in different ways in various critical situations, which determines life strategies for coping with them.

Private hypotheses:

1. Rational and emotional components of attitude to life and death have varying degrees expression in critical situations.

2. Attitude towards life and death in various critical situations has both general and specific features.

1. Conduct a theoretical analysis of philosophical and psychological literature on the subject of research.

2. Select and develop diagnostic methods adequate to the purpose and hypothesis of the study.

3. Reveal the emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death in critical situations.

4. To study the relationship between attitudes towards life and death in various critical situations - imprisonment, participation in hostilities and cancer.

5. Determine the general and specific features of the attitude to life and death.

Object of research: men 20 - 45 years old, imprisoned in places of deprivation of liberty (35 people); women 35 - 60 years old with cancer (36 people); men 18 - 25 years old who took part in the hostilities in "hot spots" and were injured (35 people). A total of 106 people took part in the study.

The subject of the study is the emotional and rational components of attitudes towards life and death, their relationship and influence on life strategies for coping with critical situations.

The scientific novelty of the dissertation research lies in the construction of an empirical typology of life strategies for coping with critical situations. The personality structures these situations according to such emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death as: attitude to life - acceptance of life, life as growth, life as consumption, non-acceptance of life; ontological security, self-acceptance, responsibility, striving for growth; attitude towards death - acceptance of death, death as a transition to another state, death as an absolute end; rejection of death, fear; vision of meaning - the presence and absence of meaning in life and death.

Such a typology makes it possible to reveal the system of a person's attitudes towards his/her self, others, life and death, and also defines a set of psychological characteristics inherent in a person in various critical situations and helping him to cope with them.

The theoretical and methodological basis of the dissertation research are; leading methodological principles psychological determinism, development, unity of consciousness and activity, activity, consistency, complexity (K.A. Abulkhanova - Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, L.S. Vygotsky, V.N. Panferov, S. L. Rubinstein); ideas about the life path as an individual system for solving such existential problems as life - death, freedom - responsibility, loneliness - communication, meaning - the meaninglessness of life (J. Bugenthal, V. Frankl, E. Fromm); personality as a subject life path and the system of subject-evaluative and selective relations to reality (K.A. Abulkhanova - Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, T.B. Kartseva, A.F. Lazursky, V.N. Myasishchev S. L. Rubinstein); coping of the individual with critical life situations; constructive and unconstructive strategies for such coping (L.I. Antsyferova, R. Assagioli, B.S. Bratus, low, K. Rogers, N.V. Tarabrina, V. Frankl, E. Fromm, J. Jacobson).

The following provisions are put forward for defense:

1. Attitude towards life and death is a system, the main emotional and rational components of which are: the degree of acceptance of life and death, ontological security, self-acceptance, vision of meaning, responsibility, desire for growth, the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state or as absolute end.

2. The relationship between the rational and emotional components of the attitude to life and death in critical situations determines 8 life strategies for coping with them: "Desire for growth", "Search for the meaning of life", "Love for life", "Fear of life", "Capture of life" ", "Fear of change", "Self-abasement" and "Hedonism".

3. Critical situations change the attitude of the individual to life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the ability of the individual to integrate the traumatic experience associated with the critical situation, as well as on the attitude towards the situation itself.

4. In coping with a critical situation, two main directions can be distinguished related to the attitude of the individual to this situation - "A critical situation as an opportunity for growth" and "A critical situation as suffering."

The dissertation research was carried out during 1995 - 2000. in pre-trial detention center No. 6 of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Justice Russian Federation in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region(settlement of Gorelovo, Lomonosov district, Leningrad region), in the Military Medical Academy. CM. Kirov and in the organization of social and psychological support for cancer patients of the Association "Nadezhda".

Approbation of research results: main theoretical positions reported at the scientific and methodological seminars of graduate students, meetings of the Department of Psychological Assistance of the Russian State Pedagogical University. A.I. Herzen, at the SSS of the Institute of Biology and Human Psychology, as well as through publications and speeches at scientific - practical, scientific - methodological and interuniversity conferences (Tsarskoye Selo Readings - 1999; Ananiev Readings - 1999, Human Psychology and Ecology). The content of the dissertation was used in lecture courses on psychological counseling and in a special course on the psychology of individuality for students of the psychological and pedagogical faculty of the Russian State Pedagogical University. A.I. Herzen. The results of the study were presented at seminars International School counseling, psychotherapy and group management at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Counseling "Harmony", on the basis of which a program of psychological training "In search of oneself: the gift of accepting changes *" was developed, as well as in individual psychological counseling. 6 publications were published on the topic of the study.

The dissertation consists of 3 chapters, introduction, bibliography conclusion, applications. The first chapter outlines the philosophical and psychological understanding of the problems of life and death, as well as the psychological theory of crisis and critical situations; the second chapter is devoted to the description of the methods and organization of the study; the third presents the results of the study and their analysis. The appendices contain experimental materials, the author's methodology)" "Acceptance" and a Questionnaire to identify attitudes towards life and death.

Dissertation conclusion on the topic "Psychology of personality", Bakanova, Anastasia Alexandrovna

The results of the study and the strategies formulated above for each sample made it possible to construct an empirical typology of life strategies for coping with critical situations (see Fig. 25).

The personality structures these situations according to such emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death as: attitude to life - acceptance of life, life as growth, life as consumption, non-acceptance of life; ontological security, self-acceptance, responsibility. striving for growth; attitude towards death - acceptance of death, death as a transition to another state, death as an absolute end; rejection of death, fear; vision of meaning - the presence and absence of meaning in life and death.

Such a typology makes it possible to reveal the system of relations of the individual to himself, life and death, and also determines the complex of psychological characteristics inherent in the individual in various critical situations and helping him to cope with them.

Life Strategies for Coping with Crisis Situations

Death as a transition to another state, acceptance of death

Presence of meaning

Death as a limb; rejection of death

Fear of life

CONCLUSION

In our study, we aimed to find out psychological nature the relationship of the individual to life and death in various critical situations. This would make it possible to determine life strategies for coping with them, as well as the main directions of psychological assistance to people who find themselves in difficult life situations.

The study showed that the attitude of the individual to life and death is a system, the main emotional and rational components of which are: the degree of acceptance of life and death, ontological security, self-acceptance, vision of meaning, responsibility, desire for growth, the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state or as the absolute end.

The relationship between the rational and emotional components of attitudes towards life and death in critical situations determines 8 life strategies for coping with them (by strategy we mean a system of attitudes towards life and death, chosen by a person and aimed at overcoming a critical situation): "The desire for growth", "Search the meaning of life", "Love of life", "Fear of life", "Seizure of life". "Fear of change", "Self-deprecation" and "Hedonism". A prisoner-specific strategy is "Hedonism"; for cancer patients - "Fear of life"; for military personnel - "Search for the meaning of life" and "Capture of life".

"Striving for Growth". This strategy is characterized by an understanding of life as a constant growth, movement towards goals and achievements. Such an attitude to life is associated with taking responsibility for oneself and loved ones: the orientation of the individual to care. Knowledge of one's own mortality can strengthen the individual's desire for long-term

178 development, due to which the person is more inclined to accept death and a conscious attitude towards it.

"Self-abasement" This strategy has such features as a person's rejection of himself and his life, a sense of ontological insecurity and a lack of meaning in life. death in this case perceived as a kind of relief from hardships earthly existence, but at the same time it instills a sense of fear.

"Hedonism". This option is characterized by a consumerist attitude to life, in which the idea of ​​personal growth and development is denied. This approach to life is expressed in concern for one's own health, acceptance of illness and suffering. The concept of death in this case can be any.

"Love of life". It is characteristic of this strategy to perceive life as the highest value, which is associated with the acceptance of oneself, one's body and one's life path. As a result of this, the significance of the past increases significantly, and any changes are perceived as a threat to stability, Death loses its meaning and is understood rather as an absolute end.

"Capture of life". This strategy is characterized by a sense of ontological security, as well as a strong identification with the male role, which is closely related to the experience of direct destruction of the enemy. Such a worldview entails the denial of meaning in death, and the meaning of life is seen in emotional richness. Such a person does not see the point in growth and development.

"The search for the meaning of life." This strategy is characterized by vague ideas about own life, the desire to find its deep meaning, Life is understood here rather as a constant growth, and death is seen as a transition to another level of development.

"Fear of Life" This strategy is characterized by internal contradictions in the structure of personality. The concept of death as a transition appears in this case as psychological protection.

"Fear of change". In this strategy, the main characteristics are health care, a high level of control, rejection of the present, focus on the stability of life. Death is understood as the absolute end.

The study showed that critical situations change the attitude of the individual to life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the ability of the individual to integrate the traumatic experience associated with the critical situation, as well as on the attitude towards the situation itself. We have singled out two such relationships - "A critical situation as an opportunity for growth" and "A critical situation as suffering".

In the first case, a critical situation is perceived by a person as an opportunity for a deeper, more authentic being and includes such components; acceptance of fate, a sense of ontological security, meaningfulness of life, responsibility, striving for growth, acceptance of the spiritual and physical aspects of one's personality, tolerance for the variability of life, as well as acceptance of feelings towards death and belief in the immortality of the soul.

In the second variant, a critical situation is perceived as a punishment or redemption and is expressed in concentration on one's suffering - illness, old age, fears, evil, helplessness and loneliness. This attitude to life is associated with the idea of ​​death as the absolute end and fear in relation to it.

A critical situation, therefore, as a situation of collision with the main existential categories, provides the individual with opportunities both for growth and for "going into suffering", The choice in this

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Questionnaire "Attitude towards life, death and crisis"

(A.A. Bakanova, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Practical Psychology, Leningrad State University named after A.S. Pushkin)

Purpose of the questionnaire- revealing the system of personal relations to the main existential givens, to oneself and crisis situations.

The dissertation research "Attitude to life and death in critical life situations", conducted by A. A. Bakapova in 1999-2000, showed that a person in a critical situation structures his attitude to life and death according to such emotional and rational components , how:

attitude to life: acceptance of life, a sense of ontological security, self-acceptance, striving for growth, responsibility, understanding of life as growth or consumption, acceptance of the variability of life;

attitude towards death: acceptance of death, acceptance of feelings towards death, understanding of death as a transition to another state or as an absolute end;

vision of meaning: the presence or absence of meaning in life, death AND a critical situation;

attitude to a critical situation: a critical situation as a danger of suffering or as an opportunity for growth.

The interrelation of these components allows, on the one hand, to reveal the system of relations of the individual to himself, others, life and death as basic existential givens, and on the other hand, determines the complex of psychological characteristics of the individual in a critical situation and, accordingly, the strategy of coping with them.

This method allows you to find out:

features of the attitude of the individual to life, death and crisis situations;

the degree of psychological maturity of the individual, the desire for self-actualization and personal growth;

the degree of elaboration and relevance of some existential problems (for example, life - death, responsibility, meaning);

possible strategies for coping with crisis situations.

Scales 1-7 are aimed at identifying attitudes towards various components of life, ranging from a sense of ontological security that is formed in childhood to such basic parameters as acceptance of one's life, oneself, responsibility and striving for personal growth. All these scales reflect the degree of psychological maturity, self-actualization and humanistic orientation of the individual.

Scale 1. Acceptance of the variability of life

This scale allows you to identify the attitude of the individual to such a characteristic of life as variability. Acceptance of the variability of life can be considered not only as one of the indicators of a person's ability to cope with crisis situations, but also as one of the factors in the desire for personal growth. The life of every person is constantly filled with changes - unpredictable and unexpected situations; which are usually rated in the categories "good, like" - "bad, don't like". Evaluation of any situations, especially negative ones, puts them in opposition to the individual - situations begin to be perceived as obstacles and, accordingly, to be overcome.

A high score on this scale indicates that a person has developed the ability to accept the changes taking place in life, to treat them more tolerantly, and therefore more effectively cope with emerging crisis situations, to see them as an opportunity to gain new experience and further growth.

A low score indicates that a person is more inclined to build psychological defenses in critical situations and sees less of an opportunity for their own growth in them.

Scale 2. Life as growth

This scale reflects the basic attitude of the individual to his own life, which is expressed in the positions: "I am the creator of life" or "I am the consumer of life." The position in relation to one's own life, which is formed in a person in the process of development, is manifested in his relationship with himself, the world and other people, as well as in all types of his activities, including coping with crisis situations. In this scale, the views of E. Fromm on human nature and A. Maslow on the satisfaction of scarce or existential needs are manifested. A high score on this scale indicates an understanding of life as an opportunity for the realization of "existential" motives, and with low scores, life is perceived as an opportunity to satisfy "deficient" motivation.

Scale 3. Acceptance of life

The scale allows you to identify the degree of acceptance by a person of his own life in its temporal aspect, that is, the present, past and future. Acceptance of one's own life is closely related to the positive attitude of the individual towards himself, and is also an important component in the concept of life. Acceptance of one's own life throughout its entire length from the past to the future allows a person, firstly, to see the meaning of life, secondly, to treat it as a value, and thirdly, to accept the idea of ​​one's own development and growth. This scale, like others, has a humanistic orientation and is one of the factors in the pursuit of personal growth.

Therefore, high scores on the scale indicate that a person accepts his life, which is understood as having meaning, having value and allowing spiritual growth.

Low scores on the scale indicate a kind of "rejection" of one's own life, exclusion of oneself from its process, rejection and, consequently, internal disintegration of the individual.

Scale 4. Ontological security

This scale reveals the features of child-parent relationships, the degree of acceptance by the individual of his childhood and parents. The concept of "ontological security" was introduced by I. Yalom and was understood by him as a primary existential feeling that provides the child with confidence and security. In adult life, ontological security passes into the inner plane, where a sense of security, which was provided in childhood by the actions and care of parents, is experienced by a mature person as psychological comfort, trust in relation to oneself, others and the world as a whole (these ideas are reflected in the works of E. Erikson , A. Maslow and others). This can also be described as a feeling of "rootedness", that is, one's own close connection with parental "roots", experiencing one's own life as one of the links in the chain of life of previous generations.

The importance of relationships with parents in the formation of a child's gender identity has been proven by many studies and is beyond doubt. Relations with parents and, in particular, a sense of ontological security, are of great importance for the formation of moral and religious beliefs. Acceptance of parents is closely related to the acceptance of oneself, one's own life, as well as basic humanistic values ​​(responsibility, meaning, spiritual growth). In addition, the feeling of ontological security influences the formation of the concept of death, where the relationship with the mother determines the acceptance of the idea of ​​death and feelings towards it. Thus, the acceptance of childhood and, in particular, mother, not only creates a feeling of ontological security, but also acts as an important component for the formation of faith and the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul.

High scores on this scale indicate that a person feels ontological security, which is expressed not only in the acceptance of their parents and childhood, but also in the presence of basic trust, security and psychological comfort.

Low scores reflect the presence in the person's personal experience of actual unresolved childhood conflicts, as well as distrust, insecurity and discomfort in relationships with oneself, other people and the world.

Scale 5. Self-acceptance

This scale expresses the degree of acceptance by a person of his Self as a unity of bodily and spiritual (psychological) aspects. Self-acceptance is one of the aspects of a person's attitude towards himself, which can be described through the expression of self-confidence, respect, care, understanding of one's needs and characteristics, sympathy for oneself and taking part in one's own destiny. Deep understanding and acceptance of oneself, being one of the fundamental characteristics of self-relationship, is expressed outwardly through a similar attitude towards people - respect for the individuality of others, tolerance, recognition of their value, etc. Therefore, this characteristic is one of the factors of a harmonious personality, which not only strives for integration of all its sides, but also to the realization of existing abilities, but also to the realization of existing abilities.

High scores on the scale testify to the person's acceptance of his individuality and, in a broader sense, to a humanistic position in relation to himself, others and the world.

Low scores indicate the internal disintegration of the personality, the mismatch between its bodily and spiritual aspects, self-denial.

Scale 6. Striving for growth

The scale is aimed at identifying the main life aspiration of a person: for personal growth or, conversely, for consumption and stagnation.

This scale is similar in its content to scale 2, however, unlike it, it measures not ideas about life, but a specific orientation of the individual.

A high score on this scale speaks of the predominant "existential" orientation of the personality, and a low score, respectively, of a "deficient" one.

Scale 7. Responsibility

This scale measures the degree to which a person takes responsibility for his life. It is known that the degree of acceptance of responsibility is, in the most general form, one of the existential characteristics of a person, which determines the features of his life path and the resolution of existential problems, in particular, an important factor in coping with crisis situations. A high score on this scale indicates a person's acceptance of responsibility for his life, a low score indicates an avoidance of this responsibility.

Scales 8, 10, 11 define the concept of death, which includes rational and emotional components. Man's attitude to this existential given seems to be especially important for two main reasons.

First, the acceptance of death is central to the formation of ideas about other existential problems.

Secondly, considering a crisis situation as a situation of collision with death (where death is understood not only in the direct, but also in figuratively- as psychological death), the attitude towards it becomes one of the cornerstones of a person's choice of strategies for coping with the crisis.

Scale 8. The concept of death

This scale is aimed at identifying attitudes towards death, namely, at determining one or another concept of death that exists in a person.

Many ideas about death can be divided into two large blocks: relatively speaking, "religious" and "atheistic". The first block, called “Death as a transition”, includes those concepts that suggest the existence of some form of life after death (the existence of the soul after death, the transmigration of the soul to another body, the life of the soul in heaven or hell, etc.). The second option - "Death as the end" - includes those ideas that see the final completion of life in the death of the body.

High scores on this scale reflect a person's propensity for the first type of concepts, and low scores for the second type of concepts.

Scale 10. Acceptance of feelings towards death

The scale allows you to identify the degree of acceptance by the person of his own feelings in relation to death. This parameter is important from the point of view of the “elaboration” of the theme of death and therefore can serve as one of the indicators of the relevance of this existential problem for a person. The acceptance of one's own feelings in relation to death testifies to the inner work done by the person, which helps to form a meaningful attitude not only to one's own death, but also to life. Rejection of death and one's feelings towards it blocks the formation of not only the concept of death, but also ideas about life as an opportunity for growth. Also, avoidance of feelings does not allow a person to learn to gain experience from crisis situations.

High scores indicate the person's acceptance of feelings towards death, as well as a meaningful attitude towards it as part of one's own life.

Low scores indicate not only psychological protection against thinking about death, but are also a symbol of low reflection on existential problems, one's life and, in particular, experience gained from crisis situations.

Scale 11. Acceptance of death

This scale allows you to see whether a person accepts death as a given, or seeks to avoid thinking about it, which reflects his resistance to the fact of mortality and finiteness. As studies show, there is a close relationship between the acceptance of death and the acceptance of the variability of life, and hence the ability of the individual to cope with various crises in life.

High scores on this scale indicate that a person accepts the existence of death and seeks to relate to it consciously, to prepare for its arrival.

Low scores indicate a desire to avoid thinking about death, and, consequently, the very fact of the presence of death in the experience of all living things.

Scales 9, 12, 13 reveal the existence of meaning in life, death and crisis. The search for meaning in ongoing events and in life in general is undoubtedly the most important process for a person, reflecting the stages of its formation, further development, self-actualization. The search for meaning in one's own life and death is a characteristic of a reflective person who seeks to go beyond his own limits, to know not only himself, but also being. In this context, it is also important to explore the search for the meaning of one's own suffering, crisis situations, which, on the one hand, are part of life, and on the other hand, confront him with constant variability, impermanence, finiteness, and, finally, death.

Scale 9. The presence of the meaning of life

This scale is aimed at revealing the subordination of life to a higher meaning. High scores indicate the presence in a person's life of some higher meaning, subordination to this idea, while low scores, on the contrary, indicate the absence of meaning, as well as the lack of desire to seek it.

Scale 12. Having the meaning of death

This scale reveals the individual's understanding of the meaning of death, which reflects the degree of reflection on it. There are several such meanings. However, it is important here not so much what meaning a person sees in death, but whether he sees this meaning at all.

High scores correspond to the presence in the individual of any ideas about the meaning of death, and low scores correspond to their absence.

Scale 13. Presence of meaning in a crisis situation

This scale allows you to identify the attitude to a crisis situation, in particular, how much a person is inclined to comprehend what is happening to him, to take responsibility for finding a way out, to integrate a traumatic experience.

High scores reveal the desire of the individual to look for meaning in the misfortunes that happen to him, which means trying to understand the “lesson”, draw positive experience, learn something. Low scores indicate the absence of such attempts, the low meaningfulness of crisis situations and, as a result, the impossibility of reforming a negative experience into a positive one, and, therefore, more effectively cope with the difficulties that have arisen.

Scale 14. The concept of a crisis situation

The scale allows you to identify how a person understands a crisis situation and, consequently, how he relates to it and how he will act in it.

There are two directions in relation to the crisis. “A crisis situation as an opportunity” is characterized by an attitude towards it as an experience that allows a person to develop further, improve himself, receive through crises, in addition to negative, also positive experience. As our research has shown, this concept is associated with a more harmonious image of the Self, the desire for growth, acceptance of one's life and oneself. High scores on this scale will testify to such an attitude towards crisis situations. “A crisis situation as a danger” will be typical for people who are oriented in a crisis only to its negative sides, loss, suffering, martyrdom. This attitude will be characterized by low scores on this scale.

general description of work

The relevance of research

There is now a growing awareness that the spiritual dimension of human experience is a legitimate area of ​​research and study within psychological science. Modern psychology involves the formation of ideas about the mental and spiritual development of the individual in the context of a transcultural and multi-level approach to solving the problems that confront humanity at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. In this regard, a special place in the system of psychological knowledge is occupied by the existential-humanistic paradigm, which considers the development and formation of a personality as a person’s creative search for his destiny, agreement with himself, and actualization of his capabilities. The life path of a person is associated with the passage of various critical situations, which, according to E. Yeomans, "can be described as stages of destruction, when there is a breaking, dying off or" positive disintegration "of some of our natural ways of seeing the world, knowing ourselves and relating to the environment."

The strongest critical situations of a person are those that are associated with awareness of one's own mortality (an incurable disease, participation in hostilities, etc.) or encounters with the death of another (experiencing the loss of a loved one). However, in the existential-humanistic paradigm, any critical situation can be viewed as a kind of "collision with death." Moreover, death in this context is understood as a transforming process, the rejection of old, familiar ways of being and the selection, improvement of new ones more adequate to the changed conditions.

A critical situation is experienced by a person in different ways. On the one hand, it can have a devastating effect, increasing anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, which can lead to a life crisis. On the other hand, to give meaning to life, to make it more complete and meaningful. In any case, a collision with a critical situation is painfully experienced by a person and changes his attitude to life, death, himself and values, which forms various life strategies that help a person get out of a critical situation. All of the above allows us to talk about the need for psychological assistance to people in a critical life situation.

However, the analysis of the literature shows that at the present stage of development of psychology, despite the social demand and practical orientation, the theory of crises is not developed enough - its own system of categories has not been developed, the connection between the concepts used and academic psychological concepts has not been clarified, and ways and mechanisms for overcoming critical situations have not been identified.

As theoretical and methodological basis dissertation research are the leading methodological principles of psychological determinism, development, unity of consciousness and activity, activity, consistency, complexity (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, L.S. Vygotsky, V. N. Panferov, S.L. Rubinshtein), ideas about the life path as an individual system for solving such existential problems as life - death, freedom - responsibility, loneliness - communication, meaning - meaninglessness of life ( , ), personality as a subject of the life path and a system of object-evaluative and selective relations to reality (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, I.B. Kartseva, A.F. Lazursky, V.N. Myasishchev, S. L. Rubinstein), coping with critical life situations, constructive and non-constructive strategies for such coping (L.I. Antsyferova, R. Assagioli, B.S. Bratus, F.E. Vasilyuk, N.V. Tarabrina, V. Frankl , E. Fromm, J. Jacobson).

Target our research - to find out the attitude of the individual to life and death and their relationship in various critical situations.

Hypothesis lies in the assumption that the attitude of the individual to life and death includes rational and emotional components that interact in different ways in various critical situations, which determines life strategies for coping with them.

Private hypotheses:

1. Rational and emotional components of the attitude to life and death have different degrees of severity in critical situations.
2. The attitude to life and death in various critical situations has both general and specific features.

Tasks:

1. Conduct a theoretical analysis of philosophical and psychological literature on the subject of research.
2. Select and develop diagnostic methods adequate to the purpose and hypothesis of the study.
3. To reveal emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death in critical situations.
4. To study the relationship between attitudes towards life and death in various critical situations - imprisonment, participation in hostilities and cancer.
5. Determine the general and specific features of the attitude to life and death.

Object of study: men aged 20-45 years old, prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty (35 people), women aged 35-60 years old with cancer (36 people), men aged 18-25 years old, who took part in hostilities in "hot spots" and were injured (35 human).

A total of 106 people took part in the study.

Subject of study are the emotional and rational components of attitudes towards life and death, their relationship and influence on life strategies for coping with critical situations.

Research methods were selected according to the basic principles and ideas of existential-humanistic psychology to identify the desire for meaning, the questionnaire "Meaningful orientations" (adapted by D.N. Leontiev), the locus of control - the questionnaire "Level of subjective control" by J. Rotter, assessing the saturation of one's life path - a technique "Assessment of five years of life" E.I. Golovachi and A.A. Kronika, fixing personal changes in a group of women with cancer - a scale of personal growth, the degree of acceptance of the elements of life - the author's technique "Acceptance"; attitudes towards life and death - author's questionnaire.

For statistical data processing, correlation, factorial and comparative analysis using the STATISTICA application package.

Scientific novelty dissertation research is to build an empirical typology of life strategies for coping with critical situations. The personality structures these situations according to such emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death as.

1. Attitude to life - acceptance of life, life as growth, life as consumption, non-acceptance of life, ontological security, self-acceptance, responsibility, striving for growth;
2. Attitude towards death - acceptance of death, death as a transition to another state, death as an absolute end, non-acceptance of death, fear.
3. The vision of meaning is the presence and absence of meaning in life and death. Such a typology makes it possible to identify a system of a person's relations to himself, others, life and death, and also determines a set of psychological characteristics inherent in a person in various critical situations and helping him to cope with them.

Practical significance of the study is determined by the possibility of using the results obtained in group and individual psychological assistance to clients in a critical life situation or experiencing post-traumatic stress. Psychotherapeutic work in these areas requires knowledge about how death is understood and, accordingly, one's own life in such states, as well as what personal resources and life strategies are used to cope with critical situations.

The dissertation materials are used in lecture courses in the training of practical psychologists in psychological counseling, psychological assistance and correction, in the form of a special course for undergraduates in the psychology of personality and individuality, as well as in psychological training for psychology students.

The following provisions are put forward for defense:

1. The relationship between rational and emotional components of attitudes towards life and death in critical situations determines 8 life strategies for coping with them. "Striving for growth", "Searching for the meaning of life", "Love for life". "Fear of life", "Takeover of life", "Fear of change", "Self-deprecation" and "Hedonism".
2. In co-management with a critical situation, two main directions can be distinguished related to the attitude of the individual to this situation - "A critical situation as an opportunity for growth" and "A critical situation as suffering."

Approbation of the research results: the main theoretical provisions were reported at the scientific and methodological seminars of graduate students, meetings of the Department of Psychological Assistance of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, at the SSS of the Institute of Biology and Human Psychology, as well as through publications and presentations at scientific-practical, scientific-methodological and interuniversity conferences (Tsarskoye Selo Readings - 1999, Ananiev Readings - 1999, Human Psychology and Ecology). The content of the dissertation was used in lecture courses on psychological counseling and in a special course on the psychology of individuality for students of the psychological and pedagogical faculty of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen. The results of the study were presented at the seminars of the International School of Counseling, Psychotherapy and Group Management at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Counseling "Harmony", on the basis of which a program of psychological training "Finding Yourself: The Gift of Accepting Change" was developed, as well as in individual psychological counseling. 7 publications have been published on the research topic.

Scope and structure of work

The dissertation consists of an introduction, 3 chapters, conclusion, bibliography, including 157 sources, including 10 in foreign languages, applications. The dissertation is presented on 195 pages, includes 7 tables and 25 figures.

The main content of the work

The first chapter outlines the philosophical and psychological aspects of the problem of attitude to life and death in critical situations; the second chapter is devoted to the description of the methods and organization of the study, the third chapter presents the results of the study and their analysis. The appendices contain experimental materials and author's methods for studying the attitude to life and death of persons in various critical life situations.

In the introduction the relevance of the study is substantiated, the object, subject, hypotheses, purpose and objectives of the study are determined, the scientific novelty, practical significance and approbation of the results. The provisions submitted for defense are formulated.

First chapter"Existential-psychological approach to the problem of life and death" is devoted to theoretical analysis problems of attitude to life and death in the philosophy and history of psychological science, as well as understanding the critical situation in foreign and domestic psychology. The first paragraph of this chapter analyzes the philosophical ideas about life and death from the primitive-communal stage of human development to the existential knowledge of death in the philosophy of the 19th century. It is noted that death is one of the fundamental parameters of the collective consciousness and the attitude towards death, according to such scientists as F. Aries, M. Vovel, O. Thiebaud, L.-V. Thomas, P. Shan can even serve as an indicator of the level of development of civilization.

The desire to know death leads to the fact that already in ancient philosophy there are 2 main concepts: belief in the immortality of the soul (this concept entered Christianity in a transformed form) and the acceptance of the absolute finiteness of life, the call for "the courage to be." These concepts, in one form or another, passed through the entire history of civilization, revealing the diverse aspects of a person's attitude to life and death, not only in different eras, but also in different cultures.

In contrast to the Eastern study of death, where, according to P.S. Gurevich, "... proceeded from the fact that the process of dying is inevitable and is an integral part of human existence", the Western sought to overcome death leads to the fact that by the beginning of the Enlightenment, the integrity of life and death was destroyed: life began to be considered the one and only, and death turned into the force that destroys this life. Existentialists tried to smooth out a similar dichotomy in understanding life and death (S., J.-P., and others), considering death as the last opportunity, thanks to which existence can achieve its higher form, and man - a deeper authentic being.

The final change in attitudes towards death took place already in the 20th century, in which, according to many historians, the attitude towards life and death was completely deformed, positive and negative accents in the assessment of these phenomena shifted. The trend towards the displacement of death from the collective consciousness, gradually growing, reaches its climax in our time, when, according to F. Aries. society behaves "as if no one dies at all and the death of the individual does not make any breach in the structure of society." F. Aries called such an attitude towards death as "death inverted".

An analysis of the literature shows that people's attitudes towards death have changed along with their worldview throughout the course of the entire history of mankind. These relationships were built from the understanding of death as a natural continuation and completion of life to their complete rupture in the human mind, breeding them as two different entities, their mutual negation.

In the second paragraph ideas about life and death in the history of psychological science are considered, psychoanalytic and existential-humanistic approaches to understanding life and death are analyzed. Psychology at the beginning of the 20th century "caught" from the hands of philosophy the image of death, which by that time had become confusing, rejected and completely separated from life. Such a "legacy", inherited by the first concepts in psychology (behaviorism and psychoanalysis), was expressed in insufficient attention to the topic of death. Personality, organism, psyche and, accordingly, the purpose of all human life were understood in these directions mechanistically.

The epochal discoveries of Z. Freud in the field of depth psychology attracted many brilliant thinkers to further research, such as A. Adler, R. Assagioli, W. Reich, E. Fromm, K.-G. Jung. special attention deserve the ideas of R. Assagioli and K.-G. Jung, which, despite their psychoanalytic "roots", were the basis for the development of the ideas of humanistic and transpersonal approaches to personality. Their works were an important step in understanding the life path as an ambiguous, and sometimes dramatic process that leads a person to transformation and spiritual transformation through crises and confrontation with the dark sides of the psyche.

Unlike psychoanalysis, in the existential-humanistic paradim represented by the works of such authors as J. Bugental, A. Maslow, R. May, K. Rogers, V. Frankl, I. Yalom and others, as well as in transpersonal psychology (S and K. Grof, S. Krippner, K. Naranjo, etc.), much attention is paid to the problems of life and death. greater value. In this direction, not only their rightful place in the system of psychological knowledge and influence on the formation of personality is recognized, but also their close relationship. It is shown that the understanding of life and death at the present stage of development of psychology began to approach each other, integrating the experience of human existence more and more.

In the third paragraph the critical situation is considered as a model of a collision with death, an understanding of the crisis and the critical situation by foreign and domestic psychologists, the importance of critical situations for the formation of personality is considered. It is noted that although the problem of crisis and critical situation has always been in the field of view of psychological thinking, the theory of crises has appeared as an independent discipline relatively recently. The understanding of the crisis by such foreign psychologists as R. Assagioli, S. and K. Grof, T. and E. Yeomans, D. Tyarst, K. Jung is described, the triggers of the crisis are revealed.

Situations that require a person to change their lifestyle, way of thinking, way of knowing and seeing the world, or attitude towards themselves and others can be described as critical. A critical situation can be a turning point in a person's life; lead to a crisis. Any crisis contains both positive and negative components. The negative component lies in the fact that a person in a critical situation is characterized by a workload of unresolved problems, a feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, experiencing life as a "dead end". But the crisis - the ego is not only a "threat of a catastrophe", but also the possibility of change, the transition to a new stage of personality development, a source of strength, and this is its positive aspect. Thus, the nature of the crisis is described as transformative, since it simultaneously carries not only the rejection of the old, familiar ways of being, but also the search for and improvement of new ones.

In domestic psychology, critical situations and personal changes associated with them were considered in the structure of the life nougat of the personality by K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, V.F. Vasilyuk, T.E. Kartseva, S.L. Rubinstein. At present, among domestic authors, the problem of crisis situations is being developed in the most detail by F.E. Vasilyuk, considering the crisis in the structure of a critical situation.

An analysis of the literature allows us to give working definitions of a critical situation and a crisis. A critical situation is a situation in which the subject cannot realize the basic needs of his life and which puts him before the need to change the way of being (relationship to himself, others, life and death). A crisis is a reaction of a person to a critical situation, which is expressed in the inability of the person to resolve this situation in a short time and in the usual way; subjectively, the crisis is experienced as a "dead end". Any critical situation can potentially be a crisis for the personality (that is, leading to a crisis), which depends on the adaptive capabilities of the personality.

In domestic psychology, the commission of critical situations in a person's life is understood as a prerequisite for personal changes - it changes social situation development of the individual, there is a change of roles, the circle of people involved in interaction with him, the range of problems to be solved and the way of life change.

In the fourth paragraph the experience of a person's encounter with death as a result of critical situations is considered.

It is noted that the collision with death as a critical situation is inherently ambivalent, on the one hand, it can have a devastating effect on a person (expressed in increased fear of death), and on the other hand, give meaning to life, make it more complete and meaningful. Based on the works of R. Assagioli, J. Bugental, T. and E. Yeomans, S. Levin, A. Maslow, R. May, J. Rainwater, V. Frankl, E. Fromm, I. Yalom and others, possible reactions of the individual to the encounter with death. Also considered are possible mechanisms for suppressing the fear of death, ranging from the desire for power and ending with depression or increased sexual activity.

Second chapter"Methods and organization of research" is devoted to the methods and organization of the study of attitudes towards life and death of persons in a critical life situation.

In the first paragraph the stages of the study of the problem during 1995 - 2000 are disclosed. At the first stage (1995 - 1997), the goal, tasks, theoretical approaches to research. The philosophical and psychological understanding of the problems of life and death was analyzed. The representations of foreign and domestic psychological schools about the critical situation and its significance for the life path of the individual. At this stage, it was pilot study, the results of which made it possible to formulate the concept of a dissertation research and determine the methodological basis.

At the second stage (1997 - 1999) were selected various options critical situations - imprisonment in places of deprivation of liberty, participation in hostilities and cancer. Further, a study was made of the attitude to life and death of persons in these critical situations.

At the third stage (1999 - 2000) the obtained data were analyzed and summarized using quantitative correlation, factorial and comparative analysis.

In the second paragraph the surveyed sample is characterized, which includes prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty, military personnel who were injured during hostilities in "hot spots" and women with cancer.

Serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty is a strong psychological stress for most people, which is due to the peculiarities of the penitentiary environment. Such a radical change in living conditions is a critical situation for many prisoners, which brings them face to face with questions of their own existence.

The study involved male prisoners (suspected and accused) held in pre-trial detention center No. 6 of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. A total of 35 prisoners took part in the study. The age of the subjects ranged from 20 to 45 years. Most of them were convicted under Art. Art. 145, 148, 158, 161 (theft, robbery, robbery, hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The situation of an oncological disease is undoubtedly also critical for the individual, since it is associated with a real danger to life, this is a direct collision with the possibility of one's own death. Like any other critical situation, it actualizes whole line existential problems: the need to accept death, rethinking life, accepting responsibility, etc. The study involved 36 women with cancer (breast cancer) aged 35 to 60 years. All of them were treated after the operation.

Our study also involved conscripts who were treated with wounds in Military Medical Academy named after S.M. Kirov. All of them took part in hostilities on the territory of Chechnya and Dagestan for 2 months to 1 year.

In the third paragraph The second chapter describes the organization and methods of studying attitudes towards life and death in critical situations. At the main stage of the study, personality tests by D.N. Leontiev, J. Rotter, E.I. Golovakhi and A.A. Kronika, as well as author's methods for identifying attitudes towards life and death.

In the third chapter"The results of the study of the attitude to life and death of a person in a critical situation" are the results of the study and their interpretation. The data described in the first three paragraphs were obtained, respectively, on samples of prisoners, military personnel and cancer patients and analyzed using quantitative, correlation and factor analysis. The dissertation contains illustrations that clearly show the features of ideas about life and death, depending on the critical situation, as well as correlation pleiades, reflecting the relationship of these ideas.

The first paragraph of this chapter is devoted to the peculiarities of understanding and attitude to life and death in a situation of deprivation of liberty (see Table 1).

Relationship to life and death
in various critical situations

Tab. one

	prisoners	military personnel	cancer patients
	Death as a transition to another state
Attitude to life	Taking responsibility for yourself and your life, as well as suffering, old age, the volatility of life and meaning Rejection of the father and sexuality	Striving for high meaningfulness of life, acceptance of kindness and love Less identification with the male role	Rejection of love, real Acceptance of responsibility, health care; reliance on willpower
Meaning life	In personal growth, achievement and development	Loss of the meaning of life and the desire to find it	In activity Low meaningfulness of life
Attitude to death	acceptance of death	Attitude becomes more meaningful acceptance of death	Rather, the rejection of death.
Meaning of death	In the transition to another level of spiritual development, growth	In development and growth, in transition At the logical end of life	On the move to another level
	Death as the absolute end of life
Attitude to life	The presence of meaning and understanding of life as growth and constant movement is denied; rejection of the mother, variability, one's life, responsibility, suffering Acceptance of sexuality and body Life as super value	The understanding of life as growth is denied Acceptance of sexuality, masculinity, father and mother; self-acceptance in the physical, spiritual and temporal aspect; acceptance of meaning, love, responsibility, kindness	Acceptance of your femininity, yourself, husband, mother, father, your life, future; acceptance of old age, fears, love, change and personal growth Taking responsibility Orientation to experience life in the present moment
Meaning life	In the saturation of life, in pleasures and delights	In the "present", in pleasures, pleasures	In the "present", achievements and family relationships
Attitude to death	Not accepting death	acceptance of death Thoughts of death evoke negative emotions	Awareness of its inevitability acceptance of death
Meaning of death	The meaning of death is denied	The meaning of death is denied	In a logical conclusion; at rest

So, for a person deprived of freedom, it is typical to live today, moreover, with a tendency to receive as many experiences and impressions as possible. The meaning of life is seen either in obtaining pleasures and blessings, or in helping and caring for others. The attitude towards life of prisoners includes such components as ontological security (experience of close connection with the parental family and acceptance of mother, father and childhood), identification with the male role and reliance on higher values ​​(including meaningfulness of life and responsibility).

The rational element in the understanding of death lies in the ideas of transition to another level of development or to absolute finitude, moreover, such ideas are formed in childhood and tend to persist in adulthood. The emotional component is quite dynamic and changes with age, from fear of death to acceptance of its inevitability or, in another version, avoidance of feelings associated with the awareness of mortality.

An analysis of the results shows that the understanding of life and death among prisoners is closely related. Moreover, the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state (the concept of the immortality of the soul) turns out to be more constructive for their understanding of life, and ideas about their own finiteness deform picture of life, introducing into it elements of "existential vacuum" (lack of meaning in life and death, rejection of oneself and one's life, ontological insecurity). It can be concluded that the idea of ​​life as a constant growth is transferred to ideas about death, which allows a person to take responsibility for everything that he does and less avoid feelings about death. An interesting fact is that a long serving of a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty stimulates the formation of just such a concept of life.

Statistical analysis made it possible to identify various strategies for coping with a critical situation (by strategy we mean a system of attitudes towards life and death, chosen by a person and aimed at overcoming a critical situation):

• "Striving for Growth". This strategy is characterized by an understanding of life as a constant growth, movement towards goals and achievements. Such an attitude to life is associated with taking responsibility for oneself and loved ones; care orientation of the individual. Knowledge of one's own mortality can strengthen the individual's desire for further development, due to which the person is more inclined to accept death and a conscious attitude towards it.
• "Self-humiliation". This strategy has such features as a person's rejection of himself and his life, a sense of ontological insecurity and a lack of meaning in life. Death in this case is perceived as a kind of deliverance from the hardships of earthly existence, but at the same time it instills a sense of fear.
• "Hedonism". This variant is characterized by a consumerist attitude to life, in which the idea of ​​personal growth and development is denied. This approach to life is expressed in concern for one's own health, accepting illness and suffering. The concept of death in this case can be any.
• "Love of life". It is characteristic of this strategy to perceive life as the highest value, which is associated with the acceptance of oneself, one's body and one's life path. As a result, the significance of the past is greatly increased, and any changes are perceived as a threat to stability. Death loses its meaning and is understood rather as an absolute end.

Thus, the results obtained indicate the following: the restriction of freedom gives the individual not only the experience of a collision with his own finiteness, but also an appeal to his own transcendence, which is expressed in ideas about his own life as an endless process of growth and development, as well as in the acceptance of responsibility. Such changes in worldview lead to the fact that many prisoners, while in prison, turn to religion.

The second paragraph is devoted to the peculiarities of understanding and attitude to life and death by servicemen who took part in combat operations (see Table 1).

For soldiers military service who have gone through "hot spots", as well as for prisoners, it is typical to live in the present, moreover, with a tendency to receive as many positive impressions as possible, as well as future goals. They also see the meaning of life in obtaining pleasures and benefits, or servicemen's attitude to life is based on a sense of ontological security, identification with the male role (which is noticeably strengthened by the direct experience of destroying the enemy), and reliance on higher values.

The results show that the ideas of the immortality of the soul, laid down in childhood, are of great importance for the personality. moral significance in the formation of ideas about life - goodness, love and meaning. An interesting fact is that Active participation in combat operations (associated with the killing of the enemy) carries a tendency to destroy children's ideas about the immortality of the soul and changes the concept of death towards absolute finitude. Such an experience contributes to the avoidance of feelings associated with dying. At the same time, the concept of life changes in the direction of a consumer attitude towards it, and the meaning of life - in the direction of satisfying the need for saturation of life with impressions and experiences. As can be seen from the results obtained, the experience of direct destruction of the enemy (killing a person) deforms the military personnel's ideas about the direction of their own lives. It loses its development of the future, "freezes" in place of the traumatic experience. This may explain the fact that some soldiers who have passed through "hot spots" tend to return to them.

Passive participation in the war (not associated with the killing of the enemy and frequent military operations) leads to the formation of the concept of death as a transition with a more conscious attitude towards it and acceptance. The concept of life during this period becomes unclear, contradictory, with a tendency to search for meaning.

Received with various kinds statistical analysis the results can be represented as links between attitudes towards life and death. They determine four life strategies in this critical situation - "Self-humiliation", "Love of life", "Seizure of life" and "Search for the meaning of life". The first two strategies are similar to those in prisoners. Consider those that are specific to military personnel:

• "The capture of life" - is characterized by a sense of ontological security, as well as a strong identification with the male role, which is closely related to the experience of direct destruction of the enemy. Such a worldview entails the denial of meaning in death, and the meaning of life is seen in emotional richness. Such a person does not see the point in growth and development.
• "Search for the meaning of life" - this strategy is characterized by vague ideas about one's own life, the desire to find its deep meaning. Life is understood here rather as a constant growth, and death is seen as a transition to another level of development.

Thus, the results of the study indicate that participation in hostilities changes the attitude of military personnel to life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the ability of the individual to integrate the traumatic experience associated with military operations and direct killing of the enemy.

In the third paragraph describes the features of understanding life and death in a situation of oncological disease (see Table 1).

The results show that among life-meaning orientations in this critical situation, tendencies to live in the future and in the present prevail. The meaning of life is seen mainly in caring for others, which reveals the features of the role of a woman and can be considered as personal resource to cope with the crisis, and also as a way of protection.

The attitude towards life of women with cancer differs in its characteristics from the attitude of men. The leader is not a sense of ontological security, but a focus on love. This confirms the well-known idea of ​​love as the main life value and the basis for the formation of a woman's personality. It is also interesting that in addition to relying on higher values ​​(meaning, responsibility, kindness), it is important for women to move towards wisdom, where male and female essence are equally significant.

The results of the study showed that the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state in cancer patients is associated with the presence of internal conflicts, with increased responsibility for their recovery. This suggests that the belief in the immortality of the soul can be used not only as an incentive to recovery, but also as a psychological defense. The concept of death as an absolute end is more constructive in the case of cancer, as it allows a woman to live in the present and accept many aspects of her life.

An analysis of the results suggests that in women with cancer, in relation to death, the system-forming component is not the rational (as in men), but the emotional component - the acceptance of death and feelings towards it. This indicates such a feature of female psychology as the tendency to build relationships based on emotional ties, which indicates the presence of gender aspects in relation to life and death in critical situations.

The results of a study of cancer patients in women made it possible to identify the following four life strategies: "Love for life", "Striving for growth", "Fear of life" and "Fear of change". We note those that are characteristic of this sample:

• "Fear of Life" This strategy is characterized by the presence of internal contradictions in the personality structure. The concept of death as a transition acts in this case as a psychological defense.
• "Fear of change". In this strategy, the main characteristics are health care, a high level of control, rejection of the present, focus on the stability of life. Death is understood as the absolute end.

The findings suggest that accepting death is a likely element of personal growth. An uncompromising attitude towards death leads to a focus on the well-being of the body, while reducing the chances of an open relationship with the world, authenticity and life satisfaction. It can be argued that the encounter with death in a critical situation of oncological disease lowers the "fear of fear" (fears weaken) and increases tolerance for the variability of life. Personality is calm about the fact that expectations very often run counter to real achievements.

In the fourth paragraph This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the general and specific features of the attitude to life and death in various critical situations.

An analysis of general trends in various samples suggests that in critical situations a person is faced with the need to "inventory" his ideas about life and death. Co-management with a critical situation can take place in two different, but, nevertheless, interconnected ways, depending on the attitude of the individual to this situation. We have singled out two such relationships - "A critical situation as an opportunity for growth" and "A critical situation as suffering".

In the first case, a critical situation is perceived by a person as an opportunity for a deeper, more authentic being and includes the following components: acceptance of fate, a sense of ontological security, meaningfulness of life, responsibility, striving for growth, acceptance of the spiritual and physical aspects of one's personality, tolerance for the variability of life. , as well as acceptance of feelings towards death and belief in the immortality of the soul.

In the second variant, a critical situation is perceived by a person as a punishment or redemption and is expressed in concentration on one's suffering - illness, old age, fears, evil, helplessness and loneliness. This attitude to life is associated with the idea of ​​death as an absolute end and fear in relation to it.

A comparative analysis of attitudes towards life and death, depending on the critical situation, showed that significant differences in the samples are associated with the characteristics of male and female psychology, as well as with the characteristics of the situations themselves.

Women with cancer are less ontologically secure, more likely to accept helplessness and loneliness, but less likely to accept responsibility and sexuality; they see the meaning of life in caring for others, and in relation to death they often experience negative feelings.

Military personnel differ from other samples in their greater acceptance of life, father, avoidance of feelings in relation to death, as well as the tendency to see the meaning of life in its richness.

More often than military personnel, prisoners see the meaning of life in growth and more often than cancer patients believe in the immortality of the soul.

Thus, we see that the attitude of the individual to life and death in various critical situations is connected with the attitude to this situation, its characteristic features, as well as features of male and female psychology.

The results of the study made it possible to build an empirical typology of life strategies for coping with critical situations (see Fig. 1). As we can see from the figure, the typology is based on the interrelation of such components as the attitude to life, death, as well as the vision of meaning.

Life strategies for coping with critical situations

Rice. one.

As a result of the study, we have come to the following conclusions:

1. The attitude towards life and death is a system, the main emotional and rational components of which are: the degree of acceptance of life and death, ontological security, self-acceptance, vision of meaning, responsibility, desire for growth, the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state or as an absolute end .
2. Relationships between the emotional and rational components of attitudes towards life and death determine 8 life strategies for coping with critical situations: "Desire for growth", "Search for the meaning of life", "Hedonism", "Self-abasement", "Love of life", "Fear of life" , "Fear of change" and "Capture of life". The strategies specific for prisoners are "Hedonism", for oncological patients - "Fear of life", for military personnel - "Search for the meaning of life" and "Seizure of life".
3. Critical situations change the attitude of the individual to life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the ability of the individual to integrate the traumatic experience associated with the critical situation, as well as on the attitude towards the situation itself.
4. The attitude of the individual to a critical situation is manifested either through a positive attitude towards oneself and the idea of ​​transcendence. self(in this case, a critical situation is perceived as an opportunity for growth), or through concentration on one's own suffering (in this case, a critical situation is perceived as a punishment or redemption).
5. The specific features of the attitude to life and death, depending on the critical situation, are associated with the conditions of these situations, as well as with the characteristics of male and female psychology. Thus, prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty are distinguished by the appearance of the idea of ​​their own transcendence; combatants - by the desire to make the most of life and avoid feelings in relation to death, women with cancer - by focusing on suffering, caring for loved ones and fear of death.
6. Acceptance of death is a likely element of personal growth in a critical situation.

Thus, the goal has been achieved, the objectives of the study have been solved.

In custody is being done general analysis obtained data, the main life strategies of coping with critical situations are highlighted, and prospects for further research are outlined.

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4. Fear of change in the process of training in psychological counseling. / Psychological and pedagogical problems of personality development in modern conditions: Abstracts of reports of the interuniversity scientific conference, St. Petersburg, May 18 - 20, 1999 - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, 1999. - S. 207 - 209.
5. Psychological features of the adaptation of prisoners to places of deprivation of liberty. / Ananiev Readings - 1999. 40th anniversary of the creation of the country's first laboratory of industrial (engineering) psychology at St. Petersburg (Leningrad) University. Abstracts of the scientific-practical conference October 26 - 28, 1999 / Ed. A.A. Krylova - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 1999 - S. 148 - 149 (co-author).
6. Psychological aspects readaptation of persons released from places of deprivation of liberty. / III Tsarskoye Selo Readings. Scientific and theoretical interuniversity conference with international participation. Vishnyakov readings "Continuing Pedagogical Education: Theory and Practice" April 16, 1999, T 5, St. Petersburg - Boksitogorsk, Leningrad State Educational Institution, 1999 - P. 192 - 195 (co-author).
7. Existential crisis and its resources in prisoners (in press).

Bakanova A.A. ,

RUSSIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY IM. A. I. GERTSEN
As a manuscript
Abstract of the dissertation for the degree of candidate of psychological sciences
19 00.11. - psychology of Personality
St. Petersburg
2000

© 2006 S.V. Kovalenko, O.Yu. Mikhailova

ATTITUDE TO LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLESCENTS WHO HAVE COMMITTED HOMICIDAL ACTIONS

Man, unlike all living beings on Earth, is aware of the finiteness of his existence and the inevitability of death. Awareness of the temporality and finiteness of physical existence, in turn, makes him think about the questions: how and why do I live? And each generation answers these eternal questions in its own way.

For a long time issues related to life and death were considered within the framework of philosophical and religious concepts. The psychological study of this problem began relatively recently, which is determined by the personal-individualized and deeply intimate nature of these relationships (especially attitudes towards death). It is no coincidence that the discussion of these issues initially began in the context of a psychological analysis of the problems of human existence, the meaning of life, i.e. related to understanding the problems of human life.

Only in the second half of the twentieth century. active development of thanatological problems began. Moreover, interest in the problem of attitudes towards death in scientific literature so high that S. Ryazantsev proposes to consider thanatology as independent science studying the problems of death, its causes, processes and manifestations. In the context of the problem under study, several directions of its research can be distinguished.

The most developed area of ​​psychological research, in which a person's attitude to death is analyzed, is the study of the causes of suicide, the patterns of formation of suicidogenic states, and possible directions for suicide prevention.

A number of studies are devoted to the study of the psychology of terminally ill patients, attitudes towards death, its perception and their changes in different age periods. A direction related to the study of the memories of people who survived clinical death. It should be noted that the studies available in the scientific psychological literature relate to the problem of attitudes towards one's own death and the death of people close to a person. Moreover, the encounter with death is predominantly viewed as a positive factor, one of the significant opportunities for personal growth. At the same time, they remain practically unexplored.

bathroom questions concerning attitudes towards the life and death of murderers, i.e. people who cause death.

In this regard, the issues of attitude to someone else's death are studied in the context of the problem of euthanasia - the deliberate acceleration of death or the killing of an incurable patient in order to end his suffering. The issue of its admissibility remains debatable. However, it should be noted that the most discussed within the framework of this problem is the question of the human right to voluntary death. There is clearly not enough work on euthanasia as compassionate killing.

There is a clear shortage of works devoted to the attitude towards death of people who cause it, and in the criminal psychological literature.

One of the few scientists who considered the attitude to the death of another person was the representative of the anthropological trend in criminal psychology E. Ferry. He singled out the anthropological type of killer with physiological insensitivity, which is determined by the anatomical and physiological anomalies of the body and can be established using objective methods. The consequence of physiological insensitivity is mental (or moral) insensitivity to the suffering and death of the victim, his comrades and accomplices, and, finally, to his own suffering and death.

As you know, Z. Freud did not specifically deal with the problems of crime, so criminal aggression remained out of his field of vision. However, he postulated the existence of an unconscious desire for death in a person, which he associated with the desire for destruction and self-destruction. Comparing modern man with primitive people, their attitude to someone else's death, Z. Freud argued that we are "the same killers as our ancestors were."

This issue is analyzed in more detail in the concept of E. Fromm. As part of his theory, he singles out necrophilia, which means a craving for destruction - the desire to make life mechanical, controlled, dead, as opposed to biophilia - love for all living things.

At the heart of necrophilia as one of the forms of "unproductive orientation of character" of a person is the mechanism of flight by the type of destructiveism. Unlike sadism, which is aimed at strengthening one individual by dominating another, destructiveism is aimed at eliminating any potential thunderstorm from the outside. It is from such people, according to E. Fromm, that executioners, terrorists, and torturers are recruited. It is to this category of people that he refers murderers.

E. Fromm believed that necrophilia as a phenomenon of mental pathology acts as an inevitable consequence of developmental delay, mental "disability" and as a result of an unlived life. In his opinion, if a person “... cannot escape the shackles of his narcissism and constantly feels his isolation and worthlessness, the only way to drown out this unbearable feeling of insignificance and some kind of "vital impotence" - to assert oneself at any cost, even at the cost of the barbaric destruction of life. To commit an act of vandalism, neither special effort, nor intelligence, nor patience is required; all that the destroyer needs is strong muscles, a knife, or a revolver...” At the same time, as he believes, there is no rigid boundary between necrophilic and biophilic orientation: each individual is a complex set, a combination of features that are in a particular combination; the number of such combinations actually coincides with the number of individuals. Completely necrophilic characters are relatively rare, such people should be considered as seriously ill, and the genetic roots of this pathology must be sought.In most people we can find a mixture of biophilic tendencies and necrophilic tendencies, the latter strong enough to cause internal conflict personality.

The influence of the representation of E. Fromm is clearly found in the concepts of modern criminologists. For example, Yu.M. Antonyan also singles out necrophilia as the reasons for the murder. Moreover, unlike E. Fromm, who excluded the sexual meaning of this word, he considers necrophilia as an irrepressible drive to death, including pathological sexual desire. Considering the psychology of murder, he writes: “Murder is a denial of life and disgust for it, it is the most complete embodiment of hatred, very often unaddressed hatred, hatred in general, hatred of everyone, and it is the stronger, the more more people or social system alienated from constructive values.

According to E.G. Samovicheva, in the minds of the vast majority of people the problem of ontological

of the foundations, the specificity of their "existential" status is not reflected. The confidence of the majority in their right to exist is confirmed for them by this very fact. At the same time, as the author believes, murderous criminals represent a category of people for whom the right to their own existence is not obvious, but is proved solely by the fact of their criminal deprivation of the life of another person. As E.G. Samovichev, “the killers demonstrate absolutely specific way the existence of a person, which is based on the absence of subjective-psychological certainty this fact and moreover, their right to exist. Moreover, it is this ontological status of a person that has a powerful motivating potential: “Murder has no external motivation, it cannot be justified by any external circumstances (although such can almost always be found). It has a purely subjective motivation, the essence of which is not to achieve any specific substantive result, but in overcoming their "unnatural" life position» . Thus, according to the author, in the minds of the killers, the value of one's own life is confirmed by the death of another person.

It should be noted that in the scientific literature the attitude towards death is considered mainly at the theoretical level. In this regard, it is very interesting empirical research attitudes towards the death of persons convicted of various crimes, A.A. Bakanova. However, her sample included those convicted of both violent and non-violent crimes.

We conducted an empirical study, the purpose of which was to study the attitude to life and death of adolescents who committed homicidal acts. The object of the study were 43 minor male teenagers (15-17 years old) convicted of serious violent crimes: premeditated murder - art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in death - art. 111, part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As control group 45 minors convicted of acquisitive crimes were investigated: theft - art. 158 h. 2 and 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The main hypothesis of the study was the assumption that such adolescents would have a specific attitude towards life and death. In the course of the study, we studied the content of ideas about life and death in adolescents of different groups and personal determinants that determine special

relationship to this. Preliminary results Research generally confirms and concretizes the hypothesis put forward.

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