The ability to identify psychological problems is an indicator of a highly qualified manager. A prerequisite for the formation of this useful skill is the understanding that it is necessary to highlight two features of the decision-making process. First, decision making is not an irrational process. Logic, argumentation and realism - important elements this process. Careful analysis, development and evaluation of alternatives is also important for him. Second, managers should never assume that their decisions are completely rational. Personal factors and character are also elements of decision making. Knowing how behavioral factors influence the entire process and each of its individual stages helps to understand how administrative decisions are made. It is also important because there are several types of decisions that managers have to make, which we will look at in the next section. J. March proposed to group psychological problems of individual decision-making as follows.

• 1. Attention problems. A person cannot pay attention to many objects at the same time. Therefore, the psychological theory of decision making considers as the main thing how a limited resource - attention - is spent.
• 2. Memory problems. Individuals' ability to store information is limited: memory fails, records and files are lost, the sequence of events is erased or distorted. The ability to search for information in various databases is also limited. The knowledge accumulated by some members of an organization is often difficult to access by other members.
• 3. Problems of understanding. Decision makers have limited understanding abilities. They have difficulty using and summarizing information to establish cause-and-effect relationships between events, often draw incorrect conclusions from available information, or find themselves unable to integrate different pieces of information into a coherent interpretation.
• 4. Communication problems. People's ability to exchange information is also limited. Communication is difficult not only between different cultures, different generations, but also between professionals of different specialties. Different groups of people use different theoretical models (paradigms) to simplify the real world.

Finally, the same people make different decisions depending on whether they act alone or in a group. Such phenomena are called “phenomena of collective decisions” (O. A. Kulagin). The following phenomena of collective decisions are highlighted:

• groupthink;
• polarization effect;
• “social facilitation” effect;
• the phenomenon of “learned dissonance”;
• volume and composition effects;
• the effect of “asymmetry in the quality of decisions”;
• the phenomenon of idiosyncratic credit;
• phenomenon of false consciousness;
• virtual solver phenomenon;
• the phenomenon of conformity.

Groupthink causes unintentional suppression critical thinking due to the individual’s assimilation of group norms. In other words, the individual unknowingly sacrifices his ability to critically evaluate alternatives for fear of displeasing other group members. The more cohesive the group, the stronger the desire of each of its members to avoid splits, which makes one tend to believe that any proposal supported by the leader or the majority of the group members is correct.

In a close-knit group, the main danger lies not in the fact that each member hides his objections to the proposals of other members, but in the fact that he is inclined to believe in the correctness of such a proposal without carefully trying to weigh the pros and cons. The dominance of groupthink manifests itself not in the suppression of dissent, but in the voluntary abandonment of doubt in the name of group consensus.

Exploring the causes of groupthink, the English researcher I. Janis identified eight causes of groupthink:

• 1. The illusion of invulnerability Most or all members of the group share the illusion of their own invulnerability, which prevents them from objectively assessing even quite obvious dangers and turns them into “over-optimists”, prone to making very risky decisions. This illusion also makes them unable to notice obvious signs of danger.
• 2. False rationality. Victims of groupthink not only tend to ignore warnings of danger, but also collectively invent rationalizations to downplay the significance of warning signs, as well as other messages that, if taken seriously, would force the group to critically examine the assumptions used by the group in making decisions.
• 3. Group morality. Victims of groupthink have a blind belief in the ultimate justice of their group's goals, and this belief causes them to ignore the ethical or moral implications of their decisions. In practice, this manifests itself in the fact that such issues are not raised at all at group meetings.
• 4. Stereotypes. Victims of groupthink hold stereotypical views of the leaders of hostile groups. The latter are considered villains, honest attempts to negotiate with them to resolve differences are meaningless, or too weak or stupid to effectively counter any measures taken by the group to defeat them, no matter how risky those measures are.
• 5. Pressure. Victims of groupthink put direct pressure on any individual who questions any of the group's illusions or argues for a course of action alternative to that approved by the majority of the group. These characteristics are a consequence of the norm of seeking agreement, which is expected of loyal group members.
• 6. Self-censorship. Victims of groupthink avoid deviating from what might be called group consensus; they keep their doubts to themselves and even involuntarily downplay the significance of their doubts.
• 7. Unanimity. Victims of groupthink share the illusion of unanimous acceptance by the group of almost all arguments presented by group members in favor of the majority view. This symptom is partly a consequence of the symptom described above. The silence of one of the meeting participants (in reality holding back his objections) is misinterpreted as his complete agreement with what the other meeting participants are saying.

When a group of people who respect the opinions of their colleagues comes to an agreement on an issue, each member is inclined to believe that the group is right. Thus, in a group where there are no clearly expressed disagreements between members, consensus (often false) begins to be perceived as proof of the correctness of the decision made and replaces critical thinking about reality.

8. Gatekeepers. Victims of groupthink assume the role of gatekeepers, protecting their leaders and group colleagues from unpleasant information that might undermine the group's previously shared belief in efficiency and morality. decisions taken. If doubts arise about the correctness of the decisions made, group members say that the time for discussion has passed, the decision has been made and now the group’s duty is to provide the leader who has assumed the burden of responsibility with all possible support. I. Janis gives the following example of “gatekeeping”: at a large reception in honor of his wife’s birthday, US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was constantly receiving information about the plan to invade Cuba, took the then Secretary of Defense A. Schlesinger aside and asked why he objects to the invasion plan. After listening coldly to his answer, Kennedy said: “You may be right or wrong, but the President has already made his decision. Don’t try to change his mind. Now the time has come when we all must help him as best we can.”

When a decision-making group exhibits all or most of these symptoms, a careful analysis of its performance will reveal a number of common deficiencies. It is these shortcomings that lead to poor quality decisions being made for the following reasons:

first, from the outset the group avoids a general overview of all available alternatives and limits itself to discussing a small number (usually two) of alternative courses of action;

second, the group does not re-discuss the initially majority-endorsed course of action after risks and obstacles not previously discussed are identified;

third, group members devote little time to discussing the unobvious benefits of alternative courses of action or previously unnoticed cost reductions, due to the excessiveness of which alternative courses were rejected at the first stage of decision-making;

fourth, group members pay little attention to obtaining information from experts in their own organizations that could help more accurately assess potential costs and benefits;

fifthly, group members show interest in facts and opinions that can be interpreted as confirmation of the correctness of the chosen policy, and tend to ignore other facts and opinions.

Polarization effect. In the process of making collective decisions, when group members directly interact with each other, so-called risk polarization occurs. This phenomenon is that a decision made by a group turns out to be more or less risky depending on what the group's average attitude towards risk was before discussing the problem. If initially a group was more conservative than risk-averse, then as a result of a collective decision it becomes even more conservative and cautious. In this case, a “shift to caution” effect is observed. If the group was initially more risky than cautious, then after discussion its risk appetite increases, and the group makes an even riskier decision. In this case, the opposite phenomenon is observed - the “risk shift” effect. Thus, a polarization effect occurs: the group’s opinion after discussion “shifts” towards one of the poles - extreme risk or extreme caution.

Previously, it was believed that collective decisions were always less risky than individual ones. The discovery of the “risk shift” effect was quite unexpected for researchers, since this phenomenon contradicted the prevailing ideas that collective decisions, unlike individual ones, should be more accurate, balanced, rational and therefore less risky.

However, experiments have shown that in many cases the group demonstrates a greater propensity for risk than each of the participants individually. A.V. Karpov offered several explanations for this phenomenon:

Firstly, in conditions of collective problem solving, the so-called diffusion of responsibility takes place. The overall responsibility for the final result is distributed among the group members, and, as a result, for each of them it becomes less, which encourages them to make more risky decisions;

secondly, risk has a positive value in people's minds. Therefore, risky behavior is rated higher by others than cautious behavior, which is usually associated with indecisiveness. Since any person wants to be appreciated more highly, it is in a group that he begins to demonstrate risky behavior to a greater extent than when alone. As a result, the participants in the discussion begin to compete, as it were, “who is riskier,” which directly affects the overall risk of the collective decision.

Subsequently, the researchers clarified that the group makes a more risky decision if the group’s initial judgment was already biased towards risk. Otherwise, there is a “shift to caution.” On this basis, O. A. Kulagin comes to the conclusion that the most reasonable explanation for the polarization effect is information influence hypothesis. During the discussion, group members listen to the opinions of other participants, who, to confirm their position, can bring up new and sometimes unexpected arguments that their colleagues have not even thought of. If the group as a whole is conservative, then when discussing the problem, each of its participants receives new information that only reinforces his cautious position. Naturally, in this case the collective decision turns out to be even more cautious and conservative. On the other hand, if before the discussion the group was radical and optimistic, then during the discussion the group members once again become convinced that they are “right” by listening to the opinions of other participants. As a result, the collective decision turns out to be even more risky.

The effect of "social facilitation". The term "facilitation" is derived from the English verb facilitate - facilitate, help, promote. The fact is that the presence of other people or even one observer in a number of cases increases the activity of people and has a “facilitating” effect on the performance of individual actions and the making of individual decisions. In other words, it is easier to work and make decisions in a group than alone. However, it was later found that this was only half true. Experiments have shown that people's behavior in the presence of observers becomes more confident and accurate only when solving relatively simple and familiar problems. When it is necessary to solve a complex problem, the presence of other people “fetters” and interferes. Thus, the group makes it easier to solve simple ones correctly and makes it more difficult to solve correctly complex tasks.

However, further research has shown that social facilitation can lead to the opposite phenomenon - the so-called Ringelmann effect. It lies in the fact that in conditions of collective activity, the personal efforts and productivity of each group member decrease. Most likely, the main reason for “social laziness” is the division of responsibility for the final result between all members of the group. In addition, under these conditions, people do not so clearly feel and understand the connection between their individual efforts and the overall result of their activities, which leads to a decrease in their activity.

The phenomenon of "learned dissonance". This phenomenon occurs because many group members, even before the discussion or during the collective solution of a problem, understand the impossibility of influencing the final group decision. Therefore, they seem to foresee in advance that the final decision of the group will not take into account their individual preferences and, as a result, this decision will contradict their personal interests.

Such a psychological attitude is further consolidated in people’s minds (“learned”), which leads to a noticeable decrease in their creative activity in the process of making collective decisions.

Effects of volume and composition. In the process of making collective decisions, the volume effect is often observed, which consists in the fact that groups that are too large and too small in volume (number of participants) make less effective decisions than groups that have a certain optimal size. Research shows that this optimal volume varies, but usually ranges from four to eight people. Thus, the quality of collective decisions has nonlinear dependence on the number of persons involved in its preparation and adoption: with an increase in the size of the group, the quality of decisions increases, reaches a maximum value and then begins to decline.

The reason for this is that groups that are too small usually do not have enough information and the necessary diversity of opinions to make quality decisions. On the contrary, in groups that are too large, the negative effects of interpersonal interaction are very pronounced, such as risk polarization, social loafing, learned dissonance, and others, which reduce the quality of collective decisions.

At the same time, it has been established that the effectiveness of the decision-making process strongly depends not only on the number of participants, but also on the composition of the group. As is known, decision-making groups can be “even” or differ according to certain characteristics - age, gender, professional experience, education, cultural level, official position, etc. The totality of these differences is described as the “homogeneity-heterogeneity” of the group. In this regard, it often appears composition effect, which is that too homogeneous and too heterogeneous groups tend to accept less good decisions than groups that have some “optimal” degree of homogeneity. This is explained by the fact that in extremely heterogeneous groups it is very difficult to combine or at least coordinate the positions of the participants due to their strong differences.

On the other hand, in completely homogeneous groups the quality of decisions is negatively affected by the very similarity of positions, views, attitudes and personal qualities of their participants. Therefore, such groups lose the necessary diversity of ideas and opinions. In addition, it is the homogeneity of the group that creates the preconditions for the emergence of groupthink.

The effect of “asymmetry in the quality of decisions.” This phenomenon describes differences in the influence that a group can have on the quality of people's individual decisions depending on their status within that group. As O. L. Kulagin points out, the effect of “asymmetry in the quality of decisions” has a twofold manifestation:

firstly, the group has more opportunities to influence the quality of the individual decisions of its ordinary members than the quality of the decisions of the leader. Due to his status, the leader is less susceptible to the influence of the group and changes his decisions less often;

secondly, the group has fewer options to change a leader's bad decision, versus how the leader himself can persuade or force the group to make a different decision. This phenomenon clearly shows that the influence of a group on the individual decisions of individual subjects depends on their hierarchical status and position in the group, even if all participants in the discussion are formally considered to have “equal” rights.

The phenomenon of idiosyncratic credit. This phenomenon represents a kind of permission from the group to deviant behavior, i.e. behavior that deviates from generally accepted norms. At the same time, different group members may be allowed different deviations from group norms. The magnitude of such deviation usually depends on the status of group members and their past contribution to achieving group goals: the higher the individual’s position within the group, the greater freedom of behavior and expression he has.

The phenomenon intensifies in new or unique conditions, as well as in situations of innovation that require fresh and original solutions. Thus, it is obvious that the phenomenon of “idiosyncratic credit” manifests itself primarily in the activities of the manager (due to his special position and superior status in the group), as well as in non-standard situations that require decisions that go beyond established stereotypes. The amount of such a loan determines the “degree of freedom” of a group member. Therefore, the phenomenon of “idiosyncratic credit” itself should be considered not only as a psychological effect, but also as a real mechanism for making collective decisions.

The phenomenon of false consent. It consists in the fact that during the discussion, some members of the group may take a kind of position of agreement with the leader or with the majority. However, this is not explained by the fact that their views really coincide, but by completely different reasons: lack of competence, weakness of character, lack of personal views, reluctance to think and spend energy on solving the problem. By taking such a position, the subject is not included in the group discussion, but only actively emphasizes his agreement with other participants who, as a rule, have a higher status. Moreover, this agreement is not at all supported by any arguments. Moreover, it may not even coincide with the subject’s personal beliefs and preferences. At the same time, in the processes of making collective decisions, another behavioral attitude is clearly manifested - the desire to “stand out”, to emphasize one’s importance and special role in the group.

This setting usually leads to the opposite phenomenon - the phenomenon of demonstrative disagreement. In this case, individual group members formally behave “exactly the opposite”: they actively deny any opinions that do not coincide with their “point of view” and deliberately oppose themselves to the group. However, in essence, their behavior is also not based on any meaningful and noteworthy arguments and aims to attract the attention of more authoritative members of the group.

The "virtual solver" phenomenon. Here the “virtual solver” is a person who is not really in the group, but who, in the group’s opinion, “should appear and solve the problem” (A. V. Karpov). Usually this phenomenon is perceived and assessed negatively by people, since it leads to the fact that decision-making is delayed or postponed indefinitely. However, the phenomenon of the "virtual solver" has one positive feature: in the process of waiting for the “virtual solver,” the group involuntarily prolongs the preparation of making a decision and therefore, in some cases, increases its validity.

“Mirror” in relation to this phenomenon is the phenomenon of “expansion of the solution area.” It has two main features:

• the group has an illusory idea of ​​its high role in solving certain problems that are actually within its competence, i.e. that no one except this group will solve them;
• There is a tendency in the group to unreasonably expand its powers. This leads to the fact that the decisions of higher authorities are replaced by their own group decisions, and, thus, the scope of solved problems within the competence of this group spontaneously expands.

The phenomenon of conformity. This well-known social-psychological effect is often observed in collective decision-making processes and consists in the fact that many people make decisions and make judgments only based on the opinions of others, even if it contradicts their own. To study this effect, numerous experiments were conducted, which showed that people have a tendency to conform when they are opposed to even a small majority of the group. Thus, this phenomenon can be called differently the effect of agreement with the majority. It has several characteristic features:

firstly, as the majority increases, the tendency towards conformity in the rest of the group increases, but it does not grow above a certain level. In other words, the influence of the majority on the minority is not unlimited, but has some reasonable limits. Thus, in one of the experiments, with an increase in the number of dummies playing the role of the majority, the subjects agreed with their incorrect opinion in 33% of the answers, and the agreement of the minority did not rise above this level;

secondly, it was found that agreement with the majority increases with increasing group size, i.e. in large groups the majority has a stronger influence on the minority than in small groups;

thirdly, the majority has a significant influence on the minority only if it is unanimous in its assessments. If “dissenters” or “doubters” appear among the majority, then this influence sharply weakens. In particular, in one of the experiments, a participant was introduced into the majority who, unlike the rest, gave correct answers to Control questions. This led to a surprising effect: the number of cases when subjects agreed with the incorrect answers of the majority decreased by four times, i.e. conformity became four times less than before.

Subsequently, researchers went even further. They posed the question: How does the minority of a group influence the behavior of the majority? To answer this, experiments were conducted in which the subjects were in the majority, and dummies who deliberately gave incorrect answers constituted a clear minority of the group. It turned out that a minority is also capable of influencing the majority and forcing it to agree with itself. However, for this to happen one thing must be done important condition- the minority must take firm, consistent and agreed positions. Only in this case can it have an impact on the opinion of the majority. Thus, in the next experiment, the group consisted of four subjects and two “dummy” subjects. If the dummies unanimously gave incorrect answers, they found that on average 8% of the time the subjects agreed with them. If the minority began to hesitate, then the majority of the group agreed with it only 1% of the time. This phenomenon is called the effect of minority influence, must be taken into account in collective decision-making processes where a minority of the group hopes to change the balance of power and tilt the discussion in their favor.

Results and conclusions

Psychological factors such as mood, emotions, sympathies, desires actively influence the decision-making process. They operate at both the individual and group levels. Therefore, a distinction is made between personal and group psychological factors.

Personal factors are characterized by the peculiarities of individual perception of problems, the influence of stereotypes in assessing people and situations, and the halo phenomenon. Thus, rational thinking when making decisions always appears in the form of subjective rationalism.

Another psychological factor is defined as making “adequate” decisions, which are not the best, but satisfactory, corresponding to accepted criteria. The reasons for making adequate decisions are determined by the short time frame for making a decision, the desire to resolve this problem and move on to other issues, the reluctance to engage in detailed analysis, which requires more experience and high qualifications, as well as limited rationalism, i.e. incomplete, inconsistent rationalism, due to the limited capabilities of human intelligence in processing information.

Methods that facilitate decision making are called heuristics. The following types of heuristic approaches are distinguished: decomposition or decomposition of the problem, framing or viewing the problem from a certain angle, “simplification” of the problem.

To identify individual psychological decision-making problems, it is advisable to identify difficulties arising from limited concentration, memory, human ability to process information, problems of understanding and communication.

Collective decision-making is often limited by groupthink, a way of thinking in group decision-making in which the desire for consensus becomes so strong that it makes it impossible to realistically evaluate alternative courses of action.

People need to think about themselves. Think about your social life (study, profession, business, career...), about your health (after all, a sick body causes a lot of trouble, problems and pain), about your family (about close adults and children, even sometimes about your favorite animals who are considered family members), about their own appearance (an unkempt, ugly appearance is now in the modern world evidence of laziness and promiscuity, rather than a lack of natural beauty), about their own soul (an unkempt soul, full of problems, causes no less suffering to its owner than material poverty, lack of physical health and social cataclysms in the country...).

Thinking and attentive people, when they understand or feel that something is wrong or wrong in their lives, the first thing they want to do is understand themselves. This is very important, useful and interesting. Because thanks to this, you can change and improve a lot in your life. You can do this on your own, by reading a variety of literature, watching films, communicating with friends, traveling, hobbies and other things. Or you can try to understand yourself with competent assistance psychologist. The latter is more effective, faster and more interesting. After all, a psychologist knows much more about the soul and can help much more effectively than a simple layman.

There are many reasons why a person wants to understand himself. But there is, in our opinion, the most basic one, which includes almost everything - this... Recently, this concept has become widely known. It turns out that not everything in life changes for the better by solving material difficulties, health or career problems; there is an area of ​​problems that lie only inside a person’s soul and are almost independent of external factors.

What is a psychological problem and where does it come from?

If the causes of discomfort, failure, any addiction, dissatisfaction, etc. are mainly in the psyche (in the soul) of a person, and external circumstances life is only aggravated by internal reasons...

If this condition causes a person obvious or hidden suffering...

If a person manages with great difficulty to change himself and the situation around him, but even having changed something, he does not receive satisfaction and spiritual comfort...

Then we can safely say that the problem is primarily psychological, internal, and not external, social. And this is good because in this case a psychologist can help a person become satisfied with himself and his life. It is enough to put in the work, time and competence and the problem can very likely be solved.

Usually arises when a person has an unconscious internal fixation on some object or subject, as if connected (in the opinion of the person himself) with achieving the desired goal. And any person has only two types of desires - either to get something (to have, to be, to become, to realize, to possess, etc.), in other words, “the desire for...”, or to get rid of something (to run away, destroy, leave, push away, free yourself, etc.), in other words, “desire from...”. If this is not achieved in any way, a problem arises.

Schematically (with a humorous metaphor) this can be depicted as follows:

1. For example, a hedgehog really wants an apple. But there is an obstacle in front of him - a stump. The hedgehog would take it, go around the side of the stump and get the coveted apple. But for internal reasons he cannot bypass the stump. So the poor fellow stands in front of a stump, suffers and dreams of an apple... So does a person with a psychological problem. There is always some cherished goal or object or subject of desires. And there is a certain obstacle that subjectively prevents you from getting what you want. The nature of the obstacle is the psychological impossibility of overcoming or bypassing it.

2. Another version of the problem is expressed in the same subjective barrier that prevents you from avoiding or getting rid of something. A hedgehog in the forest was afraid of a monster - a dog. Out of fright, he rolled under a stump and couldn’t get out, go around the stump and run away. He sits under a stump, pokes out needles, is afraid and is at risk... So a person wants to avoid something, but there is an obstacle that seems insurmountable. And there is no way a person will overcome the internal barrier. Like a stupid prickly hedgehog, he sees an insurmountable obstacle in his path, and “hides himself” psychologically in a corner, and is inactive or his attempts do not lead to success. But an obstacle interferes and oppresses only for internal (psychological) reasons! The situation is heating up, and “needles” are used - the so-called psychological defenses.

3. Now imagine a hedgehog who smelled a delicious apple and really wants it, but at the same time he just can’t cope with the stump on his way... he can’t figure out and cope with the task of “how to get around the stump”? At the same time, the same hedgehog smelled a scary dog ​​near the apple, which he was mortally afraid of... And the hedgehog rushed away, but came across another stump, got stuck at its roots and couldn’t figure out that he could quickly run around the side of the stump and get away from the “danger”... The poor fellow sits between two stumps, snorting at the whole forest, beating the air with needles... not an apple... no salvation from a terrible dog... A complete problem!!!

That. We wanted to metaphorically and jokingly illustrate a very serious pattern - often the problem is dual in nature. Those. on the one hand, a person unconsciously strives for a cherished goal, but cannot achieve it for internal psychological reasons (complexes, unconstructive behavior, stress, lack of skills, etc.). On the other hand, for the same internal psychological reasons, he is afraid to achieve his cherished goal (someone or something threatens punishment for attempting a solution). Moreover, in many cases this mechanism occurs unconsciously or, at best, semi-consciously.

So it turns out that all the components psychological problem- subjective!

Subjective impossibility of overcoming an obstacle (well, a hedgehog can’t get around a stump, it’s beyond his hedgehog strength)

Ways to achieve a goal are destructive (sitting by a stump and dreaming of an apple or hiding under a stump and snorting at a dog, rather than achieving and not fighting or fleeing)

Deep connection (dependence) with past experience (memory, associations, “anchors”...)

Often there is actually no desire to constructively solve a problem, but there is a desire to “play” around the solution (there is always a “psychological benefit” from a problem, even from the most difficult one, it’s just that this benefit is not conscious)...

It’s beneficial for a hedgehog to be heroic, so he even got into the picture... When the dog leaves and takes away the apple, the hedgehog returns home, although sad and unhappy from what happened, but he tells his hedgehog family what a hero he was and everyone admires him. In any most terrible situation there is always a psychological benefit, even if it is the benefit of suffering. All these subjective components give rise to a strong uncontrollable attachment to the problem (this is how a hedgehog goes all his life to sniff an apple and snort at a scary dog) ... and then receive the admiration of his loved ones. And it looks like some kind of “hole” into which you fell and you sit in it... you sit... you sit... and you can’t get out.

We have given a metaphor for the structure of a psychological problem, but what might its content be?
The most common options:

Intrapersonal conflict is a conflict within the psychological world of the individual. This is a clash of opposing desires, interests, values, goals, ideals, individual parts of the personality. Conflict occurs in the form of difficult emotional experiences (explicit or hidden).

Psychological trauma– various mental damages after affective (very strong and destructive) experiences. The events that cause such destructive experiences can be very diverse: isolation, illness, death loved one, childbirth, divorce, stress, conflicts, military operations, danger to life, rape, etc.). These events, having a powerful impact on the psyche, disrupt perception, thinking, emotions, behavior, making a person inadequate.

Frustration is a mental state of experiencing failure that occurs in the presence of real or imaginary insurmountable obstacles on the way to a goal. Frustration is accompanied by feelings of anger, irritation, guilt, resentment, etc.

Neurotic reactions and conditions– fears, anxiety, restlessness, phobias, obsessive states, neurotic reactions, depressive reactions that arise as a reaction to a difficult life situation. In all these manifestations, the core experience may be psychotrauma, intrapersonal conflict, stress, maladjustment, frustration, etc.

Costs of education– learning certain habitual emotions in childhood; parental prohibitions on positive feelings (prohibition on self-love, suppressed anger, suppressed sadness, suppressed sexuality, etc.); parental orders for negative emotions (inferiority complex, feelings of rejection, destructive attitudes and stereotypes), etc.

Psychosomatic disorders- somatic (physiological and physical) disorders (diseases) caused by emotional reasons. Body and soul are very closely connected. If there is tension in the soul (even unconscious), then the body will definitely react to this with symptoms, syndromes, dysfunction, and illness.

Problems of the meaning of life (existence) and self-realization– experiences of the correctness or incorrectness of one’s life path, freedom of choice, the problem of self-determination and self-expression. The desire to find the meaning of one's existence. When aspiration is not realized, a person feels an existential vacuum.

Interpersonal conflicts- obvious and hidden conflicts with other people, causing costs for the psyche. Family conflicts (different value orientations, problems with children, sexual problems, feelings of misunderstanding and resentment, betrayal, threats of divorce) Conflicts at work ( conflict situations, emotional stress, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress, dissatisfaction, irritation, the feeling that this interferes with mutual understanding, work and career growth). Conflicts with friends (irritation, envy, competitive feelings, resentment). Conflicts with strangers (conflict situations on the street, in transport, indoors with strangers on their or your initiative).

Age and stage crises– in every age period a person experiences certain crises. This is completely normal. It’s not normal if a person is not ready for this.

Lack of skills or deformed skills– problems in communication, dating, self-confidence, interviews, self-presentation, etc.

Disharmonious self-concept– every person has several images of his “I” - the real me, the me in the eyes of other people, the ideal me, etc. (a whole hierarchy of self-structures). This is the essence of personality and this is the uniqueness of personality and its problems. Often, personal identity gives rise to psychological problems, because a person acts in accordance with what he thinks about himself, and this is not always objective.

In any case, all this leads to the fact that a person cannot achieve what he wants! Is it necessary to achieve this most desired thing? Does the hedgehog really need an apple in our metaphor? Maybe he will survive without an apple, eating mushrooms and frogs? And one could overcome oneself and convince oneself that it seems that one can survive without this desired... but... no! The soul will still strive for the goal not in this way, but in another way. There is only one life, and your soul wants to live well and happily. Therefore, it is unlikely that the hedgehog will want an apple (well, maybe he will pretend to be, nothing more), but he will begin to dream about it more strongly in the depths of his hedgehog soul. Because an apple is not an end in itself, an apple is a step towards happiness! And happiness is a lot, not only for a hedgehog, but also for a person.

Every person during his life experiences psychological problems in contact with the outside world, which are a reflection of his inner world, beliefs, and system of personal values. Such problems often begin in childhood and then worsen in adulthood.

Psychological problems - what are they?

The concept of a psychological problem is closely related to a person’s internal worldview. It is difficult to distinguish between them, since any problem that began in family relationships can affect the entire personality. They are related to human biological and social needs. Psychological problems are: obvious (problematic conditions and relationships), hidden and deep.

Problematic conditions include fears, addictions, depression, loss of will. Relationships are jealousy, loneliness, conflicts, attachments. Unlike obvious problems, hidden ones are not obvious to a person; he denies them and looks for the source of his failures in others. Hidden ones include:

1. Vengefulness, demonstrative behavior, struggle for power.
2. Tension in the body, underdevelopment and tightness.
3. Lack of knowledge, responsibility, habit of seeing the negative in everything, feeling sorry for yourself.
4. False beliefs, lifestyles - nocturnal, alcoholism, smoking.

The relationship between diseases and psychological problems

The expression “all diseases come from nerves” has scientific confirmation. And the role of the psyche in the occurrence of diseases, according to WHO, is 40%. When psychological balance is disturbed, the body launches a whole chain of processes leading to illness:

1. Stress and chronic nervous tension stimulate the release of hormones by the adrenal glands, which disrupt the functioning of the heart, stomach, and brain.
2. Prolonged negative emotions lead to vascular spasms, accumulation of toxins in the blood, and the development of autoimmune diseases. The psychological problem of allergies is intolerance, rejection of a situation, a person.

Causes of psychological problems

At the heart of psychological problems is the difficulty for a person to control his subconscious. The unconscious area is the part of the psyche in which all negative experiences, situations and defeats are stored. Problems of a psychological nature appear if a person does not use his active part - consciousness. For example, when bad mood we need to remember any positive event from our life, try to see the beauty of everything that surrounds us. In the same way, you can help another person by switching his attention to the positive.

Psychological problems of modern society

Social psychology, studying the psychological problems of people in the modern world, identifies crisis trends common to all. First of all, it is the loss of the meaning of life, the replacement of spiritual values ​​with momentary pleasures. The second common feature of economically developed countries is disunity and loss of ties with society. A society of singles is being formed. Communication does not require live communication; a person can easily live alone; he does not need to create groups to preserve his life. A consequence of the disruption of contacts between people is considered to be an increase in drug addiction and alcoholism.

Loneliness as a psychological problem

Loneliness becomes a problem not when a person is left alone with himself, but when he feels abandoned and unwanted. These psychological problems are perceived more acutely in adolescence and old age. In adolescents, this feeling develops due to lack of self-confidence, academic failures, and complexities. In older people, it is associated with the distance of children, difficulty communicating with friends, and the death of peers.

In adulthood, a person may feel lonely when he quits his job and loses contact with the team; this leads to a loss of meaning in life and is the cause of severe depression. Problematic psychological situations associated with loneliness make people pessimistic, less talkative, they look tired, and get angry at sociable and happy people. To get out of this state, psychological help is often required.

The problem of intelligence development

Intelligence as the ability to cognition, learning, logical thinking leads a person to understand the consequences of his actions and the ability to avoid conflicts. One of the characteristics of a person with developed intelligence is the intuitive solution of complex problems. In societies with totalitarian regimes, people can develop narrow goal-oriented thinking, when the entire sphere of interests is narrowed to everyday everyday goals. The problem of intelligence in the thinking of groups of people comes down to standard, stereotypical patterns of behavior.

Aggression as a socio-psychological problem

Aggression is a form of destructive human action in which he uses force to harm others, both psychologically and physically. Human aggression as a social and psychological problem has the following manifestations:

1. The tendency to be superior to others.
2. Using people for your own purposes.
3. Destructive intentions.
4. Causing harm to other people, animals, or things.
5. Violence and cruelty.

Factors that contribute to manifestations of aggression are identified: stress, the influence of media with types of violence, large crowds of people, alcohol, drugs, low income, addictions, envy. Such people are usually afraid of being unrecognized, are characterized by increased irritability, suspicion, they are unable to feel guilt, they are touchy and cannot adapt to new conditions.

Fear as a psychological problem

A person's fears are those emotions that he would never want to experience. Panic attacks with an inexplicable sudden feeling of fear occur more often in large cities and are accompanied by chills and loss of orientation:

1. Fear of speaking in front of an audience.
2. Fear of death.
3. Fear of fire or water.
4. Phobia of heights.
5. Fear of closed or open spaces.

The main cause of these conditions is not fear, but the fear of fear. A person begins to fear what in reality cannot happen to him. The social and psychological problems of such people are solved when they realize that all the reasons for fears are inside, there is always strength to overcome them, and life should be filled with joy, not fears.

Psychological problems of virtual communication

Virtual communication is becoming more popular than real communication. Psychological communication problems arise when communicating online in the event of the formation of addiction and the cessation of social contacts in reality. Communication via a computer changes a person’s psychology; he begins to express his thoughts differently. Using invisibility, he can attribute to himself non-existent qualities and virtues. This leads a person to isolation from the outside world and to the replacement of feelings and emotions with their surrogates.

Overeating as a psychological problem

Obesity is not only a cosmetic problem; sometimes its causes lie in the field of psychology. Psychological problems of obesity manifest themselves as fears of an aggressive environment. One of the reasons for gaining excess weight is an attempt to protect yourself from the outside world. Then, when gaining extra pounds, a person ceases to feel his body, real needs, and ceases to understand the people around him. Takes on a lot of responsibility and tries to live a life that is not his own. Excess weight makes people clumsy in their thoughts. They find it difficult to renounce their beliefs, and with the same difficulty they get rid of excess weight.

Psychological sexual problems

Both women and men experience psychological problems in sex. For women, the reasons for the inability to achieve orgasm and sexual coldness (frigidity) may be:

1. Fear of unwanted pregnancy.
2. Strict upbringing.
3. Sexual violence.
4. Negative first experience.
5. Mismatch of temperaments.
6. Conflicts in the family.
7. Disappointments in a partner.

Psychological problems with erection and premature ejaculation are experienced by men with the following experiences:

1. Stressful situations.
2. Psychological stress.
3. Indifference to your partner.
4. Fear of being unable to perform sexual intercourse.
5. Conflicts between partners.
6. Excitement before the start of sexual intercourse.
7. Inconsistency between sexual desires and habits of partners.

Psychological problems and ways to solve them

Problems associated with the psychological aspects of life for a person are a heavy burden that prevents a full existence. Unresolved difficulties and obstacles worsen health and relationships. The solution to psychological problems takes place in several stages. The same steps are needed for any type of task:

1. Setting goals.
2. Definition of conditions.
3. Planning the solution.
4. Implementation of the solution.
5. Checking the result.

But even a person with a high IQ and self-organization often does not know how to get rid of this kind of problem. This is due to the fact that, being a direct participant in the process and experiencing negative emotions, it is difficult to help yourself in such problems. Therefore, qualified psychological assistance will be useful.

A problem that is psychological in nature, that is, “internal” for a person, associated with his picture of the world, value sphere, conflicting needs, confused interpersonal relationships, etc.

Psychological problems are difficult to divide into subtypes, since any internal conflict, any internal confusion tends to expand: family problems very quickly become personal, personal problems become spiritual, etc. Since psychological problems are closely related to human needs, it is easier to classify them (problems) in relation to the concept of “need”.

1. Individual psychological problems. Problems associated with the biological essence of a person: problems in the sexual sphere, various kinds of uncontrollable fears and anxiety, psychological health disorders, dissatisfaction with one’s own appearance, physical characteristics, worries about lost youth, etc.

2. Subjective psychological problems. Problems associated with the subject’s performance of purposeful activities: lack of will, knowledge, skills, insufficient level of intelligence and other abilities, confusion about the goals of the activity, lack of energy, irrationality, etc. Very often, subjective psychological problems are disguised as other types of problems. Few people, for example, like to feel stupid; instead, the person begins to literally look for problems in interpersonal relationships, for example, he may decide that others are biased towards him or are plotting.

3. Personal psychological problems. Problems related to a person’s place in society: lack of status, inferiority complex, difficulties with image, problems in relationships with a sexual partner, with children and other family members (family problems), colleagues, friends and enemies, problems in a team, role problems and etc.

4. Individual problems. Problems associated with self-realization and achieving long-term goals: a feeling of emptiness of life, loss of meaning in usual activities, experiences of lack of time, existential fears, loss of self-esteem, experiencing insurmountable obstacles that stand in the way of achieving long-term goals, sudden crises (death of a loved one, loss of important property ), problems at work and in business, in hobbies, etc.

57. Conversation with an aggressive subscriber on TD.

Aggressive subscribers

Makhovikov distinguishes two areas of aggression: benign aggression, which occurs in a person in response to a threat to his life, well-being, etc.; and malignant aggression, which is a manifestation of destructiveness and cruelty towards others. When a telephone harasser calls a consultant, he needs relief and tries to violate the consultant's personal boundaries.

The consultant cannot protect his boundaries in his usual way, and the aggressor hears this very well, because the tone changes, the pause increases, etc. Such dialogues, as a rule, become unfinished. This leads to feelings of guilt, anxiety, confusion, frustration, a state of consultant frustration, and emotional burnout.

The destruction of an aggressive subscriber is caused exclusively by verbal aggression, which does not leave behind any visible traces, it is easy and accessible for the subscriber and extremely sensitive for the consultant. One of the constructive ways to solve this problem is to end the dialogue or establish some kind of framework, which already leads to a decrease in the consultant’s anxiety and with this you can move towards a constructive relationship. If the consultant realizes that he does not have the opportunity and strength to work with such a subscriber, if the subscriber’s life is not in danger, then it is advisable to end this dialogue and ask the client to call back another time.

A psychological problem is always associated with the impossibility of satisfying one or another strong desire (drive, need, motive) of a person. Otherwise, there can be no problem; any task exists only if there is motivation to solve it. But unlike economic, scientific, everyday problems, etc. the reason for the impossibility of achieving the desired and the desire itself are in the psyche of the individual himself, in his inner world. Therefore, economic, scientific and other problems can be solved by external means aimed at overcoming obstacles to the satisfaction of desire, but a psychological problem can only be solved by internal means, sometimes including the renunciation of the primary desire. It is desire that is the needle that “pierces the butterfly” and deprives it of subjectivity. “If a bride leaves for someone else, then it is not known who is lucky,” - this could only be sung (these are the words of a famous Finnish song) by someone who somehow took out the “needle” and got rid of the problem and suffering associated with it. “So don’t let anyone get you!” - the words of a person who could not solve the problem and not only experienced excruciating suffering, but also committed an insane and cruel act in the heat of passion.

The frustration model can be used as a basic example of a psychological problem. Frustration (from the Latin frustratio - deception, futile expectation) occurs when the satisfaction of a need, a strong desire, encounters an insurmountable obstacle. The state of frustration is accompanied by depression, apathy, irritability, despair and other forms of suffering. With frustration, activity becomes disorganized and its effectiveness is significantly reduced. In the case of very strong and prolonged frustrations, mental “illnesses” may begin.

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of four options for a frustrating situation, including a person, his desire, an obstacle and a goal. In all four cases, the circle denotes some object desired or rejected by the individual, the vertical rectangle represents an obstacle, and the arrow represents the individual’s desire. The main situation is considered when a person strives to achieve a practically unattainable goal, and situations when a person does not strive for something, but pushes something away from himself, or simultaneously strives for something and pushes it away, or strives for two incompatible goals.

The obstacle can be objectively insurmountable, for example, if the frustration is caused by the death of a loved one, or subjectively insurmountable, like the case when a monkey put its hand into a trap made of a hollowed out pumpkin, grabbed the bait and can no longer remove it from there because the fist is wider than the hole , but she doesn’t think of unclenching it. In this case, there can only be one solution - “unclench your fist,” although for most “naive” clients this is precisely what seems completely impossible and undesirable. Most people believe that it is necessary to somehow overcome the obstacle to achieving what they want; moreover, unfortunately, in most schools of therapy it is not realized that it is necessary and possible to work with the original desire.

Desire always appears subjectively in the form of one feeling or another. It is the feeling that binds a person to this or that object, and it is the feeling that is the expression of the energy that is directed by the individual to achieve or reject an object, or simultaneously to achieve and reject, or to simultaneously strive for two incompatible goals.

This state in all cases is a dead end and, when strong feelings are actualized, leads to various secondary effects: the construction of a system of psychological defenses, neurotic reactions, psychosomatic symptoms, the development of neurosis, etc.

Regardless of the objectivity or subjectivity of the obstacle, such as psychological suffering (depression, phobia, neurosis, etc.), we are always dealing with a person’s strong desire and an obstacle that is insurmountable for him. Therefore, in all cases, the solution to a psychological problem has one common feature: it is necessary to weaken (or completely eliminate) that strong desire that keeps a person in slavish dependence - “the monkey must unclench its paw.” Only in this case can new behavior options be found that bring success in a given situation.

The paradox of such a solution (everyone would like to satisfy a desire) is based on the nature of psychological problems.

As mentioned above, if economic, political, scientific problems are solved in an external (objective) way in relation to the individual, then psychological problems are solved only in an intrapersonal way, since the cause of the psychological problem is in the psyche of the person himself. This reason is rooted in a person’s psychological dependence on the object of his desire. There are billions of different objects in the world, but only a few make a person suffer, and only because he wants to achieve them.

Therefore, the task of psychotherapy is to help the client change, and not to help him change the outside world. Of course, in each specific case it is necessary to decide: what change will be the most adequate, most consistent with the ecology of human life, what emotional fixation should be eliminated. For example, if a person suffers because he cannot cope with a loss, then it is necessary to help him say, no matter how difficult it is, “goodbye” to his loss. If he suffers because he cannot achieve happiness due to the conviction of his imaginary inferiority (in this case it plays the role of an obstacle), then he should be relieved of the feeling of inferiority. For example, fear may be an obstacle, preventing a young man from communicating with a girl or successfully passing an exam. In this case, of course, it is not love for a girl or the desire to study that needs to be eliminated, but fear, which keeps a person in psychological slavery. A subjective barrier is usually also the result of inadequate emotional fixation. Therefore, the goal, of course, is not a general and complete deliverance from desires, but deliverance from suffering.

As a result of correctly carried out work, a person always has a feeling of liberation and return to open world new opportunities, his ability to satisfy his reasonable needs only increases.

We repeat: the essence psychological work in all cases, it is to save the individual from the dependence on an object or an inadequate barrier that causes him suffering. In different schools and traditions of psychotherapy, this goal is achieved by different means. But in all cases, a person must become freer than he was, become more the subject of his life.

Let us emphasize that it is not always necessary to eliminate precisely the original desire; in many cases it is necessary to help the individual overcome an obstacle that may be completely illusory. But even in this case, the main task is for him to be able to let go of the barrier to which he is emotionally attached, so to speak, “unclench his paw.”

Example.
I had to work for a very long time with one girl who was depressed because she believed that her personal happiness was impossible because her body was very ugly (which was not true). A subjective barrier to intimacy was created in childhood, when her father rejected her attempts to touch him and expressed negative opinions about her physique. In order to get rid of depression, she needed to give up on such a fatherly attitude, which was difficult to do because she loved him. However, we managed to achieve this, the depression passed, and she met her boyfriend...

In addition to frustration, one can highlight the following options the emergence of problems: stress, conflict and crisis1, but they can be reduced to the primary model. It’s just that in case of frustration the problem is caused by a contradiction between what is desired and what is available, in case of stress - a strong non-specific influence, in case of conflict - a contradiction (interpersonal or intrapersonal), in case of a crisis - a sharp change in life circumstances. All these cases have much in common and one way or another lead to one of the four problem models given above.

However, very often, instead of freeing oneself from addiction and solving the problem, a person, being in one of these situations, demonstrates some type of unconstructive behavior.

Eight types of such behavior can be listed, although there are many more.

1. The first and most common reaction to frustration is aggression. Aggression can be directed at an obstacle, at a target, at oneself, but very often at strangers or objects. Aggression, with rare exceptions, is not constructive in the sense of solving a problem; more often it aggravates the situation.

2. Another option is repression (or suppression), which is expressed in suppressing one’s desires, displacing them into the subconscious, which, naturally, does not lead to liberation from addiction. On the contrary, as Freud noted, repressed desires become even stronger and, in addition, elude conscious control. There is nothing positive in repression in a therapeutic sense, but socially It is hardly possible to develop such a society and a person when there is no need to suppress or at least restrain some of his impulses (aggressive, sexual, etc.).

3. Escapism (or avoidance) is a reaction to avoid a traumatic situation, and sometimes other situations that cause associations with the main problem. This type of behavior, of course, “saves nerves,” but, naturally, does not help to find a solution, gain true independence and freedom, and sometimes creates additional difficulties. For example, a boy or girl, having experienced failure in love, sometimes begins to avoid such relationships, which leads to the development of a set of other emotional problems.

4. Regression is the use of behavior characteristic of earlier stages of development, its primitivization. For example, in a stressful situation, people often assume a uterine position, pulling their knees up to their chin and wrapping their arms around them. Thus, they seem to return to that stage of development where they felt completely protected and calm. This helps to reduce the impact of stress, but does not solve the problem itself; moreover, this behavior often allows a person to relieve himself of responsibility for solving his own problems thanks to the habitual position of “small”.

5. Rationalization is an attempt to explain, somehow justify one’s behavior in some far-fetched way, while the true motives are not realized. Rationalization also allows you to remove responsibility from yourself, transfer it to circumstances, other people, etc. People always try to explain and justify their behavior, but rarely does anyone try to change it. A genuine understanding of true motives always brings relief and leads to positive changes in behavior, while rationalization always leads to maintaining the previous situation and serves to hide from oneself the true reasons for one’s actions.

6. Sublimation - switching a person’s activity from the primary problem, where he failed, to an activity of another kind, where success is achieved, even imaginary. For example, a problem that cannot be solved in reality can be solved in fantasies and dreams: a person “looks not where he lost, but where there is light.” Sometimes sublimation serves as a powerful source of creativity, but more often it leads to a fruitless waste of energy and leads away from genuine personal growth.

7. Projection is the transfer of one’s own unconscious motives of behavior onto another person, so an aggressive person tends to accuse other people of being aggressive towards him - what is called in everyday life “judges people by oneself.” It is clear that projection leads away from solving problems.

8. Autism is the self-isolation of the individual, his isolation from communication and active activity. It is very difficult to remove it from this state, since the person does not make contact, especially if the contact affects a sore area. This is, in essence, a refusal to see at all how things are, to do something, etc.

So, the eight methods of behavior listed above, which allow one to “change the situation without changing anything,” do not lead to solving the problem and gaining subjectivity; they retain the main attachment, which gives rise to suffering and pathological behavior.

It is the irresistible force of attachment to a goal (or stimulus) that makes a person a “de facto” object in relation to a certain situation, that is, determined, not understanding himself, not changing, not creative, having no perspective and monofunctional.

On the contrary, its weakening allows a person’s subjectivity to manifest itself, i.e. its activity, self-understanding (awareness), the ability to change, creativity and self-improvement, the creation of one’s perspective and multidimensionality.

Therefore, all methods that make it possible to weaken a person’s slavish, pathological dependence on some object, thought, image or state are psychotherapeutic in their action and meaning. All methods that increase addiction or replace one addiction with another, stronger one, should be recognized as harmful and anti-therapeutic. For example, such a common practice of “sewing” a pill into an alcoholic, which can lead to death when drinking alcohol, is not essentially a treatment, since it does not relieve a person of addiction, but creates an additional addiction - the fear of death. This is all the more anti-therapeutic since (as new data show) alcoholism, as a rule, is caused by the individual’s hidden suicidal intent, i.e. the embedded tablet gives him a chance to easily carry out his intention, which often happens. However, the level of development of our medicine, as well as the level of intellectual and moral development Most alcoholics in our country make the use of such methods inevitable.

The same can be said about coding, when a person is “sewn into the brain” with a hypnotic formula that acts in the same way as the medicine described above.

Example.
In America, a woman whose weight was 457 kg died. Once she managed to lose 200 kg of weight, but then she could not stand it and again began to constantly chew her favorite pork sandwiches. Before her death, she admitted that constantly chewing sandwiches saved her from memories of how brutally she was raped in her youth.

Now let's say that this woman took a coding course and was taught an aversion to fatty, high-calorie foods. What should she do now?! Mental suffering is not healed, it must be forgotten. It is clear that the solution can be suicide, drugs, alcohol... Genuine therapy should free a person from this long-standing pain, and then she (or he) will not need to destroy herself either by overeating, or alcohol, or in any other way.

The main methods adopted in modern psychotherapy are always aimed at liberating one or another quality of subjectivity. Therefore, they use certain methods of awakening initiative, the ability to make decisions and implement them; techniques for expanding awareness problematic situation and above all our own own desires, changes in the usual way of behavior and thinking; techniques that stimulate creativity and self-development; techniques for creating meaning in life; techniques for working with the holistic gestalt of human life; methods for developing authenticity, subjectivity as such.

The problem may be different levels complexity, which depends primarily on the intensity of those internal energy flows (emotions) that “break” against internal barriers, as well as different types - depending on specific unrealized aspirations and specific methods of painful adaptation to this situation.

In psychiatry, there is a detailed classification of various mental disorders (see, for example), and the psychotherapist should be familiar with it to a certain extent. However, this classification does not consider mental disorders as manifestations of one or another psychological problem and separates ordinary psychological difficulties from “diseases” with an impenetrable wall. The purpose of this diagram is to offer a kind of "periodic table" of psychological problems, including so-called diseases.

Here we will propose a fairly conditional model that allows us to combine all psychological problems into one general scheme in terms of their depth and complexity. I would like to apologize in advance to the experts for such a simplified model, but it is necessary in order to highlight a certain general trend. All problems are located in this model at different levels of complexity in terms of the difficulty of solving them and in terms of the depth of their rootedness in the individual. At each level there are different types of psychological problems, for example, at the level of neuroses there are the most different types neuroses (see Fig. 2), but their level of complexity is approximately the same, since with neuroses one or another sphere of interaction with the world is disrupted, but the structure of the personality is not distorted, as in psychopathy, and the adequacy of the perception of reality is not impaired, as in psychosis.

The first level can be called the supernorm level.

This is the level that, according to A. Maslow (see chapter “Humanistic psychotherapy”), self-actualizing individuals reach; as he believed, they are no more than 1% of the total number of people, but they are the leading force of humanity. “Ordinary” people can also reach this level, but quickly return to their previous state. At this level, a person often experiences inspiration, insight, and happiness. A person’s consciousness at this level is especially clear; creative ideas constantly come to him. These people act flexibly, spontaneously, sincerely and effectively. Most people who lived at this level proved themselves to be genuine geniuses in one field or another, although at times they could lower their level and not perform at their best.

Such people do not have neuroses, and they endure psychological trauma very easily. They are characterized by lightness, lack of stereotyping, emotional and physical tension. One could say that there are no problems at this level, but of course this is not the case. For the most part, these are problems of creative realization in the world, because it is very difficult, or problems of comprehending the spiritual side of life. In order to understand the problems of these people, you need to be at this level yourself at least occasionally.

The second level is the normal level.

This is the level at which everything is also going very well. The so-called normal person is well adapted to the social environment, copes quite successfully with work and family responsibilities, as well as with difficulties and troubles. His consciousness is clear, his emotional state is mostly comfortable, although the level of happiness and inspiration that a person usually experiences at the supernormal level is rarely achievable here (in fact, at these moments he goes to highest level). Reacts quite flexibly to changing situations, is not tense, but not constant feeling lightness, flight, inspiration.

The types of problems that a “normal” person faces are also quite normal: difficulties in adapting to changed situations, difficulties in learning, in performing complex work, difficulties in developing creativity, developing abilities, etc.

A few words about the concept of norm. Although defining a norm in science is still a very problematic task, two main approaches to this definition can be distinguished. The first is that all those properties of an individual that are on average inherent in a given population or group are recognized as the norm.

An individual whose characteristic deviates too much from the average will be considered abnormal.

The second approach is intuitively used by psychiatry and ordinary people at home. The norm is everything that is not non-norm. That is, if everyone is convinced that two plus two is four, then a person who claims that two plus two is five will be considered abnormal or not entirely normal.

If a person behaves strangely, inexplicably, from the point of view of the majority, shows inappropriate emotions and beliefs, and cannot cope with difficulties that almost everyone copes with, a suspicion arises that he deviates from the norm. Everything else is recognized as the norm and is considered the properties and abilities of the vast majority. Therefore, everything that does not correspond to the obvious, to what almost everyone agrees, to the universal is considered abnormal.

The last definition is the most commonly used, i.e. operational, and we mainly use it. However, one must understand that it sometimes forces one to recognize as abnormal a person of genius who challenges the evidence, but is distinguished by wisdom, insight, and logic; his conclusions are confirmed by practice.

The third level is the level of behavioral maladjustment.

At this level, which can also be called the level of neurotic reactions, a person is not quite well adapted to certain areas of life. At times he fails to cope with fairly simple life situations, reacts inadequately to difficulties, has communication problems. His consciousness is less clear and more narrowed (especially in the sense of self-awareness) than at the previous level, the logic of his reasoning is sometimes violated, he often experiences negative emotions and tension.

The problems he usually faces are difficulties in relationships with other people, at work and in school, insecure behavior, inappropriate emotional reactions, etc. “Normal” people can go to this level at times; as they say, anyone can “freak out,” but it passes quickly. People who live at this level constantly show such breakdowns very often.

The fourth level is the level of emotional disturbances.

At this level, the individual experiences temporary but very serious neurotic states: depressive states, outbursts of anger, despair, feelings of guilt, sadness, etc. All the signs discussed above intensify during such states: consciousness becomes even less clear and more narrowed, flexibility of thinking is lost, internal and bodily tension increases, etc.

Types of problems characteristic of this level are the loss of a loved one, disappointment in love, inability to realize important goals, difficult relationships in the family, loss of meaning in life, consequences of (not too severe) stress, fear, etc.

The fifth level is the level of neurosis.

This level traditionally refers to the level of diseases, but when psychological approach we always find an unresolved psychological problem at the heart of this disease. However, modern medicine also considers neuroses to be psychogenic and also reversible diseases.

At this level, neurotic states and reactions become permanent (or they return periodically). These include the following types of problems: obsessive fears (phobias), obsessional neurosis (obsessive-compulsive neurosis), hypochondria, hysteria, anxiety neurosis, anorexia, bulimia, etc.

At the same level of complexity we can place psychosomatic diseases, which usually include asthma, hypertension, stomach ulcers, allergies, headaches and many others. Also, problems such as alcoholism and tobacco smoking should be placed at this level of complexity. This also includes the phenomenon of post-traumatic stress.

In all these cases, the “diseases” are based on deep psychological problems, usually associated with the characteristics of child development individual (with the exception of post-traumatic stress). This can be a castration complex (according to Z. Freud), an inferiority complex (according to A. Adler), a non-adaptive life scenario (according to E. Bern) and other psychological factors.

The sixth level is the level of psychopathy.
This includes various painful distortions of an individual’s character, i.e. here the personality itself is distorted. There are schizoid, hysterical, epileptoid, hyperthymic and other types of psychopathy.

This level also includes sexual perversions and manic types of behavior. There are, for example, pathological liars, gamblers, etc. Drug addiction can also be roughly placed at this level of complexity.

The consciousness of such individuals is not so much clouded or narrowed as distorted. Their inner world is dominated by negative emotions: anger, fear, hatred, despair... Sometimes this is not outwardly noticeable, but in a critical situation these emotions erupt in a pathological form. Constant tension manifests itself in a specific muscle shell (see chapter “Body Therapy”).

Problems at this level are treated by medicine as pathologies. nervous system, and to the peculiarities of upbringing in childhood. Psychologists, of course, here too find primarily psychological reasons, usually rooted in very early childhood or even in the prenatal period.

What characterizes drug addicts is that they escape from their suffering with the help of a drug, artificially (as passive objects) falling into a “supernormal” state, but as soon as the drug wears off, they are thrown back into their previous existence, which now seems even more terrible to them.

The seventh level is the level of psychosis.

These include: acute psychotic illness, schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis and other psychoses. Epilepsy, which is not formally related to psychosis, as well as multiple personality disorder, should be included at the same level.

Psychoses are characterized primarily by a distorted perception of reality, hence delusions and hallucinations. The individual largely ceases to control his behavior with the help of consciousness and is not aware of his actions. Tensions rise incredibly; Even in domestic psychiatric textbooks, hypertension (supertension) of muscles in schizophrenics is noted. Negative feelings of incredible strength (hatred, fear, despair, etc.) are suppressed by a huge effort of will, which on the surface can look like emotional dullness.

Problems at this level are defined by medicine exclusively as diseases of the brain. However, there is a number of evidence of thoughts, emotions and feelings, since they are the system-forming factor of psychological problems, since they correspond to the unrealized aspirations of the individual (see diagram of the structure of psychological problems). The hypothesis is that all levels of problems differ from each other primarily in the degree of fixation of the individual on one or another unrealizable goal. It is this fixation that gives rise to loss of freedom and autonomy, narrowing of consciousness, loss of flexibility of thinking, negative emotions, often directed at oneself, muscle strain, etc., i.e. an increasing loss of subjectivity and the acquisition of the qualities of a “suffering object”.

It should be clarified that a “sick” individual cannot suddenly move from one level of problems to another and from one type of problem to another. The structure of the problem determines one or another level and type of “illness”, and in each specific case, during psychological analysis, this structure can be revealed, then the psychological impact of the therapist will be adequate and healing. In any case, there is actually no impassable gap between “just problems” and “illnesses”. “Diseases” are just problems that have reached a certain stage of development; depending on this stage, consciousness and self-awareness, thinking, behavior, emotional sphere, ability to relax, personal autonomy and other psychological qualities of the individual suffer to a certain extent.