Psychotherapy is a type of treatment in which the doctor uses the word as a tool to influence the patient's psyche. In the broad sense of its understanding, this direction covers the communication of the patient and the doctor as a whole. Indeed, in the treatment of diseases of any profile, the doctor, communicating with his patients, inevitably has a psychological impact on them. That is why the moment of establishing contact is so important, as well as a personal approach to each person, taking into account the characteristics of his personality and specific social conditions.

The main advantage of rational psychotherapy is the elimination of the manifestations of the disease by changing the attitude of a person to himself, to his condition and to everything around him.

Ways to heal with a word

What are the main directions that are elements of psychotherapy? They are represented by the following main methods of eliminating diseases:

1. rational psychotherapy.
2. This method includes waking suggestion, which occurs when a person is in a state of hypnotic sleep, as well as self-suggestion, which is called autosuggestion.
3. Group or collective psychotherapy. It can be domestic and behavioral, playful. They also distinguish imagotherapy and psychoesthetotherapy.
4. Narcopsychotherapy.

All of the above methods will have the maximum impact on the patient when combined with other types of elimination of the disease, including drug treatment, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, exercise therapy, etc.

The direction of rational psychotherapy

To get rid of diseases, the doctor can influence the patient with the help of explanations. The main thing is that they are logically reasoned. A similar method is known in medical practice under the name "rational psychotherapy". When using it, the doctor must explain to his patient what he does not understand and does not know, and which can shake his false beliefs.

Simultaneously with the direct verbal influence of rational psychotherapy, indirect suggestion also accompanies. For example, the method of clarifying the situation is sometimes applied to other persons in the presence of the patient. This allows you to ensure that the therapeutic effect is achieved indirectly. In addition, rational psychotherapy uses various didactic techniques, as well as emotional impact.

Most often, treatment is a dialogue that the doctor has with his patient. Such an interview allows you to explain to a person the circumstances that led to the disease. In this case, the doctor describes the nature and prognosis of the intended treatment. The therapist needs to keep his argument simple and clear. At the same time, he, using any facts and indicators that indicate even minor improvements, should try to inspire the patient and help him overcome the pessimistic ideas that take place.

The success of using the method of rational psychotherapy largely depends on the personality of the doctor, on his interest in curing the patient, as well as on sincerity, the ability to convince and listen patiently, to win sympathy and trust.

The first experiments in which the use of such a technique was considered were carried out on the basis of the classical and operant conditioning described by IP Pavlov, as well as B. Skinner. The main formulation of these concepts consisted in the “stimulus-response” chain and adhered to the postulate that said that behavior that leads to the achievement of the desired result should be strengthened, and vice versa, that does not lead to it, fade or weaken.

To date, there are a large number of methods of rational psychotherapy. Consider those of them that are most widely used in practice.

Paul Dubois method

Rational therapy proposed by this Swiss neuropathologist is the most accessible way to cure the patient. It is used not only by narrow specialists, but also by generalists.

Rational psychotherapy Dubois uses the patient's ability to draw logical conclusions, make comparisons, and also prove the validity of the facts. This method was an alternative to treatment by suggestion. At the same time, rational psychotherapy primarily relied on the thinking and mind of the patient.

Paul Dubois believed that the origins of the development of neuroses lie in errors of judgment and weakness of the intellect. Of course, at present, these theoretical conclusions are not accepted unconditionally. Nevertheless, many of Dubois's recommendations and conclusions, which he made on the basis of numerous observations, are of great practical value. An example of this is the description of a conversation between a Swiss neurologist and his patient, who suffered from insomnia. You can get acquainted with it in the book by A. M. Svyadosh “Neuroses”: “Do not think about sleep - it flies away like a bird when it is being chased; destroy with sound reflection your empty worries and end the day with some simple thought that will let you sleep peacefully.

In his practice, Dubois relied entirely on logic. Using this scientific direction about the laws of thinking, he quite convincingly demonstrated to his patient the errors that took place in his reasoning and were associated with an incorrect assessment of the pathological condition. Such an effect on the patient is the basis of this method. But besides this, Dubois's rational psychotherapy includes emotional influence, suggestion, study and further correction of the personality, as well as rhetorical didactic techniques.

Albert Ellis Method

This psychologist developed a method of rational-emotional psychotherapy. It is based on three main aspects of human mental activity. These are thoughts, or cognitions, as well as behavior and feelings.

In Ellis' rational-emotional psychotherapy, the following stand out:

1. descriptive cognitions. These thoughts contain the objective information that was perceived by the individual.
2. Appraisal cognitions. This type of thought reflects a person's attitude to reality.

According to the provisions of A. Ellison's methodology of rational emotional psychotherapy, the two types of cognitions mentioned above have connections of varying degrees of rigidity. Negative and positive emotions are caused not at all by objective events that have occurred, but by their assessment. In this regard, many psychopathological disorders and symptoms in the emotional sphere can be considered as the result of disorders in the cognitive area, which is called irrational attitudes. They represent rigid links between descriptive as well as evaluative cognitions. These violations are expressed in instructions and demands, orders, etc. and do not correspond to reality either in quality or in strength.

Being unrealized, irrational attitudes provoke the emergence of negative emotions in inadequate situations, which complicate the life of the individual and prevent him from achieving his goals. For the normal functioning of the psyche, it is necessary to create a rational system of evaluative cognitions. Flexible links connecting such thoughts with descriptive ones are also important.

What is rational-emotive psychotherapy? It includes the identification of existing irrational attitudes, the implementation of a confrontation with them, as well as the revision of flexible (rational) attitudes and the consolidation of their functioning. A patient who has successfully completed this path begins to adequately respond to ongoing events.

A. Ellison outlined his main ideas in the book “Humanistic Psychotherapy: A Rational-Emotional Approach”. In it, he pointed out that any person is able to control and influence their own emotional reactions in the form of behavior and feelings. Moreover, since he himself, albeit involuntarily, but forced himself to suffer, he is also able to do everything to stop it. The book teaches its reader not to be suggestible and not to depend on circumstances. To do this, you just need not to think about how the majority of those around you feel.

Aaron Beck Method

This researcher developed a method of cognitive psychotherapy. It is based on the assertion that mental disorders occur in connection with cognitive skills and structures that were acquired by a person in the past.

According to the statements of the American professor A. Beck, those psychological disorders that preceded neurophysiological disorders are directly related to the aberration of thinking. Under this term, the researcher understood the incorrect processing of information, which as a result contributed to the distortion of a person's vision of a situation or an object. Such cognitions are the main cause of false ideas. As a result, the patient has inadequate emotional reactions.

Unlike other methods of rational psychotherapy, the method created by A. Beck contains the rules for regulating behavior, which is based on two main parameters, namely danger/safety and pain/pleasure. The axis of the first of these two combinations of elements includes those events that are associated with psychosocial, psychological and physical risk. However, the rules for regulating behavior in most cases do not take into account the real situation. This leads to the fact that the individual has various problems. Using the method of rational psychotherapy by A. Beck, it becomes possible to modify the existing rules, make them more flexible and less personalized, that is, bring them into line with the existing reality.

Cognitive Psychotherapy for Addictions

The real scourge of modern society is alcoholism and drug addiction. These are diseases that can be caused by a genetic factor or are a model of the behavior of people who are not able to solve their problems, and relieve the tension that has arisen in the body using psychoactive substances.

And here individual rational psychotherapy of drug addicts and people who drink alcohol excessively can come to their aid. What is this method? This is a cognitive-rational psychotherapy aimed at identifying the main triggers, which are thoughts, situations and people that trigger the mechanism of drug or alcohol use. This method allows a person to get rid of bad habits. This happens due to the awareness of one's own thoughts, careful study of the situation and further change in behavior.

Psychodrama by George Moreno

Psychotherapy in rational therapy can also use a group approach. This is what distinguishes the method of J. Moreno, based on the theory of sociometry he created, designed to become the key to solving many social problems. When applying this method, the doctor offers his patients a role-playing game. In its course, he creates conditions that force a person to spontaneously express his feelings about the problem that is relevant to him. The main postulate of this method is the assertion that any individual has a natural ability to play.

Thanks to this, in the performance of a particular role, he can independently influence his problem and even stop the crisis situation. Such a psychotherapeutic process leads to overcoming non-constructive behavioral stereotypes and ways of emotional response, forming an adequate and deep self-awareness in the patient.

Behavior Modeling

This method refers to With its help, the patient is stimulated to independently solve his problems. Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is carried out in three stages:

1. Self-observation with elements of self-control.
2. Conducting an analysis of problem behavior with the definition of its source (teachers, parents, environment, etc.).
3. Conclusion of a psychotherapeutic contract. This is a kind of contract, which is a register of planned changes, as well as protocols achieved after doing independent home exercises.

Techniques for directing rational psychotherapy

How can a person get rid of negative emotions? To do this, he will need to apply one of the techniques of rational psychotherapy. Most of them are used by professionals to treat neuroses in their patients. Sometimes with their help it is possible to eliminate psychosis.

The most common causes of such pathologies are accumulated negative emotions. The patient is fixed on psychotraumatic situations, which causes him to have excessive acute experiences that cause illness.

The techniques of rational psychotherapy are most indicated for resentment caused by unfulfilled hopes. By the way, a person often resorts to this technique quite unconsciously. He shares his grief with relatives, a friend, and sometimes even with a stranger. First of all, he hopes to justify his own position in the current conflict. However, this is not the main point here. It is important to realize the reasons for what happened, why it may turn out that the offended person is to blame for what happened. And this means that there is no one to be offended by.

Abstraction

People also resort to a similar method in their lives quite unconsciously. We try not to think about the traumatic situation. However, this can be quite difficult to do.

The method of distraction allows you to get the maximum effect with weak, but constantly affecting negative stimuli. In this case, negative emotions can gradually accumulate, bringing a person to nervous breakdowns and neuroses.

How to escape from a traumatic situation? For this it is recommended:

1. Sport games. Tennis, football or volleyball perfectly relieve irritation and eliminate resentment.
2. The use of aesthetic therapy. In a state of disorder, visiting an art exhibition, watching a good comedy, listening to talented music is recommended.
3. Visiting good friends. Such a step will eliminate the anger that has accumulated in the soul and not vent it on loved ones.
4. Communication with nature. Negative emotions are especially well eliminated by the river, in the forest, in the mountains and in other beautiful places, where peace of mind returns to a person.

In case of prolonged exposure to negative factors, it is recommended to change the situation by taking a vacation and going on a trip.

Role autotraining

When using this method, the patient will need to get used to the image of a cheerful or calm person. This method perfectly helps as a prevention of upcoming conflict and stressful situations. However, only a person with an artistic nature can feel its effectiveness.

In order to enter the role, you will need to choose the right ideal for yourself. A model can be either a real person or a movie character. But it is worth remembering that in order to remain calm in various situations using this method, preliminary training is required.

Muscle relaxation

This method, which is also called autogenic training, is especially popular with psychotherapists. Often people use it when working on their own to solve their problems. Autogenic training is an independent method proposed in 1932 by a German psychotherapist I. Schultz.

The main task of this method is maximum relaxation with the simultaneous suggestion of certain sensations to oneself, as well as learning to control the functioning of internal organs. Lightning muscle relaxation allows you to quickly eliminate nervous tension, and do it in any situation.

“The truth is always the same, the pharaoh said it,” the Nautilus Pompilius group sang. Although it is not necessary to be a pharaoh to understand this.

Objective reality is objective because it does not tolerate variability. It is based on fact. And "fact", as everyone who has read Mikhail Bulgakov knows, is "the most stubborn thing in the world." By itself, it does not tolerate fantasy and distortion.

But the perception of reality is subjective. Someone will say about his interlocutor: "He has a kind smile." Another will find this smile "sinister", "insincere" or "flirtatious". In this case, the fact is only that the smile took place. Representatives of law enforcement agencies sometimes have to simply solve charades, trying to highlight the facts in the testimonies. What was this “tall short man, thin fat man, completely bald, burning brunette with blue black eyes” really like?

Projections make us distort reality. This is a defense mechanism that works to our benefit, only sometimes this benefit turns out to be dubious ... The projection is colored glasses put on the eyes, as in the Emerald City. They help us see reality the way we want to see it. If reality appears embellished, such projections are called "positive", if it is denigrated - "negative".

In the case of positive projections, one can dwell in a blissful idealization. It gives pleasure, gives a false sense of security. It is more pleasant to walk through the dark thicket, considering wolves to be vegetarians. A variety of benefits can be hidden behind positive projections.

I once was in a company in which one woman constantly referred to the opinion of, say, Petrov (she called her real name). And she did it with great reverence, for any reason. Invisible Petrov acted as an expert in politics, science, art, sports, and so on. “But Petrov thinks about the geopolitical processes in the world… The future of our country, according to Petrov… Petrov said about the theory of relativity…” I felt embarrassed: I didn’t know who this great man was. "Like who?" - offended interlocutor. And proudly explained: “My husband!” It turned out that her husband is a system administrator without higher education. But the wife uses him as a “narcissistic extension”: it’s embarrassing to praise herself, but if she is the wife of “such a person”, then this raises her status.

In the case of negative projections, there is also a hidden benefit: being able to see the speck in the other's eye rather than the beam in your own. Own denied traits are projected onto another person: this is he, not me!

A friend of mine complains that she is constantly envied by the women around her: work colleagues, roommates, former classmates. Naturally, I asked: “And you to them?” “I’m not the kind of person to envy anyone! I'm not like this! I never envy anyone!" - outraged friend. If a person does not want to see something in himself, he begins to see it in others.

Negative projections are no less sweet than positive ones: they help to whitewash oneself by denigrating another, give the right to righteous indignation, and even to revenge.

Projections are sweet and...useless. And sometimes even dangerous.

Once I was at an international seminar on biosynthesis. One of the participants began to complain to the host: “You do not respect my projections!” To which the presenter gave a wonderful answer: “Yes, I do not respect your projections. I don't respect projections at all. I respect facts. And the projection distorts the fact.”

The projection breaks contact with reality, the so-called "reality testing", that is, the criticality of perception. And if the violation of reality testing reaches a certain limit, then madness begins, a distortion of the objective picture of the world. This is the difference between "fantasies" and "fantasies". Everyone has fantasies, this is a preserved children's game, only transferred to the imagination, a game with oneself.

Any fantasies have the right to be, as long as their owner understands that he is imagining them. If the "pretend" turned into "really", then this is already a fantasy - a fantasy, in the reality of which a person believed. In fantasy, contact with reality is maintained, but fantasy replaces reality. Phantasms are one of the characteristic features of the picture of mental illness. Imagine yourself even as a hero saving the Universe from the next Dark Lord, even as the Dark Lord himself - a matter of taste. But if you really believe it, you will have to prove your case to psychiatrists.

Projections have a "remarkable" property to be confirmed. Depending on the initial attitude, prejudice, we perceive reality selectively, subjectively, in accordance with our attitude. And then we say: “I knew it (a)!” This psycho-physiological mechanism was described a hundred years ago by our world-famous compatriot Alexei Ukhtomsky in the theory of dominance.

Adequate testing of reality is one of the signs of mental health and psychological well-being, safety. There is no need to run away from reality, there are enough resources to live in it to the fullest.

Reality testing closely related to "grounding" ("grounding" if one prefers borrowed words). "Grounding" is a metaphor for contact with reality.

We offer you psychotherapeutic exercises to grounding, helping to stay in reality to the fullest and enjoy life.

Exercise 1. Hello body!

(According to the system of M. Feldenkrais)

You will need: sheet of paper and colored crayons.

Instruction

Lie on your back on a fairly hard surface (your favorite soft couch won't work). Hands are freely spread or lie along the body, it is better not to put a pillow under the head. Listen carefully to your body, run through it with an inner look from the bottom up. Pay attention to how the body is in contact with the surface. Find all areas of contact. And make a drawing: what imprint would your body leave on the surface? Hint: This will be a combination of patches, not an outline, as the neck, knees, and lower back form "arches".

Exercise 2. Improving your gait

(From A. Lowen's bioenergetics)

You will need: 15-20 minutes of free time.

Instruction

Walk barefoot, feeling your feet touch the floor. Feel how stable they are.

Now play: walk on the outside of the foot, then on the inside, shifting the weight back and forth.

After that, return to your normal gait. Do you feel more stable in your feet? Has the body weight been redistributed?

Exercise 3 Stand on your own two feet

(From the biosynthesis of D. Boadella)

You will need: two sheets of paper and colored crayons.

Instruction

Walk barefoot, feeling your feet well. Pay attention to whether the left and right feet differ in stability. Which one seems more reliable? Which one carries more load? Are you placing them symmetrically?

Now circle each of them and color the drawing. Which foot image is easier to color? Do you like drawings? Do the feet feel stable and secure?

This exercise helps to establish contact with the feet and optimize grounding.

Exercise 4

(From bodynamic L. Marcher)

You will need: some free time.

Instruction

Stand with your feet steady - not too close. Feel at the same time the center of gravity in the lower abdomen and feet. Play with the center of gravity - try to move it in different directions (due to body movements), while the feet remain in place.

Hint: stability will increase if you bend your knees a little, feel your legs springy, like a cat's paws.

These exercises help to understand that the physical and mental are closely related. The more stable the body, the calmer psychologically. The better the body is felt, the more fully the contact with reality.

No projections

Feeling reality more fully is wonderful! Freedom of choice becomes more likely, life is more interesting. How does it happen that we refuse these benefits? How does a projection become pathological? I am convinced that at every moment of time a person does the best of what he is capable of. Surely you very rarely face the choice of whether to respond with a projection or not. It just happens and that's it. And that was once the best thing you could do, the projective defense mechanism helped you. Perhaps, having experienced intense envy in a family where this feeling was condemned, the only way to deal with it was to attribute it to another. So what? Also a way. But you weren't rejected. Perhaps now, as an adult, you can ask yourself: “Am I jealous of someone?” So you will find out if you are able to survive your own envy, to feel yourself and your life more fully. And suddenly the time has come?

Olga Sveshnikova, psychologist, gestalt therapist

• Nikorchuk Natalya Viktorovna, Head of the Service for Psychological Support of the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Process, psychologist of the highest category

Sections: School psychological service

Quite often, teenagers and adults turn to a psychologist with problems that require psychotherapeutic help. These issues include:

• conflicts in interpersonal relationships;
• extreme and crisis situations;
• looking for ways to resolve acute personal problems.

Adolescents and adults who come to counseling are usually in a tense, depressed and anxious state. In such cases, during the consultation, the psychologist is obliged to “work on the state” of the person who turned to him for help: to calm him down, relieve internal tension, and identify the possibility of a more optimistic view of the life situation.

Adolescents and adults (clients) who turn to a psychologist feel the need for psychotherapeutic assistance regarding three main groups of problems:

• inability to control oneself and restrain one's aggressive emotions;
• inability to cope with the experience of depressive states;
• the desire to get rid of self-doubt, stiffness and tightness.

To solve these problems in a consultation with a psychologist, the following groups of psychotherapeutic techniques (exercises) can be used:

1. Techniques that help relieve emotional tension, muscle clamps, neutralize internal stiffness, normalize the emotional state

Exercise "Apple"

The psychologist and the client stand opposite each other at a distance of 1–1.5 meters. The psychologist says: “Imagine that you and I are in the garden. In front of us is an apple tree hung with beautiful, juicy fruits. Do you see the ripest apple hanging on the top branch? Probably the most delicious! Let's try to get it!

(On the inhale) Stretch as high as you can! Hand up! Higher! Wow! Got an apple!” (Exhalation)

The duration of the exercise is 10-12 minutes.

Exercise “Integrative breathing”

The exercise is performed while standing. Feet shoulder-width apart, fingers clasped in front. Hands up, slightly back (inhale). Stretch. Then sharply lower your hands down, reach your toes (exhale). The exercise is recommended to be done 4-5 times within 5-7 minutes.

Exercise "Fist"

Clench your fingers into a fist with your thumb curled inward. While inhaling calmly, slowly, clench your fist with effort. Then, weakening the force of clenching the fist, exhale. Repeat the exercise 5 times. Doing the exercise with your eyes closed doubles the effect. The exercise must be performed with both hands at the same time.

Exercise "Rainbow"

“Stand up, close your eyes, take a deep breath and imagine that as you inhale, you are climbing up the rainbow, and as you exhale, you are sliding down it like a slide.” The exercise is repeated 3 times.

Then the exercise is repeated with open eyes, and the number of repetitions increases to 7. After completing the exercise, the client must necessarily tell what he experienced, what he felt while doing this exercise.

Calming breath exercise

Standing (or sitting) take a full breath. Holding your breath, imagine a circle and exhale slowly into it. Repeat this step 4 times.

Then, after inhaling, imagine a triangle and exhale into it. Repeat this step 3 times as well.

Then, after inhaling, imagine two parallel lines and exhale into them. Repeat this step 2 times.

Repeat the entire exercise 9 times.

Exercise "Wings"

Starting position - hands down. The eyes can be closed to better feel the movement that is born in the hands. It is necessary to smoothly raise your hands up and also smoothly and slowly lower them down. “Watch this movement and help it turn up. When the hands begin to float, there is a mass of new and pleasant sensations. Help yourself with pleasant figurative representations. Imagine that the arms are wings! Wings carry you! Allow yourself to breathe freely. Allow yourself to feel the state of flight.”

Exercise "Jellyfish"

Sitting on a chair, make those smooth movements with your hands, imitating a jellyfish swimming in the water.

Exercise “Fire-Ice”

The exercise involves alternating tension and relaxation of the whole body. Performed standing. At the command of the psychologist “Fire”, the client begins intensive body movements. The smoothness and degree of intensity of movements are chosen by the client arbitrarily. At the command “ice”, the client freezes in the position in which the team caught him, straining the whole body to the limit. The psychologist alternates both commands several times, arbitrarily changing the execution time of one and the other.

Exercise “Candle”

Close your eyes. Imagine that you have a candle in front of you. Try to fan the flame mentally, and then reduce it. When you inflate it, it becomes lighter; when you reduce it, it becomes darker. Alternate darkness with light. Imagine that the light becomes brighter, more radiant. Try to make it so bright that it becomes as bright as day around. Now dim the light of the flame very slowly.

2. Techniques that help neutralize and suppress negative emotions: anger, irritation, aggression

Exercise "Hedgehog"

This exercise is aimed at defusing negative emotional states. Relaxation is achieved through tension. It is necessary to strain, for example, the hands as much as possible, and then relax them as much as possible. Imagine a hedgehog that twists and unwinds.

Focusing exercise

It is necessary to sit comfortably in a chair or on a chair. Under a certain command, you should focus on a specific area of ​​\u200b\u200byour body and feel its warmth. For example, on the command “Body!” you need to focus on your body and feel the warmth spreading over it, at the command “Hand!” - you need to focus on the hand and feel its warmth, “Brush!” - on the right hand, “Finger!” - on the index finger of the right hand and, finally, at the command “Fingertip!” - at the tip of the index finger. Commands should be given at intervals of 10-12 seconds. The total duration of the exercise is 5-7 minutes.

Exercise "Press"

The client imagines inside himself, at chest level, a powerful press that moves from top to bottom, suppressing and displacing the negative emotion that has arisen and the internal tension associated with it. When performing the exercise, one should achieve a distinct feeling of the physical heaviness of the internal press, which suppresses and, as it were, pushes down the unwanted negative emotion and the energy that it carries with it.

“Grounding” of negative energy is performed 3-4 times. The total duration of the exercise is 5-7 minutes.

Exercise "Step forward - beast, step back - man"

Take a step forward, causing a wild rage in yourself, feel ready to destroy everything in your path. Then take a step back, smiling and returning to a state of absolute calm.

Again, take a step forward, reincarnating as an angry beast, and a step back, returning to the state of a person. As you step forward, feed your rage with shouts, clenching your jaws and fists. When stepping back, it is very important to catch the moment of relaxation, paying attention to the muscles.

This exercise requires a lot of emotional investment. You need to stop and stop doing the exercise as soon as you feel tired.

3. Techniques aimed at displacing negative emotions (experiences) associated with “stuck” on a personal problem

Exercise "Run the Problem"

The client is invited to imagine that behind him is any of the existing problems that he would like to get rid of. It is necessary to drive away the problem, pushing it away with a sharp movement of the hand back and an elbow strike, while saying: “Go away!”.

Exercise “Rotating Cube”

It is necessary to mentally enclose your problem in a cube. Mentally rotate this cube with a problem, move it horizontally, and then remove it beyond the horizon. Exercises must be done 3-5 times.

Exercise “Erasing negative information”

Sit down and relax. Close your eyes. Imagine in front of you a blank sheet of paper, pencils, an eraser. Mentally draw on the sheet a negative situation that needs to be forgotten. It can be a real picture, a figurative association, a symbol, etc. Mentally take a washing gum and begin to sequentially “erase” a mentally created negative situation from a sheet of paper. “Erase” until the picture disappears from the sheet. Open your eyes. Check. To do this, close your eyes and imagine the same sheet of paper. If the picture has not disappeared, take the washing gum again and “erase” until it disappears completely. After a while, the exercise can be repeated.

After each exercise, it is necessary to discuss its effectiveness:

• how positively it was perceived by the client;
• did he find it useful and convenient;
• what sensations did he experience;
• whether the internal tension has decreased.

It is necessary in the course of counseling for each specific client to select those psychotechnics that are most suitable for him.

References

1. Kociunas R. Psychological counseling. Group psychotherapy. - M., 2003.
2. Levashova S.A. Psychologist and teenager: communicative-motor training. - Yaroslavl: Academy of Development: Academy Holding, 2004.
3. Malkina-Pykh I.G. Age crises: Handbook of a practical psychologist. - M .: Eksmo Publishing House, 2005.
4. Rean A.A., Kudashev A.R., Baranov A.A. Psychology of personality adaptation. - St. Petersburg: "Prime-EUROZNAK", 2008.
5. Samoukina N.V. Practical psychologist at school: lectures, counseling, trainings. - M .: Publishing House of the Institute of Psychotherapy, 2005.
6. Free body. Reader on body-oriented therapy and psychotechnics / Edited by V.Yu. Baskakova. - M .: Institute for General Humanitarian Research, 2001.
7. Sirotyuk A.L. Correction of training and development of schoolchildren. - M .: TC "Sphere", 2001.
8. Sharapanovskaya E.V. Socio-psychological maladaptation of children and adolescents: Diagnosis and correction. - M .: TC "Sphere", 2005.

This psychotherapeutic exercise is not a group one, but an individual one; it does not require any special devices, but only as minimum : hours of free time, a few sheets of paper and a ballpoint pen.

The maximum : This exercise requires the desire to communicate for some time with a certain number of people in a very relaxed atmosphere - on a landline phone, over a cup of tea in the kitchen or over a cup of coffee in a cafe. But first things first.

This psychotherapeutic exercise is a "mini-happiness training" or "training to increase the feeling of general comfort of being."

It is precisely these exercises that I love most of all, and it is precisely such exercises that are least often encountered in the practice of psychotherapy. Why? I will tell. This is not a lyrical digression, it is directly related to the topic of the article and the exercise itself - with a well-functioning technique.

As you know, dear Reader, psychotherapy came to us from the West, where it - more or less successfully (with intra-corporate wars, revolutions and truces) developed throughout the twentieth century.

Society in the West, whatever it may be, has one indisputable feature - it is civil. Practically, in terms of practical benefits for psychotherapy, this means this. In such a society, the most diverse group psychotherapeutic work is natural and possible.

In such a society, people smile at each other, do not shy away from each other, and in general, are not indifferent to each other.

So, psychotherapy with all its techniques came to us. But our society is completely different. If we speak precisely “according to science”, then such a society in which we live is called a society atomized.

An atomized society is a society in which there has been a deformation of the horizontal ties between individuals. In practice, this means that in such a society the value of concepts: friendship, love, family, mutual assistance - is lost.

In practice, for a psychotherapist, this means: low efficiency and low popularity of any group psychotherapy. What we have.

That is why I appreciate so much those few practical exercises that do not require work in a group - with the group unconscious, but can be done alone.

In fact, the situation with us has already moved somewhat from its dead center. And in many ways, just thanks to the efforts of psychotherapy and attempts to introduce group psychological work "to the masses."

So my psychotherapeutic exercise (no matter how paradoxical it may sound) puts its modest brick into this common noble cause - to make our society less atomized, but more socially preoccupied, more in line with the concept of "civilian".

And for starters, you still need to love the world in which you live. Well, specifically for a person, this still means one thing: to love those people who live around you, to simply begin to sympathize with them. To believe that the world, the "planet of people" that surround you, is beautiful.

As Voltaire said, through the mouth of his hero from the story "Candide", to believe that "everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds" . Even if you're sitting on the fresh ruins after the Lisbon earthquake...

Speaking of earthquakes...

As it is, again, paradoxical as it sounds, but the understanding that you live among rather - good rather than rather bad people, comes to people for some reason precisely in the “time of disasters”.

A difficult, emergency situation shows us the world "as it is", sharply tears off the dirty gray veil of "boring depression and eternal discontent." Difficulties, troubles always for some reason show us the world from its good side. For ten scoundrels there is always at least one hero whose heroic deed done on time is remembered “for a longer time” and influences more strongly ... It’s not even “heroes” that are remembered at all, but simply people who, at the right time, didn’t care and who wanted to show a simple and, in general, cheap human participation - on time.

However, I don't like this tendency of the Universe to teach us such harsh lessons of "getting things right".

I would like that in the “peaceful” time, the time when we practically have ALL the reasons for being happy (but for some reason we rarely are!), so that in these ordinary days of our lives we learn to trust the world and lead ourselves in it with dignity - with sympathy for the people around us.

So, let's go directly to the exercise. It is very simple, but the effect of it is almost fantastic.

Psychotherapeutic exercise "Planet of people"

The first part of the psychotherapeutic exercise

Choose ten people from among your friends and acquaintances, those who annoy you with something, once hurt, offended or are simply the object of your chronic unfriendly thoughts or even idle conversations with third parties.

Write their names on ten sheets of plain paper.

And now on each such “name sheet” write down in a column (after thinking carefully) everything only pleasant that you can remember about each of these people.

You must remember and write down:

• pleasant features of their nature,
• those noble, human or just good deeds that they once did for you or for someone else,
• recall all people (not related to them by family ties or ties of business, “mutually beneficial” relations), people who, nevertheless, speak of the people you have conceived Good and who have a lot to be thankful for.

Important:

Your list must contain at least ten items!

Write as detailed and vividly as possible about those episodes that deserve it.

The second part of the psychotherapeutic exercise

What if the list of "positive traits" does not reach the number 10?

And then the very exciting quest that I promised at the beginning begins!

Now you are faced with the task - by any means available to you to collect as much information as possible about the person whom you, it turns out, know so poorly that you cannot write even ten good words about him.

Take this task seriously. Imagine that you are a lawyer or a human rights journalist whose abilities determine the fate and good name of a person. You have to do your journalistic and legal investigation in order to write a book or make a documentary with a shocking debunking of mob stereotypes!

Ask your friends and acquaintances about the life of the person you have chosen, about how this fate developed in general before your intersection with it. In other cases, you can talk (“interview”) with this person himself.

If you take your task seriously, then many such discoveries await you, which will be able to simply turn over your previous ideas about life and about the people who live side by side with you in their “boring”, everyday life.

The third final part of the psychotherapeutic exercise

Now, after you have compiled complete lists, make a beautiful “wall newspaper” out of them, or rather, just arrange it properly, rewrite it on a clean copy. May the result of your hard work be at your fingertips for a long time to come.

(This "anti-compromising evidence" will be stored easily and pleasantly - after all, it will not contain anything that can offend someone or destroy someone's fate).

Well, now you have to think about ten gifts for those ten people with whom you have worked all this time. With someone you worked for one hour, and with someone, let's say, for a month ...

A gift is an obligatory and final chord of our exercise. After all, these people deserved a prize from you - they returned your faith in people. Isn't such a gift worthy of reciprocal gratitude?

Elena Nazarenko, Yakovleva Natalia
psychologists of the center "1000 ideas"