Psychologist. What does this specialist do, what diseases does he diagnose and how does he treat them? Why psychologists are wounded people and how to choose a psychologist

It would seem that now everyone knows who a psychologist is and what he is needed for. For many, this is even an indicator of a certain status; it’s even cool to have a personal psychologist.

But nevertheless, in our society there are a number of stereotypes and barriers that do not allow a person to seek qualified help. Until now, psychologists are confused with social workers, healers, psychiatrists, etc. So who is a psychologist and what is he needed for?

Nowadays, psychologists are increasingly in demand in business training. People who were sent by their managers come to trainings in order to increase their efficiency in their work. And in each such case, a person is an instrument to achieve some goal. Does he come on his own, or does someone else direct him... Those who are skilled (training in techniques and methods of influencing others) very often reveal individual psychological difficulties. For example, we learn to ask questions, it would seem, what is there to learn? And someone suddenly discovers that he is embarrassed when everyone is looking at him and waiting for his question, but he cannot “squeeze” it out of himself - he goes into a stupor. And here is the individual psychological difficulty - how to deal with embarrassment, because, in fact, I know how to ask questions, I can write it on a piece of paper, I can suggest it to a colleague left and right, but as soon as people’s attention is on me - I I pass out.

And most often, the sources of such “difficulties” are unresolved human problems.

In fact, we constantly encounter various kinds of problems, and even if for some they seem ridiculous and made up, for us, at this moment it is a real, insoluble problem. At the same time, not every time we run for help. Moreover, problems often have a beneficial effect: they teach us independence, resistance to stress, and contribute to both mental and spiritual development. But when we encounter a situation for the first time or in an inappropriate state for this (we are neither physically nor morally able to survive it), then it becomes critical. This means that there is a risk of getting stuck in this situation. At this moment, at this time, we are simply unable to think and look for a way out of the situation. And this state of failure, confusion and powerlessness begins to haunt us in similar situations.

Any living person needs someone nearby so that he can help him survive what is happening, so that he can support and, if necessary, explain what is happening. When we tell someone about our feelings and experiences, we give them a part of them. In psychology, this process is called “containing feelings.” The psychologist is the one who temporarily acts as such a container. A psychologist never evaluates a person’s actions, his personality, or his feelings. For him, each person is a unique, valuable person who is simply confused in this period of time and needs support.

A psychologist does not act as a teacher, adviser, expert or friend, he simply walks next to you, sharing the heavy burden of feelings, allowing you to be the way you want to be at this moment.

A psychotherapist is a specialist who treats borderline states and mental disorders of mild to moderate severity.

A psychiatrist or psychologist who has completed additional training and mastered one of the areas of psychotherapy receives the qualification of a psychotherapist.

Who is a psychotherapist

A psychotherapist, depending on basic education, can be:

A psychiatrist. Due to his higher medical education and specialization in psychiatry, this specialist has the right to treat patients with any mental disorders, diagnose the patient and prescribe medications. This physician has clinical experience and must be licensed to practice as a psychotherapist.
A doctor of any other specialty (has a higher medical education and primary specialization in any field of medicine). Such specialists make up about 10% of all psychotherapists with a medical education, have the right to use medications in treatment, and are required to have clinical experience and a license. Psychotherapists use psychotherapeutic methods in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases (arising from the interaction of physical and mental factors, including bronchial asthma, ulcers, etc.), but they do not have the right to treat mental illnesses.
Clinical (medical) psychologist. Thanks to higher medical and psychological education, this specialist has the right to treat certain psychosomatic and mental illnesses (in contact with a psychiatrist), but does not have the right to prescribe medication. Both clinical practice and licensure are required.
A psychologist who graduated from a university with a degree in psychology. Since psychology belongs to the humanities (not medical), a psychologist-psychotherapist does not have the right to diagnose a client, treat mental illnesses and work with medical problems, use medications in treatment and carry out medical manipulations. There is clinical practice, but a license for psychotherapeutic activities is not required for these specialists.
A psychologist who has received a certificate through courses, seminars or trainings. They do not have serious multi-level training, clinical practice and license; they cannot treat mental and psychosomatic diseases, as well as use medicinal methods of treatment.
A person with a higher education in the humanities (or in the field of natural science) who has received a certificate as a psychotherapist through courses, seminars or trainings. There is no serious multi-level training, there is no clinical practice or license, they do not have the right or skills to treat mental and psychosomatic diseases, or prescribe medications.

The main difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist is that a psychiatrist has a medical education, while a psychologist has a higher education in the humanities. Medical education (specialization psychiatry) gives the opportunity and the right to treat a variety of mental illnesses and use drug therapy, and the education of a psychologist allows you to provide psychological counseling to mentally healthy people, engage in professional personnel selection, etc.

Psychotherapists and clinical psychologists see patients primarily in medical institutions, and psychotherapists conduct private practice, including online consultations.

A psychotherapist can be a more specialized specialist - a narcologist (consults and treats drug-addicted patients) or a sexologist (researches and treats sexual phobias, pathological sexual desire, deviations in sexual behavior).

What does a psychotherapist treat?

A psychotherapist with a basic education in psychiatry treats:

Brief psychotic disorders, in which patients experience sudden, brief periods of psychotic behavior (abnormal mental behavior that is not critically assessed by the individual). Occurs in response to severe stress (death of loved ones, threat of violent death, etc.).
Substance-induced psychotic disorder. It occurs when taking or withdrawing from alcohol, cocaine and other drugs, and manifests itself in the appearance of hallucinations and confused speech.
Health-related psychotic disorders. The appearance of hallucinations, delusions and other mental disorders may be associated with traumatic brain injury or a brain tumor.
Delusional disorder (mania) is a mental disease characterized by the presence of dominant, systematized delusions. Delusional ideas are based on possible real situations (persecution, jealousy of an opponent, etc.), are devoid of whimsicality and persistent hallucinations, and persist for 3 months or more.
A diffuse psychotic disorder that develops in a person while in a relationship with a person suffering from delusional disorder.
Schizophrenia, which is a polymorphic mental disorder. This disease is characterized by fundamental disorders of thinking and perception, inadequate or reduced affect. These disorders can manifest themselves in the form of auditory hallucinations, paranoid or fantastic delusions, disorganization of speech and thinking, social dysfunction and impaired performance are observed.
Schizoemotional disorder, which is characterized by a combination of symptoms of schizophrenia with symptoms of depression or bipolar disorder.
Schizophrenic form of disorder - manifested by symptoms of schizophrenia that are observed for more than a month, but not more than six months.
Manic-depressive psychosis (bipolar affective disorder), which is characterized by manic and depressive states, or a rapid change or combination of symptoms of depression and mania.
Depression. It is a mental disorder in which there is a “depressive triad”: decreased mood, loss of the ability to rejoice and impaired thinking. A pessimistic mood is accompanied by motor retardation.

A psychotherapist with medical training may also treat:

Epilepsy. This neurological disorder requires contacting a psychotherapist if the patient has various disturbances of consciousness and mood.
Conditions after stroke, poisoning, traumatic brain injury. The influence of negative influences on the brain, combined with the psychological crisis that patients experience, can lead to various changes in the psyche.
Neuroses. They are a group of reversible psychogenic functional disorders that tend to be protracted. Patients with neurosis may experience asthenic, obsessive or hysterical manifestations, a temporary decrease in mental and physical performance.
Anxiety is a mental disorder in which there is general, persistent anxiety that is not associated with a specific situation or object. It manifests itself in the form of a variety of forebodings and may be accompanied by constant nervousness, trembling, muscle tension, sweating, dizziness and palpitations. Often occurs during chronic stress, can have a wave-like course and become chronic.
Panic disorder (episodic paroxysmal anxiety) is a mental disorder that is accompanied by a sudden attack of panic attacks (unexplained attacks of anxiety and fear combined with somatic manifestations).
A variety of phobias, which are a strong, persistent and obsessive fear that regularly manifests itself in a certain situation and cannot be explained rationally.
Neurasthenia is a mental disorder that belongs to the group of neuroses and is manifested by increased irritability, fatigue, and loss of the ability for prolonged stress (mental and physical). It usually develops with a combination of mental trauma, physiological deprivation (lack of rest, etc.) and excessively strenuous work.
Psychosomatic diseases are painful conditions that include conversion symptoms (symptoms of an objectively absent disease are observed), functional syndromes (functional disorders of organs and systems in the absence of pathology in them) and psychosomatosis (diseases that develop as a result of conflict experiences and the primary bodily reaction to these experiences ).

In addition, the psychotherapist also provides assistance to people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction.

A psychotherapist with a psychological education conducts psychological testing and counsels clients who do not suffer from mental and psychosomatic illnesses.

Child psychotherapist

A child psychotherapist is a doctor who diagnoses, treats and prevents mental disorders and psychosomatic diseases in children and adolescents.

The scope of activities of a child psychotherapist includes treatment of:

psychopathy;
depression;
neurosis;
phobias;
autism;
bulimia;
apathy;
anorexia nervosa;
various addictions (addiction to gambling, Internet, etc.);
mental retardation;
suicidal syndrome.

A child psychotherapist also treats negativism, provocative behavior and learning disorders.

During the treatment process, the psychotherapist analyzes the child’s environment, as well as the influence of society and heredity.

You should contact a child psychotherapist if your child:

inappropriate, aggressive or antisocial behavior is observed;
for a long time there is a feeling of guilt, fear, increased anxiety or indifference;
low self-esteem;
tics, enuresis, stuttering, stereotypical movement disorders are present;
there is overstrain as a result of exposure to stress factors.

In what cases should you contact a psychotherapist?

Consultation with a psychotherapist is necessary for people who:

A serious stressful situation has arisen or there is a mental trauma that is difficult to overcome on your own;
in the absence of an objective reason, a depressed state, nervousness or irritability is observed;
there are mood swings, in which an unreasonably excited state is unreasonably replaced by apathy and indifference;
chronic fatigue is observed;
there is no (lost) interest in important moments in professional and personal life (emotional “burnout”);
against the background of external well-being there is constant anxiety, obsessive thoughts, rituals, fears and fantasies;
there is an irrational, uncontrollable fear of any object or phenomenon (phobia);
addictions of various kinds are observed (alcohol, shopping addiction, etc.);
There are psychosomatic diseases in which there are symptoms of the disease, but the physiological pathology is either absent or psychogenic in nature (bronchial asthma, ulcerative colitis, essential hypertension, gastric and duodenal ulcers, neurodermatitis, etc.).
there is an internal conflict that interferes with a full life and development.

Consultation stages

The psychotherapist provides counseling based on the “five-step” model:

Establishes contact with the client and orients him towards work.
Collects information about the client and finds out what the essence of his problem is. After assessing the psychological status of the client and his general life situation, main difficulties and motivation, the psychotherapist considers the possibility of an organic defect and, if necessary, redirects the client to receive psychiatric help.
Finds out what result the client expects and what he wants to achieve. In order to eliminate unrealistic expectations, the psychotherapist helps the client consciously build a system of goals focused on a specific and achievable result in the near future. The limits of psychotherapy, expressed not in a temporary, but in a meaningful form, are also clarified. The client at this stage should be warned about the difficulties of psychotherapy that he may encounter.
Develops alternative solutions to problems. The choice of a psychotherapeutic strategy to achieve previously set goals depends on the training of the psychotherapist, the client’s personality characteristics and the characteristics of the problem.
Summarizes the results of interaction with the client and evaluates the effectiveness of therapy.

Before conducting actual therapy, the psychotherapist uses a variety of diagnostic procedures, the choice of which depends on the psychotherapeutic school (diagnostic conversation, observation and projective methods in psychoanalysis, etc.).

Treatment methods

The approach to treatment of a particular psychotherapist depends on the direction of psychotherapy chosen during training (currently there are about a dozen directions). The main areas of psychotherapy are:

Psychoanalysis, in which subconscious processes (instincts, motivations, defense mechanisms) are considered the basis of the psyche. Used: at the stage of accumulation of material, methods of free associations and dream interpretation; in the process of therapy - methods of interpretation, analysis of “resistance” and “transfer”, processing of information.
Gestalt therapy, which is based on the idea of self-regulation of the psyche. Various techniques are used (“Here and Now”, “Peeling the Onion”, etc.), exercises, transference and countertransference, completion of the gestalt (situation).
Existential psychotherapy, which is focused not on individual manifestations of the human psyche, but on his entire life (psychodynamic approach). Group therapy, techniques for working with defense mechanisms, dreams, reducing sensitivity to death, etc. are used.

A psychotherapist may also be a specialist in cognitive behavioral or client-centered therapy, art therapy, play therapy, etc.

Ecology of consciousness. Psychology: A person comes to psychology, first of all, to understand himself. Bring grace to yourself and bring it to others. Having managed to help yourself by understanding your relationships with yourself, your loved ones and loved ones, knowing how to find resolutions to internal and external conflicts and learning to increase the effectiveness of communications - a psychologist (logically) will be able to help others with this.

Why do people go into psychology?

Answer existential questions about the meaning of life and learn the ecology of communication. Previously, they went to a theological seminary for this; now they go to psychology.

Motivation for choosing this profession?

A person comes to psychology, first of all, to understand himself. Find your grace and take it to people. Having managed to help yourself by understanding your relationships with yourself, your loved ones and loved ones, knowing how to find resolutions to internal and external conflicts and learning to increase the effectiveness of communications - a psychologist (logically) will be able to help others with this.

But as they learn the subject, most of them forget why they came. Information on the diagnosis of psychological phenomena and conditions is fascinating and fascinating. And now the newly minted psychologist is in full swing diagnosing others, demonstrating his erudition - this is “overprotection” for you, and this is “procrastination”, and here is “neurotic attachment”.

A specialist “spoiled” by terminology, who has gained access to an additional “game”, can begin to assert himself with clients, pronounce complex terms without attempting to explain them in simple language. Making sophisticated diagnoses right away, causing the client to have premature and as yet unfounded respect for himself as a “specialist” and risks completely forgetting about his original goal - to help himself.

The psychologist's premature activity begins to feed his personality and he loses the need to deal with all the baggage of internal problems with which he came to psychology. Thus, a newly minted specialist, carried away by the game “I am a psychologist” before he himself has dealt with internal grievances / thirst for recognition / his own insecurities, instead of healing his own traumas of the soul, begins to rely on the institute of psychology as compensation for his own inferiority.

Therefore, it is so important for a novice psychologist to remember the primary purpose with which he entered psychology and work on his own healing. For this purpose, in the space of psychology there is the territory of “experiments on cats,” which is called by the tricky word “supervision” - this is mandatory therapy that students must undergo with each other or with a more competent colleague in order to discuss with each other and with the teacher - “What were we doing when we did this?”

This is how a good psychologist polishes his skills. After his training, it is useful for a psychologist to continue communicating with his psychologist, teacher, supervisor - this will prevent him from falling into delusion about his own infallible competence.

Thus, he will refresh his memory of the role of a “client of a psychologist”, which gives him the skill to be able to see the “jambs” of his colleagues, ask the right questions, draw conclusions, make discoveries and... feel the boundaries of responsibility of each party in therapy.

Limits of responsibility are a very important topic. Its importance lies in the fact that the psychologist needs to learn to separate where his responsibility ends and the client’s responsibility begins. Only his own participation in the therapy process as a client will help him in this.

Otherwise, the concept of “responsibility” is abused and the newly minted psychologist, naturally with the best intentions, begins to take on unnecessary things - to promise magical results, thereby emphasizing its importance. Instead of facilitating a process in which the convert becomes a more proactive and independent master of his decisions and his life.

This game with unnecessary responsibility leads to the fact that both remain offended:

client because he was promised that a miracle would happen easily and effortlessly, but it did not happen;

the psychologist, “undertreated” at one time, also remains dissatisfied with the fact that his sincere impulse is not appreciated by the client;

The client, in the opinion of the “generous psychologist,” seems to have to guess that it is time to show reciprocal generosity and please the psychologist by independently engaging in work and taking responsibility for his life. But for some reason this doesn't happen.

Doesn't happen becauseat the very beginning, stillat the start, an incompetent psychologist, busy demonstrating his awareness, is not able to become an “empty cup” to accommodate the person who came to him and feel, What is capable of awakening the client’s internal reserve - turning on his enthusiasm.

If a psychologist has undergone his own therapy, then he has his own “I-story”: history of healing/awakening/growing and he has, thanks to his own healing experience, not so much information about it, but knowledge of how to achieve this. Knowledge, unlike information, does not take up as much space as scientific terminology and erudition do.

Knowledge is what exists in emptiness and leads to the acquisition of silence. When we solve a problem, we can trace the entire process. From the hustle and bustle of searching, through experimenting with ideas and information, to gaining knowledge at the moment of receiving the result and subsequent silence in satisfaction.

All the noise that exists within a person is generated by her concern about the lack of what she wants or thoughts of longing for the impossibility of her aspirations. The noise and fuss about what is “now” is not what it should be - it takes up so much space in a person that he has no “free gigabytes” left for joy. The joy of having it, the joy of life itself. A person preoccupied with a problem cannot comprehend life. He is full of thoughts about life, he is not in it - this is the paradox of worried people.

Anxiety exhausts and de-energizes a person, and exhausted by internal noise, he is incapable of effective action.

A psychologist who has managed to help himself has within himself that emptiness that is ready to accept a person who comes to him for help. Being located in the silence of this emptiness, in the field of the psychologist, the client experiences awareness about himself and his life. In this silence, a person’s fussy noise/brainstorming calms down - attention is freed for perception. Perception becomes of such quality that a person, in the process of talking about himself, makes discoveries and begins to become clear to himself.

Therefore, if you do not feel better after visiting a psychologist, doctor or massage therapist, this is not your specialist.

Or if you weren't healed the first time, but from the first meeting you felt better, clearer, more inspired or calmer - this is your psychologist / your doctor.

And no amount of persuasion from a “specialist” that you should “walk for a long time and only then... one day... that you want to solve the problem at once, if you have been creating it for years” should convince you not to trust your own aftertaste from the first meeting.

There are no formulas leading to happiness, because a person does not go to it. It, happiness, exists as a litmus test for the quality of life. As a phenomenon of overall balance in a person’s life, but they don’t go towards it.

A child from birth has the capacity for happiness. And if he is healthy, then being well-fed, he arrives in it - effortlessly happy and curious about life. And only the influence of significant adults who correct the child’s behavior deprives him of his constant and reckless ability to be in a happy mood.

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Conclusion:

People in different ways lose the ability to be happy, renounce their desires for the sake of significant others and loved ones. The path of everyone who decides to restore their own support is unique - their own capacity for happiness, integrity and effectiveness in relationships and goal achievements.

The psychologist is only a guide, unfolding for the client a landscape of hunting for his own self-limiting programs.

When a person begins to see how he himself has created restrictions on his path to freedom and happiness, an understanding and enthusiasm appears for the liberation of his path - the path of innate power and grace. published

“The patient doesn’t understand, and my task is to explain to him...” I sometimes hear from colleagues. And patients themselves often look for explanations in the psychologist’s office, and sometimes call working with a psychologist lessons. And how could it be otherwise? A psychologist has studied psychology, knows its laws and can teach and explain to a patient. At the same time, he turns out to be something like a mother, father and teacher in one bottle, and the patient turns out to be a not very capable student, if he himself did not understand. It may be pleasant for a psychologist to play the role of big, smart and strong, but, freed from the sense of self-importance, it is not so difficult to be convinced that this approach to psychotherapy does not work. And the patients themselves express this best: “I understand everything in my head, but my soul is tormented.”

I imagine making my life like embroidering on a canvas. It’s a good, correct outline, and I came up with a wonderful drawing, and I understand perfectly well what to do and how... But nothing works out - I want the best, but it turns out as always... Why? I embroider with a thread that I spin from the experiences of my life, in which, despite all the clarity of the experience itself (here I did the right thing, here I made a mistake, there it was necessary this way, and there that way, etc., etc.) there are many knots , knots and loops. And now I need to put an important stitch in my life. I understand that it is necessary and what it is for, but the thread keeps getting stuck or breaks. That’s why I’m going to a psychologist so that he can help untie and dissolve these invisible, unknown to me, but so disturbing mental loops and knots.

Family and friends cannot help because, for many reasons, they will discuss the experience itself rather than how it is experienced. This is due to the boundaries that we cannot cross within the framework of our real relationships with their history, character and interests of the participants. Therefore, a psychologist is prohibited from psychotherapy of family members, friends and those with whom he has personal or business relationships.

Externally, psychotherapy is a conversation between two people. What distinguishes it from just conversation?

– Just like a lawyer and a doctor, a psychologist serves the interests of that one person. So, when working with a difficult child, he does it for the child, and not for the family or school.

– Knowing the circumstances of the patient’s life, the psychologist concentrates not on them, but on their experience. The same divorce can be experienced as the happiness of liberation, as the collapse of life, as something unimportant...

– From this follows what Alexander Badkhen calls the psychotherapeutic transformation of the ethical: the good of a particular patient is more important than the good of the world with its morals, rules, etc. If, for example, the crime of Rodion Raskolnikov had not been discovered and he had come to a psychologist 10–15 years later with the words - they say, he killed two aunts for nothing and now I can’t live with it - the psychologist will accept his words as an expression of spiritual torment, which will help to deal with, and not as a confession or confession for the remission of sin.

– The psychologist accepts the patient as he is, without value judgments. Evaluation of the patient's actions as good or bad, right or wrong, etc. lies outside the scope of psychotherapy.

– The psychologist does not take what is happening between him and the patient outside the boundaries of their communication. Even to law enforcement agencies, he has the right to provide the necessary information only under a special legal decree.

– The psychologist does not teach, does not edify, does not prescribe opinions and behavior to the patient, but helps him explore those unconscious experiences of past and present experience that give rise to problems that interfere with the patient. The patient, for example, is well aware that difficulties in financial relationships are due to the fact that he establishes too close relationships with people. The task of the psychologist in this case is to help the patient explore the origins of the desire to seek close relationships and work through the experiences associated with these origins.

All of the above makes the psychotherapeutic relationship truly unique, and therefore helps a person to untie the mental knots that torment him and prepare himself for life without this pain.