Psychological Counseling and Psychotherapy

Psychological Characteristics of the Emotional Sphere of Internally Displaced Persons from the First and Second Waves

Vitalii Fedosieiev — 2024-06-30

This article is dedicated to the study of the psychological characteristics of the emotional sphere of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the first wave (2014) and the second wave (2022). The consequences of forced internal migration due to the danger of military actions in both 2014 and 2022 for Ukrainians have resulted in significant changes on economic, social, cultural, and psychological levels. Leaving their comfort zones, citizens from "hot spots" found themselves in the "trap" of the unknown, which often led to the emergence of intrapersonal conflicts: a lack of desire and motivation to change their location while simultaneously being physically unable to stay in their homes and familiar environments. A person's living space gradually deteriorated: their moral values and plans were no longer important or achievable, leading to uncertainty and a sense of insecurity about the future, fear for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones, which caused a shift in their emotional state, chronic fear and stress, feelings of anxiety, heightened guilt, and irritability due to the inability to influence the situation, among others. The practical significance of the presented study is determined by the need for a comprehensive analysis of the emotional and mental states of internally displaced persons, their situational feelings of danger, and the determination of levels of anxiety and depression to overcome these issues and return to a normative way of life. The formulated conclusions may be useful in identifying potential at-risk groups among the Ukrainian population, developing psycho-correctional programs, and conducting psychotherapeutic groups.

Moral Damages of Children's Migration Trauma (Based on The Materials of The International Internship in The Area of Education and Humanities)

Zhanna Virna — 2024-06-30

The article is devoted to the theoretical analysis of moral damages of children's migration trauma in the context of the exchange of experience based on the materials of international internship. The purpose of the presented article is an analytical review of developments on the problem of trauma of the migration resocialization of children in the context of preserving mental health and children's rights (based on the materials of the scientific internship under the program of postgraduate education in the area of education and humanities, PUCPR, Curitiba, Brazil). It is based on the method of bibliographic review of theoretical and empirical sources on this problem and the method of psychological modelling as a reproduction of the functional content of moral damages of children's migration trauma. The results include the presentation of the methodological architectonics of the migration problem within the framework of the theory of intersectionality and the concept of social categorization. It is noted that the experience of Brazilian migration policy is focused on basic service of the needs of migrant children within the educational and psychological space. The scientific position of A.M. Eng in the study of children's rights in humanitarian situations and the cultivation of intercultural school programs is presented in detail. Psychological support in the cross-cultural situation of migration is specified and the consequences of moral conflicts for the child within the framework of ethnopsychoanalysis and socio-cognitive theories of post-traumatic stress disorder are substantiated. It is emphasized to take into account the vulnerability of the child in experiencing the moral trauma of migration. The factors of moral damages of the migration trauma of children and signs of risk to their mental health are determined. The dependence of children's moral damages on the identification experience and migration project of parents is substantiated. The clinical activity of Brazilian psychologists is focused on cross-cultural psychotherapy, which is based on the complementary basis of transcultural characteristics of adult migrants and their children. The conclusions indicate that within the framework of the international scientific internship in the field of education and humanities (PUCPR, Brazil), it was possible to get acquainted with psychological and educational research practices of working with migrant children. Similar interdisciplinary practices can be successfully applied in Ukraine, because the war and related migration, resettlement and refugees actualize the issues of intercultural education and the introduction of cross-cultural psychotherapy.

Features of the Emotional Component of Essential Self-Regulation Associated with Women's Marital Satisfaction

Igor Kocharian — 2024-06-30

The article is dedicated to the study of the emotional component of essential self-regulation, which is related to women's marital satisfaction. Contemporary research on various aspects of the emotional sphere of personality and their connection to marital satisfaction is analyzed. The emotional component of essential self-regulation is considered one of the psychological regulators of the tendency towards self-actualization. Marriage is one of the directions of self-actualization, in which the tendency towards self-actualization is also realized. Therefore, we hypothesized that emotional factors that hinder the tendency towards self-actualization are associated with decreased marital satisfaction. The study involved 121 women aged 25-40. The author's methodology, QDES (Questionnaire for the Diagnosis of Essential Self-Regulation), was used. The research is based on the concept of Essential Self-Regulation - a system of emotional, behavioral, and communicative mechanisms of mental self-regulation that ensures the realization of the tendency towards self-actualization. The study confirmed the hypothesis of a reverse relationship between the emotional component of essential self-regulation and marital satisfaction. It was found that among the four ways of emotional response, namely: effectiveness, ambivalence, optimum, and apathy, it is the latter - apathy - that has a significant inverse correlation with women's marital satisfaction. A single-factor linear regression analysis between the variables of apathy and marital satisfaction showed mutual influence, allowing us to speak of a vicious circle, where if a woman tends to respond with low emotional tone - apathetically, she will also be inclined to perceive the marriage without enthusiasm, and vice versa, when a woman perceives her marriage as unsatisfactory, it predisposes to apathy.

Functional and Structural Features of Organizing the "Sense of Rightness" within the Structure of Personality

Yuliia Bogachenko — 2024-06-30

The article investigates the problem of organizing the "sense of rightness" in the structure of personality in the context of modern challenges, particularly the war in Ukraine, which has led to deteriorating psychological health, increased stress levels, and the emergence of various psychological symptoms. The authors emphasize the importance of internal harmony and authenticity of personality in the conditions of an increasing pace of life and informational influence. The concept of Carl Rogers' "organismic tendency," which focuses on the internal sense of rightness supported by a therapeutic environment, is examined. Approaches of other theorists, such as Leslie Greenberg, Robert Elliott, Erik Erikson, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Viktor Frankl, regarding the formation and maintenance of the "sense of rightness" are also analyzed. The study highlights the necessity of new therapeutic methods to support psychological resilience and personality development under modern stress factors, particularly through emphasizing the integration of emotions, self-awareness, and the search for deep meaning in life and the sense of rightness.

Status and Problems of Counseling Psychology in the Modern World and Ukraine

Aleksandr Bondarenko — 2024-06-30

The article is devoted to the current state, problems and opportunities for the development of counseling psychology in Ukraine based on a comparative analysis of the functioning of this field in other countries of the world. An analysis of the current state of counseling psychology in countries with a developed tradition in this field belonging to different cultural and civilizational contexts was carried out. On the basis of the Cochrane methodology with the application of SWOT analysis, the results of the study of strengths and weaknesses, potential threats and prospects for the development of counseling psychology in eight countries of the world: Austria, India, Israel, Canada, France, the Republic of South Africa, Japan and Ukraine are summarized. It was established that counseling psychology in Ukraine not only does not lag behind other countries in terms of the number of practices and qualifications of specialists, but also has a number of advantages, such as the presence of a network of psychological consultations and higher educational institutions that train psychologists, the functioning of professional associations and periodicals, review Law on Psychological Assistance, etc. The growth in demand for the services of counseling psychologists in Ukraine in connection with military actions, as well as the expansion of the possibilities of conducting consultations in the online format, is analyzed. However, the problem of financing higher education was revealed, which leads to a decrease in the quality of professional training of psychologists; the problem of contradiction between consultative approaches and mental, religious and behavioral traditions of society is discussed; political and socio-economic factors are analyzed, such as impoverishment of the population, a decrease in its cultural level, which complicates the work of psychologists and limits access to psychological help.

"Cross Paths": Once Again About the Relevance of a Combined Medical and Psychological Approach to a Person as a Client and a Patient at the Same Time

Alexander Kocharian — 2024-06-30

The article is devoted to rethinking the functions, duties and vectors of directing the efforts of practicing psychologists in the situation of psychological assistance to specific people suffering from hostilities, shelling, martial law, general traumatization caused by the military conflict. It is emphasized that the general circumstances of today put forward new requirements in the field of providing psychological services to the population. Their distinguishing feature is the impossibility of separating the actual psychological, medical, socio-economic and legal issues, although the specified aspects definitely have their own specifics. The difficulties with regard to the specific mental state of a person who turns to a psychologist or a family doctor are that it is often impossible to separate disorders of the somatic, mental or personal spectrum, so to speak, in their pure form. And only instrumental and laboratory tests, as well as psychodiagnostics, which objectify the complaints and/or requests of a person about bad health, can determine the defining aspect of the efforts of the relevant specialist (doctor, psychologist or social worker). It is emphasized that corrections should be introduced in the retraining of both psychologists and medical workers belonging to the primary health care sector, namely: in the retraining of psychologists, more attention should be paid to the medical aspects of understanding the course of stress, PTSD, altered emotional states, and personality pathology, somatogenic, etc. Instead, during the retraining of medical workers and doctors, it is necessary to strengthen the psychological nuances of understanding the experience of anxiety, emotional trauma, acute emotional reactions, the specifics of the action of protective mechanisms, etc. Only a comprehensive medical and psychological approach can optimally provide effective assistance to a person who has suffered in a traumatic situation. Unlike doctors, a psychologist-practitioner is not armed with clear protocols of actions in the situation of providing first-line psychological assistance. That is why it is necessary to develop indicative standards for determining the priority of providing psychological or medical services to a specific person in specific circumstances. At the same time, when choosing a consulting-psychotherapeutic paradigm, it is client-centered therapy that can be considered as a principled strategy that "unlocks" the hidden, implicit problems of client-patients, ensuring proper understanding by them and an appropriate attitude to both somatic, mental, and somatoform problems. , and somatogenic disorders. The latter creates the necessary compliance of the patient/client with the medical doctor and psychologist.

Intensity of Sexual Desire: Norm and Pathology. Discussion on the Topic

Garnik S. Kocharyan — 2024-06-30

The intensity of sexual desire can be various and ranges in a certain continuum. One of its poles is occupied by absence of sexual desire, the other one having its pathological increase. Among the sex desire disorders its weakening is most commonly diagnosed disorder (in 33.4% of women, topping other sexopathological symptoms, and in 15.8% of men). The article contains definitions of hypoactive sexual desire in ICD-10 (1992), ICD-10 Research Diagnostic Guidelines (RDG) (1993) and ICD-11. According to ICD-10 RDG, one of general diagnostic criteria of sexual dysfunctions consists in duration of their existence, which should last at least 6 months. As for general diagnostic criteria of sexual dysfunctions, ICD-11 isolates such as presence of their existence during at least a few months and necessity of existence of clinically significant distress associated with the above dysfunctions. These criteria are also reflected in the characteristic of hypoactive dysfunction of sexual desire (HA00) in ICD-11. Such diagnostic criteria were absent in ICD-10 (1992). In this connection the following questions arise: (1) Why does diagnosing of sexual dysfunction require such a long period of its existence? (2) What must the physician and patient do during this period: wait until the sexual disorder may smooth over spontaneously or record further decreases in the patient’s quality of life? (3) Why is a specialist in the field of sexual health, who has received occupational training, unable to make a proper diagnosis before the end of at least 3-month period? Another aspect of the problem consists in the ability to diagnose one or another sexual dysfunction in ICD-11 only in the case when the sexual problem is associated with clinically significant distress. As it was previously stated, the diagnostic manual (ICD-11), which was preparing, would set its sights on absence of any standards of sexual activity. If an individual is satisfied with his/her sexual activity, the possibility of making the diagnosis of sexual dysfunction is immediately excluded. The characterized approach blurs the conception of norm and pathology. But it should be noted that hypoactive dysfunction of sexual desire is presented in the approved ICD-11 rather broadly, and though the presence of personality distress, associated with the above dysfunction, is one of its diagnostic criteria, such a harsh approach to its diagnosis, which took place at the stage of preparation of this classification, is not noted. In the author’s opinion, the assertion that asexuality may be one of the normal manifestations is not justified and the notion of “healthy asexuality” is paradoxical.