Political Science - multifunctional science. Therefore, in her research she uses various directions and methods. Political science uses research methods.

METHODS – is a set of techniques, ways of constructing scientific knowledge and its application in the study of certain phenomena, i.e. how, in what way political scientists obtain knowledge on their subject.

The political science of specific methods of understanding interactions has not been formed. Today she uses methods and techniques of related sciences. Due to the fact that political science developed in the West within the framework of jurisprudence, it uses INSTITUTIONAL METHOD, those. examines political life through the prism of such instruments as: law, state, parties, associations, pressure groups, constitution, government, etc.

American political science is based on historical science and therefore operates BY HISTORICAL METHOD, t.e. considers political processes through connections with the past, present and future, the evolution of political institutions and norms in the process of social change.

In the 19th century, political thought was strongly influenced by Sociology, resulting in the formation SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD. The impetus was the work of Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America,” which examines processes in politics through economic, social, ideological, cultural and other relations.

Influenced by Charles Merriam 1874-1953, as well as Harold Lasswell, in the 30s of the twentieth century BEHAVIORIST METHOD is formed, i.e. consideration of political relationships is carried out in the context of the behavior of a specific individual, layer, class, ethnic group, etc. This METHOD is called BEHAVIORAL. Quantitative and qualitative indicators are beginning to be used, mathematical methods, statistical data, questionnaires, simulation, business games, etc.

Closely related to behaviorism PSYCHOLOGICAL METHOD and PSYCHOANALYSIS are related, which studies behavior through the analysis of the motives, desires, passions and vices of individuals. This method was first used by N. Machiavelli. However, its in-depth study belongs to S. Freud and Friend.

In the 20s of the twentieth century, in the wake of criticism of empirical methods, formation of a SYSTEM METHOD or and approach. The authorship of this method belongs to T. Parsons. Its essence is that this method knowledge and practical activities, in which the individual parts of a phenomenon are considered in inextricable unity with the whole. The main concept of the systems approach is SYSTEM, which denotes a certain material or ideal object, considered as a complex, holistic formation. In view of the fact that any system or education that is located in a certain environment, a systems approach must take into account connections and relationships with the environment. The second requirement of this method is to take into account the fact that each system acts as a subsystem of another, larger system, and vice versa, smaller subsystems should be distinguished in it, which in another case can be considered as a system.

The most ancient method, used by Aristotle, is the COMPARATIVE METHOD. WITH The essence of this method is the consideration of various ideas, views, systems with the aim of their similarities and differences. Aristotle came to the idea of ​​the relationship between the forms and essence of government. Later G.A. Almond, J. Powell came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a new direction, i.e. Comparative Political Science.

DIALECTICAL METHOD – examines political events and phenomena in their interrelation, development and improvement.

RESEARCH METHOD- this is a set of various objects, tools that allow the most accurate and understandable identification of social phenomena through sociological research, interviews, questionnaires, socio-political experiments, statistics, etc.

ACTIVE METHOD – studying political processes through people's activities, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, making decisions and their implementation.

There are a number of other methods: normative, anthropological, structural-functional, etc.

One of the main directions is the study of political institutions. It involves the study of such phenomena as the state, political power, law, political parties, political and socio-political movements and other formalized and informal political institutions. Political institutions (from the Latin institutum - establishment, establishment) are a set of established rules, norms, traditions, principles, regulated processes and relationships in a particular area of ​​politics. For example, the institution of the presidency regulates the procedure for electing the president, the limits of his competence, methods of re-election or removal from office, etc.

Another direction is the study of political processes and phenomena. This direction involves the identification and analysis of objective laws and patterns of development political system society, as well as the development of various political technologies for their practical application.

The third direction is the study of: political consciousness, political psychology and ideology, political culture, political behavior of people and its motivation, as well as methods of communication and management of all these phenomena.

Political studies of the foreign policy activities of the state and the international political process can be identified as an independent direction.

Anthropological method analyzes political phenomena based on the natural collectivist essence of man. Aristotle also said that man by nature is a political being and cannot live in isolation. In the course of evolutionary development, people improve their social organization and at a certain stage move on to the political organization of society.

Psychological method involves studying psychological mechanisms psychological behavior and motivation. As a scientific direction, it arose in the 19th century, although it is based on many significant ideas of ancient thinkers (Confucius, Aristotle, Seneca) and modern scientists (N. Machiavelli, T. Hobbes, J.-J. Rousseau).

Significant place in psychological method occupies psychoanalysis, the foundations of which were developed by Z. Freud. With the help of psychoanalysis, unconscious mental processes and motivations that can have an active impact on political behavior are studied.

Structural-functional approach. According to him, the political sphere, like society as a whole, is complex system(structure) consisting of many interconnected elements, each of which performs a specific function unique to it. The foundations of the structural-functional paradigm were laid by G. Spencer and E. Durkheim, who compared the structure of society with a living organism, and individual subsystems with certain organs. American sociologists R. Merton and T. Parsons made a significant contribution to the formation and development of this trend in sociology.

Conflictological approach proceeds from the fact that social development occurs through the struggle of various social groups.

In modern political science there are two main levels of research: theoretical and applied.

Theoretical political science deals with the development of general (functional) methods for studying the political sphere of society. But at the same time, all theoretical developments are somehow aimed at solving practical problems.

Applied political science examines specific political situations in order to obtain the necessary information, develop political forecasts, practical advice, recommendations and solutions to emerging political and social problems.

Functions of political science

Function (from Latin functio - execution) - purpose, duty. Social function- this is the role played by one or another element of the social (political) system in society or a social community. For example, the function of the family institution is to regulate marriage and family relations in society; The function of political institutions is to manage social and political relations. Consequently, the function of political science is to study the patterns of functioning of the political system of society and its individual subsystems.

The main functions of political science are:

cognitive - a certain way of knowing (studying) the nature of the political, the structure and content of the political system of society and the patterns of its functioning;

diagnostic - analysis (monitoring) of social (political) reality in order to identify potential contradictions and conflicts;

prognostic - development of scientifically based forecasts about trends (prospects) for the development of the political system and prevention of possible negative phenomena;

organizational and technological - creation of political technologies and organizational structures, defining the order and rules of functioning of the political sphere of society;

management - the use of political science research to develop and make management decisions;

instrumental - improving existing and developing new methods for studying political reality;

ideological - the use of political science knowledge and research results in the interests of society, the social community, the ruling class;

pragmatic (applied) - the use of theoretical and applied methods of political science to solve problems and contradictions that arise in society.

#5ticket

Related information.

The subject of political science is also revealed through its methodological side, which is expressed in its laws, categories, and principles. The peculiarity of the laws of political science is that they exist and are manifested through the activities of people and their relationships, depend to a greater or lesser extent on chance, i.e. the laws of political science, unlike the laws of other sciences, have a more pronounced probabilistic nature and depend on the national and historical characteristics of a particular country. For example, the law of separation of powers, patterns of development of democracy and the transition from authoritarian and totalitarian regimes require reflection and development taking into account the specific development of each country.

In philosophical and political literature one can find different points of view regarding the “laws” and “regularities” that dominate the political sphere. Scientists who take a Marxist position are confident that the basis of political processes is made up of material, economic interests, which find expression in society through the struggle of social classes. Studying the patterns of development of economic and social factors allows us to determine the leading laws of political development.

Adherents of the subjective idealistic approach deny the existence of objective laws in the political sphere and the possibility of constructing a universal general theory of politics. Politics depends on the will, mood and desires of “outstanding personalities”, so it is the result of a confluence of accidents. There is no place for patterns in the political sphere.

Representatives of positivism and neopositivism try to overcome the extremes of the first two approaches and believe that there are general patterns and trends in the development of the political sphere, but they are refracted in their own way in different national cultures. The revealed pattern is not a strictly determined necessity that works under any circumstances, but only an opportunity, an alternative development, potentially embedded in the policy under similar conditions. Therefore, in order to implement successful policies and wise leadership, it is necessary to take into account the patterns identified by scientists in the development of certain processes in society. For example, correct and incorrect forms of government in Aristotle; laws of political development and struggle of K. Marx; the law of “oligarchic tendencies” by R. Michels; theory of “circulation of elites” by V. Pareto; S. Parkinson's laws of bureaucratization of power; theorems of interdependence of party and electoral systems by M. Duverger, etc.

Political science as a science has its own categorical apparatus, its own language. The most general categories are "politics", "political life", "political power", "political leadership", "political regime" and "political consciousness".

But it should be noted that political science faces many specific difficulties in this regard (using its categories and concepts). First of all, the development of the conceptual apparatus largely depends on the development of science itself in a given country. Political science in our country is a very young science; much has not yet been developed. Therefore, domestic political science has to use mainly borrowed concepts. This borrowing is of three kinds:

Firstly, borrowing terms from foreign countries. Our literature is now flooded with such expressions as “consensus”, “impeachment”, “legitimacy”, “elitism”, “establishment”, etc. This process is, of course, natural, but some works cannot be understood without knowledge of English or another European language.

Secondly, political science has to use concepts borrowed from a number of related social disciplines, such as history, philosophy, political philosophy, various branches of law, and social psychology.

Thirdly, political science is increasingly using the terms of some natural sciences- theoretical physics, cybernetics, theoretical mathematics (system, structure, etc.).

One of the main features of modern political thought is the denial of a unified system of concepts and concepts; lack of a common methodology. The variety of directions and issues of theories and approaches to the study of politics - this is the general picture of modern political knowledge.

Methods of political science. Political phenomena and processes are learned through various methods. Method is a way of studying phenomena, testing and evaluating theories. Political science uses various methods.

1. Methods related to the organization and procedure of the cognitive process:

1) analysis and synthesis;

2) induction and deduction;

3) abstraction, ascent from the abstract to the concrete;

4) a combination of historical and logical analyses;

5) modeling;

6) forecasting.

2. Methods of empirical research:

obtaining primary information about political facts;

questionnaires;

use of statistical data and their synthesis.

3. Variable method - development of various scenarios for the development of events, taking into account alternative factors. Method expert assessment, which is characterized by pluralism of judgments.

4. Very relevant for Russian political science comparative method. Its essence lies in the comparison of similar political phenomena that develop in different countries and cultural environments. Consideration of the process of formation and development of the state, parties, movements, political systems among various peoples makes it possible to identify how common features political process and its features. This makes it possible to use the positive political experience of other countries to create a legal democratic state in Russia.

Methodology is a specific vision of phenomena; it presupposes specific positions and angles of view of the researcher (see Table 2).

The table shows the most common methodological approaches in Western political science in the order of their appearance.

table 2

Methodological approaches and their content

Methodological approaches	What do they focus on?	How politics is studied
1. Normative-value approach.	On the moral dimension of politics from the point of view of compliance of politics with the norms of morality and justice	Analysis of political relations from the perspective of compliance of real political processes with ideal political norms
2. Historical	On political phenomena and processes in time and space	Analysis of changes in political norms, relations, institutions in the context of the connection between the past, present and future
3. Sociological	On the dependence of politics on social factors: economy, social structure, culture, etc.	Analysis of politics as a sphere of purposeful interactions of social groups pursuing their interests
4. Institutional	On the interactions of political institutions: law, state, political parties and movements, etc.	Analysis of official structures and formal decision-making rules
5. Cultural	On the cultural dimension of politics	Studying the influence of national mentality, consciousness, behavioral stereotypes, culture on the nature of political processes in society
6. Psychological	On the subjective mechanisms of political behavior: motives, desires, passions, etc.	Analysis individual qualities, character traits, unconscious mental processes influencing political behavior
7. Behaviorist	On the personal dimension of politics, the behavior of an individual	Analysis of systematically observed behavior of an individual, the possibility of measuring his motivation
8. System	On the integrity of policy and the nature of its relationship with the external environment	Analysis of the nature of the exchange of resources and information between politics and other spheres and the methods of distribution of resources by government institutions
9. Structural and functional	On the structural components of politics and their functions	Analysis of the structural components of the policy

The value-normative approach was one of the first to be used in political science. It originated in ancient times. According to this approach political influences are considered from the point of view of compliance with their norms of morality, justice, and the common good. The normative-value approach presupposes the development of an ideal political order and the need to subsume actually existing relations under it. He had a certain influence on the development of Western society, since thanks to him the ideal of a democratic system was formed. However, the disadvantage of this method has always been its isolation from existing realities, which gave rise to utopian ideas and theories, the implementation of which was accompanied by numerous human casualties.

Within the framework of the historical method, politics is considered from the point of view of the possibility of using the positive political experience of the past to solve contemporary pressing problems. N. Machiavelli was one of the first to use it in political science.

Had a great influence on the development of political science sociological method, with the help of which one can identify the relationship between politics and other spheres of life, reveal the social nature of the state, power, law, etc. The sociological approach makes it possible to determine the social orientation of decisions made by the state and to establish in the interests of which groups they are carried out.

The anthropological method opens up a different aspect of the analysis of politics, which requires not to be limited to determining the influence of social factors on politics (standard of living, form of ownership, type of culture, etc.), but proposes to identify the roles of instincts, stable traits of intelligence, psyche, national character in politics , i.e. qualities of man as a biosocial being.

The revolution in political science was made by the behaviorist approach, which arose in the 20-30s of the 20th century. as an alternative to the legal method, within which politics was analyzed by studying state legal and political institutions, their formal structure, and procedures for their activities. In contrast, the behaviorist approach made it possible to study the political behavior of individuals or groups. It marked an attempt to measure politics qualitatively and quantitatively. Behavior in behaviorism is defined as the relationship between “stimulus” and “response”. The basis of an individual's political behavior is the motive that prompted him to act. Behaviorists began to focus on interest as a motive for political behavior. They reduced the task of political science to the description of observable behavior and process. The merit of behaviorism was not only the introduction of methods of the exact sciences (mathematics, statistics, etc.) into political science; the behaviorist approach became the basis for the creation of applied political science. One of its significant shortcomings is the analysis of behavior outside the context of its moral assessment, as well as the emphasis on research technique.

The behaviorist approach did not allow us to present the world of politics holistically and was not able to identify the interrelations of its various elements. Therefore, in the 50-60s of the XX century. there is a need for a systematic approach that allows one to reveal stable internal relationships components policy and thereby determines the possibility of adapting the system to changing environmental conditions. Using a systematic approach, it is possible to clearly determine the place of politics in the development of society, its essential functions, opportunities for implementing transformations. However, the systems approach is ineffective when analyzing individual behavior in politics (for example, the role of a leader), when considering conflicts and studying crisis situations.

Psychoanalysis occupies a special place among the methods of political science. The advantage of the psychoanalytic method is that it takes into account the irrational factors of political activity that were previously ignored. Psychoanalysis examines the psychological mechanisms of political behavior. The founder of the method, Austrian psychiatrist S. Freud (1856-1939), believed that an individual’s political behavior, like any other behavior, is subject to special unconscious attitudes of the human psyche, which are the result of dissatisfaction with his basic needs. S. Freud considered sexual attraction to be the main one. The acute affective experiences of the individual that arise as a result do not disappear from the psyche, but are displaced into the sphere of the unconscious and continue to remain the motives of political behavior: the behavior of the crowd, voters, powerful individuals, etc. Functions of political science. Political science performs a number of socially significant functions in society. The effective implementation of these functions contributes to the stable development of society, the achievement of civil peace and harmony. The main functions of political science are shown in Figure 1.

Rice. 1. Main functions

The goal is to make a person capable of resolving external and internal conflicts by reorganizing the system of his relationships. Therefore, such psychotherapy is called reconstructive.

The teachings of V.N. played a major role in the development of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy as an independent direction. Myasishchev about neuroses and psychotherapy for this form of borderline mental pathology.

1) a deep and comprehensive study of the patient’s personality, the characteristics of his emotional response, motivation, the specifics of the formation, structure and functioning of the system of his relationships;

2) identification and study of etiopathogenetic mechanisms that contribute to both the emergence and maintenance pathological condition and symptoms;

3) the patient’s achievement of a conscious understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship between the features of his system of relationships and the disease;

4) assistance to the patient in a reasonable resolution of the psychotraumatic situation, if necessary - changing his objective position and the attitude of others towards him;

5) changing the patient’s attitudes, correcting inappropriate reactions and behaviors, which is the main goal of psychotherapy and in turn leads to an improvement in both the patient’s subjective well-being and the restoration of the fullness of his social functioning.

In psychotherapy V.N. Myasishchev, which can be called pathogenetic, the achievement of these goals was carried out by the method of individual psychotherapy. Research in the recent period reflects a shift in emphasis from individual psychotherapy to group psychotherapy, which makes it possible to more effectively restore damaged individual relationships.

Individual psychotherapy is based on communication between the therapist and the patient. In this case, only a psychotherapist acts as an instrument of influence, which limits the range of real emotional interaction and real behavioral options, both quantitatively and qualitatively. This distinguishes individual psychotherapy from group psychotherapy, where the psychotherapeutic group acts as the instrument of influence; there is a situation of real emotional interaction, real behavior, in which patients with wide range different attitudes, attitudes, emotional and behavioral reactions, while being in a relatively equal position in relation to each other.

In the process of individual personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, a certain sequence can be identified in the forms of behavior of the doctor. At the first meeting with the patient, he is minimally active, not directive, and contributes to the sincere disclosure of the patient’s emotional experiences and the creation of trusting contact. Then, increasing his activity, he begins to clarify the “internal picture of the disease”, the patient’s verbalization of all his ideas related to understanding the disease, expectations from treatment and prospects for recovery. When correcting the “concept” of the disease in a patient, the doctor discusses the data of his examinations with him, convinces him that the causes of neurosis do not lie in “organic” changes, and helps to grasp the connection between emotional factors and symptoms. During this period, the doctor provides the patient with relevant information and acts primarily as an expert. After the patient understands the connection between symptoms and provoking pathogenic situations, significant changes occur in the content of conversations. Their subject is no longer symptoms, but psychological problems, experiences and relationships of the patient’s personality. Gradually, during the discussion process, a certain sequence of links of a new concept of the disease is built in the patient’s mind (symptoms - emotional factors or pathogenic situations - personal positions, or relationships - neurotic conflict - needs, or motives). The relationship with the patient deepens, the doctor becomes an assistant in the patient’s intensive work on his inner world. At the final stage of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, the doctor again increases his activity, and even directivity in testing and consolidating new ways of experiencing and behavior for the patient.

During the course of treatment, when using this method, at all its stages, two interconnected psychological processes are constantly carried out - awareness and reconstruction of personality relationships. The first process is awareness (insight), associated with the need for the patient to understand the true sources of his own neurotic disorders. The second - reconstruction of personality relationships - in accordance with the degree of awareness, manifests itself in the correction of disturbed ones and the development of new relationships at their cognitive, emotional and behavioral levels.

In the conditions of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, the doctor tries to expand the patient’s area of ​​awareness in order to help understand the cause-and-effect relationships that gave rise to the mental disorder, verbalize his vague experiences and clarify those relationships that the patient himself had not previously connected in his consciousness.

Group psychotherapy. IN last decades Person-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy in group form has become widespread in medical practice. Its specificity lies in its targeted use in medicinal purposes group dynamics, i.e. the entire set of relationships and interactions that arise between group members, including the psychotherapist himself.

The relationships the patient enters into in the group largely reflect his real relationships in life. The use of group dynamics aims to ensure that each group member has the opportunity to express themselves, as well as to create an effective feedback system in the group.

In general terms, the goals of group psychotherapy are defined as the disclosure, analysis, awareness and processing of the patient’s problems, his intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts and the correction of inadequate relationships, attitudes, emotional and behavioral stereotypes based on analysis and use interpersonal interaction. The goals of group psychotherapy focus on three components of self-awareness: self-understanding (cognitive aspect), attitude towards oneself (emotional aspect) and self-regulation (behavioral aspect), which allows us to define the overall goal of group psychotherapy as expanding the patient's sphere of self-awareness.

Positive therapy

Positive psychotherapy is one of the recognized methods of modern scientific psychotherapy, recognized in 1996 by the European Association of Psychotherapy and in 2008 by the World Council of Psychotherapy.

The method of positive psychotherapy itself was founded in 1968 by Professor Nossrat Pezeshkian. The method of Positive Psychotherapy refers to transcultural, psychodynamic psychotherapeutic methods with a humanistic point of view on the person. This conflict is ability-centered and ability-oriented. The name of the method comes from Lat. positum - “occurring”, “given”, “actual”.

Positive psychotherapy is a cross-cultural method that integrates, on the one hand, the philosophical and intuitive wisdom of the East, and on the other hand, the rational systematicity and scientific character of the West.

The method of positive psychotherapy is based on 3 principles, each of which has a specific methodological component:

1. The principle of hope corresponds to a positive approach to seeing a person’s abilities and capabilities.

2. The principle of balance corresponds to a meaningful differential analysis of the psychodynamics of the individual, the result of which is the harmonization of the primary and secondary actual abilities of a person.

3. The principle of self-help corresponds to a 5-step meta-model, used as a strategy for harmonization, adaptation and personal development - first, in the process of psychotherapy itself, and then, in the further process of a person’s self-help for himself and his environment: his partner, his family, his organization, his community, etc.

Five-step intervention technique in positive psychotherapy:

Stage 1. Observation (distancing).

At this stage, the patient talks about the symptoms that bother him, the conditions and time of their occurrence, the suspected causes, and how these symptoms affected his life. At this stage, the therapist listens carefully and asks clarifying questions. Particular attention is paid to exactly how the patient presents his problem: what is given more attention (balance model): sensations and reactions of the body, external factors; logical constructions and rationalizations; links to authoritative sources, opinions of others, etc.; heuristic ideas, questions of meaning, plans and/or idealizations. It is convenient to immediately structure information according to the balance sheet model.

Objectives: at this stage the patient should receive acceptance, understanding and support; an opportunity to see the situation from the outside.

Stage 2. Inventory.

At this stage, the psychotherapist asks questions regarding the balance model, helping to fill in the blank spots in the description of the situation, tries to localize the composition (participants (personal and/or subpersonal) of the actual conflict), content (actual abilities involved) and dynamics (the basic conflict is the source of emotional content and internal conflict) conflict.

Clues to the patient's feelings should be sought in all four areas of response. Often, it is not the presence, but the absence of a reaction in some area that can become important diagnostic evidence (repression, displacement, etc.)

Body/senses. How do you feel, how does your body react in the described situation (when you remember it)? (e.g., high involvement, fatigue, headache, heaviness in the stomach, pressure in the chest, etc.). Logic/Cognition. What do you think about your illness? (e.g., “it’s not curable,” “it’s a complicated case,” etc.) What do you think triggers the symptom? Personal experience/tradition. What does the problem remind you of? (for example, about unpleasant feelings because of your partner, about unfulfilled desires and aspirations, about unfairness, etc.). How have you dealt with similar difficulties before? Do you often experience similar or other problems in similar situations? Future/fantasy. What will be the result of successful therapy for you? What will you do when the problem no longer exists? What worries you most? (for example: “if I don’t get help now, something terrible will happen”). Discussions, interpretations and interpretive questions should be avoided.

Tasks. At this stage, the patient, with the help of the psychotherapist’s questions, must find out what actual abilities constitute the content of his problem and understand the origin of these abilities (basic conflict).

The psychotherapist must demonstrate at this stage the ability to ask precise questions, determine the content, history, dynamics and possibilities - this presupposes the ability to see behind the emotional manifestations of transference and countertransference the content of the conflict, current abilities and patterns of relationships. This skill is provided mainly by the analytical and logical resources of secondary abilities (fairness, accuracy, order, openness). A systematic first interview and a structured five-step psychotherapy strategy provide a methodological basis for the manifestation of this ability.

Stage 3. Situational reinforcement.

At this stage, the psychotherapist talks about what opportunities the current situation opens up for the patient; it is appropriate to tell a story, parable or folk wisdom that comes to mind.

The psychotherapist demonstrates the ability to see beyond the presented problem, the ability to respond to a life situation (positive interpretation). A positive interpretation in this case is a meaningful concept of a symptom, based on an analysis of internal conflict from the point of view of the dynamics of manifested abilities. Encouraging the patient's specific abilities and aspirations in specific situations gives him confidence in specific actions, creates a zone of emotional comfort in which it is easier to decide to test new behavioral models.

Objectives: At this stage it is important to strengthen the patient's confidence that he is able to cope with the situation, that now that he knows its content, the actual abilities he has demonstrated can be developed and this will help him. The patient receives emotional support and alternative experience of behavior in such situations through the use of stories and metaphors.

Stage 4. Verbalization.

Establishing a connection between the current situation and the history of the formation of the behavior patterns under consideration complements the dynamic picture and allows us to model possible alternative behavior options. The more different points of view are expressed, the more varied the shades of interpretation, the more effective this stage will be. Therefore, group members should be encouraged to speak out as fully as possible. If indicated and technically possible, it is recommended to play the conflict in role-playing game and model alternative behavior.

Objectives: this stage allows the patient to explore more deeply and holistically the source of their experiences and defenses that arose in the process of adaptation to living conditions and prevented them from adequately responding. The result is fertile ground for expanding the range of working hypotheses and possible therapeutic interventions.

At this stage, the therapist must demonstrate the ability to discuss the conflict and distribute responsibility for achieving change, which involves the active practice of openness and honesty, patience and courtesy in resolving conflicts, which is not possible without the use of affective-emotional resources in achieving change, for example, without a balance of openness and conscious responsibility for the manifestation of emotional reactions. The psychotherapist must be prepared to seek supervision or intervision in case of difficulties in determining the content and adequate psychotherapeutic response of the transference/countertransference.

Stage 5. Expanding goals.

The neurotic narrowing of one's horizons is purposefully destroyed. The client learns not to transfer the conflict to other areas of behavior, but to discover new goals that are still unknown to him. Therapy is based on two simultaneous and closely related processes: psychotherapy, when the relationship between the psychotherapist and the client comes to the fore, and self-help, when the client takes on “therapeutic” tasks, that is, becomes a psychotherapist, a psychologist for himself and your loved ones.

Expanding goals and life plans for the future should be seen not only as working with hope as a remedy, but also as caring about the environmental friendliness of the changes achieved in the process of psychotherapy in relation to the patient’s inner world, his environment and relationships.

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy- this is the process of maintaining or restoring our ability to control images, to build them in adequate connection with the background. One of the main working terms used in Gestalt psychotherapy is “awareness”, immediate awareness - a form of awareness that is both motor and sensory, integrating the totality of all field indicators.

The theoretical discoveries of Gestalt psychology were applied to the practice of psychotherapy by Fritz (Frederick Solomon) Perls (1893-1970). In the 40s of the XX century. Psychoanalyst Frederick Perls, famous among professionals of his time, began to think about creating his own system of psychotherapy. At that time, he was not satisfied with many of the provisions of contemporary psychoanalysis, in particular the predominantly intellectual nature of processing the patient’s problems, orientation towards the past, and the patient’s passive position in the process of psychoanalytic treatment. The result of his joint reflections with colleagues, which included his wife Laura Perls, Isidore Frome, Paul Goodman, was the book “Gestalt Therapy”, published in 1951. The first part of this book, which is a practical guide to self-exploration, was repeatedly published on in Russian called “Workshop on Gestalt Therapy”.

To explain human behavior, Perls and his colleagues used ideas from Gestalt psychology, such as the concept of figure-ground dynamics, ideas about integrity human body and that the organism and its environment represent a single field. Perls also used some philosophical ideas- ideas of phenomenology, philosophical direction, which arose at the beginning of the 20th century. and insisting on the need to explore things as they are presented in consciousness, and the ideas of existentialism about human freedom and responsibility, the existential meeting I - You.

Purpose Gestalt is not helping the client solve a specific problem with which he comes to the therapist. According to Gestalt, the existing cart is simply a symptom of the lifestyle that is the real problem. Gestalt therapy focuses on increasing a person's ability to maintain full contact and awareness of what is happening and thus help him gain the ability to make effective selection. What Gestalt means by "raising awareness" is not the achievement of insight. The point is to increase the client's ability to remain centered in the present moment and become aware of it. For this reason, Gestalt therapy is a type of “behavioral existentialism,” since its problem is to activate the client’s behavior to maintain full contact with himself and the situation.

Gestalt is an image created by a subject in contact with the environment, depending on his needs, desires or unfinished (at this moment) situations. The psychotherapist's task is to support a person's ability to form images, separate them from the background, allow them to unfold and come into contact, build and collapse. Construction - the destruction of gestalts - reflects the contact of the organism with the environment and has four phases, which in reality are not separated from each other.

1. Pre-contact is the background, the background, where the feeling of the body’s most urgent need at the moment begins to arise. Here a gestalt is formed “to make contact” with the environment.

2. Contacting. At this phase, a person carries out the function of choice - “yes” or “no” of entering the environment and makes a selection among the resources of the environment or rejects it.

3. Final contact. The environment fades into the background and appears new image- selected object. The subject establishes full contact with him. For example, in interpersonal relationships, the clearly identified “I” and “You” may be replaced by “We,” expressing love, hate, fear, horror, or any other contact situation.

4. Post-contact. In the full contact phase, the boundary line opens in such a way as to let in the object of experience, and now it closes on this lived experience and assimilation begins. No more than an image, nothing relevant remains in the field.

The sequence of construction - destruction of gestalts, or the cycle of contact, is a way of describing insight, considering it in dynamic manifestation. You can also describe it structurally, through the constituent private functions: “It” (a function manifested through sensations), “Personality” (reflects the idea of ​​oneself and records experience), “Ego” (makes identification and rejection and puts into action the first two functions) . The Ego function must be healthy, restored and cleared of what prevents it from working and be harmoniously connected with other functions in a single insight.

Psychotherapeutic direction, which is further development Myasishchev’s teachings on neuroses and their psychotherapy. According to its basic theoretical principles, person-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy can be classified as a psychodynamic direction in psychotherapy.

Personality-oriented psychotherapy includes: 1) the concept of personality as a system of relationships between an individual and the environment; 2) the biopsychosocial concept of neurotic disorders, within which neurosis is understood primarily as a psychogenic disease caused by a violation of relationships that are significant for the individual; 3) a system of person-oriented individual and group psychotherapy, the main goal of which is to achieve positive personal changes (correction of a disturbed system of relationships, inadequate cognitive, emotional and behavioral stereotypes), which leads to both an improvement in the patient’s subjective well-being and the elimination of symptoms, and to recovery full functioning of the individual.

Personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy includes as its tasks three planes of change (cognitive, emotional and behavioral). The psychotherapy process itself is based on the balanced use of cognitive, emotional and behavioral mechanisms.

Goals and objectives stem from ideas about the specifics of personality disorders, which, in turn, are determined by the personality concept. Therefore, within a specific direction, the goals and objectives of psychotherapy are formulated in general terms for both individual and group psychotherapy, but are solved using their own means.

Tasks personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, taking into account the three planes of expected changes, can be formulated in more detail as follows.

1. Cognitive sphere (cognitive aspect, intellectual awareness). The psychotherapy process should help the patient realize:

The relationship between psychogenic factors and the occurrence, development and maintenance of neurotic disorders;

What situations cause tension, anxiety, fear and other negative emotions that provoke the appearance, fixation and intensification of symptoms;

The connection between negative emotions and the appearance, fixation and intensification of symptoms;

Features of one’s behavior and emotional response in various situations, their repeatability, degree of adequacy and constructiveness;

How his behavior is perceived by others, how others react to certain characteristics of behavior and emotional response and how they evaluate them, what consequences such behavior has;

The existing discrepancy between one’s own self-image and others’ perception of oneself;

Own needs, aspirations, motives, relationships, attitudes, as well as the degree of their adequacy, realism and constructiveness;

Characteristic protective psychological mechanisms;

Internal psychological problems and conflicts;

Deeper causes of experiences, modes of behavior and emotional reactions starting from childhood, as well as the conditions and features of the formation of one’s system of relationships;

Your own role, the extent of your participation in the emergence, development and maintenance of conflict and traumatic situations, as well as how you could avoid their repetition in the future.

2. Emotional sphere. The psychotherapy process should help the patient:

Receive emotional support from a psychotherapist or group, experience positive emotions associated with acceptance, support and mutual assistance;

To experience, within the framework of the psychotherapeutic process, those feelings that he often experiences in real life, to reproduce those emotional situations that he had in real life and which he could not cope with;

Experience the inadequacy of some of your emotional reactions;

Learn to be sincere in your feelings towards yourself and other people;

Become more free to express your own positive and negative emotions;

Learn to more accurately understand and accept, as well as verbalize your own feelings;

Reveal your problems with the accompanying experiences (often previously hidden from yourself or distorted);

Modify the way you experience, react emotionally, perceive yourself and your relationships with others;

Make emotional adjustments to your relationships.

3. Behavioral sphere. The psychotherapy process should help the patient:

See your own inadequate behavioral stereotypes;

Acquire skills for more sincere, deep and free communication;

Overcome inappropriate forms of behavior that manifest themselves during psychotherapy, including those associated with the fear of subjectively difficult situations;

Develop forms of behavior associated with cooperation, responsibility and independence;

Develop and consolidate adequate forms of behavior and response based on achievements in the cognitive and emotional spheres.

Thus, tasks personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy focuses on three components of self-awareness - self-understanding, attitude towards oneself and self-regulation, and common goal can be defined as the formation of adequate self-awareness and expansion of its scope.

The mechanisms of the therapeutic action of person-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy lie in three main planes - cognitive, emotional and behavioral - and can be designated as confrontation, corrective emotional experience and learning .

Confrontation, According to most authors, it is the leading mechanism of the therapeutic effect of psychotherapy focused on personal changes. Confrontation, understood as the patient’s confrontation with himself, with his problems, conflicts, relationships and attitudes, with characteristic emotional and behavioral stereotypes, is carried out mainly due to feedback between the participants in the psychotherapeutic process. During individual In psychotherapy, the “instrument” of feedback is the psychotherapist, who not so much brings content to it, but rather reflects various aspects of the patient’s psychological reality, focusing on difficulties and contradictions. Feedback in a group psychotherapy is more multifaceted, as it is carried out between each member of the group and the group as a whole. Each participant, through feedback, receives a variety of information about himself: how he is perceived by others, what emotional reactions his behavior causes in others, how adequate his understanding of various interpersonal situations is, what are the goals and motives of his behavior, how much his current behavior contributes to or hinders the achievement of these goals and how realistic they are, what emotional and behavioral stereotypes are characteristic of him, what connection between his past experience and current behavior others see, etc. The patient sees himself as if in various mirrors, who are members of the psychotherapeutic group.

Corrective emotional experience(or corrective emotional experience) includes: experiencing and analyzing one’s emotional experience (past, including those related to the parental family, and current ones associated with the process of psychotherapy itself) and emotional support. Emotional support means for the patient to be accepted by the psychotherapist (or group), to be recognized human value and the significance, uniqueness of his inner world, readiness to understand it based on his relationships, attitudes and values. Emotional support has a stabilizing positive effect on self-esteem, increases the degree of self-esteem and produces a corrective emotional effect on such an important element of the relationship system as the attitude towards oneself, which is almost always inadequate in the structure of relationships of a neurotic person. Acceptance of a patient by a psychotherapist (or group) promotes the development of cooperation, facilitates the patient’s assimilation of psychotherapeutic norms, increases his activity and responsibility in the psychotherapeutic process, and creates conditions for self-disclosure. The emergence of various emotional situations during psychotherapy that the patient could not cope with in real life allows, under special psychotherapeutic conditions, to isolate these experiences, analyze them, relive them, rethink them and develop more adequate forms of emotional response.

Learning within the framework of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, it is carried out both directly and indirectly. Group psychotherapy is more conducive to the implementation of behavioral mechanisms compared to individual psychotherapy. The group acts as a model of the patient’s real behavior, in which he exhibits typical behavioral stereotypes, and creates conditions for the patient to explore his own interpersonal interaction, identifying constructive and non-constructive elements in it that bring satisfaction or cause negative experiences, and for developing skills of full communication. The patient begins to feel his ability to make changes that bring him satisfaction and are positively perceived by others. All this creates favorable preconditions for generalizing the achieved behavioral changes to other situations in real life.

In the system of person-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy individual and group its forms solve general psychotherapeutic problems (disclosure and processing of internal psychological conflict and correction of disturbed personal relationships that determined the emergence and subjective intractability of the conflict, as well as fixing it), using their specificity. At the same time, individual psychotherapy is more focused on the historical (genetic) plan of the patient’s personality, but also takes into account the real situation of interaction, and group psychotherapy is focused on interpersonal aspects, but also addresses the historical plan of the patient’s personality.

Conventionally, we can distinguish a certain sequence in the doctor's behavior in the process of individual personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy. At the first When meeting with a patient, he is minimally active, non-directive, and contributes to the sincere disclosure of the patient’s emotional experiences and the creation of trusting contact. Then, increasing his activity, he begins to clarify the “internal picture of the disease”, to verbalize the patient’s ideas about the disease, expectations from treatment and prospects for recovery. When correcting the patient’s concept of illness, the doctor discusses examination data with him, helps him understand that the causes of neurosis do not lie in organic changes, and grasp the connection between emotional factors and symptoms. During this period, the psychotherapist provides the patient with relevant information and acts primarily as an expert. After the patient understands the connection between symptoms and provoking pathogenic situations, the content of conversations changes significantly. Their subject is no longer the symptoms, but the psychological problems, experiences and relationships of the patient. The relationship with the patient deepens, the psychotherapist becomes an assistant in the patient’s intensive work on his inner world. At the final At the stage of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, the psychotherapist again increases his activity and even directiveness in testing and consolidating new ways of perception, emotional response and behavior by the patient.

In the conditions of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, the psychotherapist tries to expand the patient’s area of ​​awareness in order to help him understand the cause-and-effect relationships that gave rise to neurosis, verbalize vague experiences and clarify those relationships that the patient himself had not previously connected in his consciousness. It is important to “push” the patient into the connecting links between various aspects of his behavior and emotional characteristics, revealing the vulnerable points of his personality. It is useful in this process to draw the patient’s attention to possible analogies of his emotional relationships with the psychotherapist and with significant persons in his life.

Reconstruction of the patient’s disturbed relationships: 2 processes: correction of non-adaptive positions and development of new, more realistic ones, tested first in the therapeutic environment, and then in non-therapeutic situations in the patient’s real life. Changing relationships in the internal structure of a person is carried out primarily through two main psychological mechanisms - identification and internalization. Identification (identification) reflects a rather superficial and unstable level of change in the patient’s system of relationships and behavior. As a rule, it is the result of contact with a psychotherapist that satisfies certain needs of the patient (for example, recognition or care). Identification in some cases can be a transition to a deeper level of change, which is carried out using the mechanisms of internalization and interiorization. An important condition for this type of change is the atmosphere of positive acceptance of the patient by the psychotherapist, the intensity and depth of the process of awareness, and the constructive use of confrontation in the system of psychotherapeutic influences.