Psychology and esoterics

The goal of counseling is to help clients understand what is happening in their life space and meaningfully achieve their goals based on conscious choices when resolving problems of an emotional and interpersonal nature. In counseling, the responsibility of the client is emphasized; it is recognized that an independent, responsible individual is capable of making independent decisions in appropriate circumstances, and the consultant creates conditions that encourage the client’s volitional behavior. STRUCTURE OF THE COUNSELING PROCESS None of...

1. Psychological counseling process. Principles, structure, techniques.

“Counseling is a set of procedures aimed at helping a person solve problems and make decisions regarding professional career, marriage, family, personal development and interpersonal relationships.”

N. Burks and B. Steffire (1979) proposed a somewhat broader definition of counseling: “Counseling is the professional relationship of a qualified consultant to a client, which is usually presented as a “person-to-person”, although sometimes more than two people are involved. The purpose of counseling is help clients understand what is happening in their life space and meaningfully achieve their goals based on conscious choices in resolving emotional and interpersonal problems."

There are many similar definitions, and they all include several basic provisions:

1. Counseling helps a person to make choices and act on their own.
2. Counseling helps you learn new behaviors.
3. Counseling promotes personal development.
4. Counseling emphasizes the client's responsibility, i.e. it is recognized that an independent, responsible individual is capable of making independent decisions in appropriate circumstances, and the consultant creates conditions that encourage the client’s volitional behavior.
5. The core of counseling is the "counseling interaction" between client and counselor, based on the philosophy of "client-centered" therapy.

STRUCTURE OF THE COUNSELING PROCESS

None of the theoretical orientations or schools of psychological counseling reflects all possible situations of interaction between a consultant and a client. Therefore, consider the most general model of the structure of the advisory process, called eclectic (B. E. Gilland and associates; 1989). This systemic model, covering six closely related stages, reflects the universal features of psychological counseling or psychotherapy of any orientation.

1. Research problems. At this stage, the consultant establishes contact (report) with the client and achieves mutual trust: it is necessary to listen carefully to the client talking about his difficulties and show maximum sincerity, empathy, care, without resorting to assessments and manipulation. The client should be encouraged to in-depth consider the problems he has encountered and record his feelings, the content of his statements, and non-verbal behavior.
2. Two-dimensional problem identification. At this stage, the counselor seeks to accurately characterize the client's problems, identifying both the emotional and cognitive aspects of them. Problems are clarified until the client and consultant reach the same understanding; problems are defined by specific concepts. Accurate identification of problems allows us to understand their causes, and sometimes indicates ways to resolve them. If difficulties or ambiguities arise when identifying problems, then we need to return to the research stage.
3. Identification of alternatives. At this stage, possible alternatives for solving problems are identified and openly discussed. Using open-ended questions, the consultant encourages the client to name all possible options that he considers appropriate and realistic, helps to put forward additional alternatives, but does not impose his decisions. During the conversation, you can create a written list of options to make them easier to compare. Problem-solving alternatives should be found that the client could use directly.
4. Planning . At this stage, a critical assessment of the selected solution alternatives is carried out. The counselor helps the client figure out which alternatives are appropriate and realistic in terms of previous experience and current willingness to change. Creating a realistic problem-solving plan should also help the client understand that not all problems are solvable. Some problems take too long; others can be solved only partially by reducing their destructive, behavior-disrupting effects. In terms of problem solving, it is necessary to provide by what means and methods the client will check the realism of the chosen solution (role-playing games, “rehearsal” of actions, etc.).
5. Activity . At this stage, a consistent implementation of the problem solving plan occurs. The consultant helps the client build activities taking into account circumstances, time, emotional costs, as well as understanding the possibility of failure in achieving goals. The client must learn that partial failure is not a disaster and should continue to implement a plan to solve the problem, linking all actions with the final goal.
6. Rating and Feedback. At this stage, the client, together with the consultant, evaluates the level of goal achievement (the degree of problem resolution) and summarizes the results achieved. If necessary, the solution plan can be clarified. When new or deeply hidden problems arise, a return to previous stages is necessary.

This model, which reflects the consultation process, only helps to better understand how specific consultation occurs. The actual consulting process is much more extensive and often does not follow this algorithm. The identification of stages is conditional, since in practical work some stages overlap with others, and their interdependence is more complex than in the presented diagram.

PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING PROCESS

Summary of the stages of consultation and activities at each of them

Stage	Focus	Consultant's task	Philosophy
Preliminary contact	Start of the process. Creating a basis for consultation. Settlement of working arrangements	Determine your suitability for the purposes of the consultation. Accepting the role of consultant. Conclusion of a contract.	Establish a strong foundation. Explore applied models
Making contact	Entering the organization, establishing relationships	Establishing physical, psychological and social contacts, building sustainable working relationships	Gain acceptance and trust. Identify resistance and overcome it.
Preliminary assessment and diagnosis	Identification of the consultation problem. Create a problem statement.	Scanning. Data collection. Formation of a clear diagnosis. Selecting appropriate methods.	Collect valid and reliable information to support the problems presented.
Setting a goal	Establishing the direction of consultation	Setting Measurable Goals	Identify desired results
Intervention	Applying strategies that fit the problem	Selecting and Implementing Change Strategies	Solve problems consultation
Assessment	Determining the effectiveness of interventions	Measuring intervention outcomes. Evaluation of consultation	Determine the success of the consultation
Completion	End of the consultation process	Ensuring completion of consultation. Follow-up	Complete the consultation under favorable circumstances

The counseling process, even if it is only a single meeting with a client, can be structured into several stages. Counseling has a beginning, middle and end, and the counselor must know how to start counseling, by what means to continue it, make it intense and productive, and how to end it.COUNSELING PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES

1) Asking questions

Obtaining information about the client and encouraging him to self-analysis is impossible without skillful questioning.

As you know, questions are usually divided into closed and open. Closed questions are used to obtain specific information and usually require a one or two word answer, confirming or denying (“yes”, “no”). For example: “How old are you?”, “Can we meet in a week at the same time?”, “How many times have you had fits of anger?” and so on.

Open-ended questions are not so much about eliciting information about clients' lives as they are about discussing feelings.

"Open questions broaden and deepen contact; closed questions limit it. The former open the doors wide to good relationships, the latter usually leave them closed."

Examples of open questions: “Where would you like to start today?”, “How do you feel now?”, “What makes you sad?” and so on.

Open-ended questions provide an opportunity to share your concerns with the counselor. They transfer responsibility for the conversation to the client and encourage him to explore his attitudes, feelings, thoughts, values, behavior, i.e. his inner world.

Ivey (1971) highlights the main points of counseling when open questions are used:

• Beginning of the consultation meeting (“Where would you like to start today?”, “What happened during the week we didn’t see each other?”).
• Encouraging the client to continue or add to what was said (“How did you feel when this happened?”, “What else would you like to say about this?”, “Can you add anything to what you said?”).
• Encouraging the client to illustrate his problems with examples so that the consultant can better understand them (“Can you talk about a specific situation?”),
• Focusing the client's attention on feelings (“What do you feel when you tell me?”, “How did you feel when all this happened to you?”).

Too much questioning during counseling creates many problems (George, Cristiani, 1990):

• turns the conversation into an exchange of questions and answers, and the client begins to constantly wait for the consultant to ask about something else;
• forces the consultant to take full responsibility for the course of the consultation and the topics of the problems discussed;
• moves the conversation from emotionally charged topics to a discussion of the facts of life;
• “destroys” the moving nature of the conversation.

For these reasons, novice counselors are generally discouraged from asking clients questions except at the very beginning of counseling.

There are a few other rules to keep in mind when asking questions to clients:

1. Questions "Who, what?" most often focused on facts, i.e. These types of questions increase the likelihood of factual responses.
2. Questions "How?" are more focused on the person, his behavior, and inner world.
3. Questions "Why?" often provoke defensive reactions in clients, so they should be avoided in counseling. When asking a question of this type, you can most often hear answers based on rationalization and intellectualization, since it is not always easy to explain the real reasons for one’s behavior (and these are the questions “why” are primarily aimed at), which are caused by many rather contradictory factors.
4. It is necessary to avoid asking several questions at the same time (sometimes one question contains other questions). For example, “How do you understand your problem? Have you ever thought about your problems before?”, “Why do you drink and quarrel with your wife?” In both cases, it may be unclear to the client which question to answer because the answers to each part of the double question are entirely different.
5. The same question should not be asked in different formulations. It becomes unclear to the client which option should be answered. Such behavior of the consultant when asking questions indicates his anxiety. The consultant should “voice” only the final versions of the question.
6. You can’t ask a question ahead of the client’s answer. For example, the question “Is everything going well?” most often encourages the client to give an affirmative answer. In this case, it is better to ask an open question: “How are things at home?” In such situations, clients often take the opportunity to give a vague answer, for example: “Not bad.” The consultant needs to clarify the answer with another question of this type: “What does “not bad” mean to you? This is very important, since we often put quite different content into the same concepts.

2) Encouragement and reassurance

These techniques are very important for creating and strengthening a consultative relationship. You can reassure the client with a short phrase indicating agreement and/or understanding. This phrase encourages the client to continue the story. For example: “Continue”, “Yes, I understand”, “Okay”, “So”, etc. Encouragement expresses support and is the basis of consultative contact. A supportive atmosphere in which the client feels free to explore anxiety-provoking aspects of the self is particularly encouraged in client-centered counseling.

Another important component of client support is reassurance, which, together with encouragement, allows the client to believe in himself and take risks, changing some aspects of the self, trying new ways of behavior. These are also short phrases from the consultant expressing agreement: “Very good,” “Don’t worry about it,” “You did the right thing,” “Everyone feels the same way from time to time,” “You’re right,” “It won’t be easy.” , “I’m not sure, but I think you can try,” “I know it will be hard, but you not only can, but you must do it,” etc.

However, when talking about calming the client, we must not forget that, like any technique, this method can be used correctly and incorrectly. If sedation is used excessively and too often, e.g. begins to dominate in counseling, it creates the client's dependence on the consultant.

3) Reflection of content: paraphrasing and summarizing

To reflect the content of the client's confessions, it is necessary to paraphrase his statements or generalize several statements. The client thus makes sure that he is listened to carefully and understood. Reflecting the content helps the client to better understand himself, to understand his thoughts, ideas, and attitudes.

Paraphrasing is most appropriate at the beginning of counseling because it encourages the client to discuss their problems more openly. However, on the other hand, it does not deepen the conversation enough; Ivey (1971) identifies three main purposes of paraphrasing:

• show the client that the consultant is very attentive and tries to understand him;
• crystallize the client’s thoughts by repeating his words in a condensed form;
• check the correct understanding of the client’s thoughts.

When paraphrasing, you need to remember three simple rules:

1. The client's main idea is rephrased.
   1. You cannot distort or replace the meaning of the client’s statement, or add anything of your own.
   2. We must avoid “parroting”, i.e. verbatim repetition of the client’s statement; it is advisable to express the client’s thoughts in his own words.

A well-paraphrased client's thought becomes shorter, clearer, more specific, and this helps the client himself understand what he wanted to say.

In summary expresses the main idea of ​​several loosely related statements or a long and confusing statement. Summarizing helps the client organize his thoughts, remember what was said, encourages consideration of significant topics, and promotes consistency in counseling. If paraphrasing covers the client's just made statements, then an entire stage of the conversation or even the entire conversation is subject to generalization; Ivey (1971) indicates situations in which generalization is most often used:

• when the consultant wants to structure the beginning of a conversation to integrate it with previous conversations;
• when the client speaks for a very long time and confusingly;
• when one topic of conversation has already been exhausted and a transition to the next topic or to the next stage of the conversation is planned;
• when trying to give some direction to the conversation;
• at the end of the meeting, in an effort to emphasize the essential points of the conversation and give a task for the period of time until the next meeting.

4) Reflection of feelings

Understanding and reflecting the client’s feelings seems to be one of the most important counseling techniques. These processes are more than technology; they are an indispensable component of the relationship between two people. Reflecting feelings is closely related to paraphrasing thoughts expressed by the client; the only difference is that in the latter case, attention is focused on the content, and when reflecting feelings, on what is hidden behind the content. Wanting to reflect the client’s feelings, the consultant carefully listens to his confessions, paraphrases individual statements, but also focuses on the feelings expressed by the client in his confessions.

It is important to pay attention to the balance of facts and feelings in the counseling conversation. Often, succumbing to the passion of questioning, the consultant begins to ignore the client’s feelings.

Speaking about feelings in counseling, we can formulate several general principles that cover not only the reflection of the client’s feelings, but also the expression of feelings by the consultant:

1. The consultant is obliged to identify both his own and his clients’ feelings as fully and accurately as possible.
2. It is not necessary to reflect or comment on every feeling of the client; every action of the consultant must be appropriate in the context of the counseling process.
3. Be sure to pay attention to feelings when they:
   • cause problems in counseling or
   • can support the client and help him.

In the first case, fear, anxiety, anger, and hostility are especially prominent. For example, a client's anger may block normal communication, so this feeling ("You seem quite angry today") should be brought to his attention so that the discussion can help remove the obstacle to maintaining counseling contact. This discussion also makes sense for the client because it helps him accept the normality of his negative feelings and also reduce their intensity. It is important to help the client express negative feelings also because it is easier for the client himself to control openly expressed feelings. In the second case, we provide the client with emotional support. For example, if a client who has difficulty leaving work early comes to a consultation meeting on time, this should be noted: “It’s so good that you were able to come on time!” Or when a client with prolonged depression says that she was able to get out of bed, clean her room and cook dinner for herself, we, understanding the significance of the event, should rejoice with her at her successful “progress” in overcoming depression.

1. The consultant is also obliged to express his own feelings that arise in the consulting situation. Their occurrence represents a kind of resonance to the experiences of clients. As S. Rogers says, “what is most personal is most general.” By listening to your feelings that arise during counseling as a reaction to the client's behavior, the counselor can gain a lot of valuable information about him. Expressing feelings helps maintain deep emotional contact, in which the client better understands how other people react to his behavior. However, the consultant should express feelings only related to the topic of conversation. Sometimes the client himself is eager to receive information about the consultant’s feelings. And to a very common question: “I would like to know how you feel with me?” no need to rush to answer. It is better to answer such a question with the question: “Why are you asking me about this?”, “What do you think about this?” In counseling, the client's feelings are always more important than the consultant's.
2. Sometimes it is necessary to help clients control their feelings, especially when they are too intense. This applies to both positive and negative feelings.

5) Pauses of silence

The ability to remain silent and to use silence for therapeutic purposes is one of the most important counseling skills. Although silence in counseling sometimes means a violation of the advisory contact, nevertheless it can also be deeply meaningful. For the counselor who has learned to be sensitive to the different meanings of silence, to silence in general, and who has learned to consciously create and use pauses in counseling, silence becomes especially therapeutically valuable because it:

• increases the emotional understanding between the consultant and the client;
• provides the client with the opportunity to “immerse” himself and study his feelings, attitudes, values, behavior;
• allows the client to understand that responsibility for the conversation lies on his shoulders.

What are the most important meanings of silence in counseling?

1. Pauses of silence, especially at the beginning of a conversation, can express the client’s anxiety, poor health, and confusion due to the very fact of counseling.
   1. Silence does not always mean a lack of real activity. During pauses of silence, the client can look for the right words to continue his story, weigh what was discussed before, and try to evaluate the guesses that arose during the conversation. The consultant also needs pauses of silence to reflect on the past part of the conversation and formulate important questions. Periodic pauses of silence make the conversation purposeful, since at this time the essential points of the conversation are mentally identified and the main conclusions are summarized. Pauses of silence help you not to miss important questions.
   2. Silence may indicate that both the client and the counselor are hoping for the other to continue the conversation.
   3. A pause of silence, especially if it is subjectively unpleasant for both the client and the consultant, may mean that both participants in the conversation and the entire conversation are at a dead end and a search for a way out of the current situation is underway, a search for a new direction for the conversation.
   4. Silence in some cases expresses the client's resistance to the counseling process. Then it has a manipulative meaning in relation to the consultant. Here the client plays the game: “I can sit like a rock and see if he (the consultant) can move me.”
   5. Sometimes pauses of silence occur when the conversation proceeds at a superficial level and discussion of the most important and significant issues is avoided. however, they increase the client's anxiety.
   6. Silence sometimes implies a deep generalization without words; it is then more meaningful and eloquent than words.

6) Providing information

The goals of counseling are also achieved by providing the client with information: the consultant expresses his opinion, answers the client’s questions and informs him about various aspects of the problems being discussed. The information is usually related to the counseling process, the behavior of the consultant, or the conditions of the consultation (place and time of meetings, payment, etc.).

Providing information in counseling can sometimes be very important because clients often ask the counselor a variety of questions. Particularly important are the questions behind which clients are worried about their future and health, for example: “Will we be able to have children?”, “Is cancer inherited?” Customer confusion is significant not in itself, but in the context of its occurrence. Such questions should be taken seriously and the answers to them carefully considered. Under no circumstances should you turn questions into a joke and answer incoherently or avoid answering altogether. After all, the questions hide the clients’ personal problems with accompanying anxieties and fears. It is advisable to demonstrate competence and avoid simplifications so as not to lose client confidence or increase their anxiety.

When providing information, the counselor must not forget that clients sometimes ask in order to avoid discussing their problems and exploring the self. In reality, however, it is not difficult to distinguish questions that indicate client concern from attempts to manipulate the consultant through questioning.

7) Interpretation

In counseling, it is very important to uncover more than what is contained in the client's superficial narrative. External content, of course, is also significant, but more important is the disclosure of the latent content hidden behind the client’s words. This is done by interpreting the narrative. The consultant's interpretive statements give a certain meaning to the client's expectations, feelings, and behavior because they help establish causal connections between behavior and experiences. The content of the client's story and experiences is transformed in the context of the explanatory system used by the consultant. This transformation helps the client see himself and his life difficulties in a new perspective and in a new way.

The essence of the proposed interpretation largely depends on the theoretical position of the consultant. Client-centered therapy avoids direct interpretations, not wanting to remove responsibility for the counseling process from the client. Representatives of the psychoanalytic school adhere to a completely opposite view of interpretation. Here, interpretive techniques occupy a central place, since in psychoanalysis almost everything is interpreted - transference, resistance, dreams, free associations, reticence, etc. In this way, psychoanalysts strive to more deeply reveal the psychodynamic meaning of the client’s problems. In Gestalt therapy, the client himself is encouraged to interpret his behavior, i.e. remains entirely responsible for the explanation.

Hill (1986) identifies five types of interpretation:

1. Making connections between seemingly separate statements, problems, or events. For example, to a client who talks about fear of public speaking, low self-esteem and difficulties in relationships with other people, the consultant points out the interconnection of problems and the influence of the client’s inadequate expectations and claims on their occurrence.
2. Emphasizing any features of the client’s behavior or feelings. A client, for example, constantly refuses to work, although he expresses a desire to work. The consultant may tell him: “You seem to be excited about the opportunity, but when you encounter inevitable difficulties, you run away.”
3. Interpretation of methods of psychological defense, reactions of resistance and transference. In the above example, a possible interpretation is: “Judging by our conversation, running away is a way for you to deal with the fear of failure.” Thus, psychological defense (escape) from anxiety (fear of failure) is interpreted here. Transference interpretation is a fundamental technique in psychoanalytic treatment. They try to show the client that his past relationship (usually with his father or mother) prevents him from correctly perceiving the feelings and behavior of the consultant.
4. Linking current events, thoughts and experiences with the past. In other words, the consultant helps the client to see the connection between current problems and conflicts with previous psychological traumas.
5. Giving the client another opportunity to understand his feelings, behavior or problems.

In almost all of the listed types of interpretations, the moment of explanation is obvious, i.e. The essence of interpretation is to make the incomprehensible understandable.

Interpretation should be carried out taking into account the stage of the consultative process. This technique is of little use at the beginning of counseling, when it is expected to achieve trusting relationships with clients, but later it is very useful for revealing the psychodynamics of problems.

The effectiveness of interpretation largely depends on its depth and time. A good interpretation usually doesn't go too deep. The effectiveness of interpretation also depends on the client’s personality. The consultant must be able to understand clients' reactions to the essence of interpretations. The client's emotional indifference should force the consultant to think about the consistency of the interpretation with reality. However, if the client reacted with hostility and immediately rejected the interpretation as implausible, there is reason to assume that the interpretation has touched the root of the problem.

Despite the importance of interpretation, it should not be overused; When there are too many interpretations in the counseling process, the client becomes defensive and resists counseling.

8) Confrontation

Every counselor is forced from time to time to confront clients for therapeutic purposes. Egan (1986) defines confrontation as any response by the counselor that is inconsistent with the client's behavior. Most often, confrontation is aimed at the client’s ambivalent behavior: subterfuge, “games,” tricks, apologies, “showing off,” i.e. for everything that prevents the client from seeing and solving his pressing problems. Confrontation is used to show the client methods of psychological defense that are used in an effort to adapt to life situations, but which depress and limit the development of personality. The focus of the confrontation is usually the client's interpersonal communication style, which is reflected in the advisory contact. The consultant pays attention to techniques with which the client tries to avoid discussing topics important in counseling, distorts the topicality of his life situations, etc.

George and Cristiani (1990) identify three main types of confrontation in counseling:

1. Confrontation in order to draw the client’s attention to contradictions in his behavior, thoughts, feelings, or between thoughts and feelings, intentions and behavior, etc. In this case, we can talk about two stages of confrontation. The first one states a certain aspect of the client’s behavior. On the second the contradiction is most often presented with the words “but”, “however”. In contrast to interpretation, confrontation directly points to the causes and sources of contradictions. With this type of confrontation, they try to help the client see the contradiction itself, which he had not previously noticed, did not want, or could not notice.
2. Confrontation in order to help see the situation as it really is, contrary to the client’s idea of ​​it in the context of his needs. For example, a client complains: “My husband found a job that involved long business trips because he doesn’t love me.” The real situation is that the husband changed jobs at the request of his wife after long quarrels, since he earned little at his previous job. Now my husband earns enough, but is rarely at home. In this case, the consultant must show the client that the problem is not in the love relationship, but in the financial situation of the family, the need for the husband to earn more, although because of this he is forced to be away often. The client does not appreciate her husband’s efforts to achieve greater family well-being and interprets the situation in a way that is convenient for herself.

3) Confrontation in order to draw the client’s attention to his avoidance of discussing certain problems. For example, a consultant expresses surprise to a client: “We have already met twice, but you don’t say anything about sex life, although during the first meeting you identified it as your most important problem. Every time we approach the main topic, you go aside. I I'm wondering what that could mean."

9) Counselor Feelings and Self-Disclosure

Consulting always requires not only experience and insight, but also emotional involvement in the process. However, it is very important that emotional involvement is appropriate and serves the interests of the client, not the consultant himself. The desire to more fully understand the client's problems should not be accompanied by a loss of objectivity.

The consultant reveals himself to the client by expressing his feelings. Opening up in the broadest sense means showing your emotional attitude towards events and people. For many years, the prevailing view in psychological counseling and psychotherapy was that the counselor should resist the temptation to reveal his or her identity to the client. Secrecy is especially important at the beginning of counseling, when the client feels anxious and does not trust either himself or the consultant.

Sometimes a distinction is made between positive and negative frankness of a consultant (Gelso, Fretz, 1992). In the first case, support and approval are expressed to the client. In the second case, there is a confrontation with the client. When opening up, the consultant in any case must be sincere, spontaneous and emotional.

10) Structuring consultation

This procedure goes through the entire counseling process. Structuring means organizing the relationship between the consultant and the client, identifying individual stages of counseling and evaluating their results, as well as providing the client with information about the counseling process. Having completed one stage, together with the client we discuss the results and formulate conclusions. It is necessary to make sure that the assessments of the results of this stage by the consultant and the client coincide.

Structuring occurs throughout the consultation. Work with the client is carried out on a “step by step” principle. Each new stage begins with an assessment of what has been achieved. This promotes the client’s desire to actively cooperate with the consultant, and also creates the opportunity to return to him again in case of failure at a particular stage. Thus, the essence of structuring is the client's participation in planning the counseling process.

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None of the theoretical orientations or schools of psychological counseling reflects all possible situations of interaction between a consultant and a client. Therefore, let us consider the most general model of the structure of the consultative process, called eclectic (B. E. Gilland and employees; 1989). This systemic model, covering six closely related stages, reflects the universal features of psychological counseling or psychotherapy of any orientation.

1. Research of problems. At this stage, the consultant establishes a rapport with the client and achieves mutual trust: it is necessary to listen carefully to the client talking about his difficulties and show maximum sincerity, empathy, and care, without resorting to assessments and manipulation. The client should be encouraged to take an in-depth look at the problems he has encountered and record his feelings, the content of his statements, and nonverbal behavior.

2. Two-dimensional problem definition. At this stage, the counselor seeks to accurately characterize the client's problems, identifying both the emotional and cognitive aspects of them. Problems are clarified until the client and consultant reach the same understanding; Problems are defined by specific concepts. Accurate definition of problems allows us to understand their causes, and sometimes indicates ways to solve them. If difficulties or ambiguities arise when identifying problems, then we must return to the research stage.

3. Identification of alternatives. At this stage, possible alternatives for solving problems are identified and openly discussed. Using open-ended questions, the consultant encourages the client to name all possible options that he considers appropriate and realistic, helps to put forward additional alternatives, but does not impose his decisions. During the conversation, you can create a written list of options to make them easier to compare. Problem-solving alternatives should be found that the client could use directly.

4. Planning. At this stage, a critical assessment of the selected solution alternatives is carried out. The counselor helps the client figure out which alternatives are appropriate and realistic in terms of past experience and current willingness to change. Creating a realistic problem-solving plan should also help the client understand that not all problems are solvable. Some problems take too long; others can be solved only partially by reducing their destructive, behavior-disrupting influence. In terms of problem solving, it is necessary to provide by what means and methods the client will check the realism of the chosen solution (role-playing games, “rehearsal” of actions, etc.).

5. Activity. At this stage, the problem-solving plan is consistently implemented. The consultant helps the client build activities taking into account circumstances, time, emotional costs, as well as understanding the possibility of failure in achieving goals. The client must learn that partial failure is not a disaster and should continue to implement a plan to solve the problem, linking all actions with the final goal.

6. Rating and feedback. At this stage, the client, together with the consultant, evaluates the level of goal achievement (the degree of resolution of the problem) and summarizes the results achieved. If necessary, the solution plan can be clarified. When new or deeply hidden problems arise, a return to previous stages is necessary.

This model, which reflects the consultation process, only helps to better understand how specific consultation occurs. The actual consulting process is much more extensive and often does not follow this algorithm. The identification of stages is conditional, since in practical work some stages overlap with others, and their interdependence is more complex than in the presented diagram.

Here it is worth emphasizing once again what was mentioned above - in the consulting process, it is not so much the diagrams that are important (although a general idea and understanding of the progress of the consultation is required), but rather the professional and human competence of the consultant. It consists of many elements, which will be discussed below. Let us list the general rules and guidelines of a consultant that structure the consulting process and make it effective:

1. No two clients or consulting situations are the same. Human problems may appear similar only from the outside, but because they arise, develop, and exist in the context of unique human lives, the problems themselves are in reality unique. Therefore, each advisory interaction is unique and inimitable.

2. In the process of counseling, the client and the consultant are constantly changing in accordance with their relationship; There are no static situations in psychological counseling.

3. The client is the best expert of his own problems, so during counseling you should help him take responsibility for solving his problems. The client’s vision of his own problems is no less, and perhaps more important, than the consultant’s view of them.

4. In the counseling process, the client's sense of security is more important than the requirements of the consultant. Thus, in counseling it is inappropriate to pursue a goal at any cost without paying attention to the client's emotional state.

5. In an effort to help the client, the consultant is obliged to “use” all his professional and personal capabilities, but in each specific case he must not forget that he is only a person and therefore is not able to be fully responsible for another person, for his life and difficulties.

6. One should not expect an immediate effect from each individual counseling meeting - problem solving, as well as the success of counseling, are not like a straight line rising evenly; This is a process in which noticeable improvements are replaced by deterioration, because self-change requires a lot of effort and risk, which do not always and do not immediately result in success.

7. A competent consultant knows the level of his professional qualifications and his own shortcomings, he is responsible for observing the rules of ethics and working for the benefit of clients.

8. Different theoretical approaches can be used to identify and conceptualize each problem, but there is not and cannot be the best theoretical approach.

9. Some problems are essentially human dilemmas and are in principle insoluble (for example, the problem of existential guilt). In such cases, the counselor must help the client understand the inevitability of the situation and come to terms with it.

10. Effective counseling is a process that is carried out together with the client, but not instead of client.

We will return to the issue of the structure of the process during a specific discussion of the progress of the consultation.

CONSULTANT

2.1. ROLE AND PLACE OF THE CONSULTANT IN CONSULTING

In the practice of psychological counseling and psychotherapy, every day we have to deal with the most important aspects of a person’s life. The consultant always discusses minor and significant problems of his client together with the client and strives to help the client:

Understand the motivation behind everyday choices and the resulting consequences;

Resolve many emotional problems and confusing interpersonal relationships;

Overcome the feeling of internal chaos - make the incomprehensible and changeable positive and purposeful.

Therefore, the consultant must be aware of who he is, who he can become, and what the client hopes to see him as. In other words, the question arises of defining the role of the consultant. Is the consultant a friend of the client, a professional adviser, a teacher, an expert, a companion of the client in wandering through the nooks and crannies of life, or a guru - an emitter of absolute truth? Many, especially novice consultants, are confused by the lack of a universal answer to the question about the role of the consultant in the process of providing psychological assistance. This role usually depends on the consultant’s affiliation with a certain theoretical orientation, his qualifications, personality traits, and finally, on the client’s expectations.

The effectiveness of a specialist’s work is largely determined by how clearly he understands his place in counseling. When there is no such clarity, the consultant in his work will not be guided by certain theoretical principles, but only by the expectations and needs of the client, in other words, he will do only what the client hopes and wants. Clients most often expect that the consultant will take responsibility for the success of their future life and resolve pressing problems - where to study, how to resolve conflicts at work, whether to divorce their spouse, etc.

The vanity of a novice consultant may be flattered that people looking for answers to complex questions in their lives turn to him, and there is a danger that the consultant will imagine himself as knowing the answers to all the client’s questions, or even worse, will impose his solutions on the client. In this situation, the consultant's misunderstanding of his role will only increase the client's dependence on him and will prevent him from helping the client make independent decisions. No consultant can tell another person how to live. In the practice of psychological counseling and psychotherapy, one should more often recall the words of the famous psychotherapist J. Bugental (1987) about mystery and knowledge: “The mystery embraces knowledge, information is hidden in it. The mystery is infinite, knowledge has a limit: when knowledge increases, it becomes even more secret... Psychotherapists are tempted to collude with clients and deny the secret. Implicit in this disgusting transaction is the illusion that there are answers to all of life's problems, that the meaning of every dream or symbol can be discovered, and that the ideal goal of a healthy psyche. life is rational control. Psychotherapists are obliged to know a lot, but at the same time to feel admiration and humility before the mystery. Let us be frank - we never have and are not able to have complete knowledge. means betraying the client. In any therapy, we should help the client accept the secret in himself and our universal secret..."

The most general answer about the role of the consultant lies in understanding the essence of the consulting process. The main task of the consultant is to help the client identify his internal reserves and eliminate factors that interfere with their use. The consultant must also help the client understand what he wants to become. During counseling, clients should sincerely evaluate their behavior, lifestyle and decide how and in what direction they would like to change the quality of their life.

M. Soh (1988) calls this “structuring the therapy process,” which can be primary and secondary. By primary structuring we mean the personal presence of a consultant (psychotherapist) in the therapeutic space and the meaning of this presence for the client. Secondary structuring is the activity of a consultant that ensures the maximum level of disclosure to clients. In the first case, we answer the question of who the consultant is, and in the second, what does he do. By structuring the therapeutic process, the consultant gives the client the initiative in self-disclosure. Sometimes initiative has to be limited if the consultant feels that the client is too energetic at the moment. In other words, the consultant activates and controls the “unlocking potential” of clients,

Guided by this understanding of the consulting process, S. Wrenn (1965) formulated the most important role functions of a consultant:

Building relationships with clients on mutual trust;

Identification of alternative self-understandings and ways of acting for clients;

Direct “entry” into the life circumstances of clients and their relationships with people significant to them;

Creating a healthy psychological climate around clients;

Continuous improvement of the consulting process.

If we outline the content of the consultant's role in this way, it becomes obvious that a very significant component of the consulting process is the PERSONALITY OF THE CONSULTANT.

2.2. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PERSONALITY OF A CONSULTANT - A MODEL OF AN EFFECTIVE CONSULTANT

The personality of the consultant (psychotherapist) is highlighted in almost all theoretical systems as the most important healing agent in the counseling process. First one or another of her features are emphasized. The famous English psychoanalyst of Hungarian origin M. Balint in 1957 spoke about complete oblivion of the fact that psychotherapy is not theoretical knowledge, but personal skills. He is echoed by the no less famous representative of humanistic psychology S. Rogers (1961), emphasizing that the theory and methods of the consultant are less important than the implementation of his role. A. Gombs et al. (1969; cited in George, Cristiani, 1990), based on several studies, found that personality traits distinguish successful consultants from unsuccessful ones. S. Freud, when asked about the criteria for a successful psychotherapist, answered that a psychoanalyst does not need a medical education, but requires observation and the ability to penetrate the client’s soul. So, in essence, the main technique of psychological counseling is “I-as-an-instrument”, i.e. The main means of stimulating the improvement of the client’s personality is the personality of the consultant (A. Adler: “the treatment technique is embedded in you”).

A. Storr (1980) notes that psychotherapy and psychological counseling are generally considered unusual professions, since many people find it difficult to imagine how they can listen to other people’s stories about unhappy lives and difficulties all day long. Therefore, representatives of these professions are considered either abnormal or worldly saints who have overcome human limitations. Neither the first nor the second is true. Hence the question:

“WHO IS A CONSULTANT, OR MORE PRECISIONALLY, WHAT IS A CONSULTANT AS A PERSON, WHAT REQUIREMENTS ARE MADE OF HIM AS AN INDIVIDUALS, WHAT MAKES HIM A PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANT IN THE CONFUSED PROBLEMS OF OTHER PEOPLE?”

First of all, it should be said that no one is born a psychotherapist or consultant. The required qualities are not innate, but develop throughout life. Summarizing the above, we emphasize that the effectiveness of a consultant is determined by personality traits, professional knowledge and special skills. Each of these factors provides high-quality advisory contact, which is the core of psychological counseling. As a result, the final effect of counseling depends on the advisory contact - a change in the client’s personality in the process of the consultant’s constructive actions. Without in any way detracting from the importance of theoretical and practical training, we are still inclined to give preference to the factor of the consultant’s personality. At one time, M. Valint and E. Valint wrote:

“Knowledge can be gained from books or lectures, skills are acquired in the process of work, but their value is limited without improving the personality of the psychotherapist. Psychotherapy becomes a craft paved with good intentions if it is not raised to a professional level by the corresponding qualities of the personality of the psychotherapist.”

What should be the combination of personality traits that would most ensure the success of counseling?

Although there is a lot of research in this area, unfortunately, there is no clear answer about the personality traits that contribute to the effective work of a consultant. Very often, when describing a successful consultant, both professionals and clients use everyday concepts: “open”, “warm”, “attentive”, “sincere”, “flexible”, “tolerant”. Attempts were made to identify the personality traits necessary for a consultant to work on professional selection. The US National Vocational Guidance Association identifies the following personality traits (cited from: George, Cristiani, 1990):

Showing deep interest in people and patience in dealing with them. [M. Uber (1961) characterized this factor as an interest in people because of their being, and not because some of them are schizophrenics or psychopaths];

Sensitivity to the attitudes and behavior of other people;

Emotional stability and objectivity;

The ability to inspire the trust of other people;

Respect for the rights of others.

In 1964, the US Committee on the Supervision and Training of Consultants established the following six personality traits required by a consultant (cited in George and Spizash, 1990):

Trust in people;

Respect for the values ​​of another person;

Insight;

Lack of prejudice;

Self-understanding;

Consciousness of professional duty.

L. Wolberg (1954) emphasizes the following features: sensitivity, objectivity (not identifying with clients), flexibility, empathy and the absence of one’s own serious problems. He lists especially HARMFUL traits for a consultant as authoritarianism, passivity and dependence, isolation, a tendency to use clients to satisfy one’s needs, the inability to be tolerant of clients’ various impulses, and a neurotic attitude towards money.

A. Gombs et al. found in his research that successful consultants tend to perceive others as capable of solving their own problems and taking responsibility, as preferring to identify with people rather than with objects.

N. Strupp et al. (1969; cited in: Schneider, 1992), who studied the traits of a “good consultant” from the perspective of clients, points to attentiveness, ability to listen, warmth, cordiality, and wisdom in friendly advice.

According to A. Storr (1980), the ideal psychotherapist or consultant is a sympathetic person, frank and open to the feelings of others; able to identify with a wide variety of people; warm, but not sentimental, not striving for self-affirmation, but having his own opinion and being able to defend it; able to serve for the benefit of his clients.

If we continue to review numerous sources of literature about the personality traits that a consultant needs to provide assistance, to be a catalyst for self-knowledge, change and improvement of another person, we will get closer to the model of the PERSONALITY OF AN EFFECTIVE CONSULTANT. Such a list of personality characteristics could serve as the basis for a program for training consultants. We are, of course, talking about a “mobile” model, since each consultant has the opportunity to supplement it. Let us consider the factors that can form the skeleton of such a model.

Authenticity. J. Bugental (1965) calls authenticity the core quality of a psychotherapist and the most important existential value. He identifies three main features of authentic existence:

Full awareness of the present moment;

Choosing a way of life at the moment;

Taking responsibility for your choices. Authenticity to some extent generalizes many personality traits. First of all, it is an expression of sincerity towards the client. An authentic person longs to be and is himself, both in his immediate reactions and in his overall behavior. He allows himself not to know all the answers to life’s questions, if he really doesn’t know them. He does not behave like a person in love if he feels hostility at the moment. The difficulty of most people lies in the fact that they spend a lot of energy playing roles, creating an external facade, instead of using it to solve real problems. If the consultant hides behind his professional role most of the time, the client will also hide from him. If the consultant performs the role of only a technical expert, dissociating himself from his personal reactions, values, feelings, counseling will be sterile, and its effectiveness will be questionable. We can touch the client’s life only by remaining living people. An authentic consultant is the most suitable model for clients, serving as an example of flexible behavior.

Openness to your own experience. Here, openness is understood not in the sense of frankness in front of other people, but as sincerity in the perception of one’s own feelings. Social experience teaches us to deny, to discard our feelings, especially negative ones. The child is told: “Shut up, big children (or boys) don’t cry!” Adults around them say the same thing: “Don’t cry!” or "Don't be nervous!" Pressure from others forces one to repress sadness, irritability, and anger. An effective counselor should not push away any feelings, including negative ones. Only in this case can you successfully control your behavior, since repressed feelings become irrational, a source of uncontrollable behavior. When we are aware of our emotional reactions, we can choose one way or another to behave in a situation, rather than allowing unconscious feelings to disrupt the regulation of our behavior. A consultant is able to promote positive changes in a client only when he shows tolerance to the whole variety of other people’s and his own emotional reactions.

Development of self-knowledge. Limited self-knowledge means limited freedom, and deep self-knowledge increases the possibility of choice in life. The more a consultant knows about himself, the better he will understand his clients, and vice versa - the more a consultant knows his clients, the deeper he understands himself. As E. Kennedy (1977) says, the inability to hear what is going on inside us increases our susceptibility to stress and limits our effectiveness, in addition, the likelihood of falling victim to satisfaction in the process of counseling our unconscious needs increases. It is very important to be realistic about yourself. The answer to the question of how you can help another person lies in the consultant’s self-esteem, the adequacy of his attitude to his own abilities and to life in general.

Personality and identity. The consultant must know who he is, who he can become, what he wants from life, what is essentially important to him. He approaches life with questions, answers the questions life poses to him, and constantly tests his values. Both in professional work and in personal life, the consultant should not be a mere reflection of the hopes of other people, he should act, guided by his own internal position. This will make him feel strong in interpersonal relationships.

Tolerance of uncertainty. Many people feel uncomfortable in situations that lack structure, clarity, and certainty. But since one of the prerequisites for the formation of a personality is a person’s “farewell” to the familiar, known from one’s own experience, and the entry into “unfamiliar territory,” the consultant absolutely needs self-confidence in situations of uncertainty. Essentially, it is precisely such situations that make up the “fabric” of counseling. After all, we never know what kind of client and problem we will encounter, what decisions we will have to make. Confidence in one's intuition and the adequacy of feelings, confidence in the correctness of decisions made and the ability to take risks - all these qualities help to withstand the stress created by the uncertainty of frequent interaction with clients.

Taking personal responsibility. Since many situations in counseling arise under the control of the consultant, he must be responsible for his actions in these situations. Understanding your responsibility allows you to freely and consciously make a choice at any time during counseling - agree with the client’s arguments or engage in productive confrontation. Personal responsibility helps you deal with criticism more constructively. In such cases, criticism does not trigger psychological defense mechanisms, but serves as useful feedback that improves the efficiency of activity and even the organization of life.

About the depth of relationships with other people. The consultant is obliged to evaluate people - their feelings, views, peculiar personality traits, but to do this without judging or labeling. This type of relationship with clients is important, but it is important to take into account the fears that most people experience when trying to form close, warm relationships with others. Some people feel that expressing positive feelings is obligatory, limits freedom, and makes them vulnerable. Some people are afraid of their partner’s rejection of positive feelings and their rejection, so it seems safer to immediately deepen interpersonal relationships. An effective consultant is free from such fears and is able to freely express his feelings to other people, including clients.

Setting realistic goals. Usually, success encourages you to set big goals for yourself, and failure, on the contrary, encourages you to lower the bar of aspirations. Sometimes this self-defense mechanism is violated, and then a goal that is too large will be doomed to failure in advance, or the pursuit of an insignificant goal will not bring any satisfaction. So, an effective consultant must understand the limitations of his capabilities. First of all, it is important not to forget that any consultant, regardless of professional training, is not omnipotent. In reality, no consultant can build the right relationship with every client and help all clients solve their problems. Such naive optimism can cause a “cold shower” in everyday counseling and constantly cause feelings of guilt. The consultant must give up the unrealistic desire to become perfect. In consulting, we can always do a “good” job, but not a perfect job. Anyone who is unable to recognize the limitations of his capabilities lives under the illusion that he is able to fully know and understand another person. Such a consultant constantly blames himself for mistakes instead of learning useful lessons, and as a result his work is ineffective. If we accept our own limitations, we avoid unnecessary stress and guilt. Then relationships with clients become deeper and more realistic. A correct assessment of your own capabilities allows you to set achievable goals.

About empathy which is one of the most important personality traits of an effective consultant, we will talk in more detail when discussing the issue of relationships in the counseling process.

Summarizing the requirements discussed above for the personality of a consultant, it can be argued that an effective consultant is, first of all, a mature person. The more diverse a consultant’s style of personal and professional life is, the more effective his work will be. Sometimes expressing feelings and simply listening to what the client says is the best thing, but it is dangerous to limit yourself to only such counseling tactics; sometimes it is necessary to enter into confrontation with the client. Sometimes it is necessary to interpret his behavior, and sometimes to encourage the client to interpret the meaning of his behavior. Sometimes counseling requires directiveness and structure, and sometimes you can allow yourself to get carried away by a conversation without a specific structure. In counseling, as in life, you should be guided not by formulas, but by your intuition and the needs of the situation. This is one of the most important attitudes of a mature consultant.

K. Scheider (1992) identifies three important postulates of qualified psychological counseling and psychotherapy:

1. Personal maturity of the consultant. It is understood that the consultant successfully solves his life problems, is frank, tolerant and sincere towards himself.

2. Social maturity of a consultant. It implies that the consultant is able to help other people solve their problems effectively and is frank, tolerant and sincere towards clients.

3. Consultant maturity is a process, not a state. The implication is that it is impossible to be mature all the time.

At first glance, the model of an effective consultant we have drawn may seem too grandiose and far from reality. This suggests that the traits of an effective consultant coincide with the traits of a successful person. This is the model a consultant should strive for if he wants to be not a technical craftsman, but an artist of psychological counseling. Finally, the personality properties of an effective consultant can also be the goal of psychological counseling - the appearance of these properties in the client in this case becomes an indicator of the effectiveness of counseling.

Psychological counseling is a special area of ​​practical psychology associated with the provision by a specialist psychologist of direct psychological assistance to people who need it, in the form of advice and recommendations.

They are given by a psychologist to a client based on a personal conversation and a preliminary study of the problem that the client has encountered in his life. Most often, psychological counseling is carried out at predetermined hours, in a room specially equipped for this purpose, usually isolated from strangers, and in a confidential environment.

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

The advice and recommendations offered to the client by the consulting psychologist are, in most cases, designed so that, by using them independently, the client will be able to fully cope with his problem without help from the consulting psychologist. Psychological counseling is an established practice of providing effective psychological assistance to people, based on the belief that every physically and mentally healthy person is able to cope with almost all psychological problems that arise in his life. The client, however, does not always definitely and accurately know in advance what the essence of his problem is and how best to solve it, relying on his own strengths and capabilities. A professionally trained psychologist-consultant should help him with this. This is the main task of psychological counseling.

During a consultation, a psychologist usually uses special techniques and methods of working with a client and influencing him, designed to find and accurately formulate a practical solution to the client’s problem in a relatively short period of time (during the consultation), and to do this in such a way that the solution was clear and accessible to the client for implementation.

The number of meetings between a psychologist and a client is most often not limited to one or two. In most cases, longer consultation is required, including three or more meetings with the client. The need for such prolonged counseling arises in the following typical cases:

The client's problem is so complex that it is almost impossible to understand it in one or two sessions.

The client has not one, but several different problems, the solution to each of which requires a separate consultation.

The proposed solution to the problem cannot be immediately and completely independently implemented by the client and requires additional support from the consultant.

The consulting psychologist does not have sufficient confidence that the client, due, for example, to his individual characteristics, will immediately and without additional help cope with his problem.

Quite a few researchers in the field of PC have sought to present the consultative process in the form of orderly successive stages.

Consultative process model (eclectic) Kochunas.

1. establishing contact;

Achieving mutual trust (you need to listen, showing sincerity, empathy). Without resorting to manipulation and evaluation, the consultant encourages the client to deep reflection, while recording his feelings, statements, and features of non-verbal behavior.

2. Two-dimensional definition of the problem:

Characteristics of the problem (establishing the cognitive and emotional aspects of the problem);

Problem identification continues until there is an accurate understanding and characterization of the problem. This makes it possible to find out what caused this problem, and sometimes indicates a way to solve it.

3.Identification of alternatives:

An alternative solution to the problem is identified and openly discussed;

The client is encouraged to creatively and independently name all possible options;

The consultant can offer his options;

Compiling a list of alternatives.

4.Planning:

Critical assessment of selected solution alternatives;

The client understands which solutions are realistic, feasible, in terms of previous experience and possibilities will change;

Making a plan helps the client understand that not all problems are solvable;

The psychologist must foresee ways in which the client can check the feasibility of the chosen solution.

5. Activities:

Consistent implementation of the decision plan;

Specification of the plan, taking into account circumstances, time, emotional costs;

Forming in the client the idea of ​​the possibility of failure, which is not a disaster;

Overcoming activities.

6. Rating and feedback:

Assessing the success of the plan;

Generalization of achieved results;

New problems may arise that are more hidden.

E.Yu. Aleshina identifies 4 stages of counseling.

1. Getting to know the client.

2. Questioning the client, formulating and testing advisory hypotheses.

3. Corrective action.

4. Ending the conversation.

V.V. Makarov offers a 4-stage model:

1. Joining.

2.Crystallization of the problem.

3. Therapeutic completion.

4. Disconnection.

Nemov R.S. proposes the following re-odization.

1. Preparatory stage – 20-30 minutes. At this stage, the consultant studies the client’s documentation, selects literature on the problem, and develops a consultation plan.

2. Setup stage – 5-7 minutes. Meeting the client, establishing contact.

3. Diagnostic stage – 60 minutes (sometimes 4-6-8 hours). A diagnosis is made of the client’s personality, whether he has resources to solve the problem, as well as missing resources. This stage also includes the client’s confession.

4. Recommendation stage. Based on the information received, an algorithm for resolving the problem is developed. The search for an algorithm is carried out by a psychologist-consultant together with the client and takes 40-60 minutes.

5. Control stage – 20-30 minutes. The psychologist-consultant and the client agree on ways to monitor the implementation of the found algorithm. If necessary, an additional meeting can be scheduled.

Thus, the total time period of the meeting will take from 2-3 to 10-12 hours.

Philip Burnard proposes the following structure.

1. Getting started. Consultant meeting with client. Acquaintance. Also at this stage, they should discuss issues such as the frequency of meetings, the time at which meetings will take place, when the relationship will end, and the issue of confidentiality.

2. Introductory conversation. The specialist provides psychological support to the client, removes psychological barriers, and obtains personal information about the client.

3. Identification of existing problems. Obtaining more detailed information about the essence of the client's problem, focusing on real problems.

4. Acceptance of emotions. When the client, in the process of counseling, begins to realize his real problems, he, as a rule, finds himself in the grip of strong emotional experiences.

5. identification of possible solutions. The consultant assists the client in determining a strategy for solving the problem.

6. Agreeing on an action plan. At this stage, the plan to achieve the goal crystallizes. It would be useful to record the received plan in two copies, one of which remains with the consultant, the other is given to the client. The main thing is that the plan is realistically feasible and fits into the social context of the client’s life.

7. Implementation of the plan. This stage of the counseling process is completed by the client independently. In some cases, if the specifics of the individual require it, an agreement can be reached with him on an additional meeting in order for the client to provide a report on the results obtained.

If we integrate the structural components, then the course of the PC can be represented as follows.

First stage. Beginning of work. Includes the following procedures:

1) meeting the client with the consultant (techniques: greeting the client, escorting the client to the place, the client choosing his place, choosing the psychologist his place, techniques for establishing psychological contact).

2) Establishing a “+” emotional state of the client (establishing rapport).

3) Removing psychological barriers (give the client time to be alone a little, soft music, measured hand movements, using quotes).

Second phase. Collection of information.

1) Diagnosis of the client’s personality (conversation, observation, tests, an interview is identified as a specific type of conversation: an interview is a way of obtaining socio-psychological information using an oral questioning.

Third stage. Strategic: identifying possible solutions to a problem, agreeing on an action plan, determining ways to monitor the implementation of the plan.

Fourth stage. Implementation of the plan by the client: carried out by the client independently without the participation of a consultant.

Methods of psychological counseling.

In psychological counseling, methods common to psychology are used: observation, conversation, survey, testing, and interview.

There are also specific methods:

The method of psychodiagnostic testing is a method that allows you to obtain qualitative and quantitative information about mental processes, states and personality traits. The method is used when there is a lack of information about the individual characteristics and psychological problems of the person being consulted. Projective tests help identify hidden motives and attitudes.

The dynamic observation method is a method that allows you to obtain direct psychological information about reactions, states and personal characteristics. In this case, the psychologist acts as an expert and can purposefully model problematic situations during the conversation. You should pay attention to the tone of speech, manner of communication and non-verbal reactions, vegetative manifestations, details of appearance, clothing, psychomotor reactions, etc. Qualified observation must take place unnoticed by the client.

The method of emotional contagion is a method that involves the direct, targeted transfer of the emotional state of the psychologist to the counselee. This is necessary to correct the mental state, create the best psychological atmosphere for successful interaction, and increase the client’s self-esteem. To master this method, a psychologist needs to develop empathy, the ability to concentrate, express and control one’s emotions.

The method of suggestion is a method consisting of little reasoned verbal influence on the client in order to change his opinions, attitudes and relationships. The effectiveness of the impact is based on the authority of the consulting psychologist. It is advisable to use suggestion to remove psychological defenses and overcome the client’s direct resistance during the conversation. The method is a “reserve” and is used when other possibilities of influencing the client have been exhausted. It is most appropriate to use the method at the stage of joint interpretation.

The method of persuasion is a method consisting of a detailed logical argumentation of the arguments and positions presented, conveyed against the background of a balanced emotional state of a person. The method can be considered basic for all phases and stages of counseling. Successful mastery of this method requires good development of figurative and abstract thinking, long-term memory and attention. In addition, it is necessary to correctly understand and interpret the client’s statements, to find a “common language” with him, i.e. have certain communicative competence.

The method of psychological information is a method used to increase the psychological competence (literacy) of the client in the area of ​​the problems discussed. This method is essentially a mini-lecture during the consultation process. The proposed explanations should be simple in form, and in content close to the client’s specific life situations. The method can be used at all stages of the counseling process, except for the “confession” phase.

The method of artistic analogies is a method designed to indirectly influence the client’s worldviews, stereotypes, and opinions. The essence of this method is to use specific cases from practice, life, anecdotes, examples from fiction, parables, fairy tales, proverbs and sayings. This allows the client to look at a similar problem from the outside, often in an unexpected and even humorous way. As a result, the subjective significance of the problem and the false sense of its uniqueness are reduced. In addition, it is possible to defuse the overly tense atmosphere of the conversation. The method can be used at all stages of counseling.

The mini-training method is a method that consists of developing the necessary specific skills in the client through short-term training, organically included in the counseling process. For example, a psychologist invites a client to “play out” a situation of conflict with any person significant to him, after which mistakes and limitations in the client’s behavior are discussed. The method is recommended to be used at the stage of “expanding goals”, when the client realizes a deficiency of certain psychological skills and abilities and wants to immediately fill it. This method may be preceded or accompanied by an information method.

None of the theoretical orientations or schools of psychological counseling reflects all possible situations of interaction between a consultant and a client. Therefore, consider the most general model of the structure of the advisory process, called eclectic (B. E. Gilland and associates; 1989). This systemic model, covering six closely related stages, reflects the universal features of psychological counseling or psychotherapy of any orientation.

1. Research problems. At this stage, the consultant establishes contact (report) with the client and achieves mutual trust: it is necessary to listen carefully to the client talking about his difficulties and show maximum sincerity, empathy, care, without resorting to assessments and manipulation. The client should be encouraged to in-depth consider the problems he has encountered and record his feelings, the content of his statements, and non-verbal behavior.

2. Two-dimensional problem identification. At this stage, the counselor seeks to accurately characterize the client's problems, identifying both the emotional and cognitive aspects of them. Problems are clarified until the client and consultant reach the same understanding; problems are defined by specific concepts. Accurate identification of problems allows us to understand their causes, and sometimes indicates ways to resolve them. If difficulties or ambiguities arise when identifying problems, then we need to return to the research stage.

3. Identification of alternatives. At this stage, possible alternatives for solving problems are identified and openly discussed. Using open-ended questions, the consultant encourages the client to name all possible options that he considers appropriate and realistic, helps to put forward additional alternatives, but does not impose his decisions. During the conversation, you can create a written list of options to make them easier to compare. Problem-solving alternatives should be found that the client could use directly.

4. Planning. At this stage, a critical assessment of the selected solution alternatives is carried out. The counselor helps the client figure out which alternatives are appropriate and realistic in terms of previous experience and current willingness to change. Creating a realistic problem-solving plan should also help the client understand that not all problems are solvable. Some problems take too long; others can be solved only partially by reducing their destructive, behavior-disrupting effects. In terms of problem solving, it is necessary to provide by what means and methods the client will check the realism of the chosen solution (role-playing games, “rehearsal” of actions, etc.).

5. Activity. At this stage, a consistent implementation of the problem solving plan occurs. The consultant helps the client build activities taking into account circumstances, time, emotional costs, as well as understanding the possibility of failure in achieving goals. The client must learn that partial failure is not a disaster and should continue to implement a plan to solve the problem, linking all actions with the final goal.

6. Rating and Feedback. At this stage, the client, together with the consultant, evaluates the level of goal achievement (the degree of problem resolution) and summarizes the results achieved. If necessary, the solution plan can be clarified. When new or deeply hidden problems arise, a return to previous stages is necessary.

This model, which reflects the consultation process, only helps to better understand how specific consultation occurs. The actual consulting process is much more extensive and often does not follow this algorithm. The identification of stages is conditional, since in practical work some stages overlap with others, and their interdependence is more complex than in the presented diagram.

Here it is worth emphasizing once again what was mentioned above - in the counseling process, it is not so much the diagrams that are important (although a general idea and understanding of the process of counseling is required), but rather the professional and human competence of the consultant. It consists of many elements, which will be discussed below. Let us list the general rules and guidelines of a consultant that structure the consulting process and make it effective:

1. No two clients or counseling situations are the same. Human problems may appear similar only from the outside, but because they arise, develop, and exist in the context of unique human lives, the problems themselves are in reality unique. Therefore, each advisory interaction is unique and unrepeatable.

2. In the process of counseling, the client and the consultant constantly change in accordance with their relationship; There are no static situations in psychological counseling.

3. The client is the best expert of his own problems, so during counseling you should help him take responsibility for solving his problems. The client’s vision of his own problems is no less, and perhaps more important, than the consultant’s view of them.

4. In the counseling process, the client's sense of security is more important than the consultant's demands. Thus, in counseling it is inappropriate to pursue a goal at any cost without paying attention to the client's emotional state.

5. In an effort to help the client, the consultant is obliged to “connect” all his professional and personal capabilities, but in each specific case he must not forget that he is only a person and therefore is not able to be fully responsible for another person, for his life and difficulties.

6. One should not expect an immediate effect from each individual counseling meeting - problem solving, as well as the success of counseling, are not like a straight line rising evenly; This is a process in which noticeable improvements are replaced by deterioration, because self-change requires a lot of effort and risk, which do not always and do not immediately result in success.

7. A competent consultant knows the level of his professional qualifications and his own shortcomings, he is responsible for observing the rules of ethics and working for the benefit of clients.

None of the theoretical orientations or schools of psychological counseling reflects all possible situations of interaction between a consultant and a client. Therefore, let us consider the most general model of the structure of the consultative process, called eclectic. This systemic model, covering six closely related stages, reflects the universal features of psychological counseling or psychotherapy of any orientation.

1. Research problems. At this stage, the consultant establishes contact (report) with the client and achieves mutual trust: it is necessary to listen carefully to the client talking about his difficulties and show maximum sincerity, empathy, care, without resorting to assessments and manipulation. The client should be encouraged to in-depth consider the problems he has encountered and record his feelings, the content of his statements, and non-verbal behavior.
2. Two-dimensional problem identification. At this stage, the counselor seeks to accurately characterize the client's problems, identifying both the emotional and cognitive aspects of them. Problems are clarified until the client and consultant reach the same understanding; problems are defined by specific concepts. Accurate identification of problems allows us to understand their causes, and sometimes indicates ways to resolve them. If difficulties or ambiguities arise when identifying problems, then we need to return to the research stage.
3. Identification of alternatives. At this stage, possible alternatives for solving problems are identified and openly discussed. Using open-ended questions, the consultant encourages the client to name all possible options that he considers appropriate and realistic, helps to put forward additional alternatives, but does not impose his decisions. During the conversation, you can create a written list of options to make them easier to compare. Problem-solving alternatives should be found that the client could use directly.
4. Planning. At this stage, a critical assessment of the selected solution alternatives is carried out. The counselor helps the client figure out which alternatives are appropriate and realistic in terms of previous experience and current willingness to change. Creating a realistic problem-solving plan should also help the client understand that not all problems are solvable. Some problems take too long; others can be solved only partially by reducing their destructive, behavior-disrupting effects. In terms of problem solving, it is necessary to provide by what means and methods the client will check the realism of the chosen solution (role-playing games, “rehearsal” of actions, etc.).
5. Activity. At this stage, a consistent implementation of the problem solving plan occurs. The consultant helps the client build activities taking into account circumstances, time, emotional costs, as well as understanding the possibility of failure in achieving goals. The client must learn that partial failure is not a disaster and should continue to implement a plan to solve the problem, linking all actions with the final goal.
6. Rating and Feedback. At this stage, the client, together with the consultant, evaluates the level of goal achievement (the degree of problem resolution) and summarizes the results achieved. If necessary, the solution plan can be clarified. When new or deeply hidden problems arise, a return to previous stages is necessary.

In the counseling process, it is not so much the diagrams that are important (although a general idea and understanding of the process of counseling is required), but rather the professional and human competence of the consultant. General rules and guidelines for a consultant that structure the consulting process and make it effective.