Personal life crises. How to use personality development crises to improve your life

Throughout life, each person is constantly engaged in self-improvement, develops, learns something new. But our modern life can put a person in a position where he is not able to quickly react to any change in the situation. And at such a moment, a person cannot understand what is right and wrong, where is good and where is bad? This is a personality crisis.

Any struggle with various well-established rules, values ​​and norms of behavior is a personality crisis that is very acutely experienced by a person. Trying to understand or change something in this incomprehensible world, a person comes to a mental disorder, and sometimes to death. And the reason for this is a change in his inner state.

Identity crises can occur at any age. Even a newborn baby undergoes a mental state change. At the beginning of life, several crises are identified: a crisis of birth, a crisis of the year, a crisis of three years, etc. Growing up, a person is less exposed to age crises, there is already a pubertal crisis, a midlife crisis, a retirement crisis and a death crisis.

But a person's life is influenced not only by personality crises, depending on his age. Great importance his emotional state also plays, a change in the value system can occur from the endured grief, irreparable loss, under the influence of fear or anger. In many cases, the causes of the crisis lie in family relationships.

A personality crisis is an imbalance in human life. During a crisis, a person is capable of such rash acts that society can neither understand nor accept. A person suffering from a personality crisis is characterized by inappropriate behavior, frequent stress, and prolonged depression.

Various factors contribute to the development of personality, for example, stress or a sudden change in the situation. Our modern life is going on at such a frantic pace that we need to very quickly adapt to the emergence of a new situation. And this speed is not within the power of everyone. Therefore, the body includes additional mental defense forces such as flight, struggle, or depression.

Depression is one of the natural psychological ways to save the body. The person seems to withdraw into himself, he hides and waits for the problem. This tactic really helps. But, on the other hand, depression is negative, because a person does not develop during depression.

Fight or flight methods are based on energizing. The person is either struggling with this problem, or trying to escape from it. It is generally accepted that dealing with a problem is the most correct and best way to get out of a crisis. But in our modern world all the functions of protecting the psyche are severely violated, often we ourselves do not know how to react more correctly to the situation that has arisen. Hence the inappropriate behavior, and the personality crisis begins again.

In order to overcome a personality crisis, a person, first of all, must form for himself his own system of values, taking into account what is most important to him. Therefore, you need to focus on your person. At this time, you do not need to think about relatives and friends and make yourself a slave to other people. In the first place should be your own candidacy, and then you need to arrange all your life priorities in order.

Many will consider this self-centeredness an extreme manifestation of selfishness. But this is provided by nature: everyone fights for himself. Of course, it should be borne in mind that this method is only suitable for single people. In a family, there can be two in the central circle, and everything else will revolve around this circle: friends, hobbies, etc. Such a system will help to overcome any hardships and troubles and avoid a crisis.

Everything was fine, and then - for no reason, no reason - something happened, as if it broke, and everything went downhill somewhere ...
This is a crisis.

Crisis ... Word set on edge.

We are sincerely afraid of him - this crisis, because we assume that nothing good can bring anything. On the contrary, it will catch you in its prime, at the very takeoff and painfully hit the sinful earth. And that's all. A crisis Is a loss. A crisis- a nightmare.

Or maybe it's not so scary? Let's try to figure it out together.

A crisis (other Greek κρίσις- decision, turning point) - a coup, a time of a transitional state, a turning point, a state in which the existing means of achieving goals become inadequate, as a result of which unpredictable situations arise.
Scientists note that, in turn, the Greek κρίσις comes from the verb κρίων, meaning "to determine, to choose." Thus, is this a certain most important moment, testifying to the necessity and timeliness of the transition to a different, qualitatively different state?
But this is great! So the crisis is a messenger of development!

What crises do we help to cope with on ours?

During life, each of us constantly grows and develops as a person, self-perfects, learns something new.

But at some moments, growth stops, a calm, well-established life is created, without pretensions to something more. The personality has already reached certain heights and does not feel the need for further development. Until a certain moment. Until a certain situation occurs that requires a reassessment of values, a rethinking of actions and events. And as a result of this, change in behavior and way of thinking - this condition is called personality development crisis.

The very word "crisis" is frightening and alarming. The feeling that the crisis is not bringing anything good. Is it so? There are different opinions, but the most common one says that a personality crisis is a necessary for development and personal growth period , without which you can not do.

A personality crisis is a kind of revolutionary situation in the mind, when "the old way is no longer suitable, but the new way is not yet possible." A person faces the problem of choosing what to prefer - to live as before or to choose a new one.

The whole essence of the crisis is in conflict between the old and the new, between the familiar past and the possible future, between who we are now and who we could become.

The crisis moves a person to a position where the habitual stereotypes of thinking and behavior no longer work, and the new ones do not yet. This is the state "between heaven and earth", an intermediate period. This is a time of questions, not answers.

At what age should you expect a personality crisis? In psychology, there is the following periodization:

• neonatal crisis;
• crisis 1 year;
• crisis 3 years;
• crisis 7 years;
• a crisis adolescence(12-15 years old);
• youth crisis (17-20 years old);
• midlife crisis (30 years);
• maturity crisis (40-45 years old);
• retirement crisis (55-60 years).

The duration of the crisis and the degree of saturation are purely individual and depend on many conditions; it can last from a couple of months to a couple of years. The crisis begins and ends imperceptibly, its boundaries are blurred and indistinct.

Let us consider in more detail the crisis states of the individual.

Newborn crisis ... For nine months we are in intrauterine development. We feel good and comfortable, we are protected and shielded from the outside world.

But after nine months, each child must go through the birth process. From the comfortable habitual conditions of life, we find ourselves in a completely different state, it is necessary to breathe, eat in a new way, and orient ourselves differently. We have to adapt to these new conditions. It is with this that the first crisis in human life is connected.

1 year crisis ... We have more opportunities and new needs. There is a surge of independence. We react to misunderstanding on the part of adults with affective outbursts.

One of our main acquisitions during this period is walking. We stand on our feet, we begin to move independently. As a result, not only our space expands, we begin to separate ourselves from the parent. For the first time, the social situation "we" is being destroyed: now it is not mom who leads us, but we lead mom wherever we want. Another acquisition is a kind of children's speech, which differs significantly from adult speech.

These new formations of a given age mark a rupture of the old developmental situation and the transition to a new stage.

Crisis 3 years. One of the most difficult crises in our childhood life. It is characterized by the fact that personal changes occurring to us lead to a change in relations with adults. This crisis arises because we begin to separate ourselves from other people, to realize our capabilities, to feel that we are a source of will. The tendency towards independence is clearly manifested: we want to do everything and decide for ourselves. The phenomenon "I myself" appears.

In frequent quarrels with parents, protest-rebellion manifests itself, and it is as if we are constantly in a state of war with them. In a family with an only child, it is possible for us to manifest despotism. If there are several children in the family, instead of despotism, jealousy usually arises: the same tendency towards power here acts as a source of jealous, intolerant attitude towards other children who have almost no rights in the family, from the point of view of us, young despots.

At the age of three, our old rules of conduct may be depreciated, as a result of which we may begin to call names; old attachments to things can be depreciated, because of which we can discard or even break our favorite toy if it is offered to us at the wrong time, etc. The attitude towards other people and towards oneself is changing. Psychologically, we separate ourselves from close adults.

Also, this age is characterized by negativism, stubbornness, obstinacy, self-will.

The motivation for behavior is changing. At 3 years old, we first become able to act contrary to our immediate desire. Our behavior is determined not by this desire, but by our relationship with another, adult.

The crisis is 7 years old. It can manifest itself in the interval from 6 to 8 years. This crisis is caused by the new social status of the child - the status of a schoolchild. A status that is associated with the fulfillment of educational work so highly valued by adults.

The formation of an appropriate internal position radically changes our self-awareness, leads to a reassessment of values. We are undergoing profound changes in terms of experiences: a chain of failures or successes (in school, in communication), leads to the formation of a stable affective complex - a feeling of inferiority, humiliation, offended pride, or vice versa, a sense of self-importance, competence, exclusivity. Thanks to the generalization of experiences, the logic of feelings appears. Experiences acquire new meaning becomes possible fight experiences. Now our behavior will be refracted through personal experiences.

A purely crisis manifestation usually becomes: loss of spontaneity, demeanor (secrets appear, we make ourselves "smart," strict, etc.), a symptom of "bitter candy" (we feel bad, but we try not to show it). These external features, as well as the tendency to whims, affective reactions, conflicts, begin to disappear when the child comes out of the crisis and enters a new age.

Adolescent crisis (12-15 years old). This crisis is the longest in time and is directly related to the puberty of our body. Physical changes in our body invariably affect the emotional background, it becomes uneven, unstable. Relationships with others are changing. We place great demands on ourselves and on adults and protest against being treated like little ones. There is a passionate desire, if not to be, then at least to seem and be considered an adult. Defending our new rights, we protect many areas of our lives from the control of our parents and often go into conflicts with them. Our behavior changes dramatically: many of us become rude, uncontrollable, doing everything in defiance of our elders, disobeying them, ignoring comments (adolescent negativism), or, conversely, we can withdraw into ourselves.

Youth crisis (17-20 years old). The usual school life is about to be left behind, and we will enter the threshold of real adult life. In this regard, emotional stress increases significantly, fears may develop - before a new life, before the possibility of a mistake.

The period of adolescence is the time of real, adult responsibility: the army, the university, the first job, perhaps the first marriage. Parents cease to stand behind, and a truly independent life begins.

This is the time when the gaze is directed to the future. Personality stabilization period. At this time, we have a system of stable views of the world and our place in it - a worldview is being formed. This is a time of self-determination, professional and personal.

The crisis is 30 years old. The time when the first frenzy of youth is over, and we begin to evaluate what has been done, and look much more soberly into the future. We begin to form questions that we are not able to answer, but which sit inside and destroy us: “What is the meaning of my existence !?”, “This is what I wanted !? If so, what's next !? " etc.

Analyzing the path traversed, our achievements and failures, we find that with an already established and outwardly prosperous life, our personality is imperfect. One gets the feeling that a lot of time and effort has been wasted, that very little has been done compared to what could have been done, etc. There is a reassessment of values, a critical revision of one's "I", the idea of ​​one's life is changing. Sometimes you lose interest in what was previously the main thing in it.

In some cases, the crisis leads to the fact that we deliberately destroy the old way of life.

At this time, men are characterized by divorce, a change in job or a change in lifestyle, the acquisition of expensive things, a frequent change of sexual partners, and there is a clear orientation towards the young age of the latter. He, as it were, begins to get what he could not get at an earlier age, realizes his children's and youthful needs.

For women, during their 30s crisis, the priorities set in early early adulthood usually change. Women focused on marriage and parenting are now increasingly attracted to professional goals. At the same time, those who gave their energy to work now tend to direct them into the bosom of family and marriage.

The crisis of 30 years is often called the crisis of the meaning of life. It is with this period that the search for the meaning of existence is usually associated. This quest, like the entire crisis in general, marks the transition from youth to maturity.

The crisis is 40 years old. This crisis is, as it were, a repetition of the crisis of 30 years and occurs when the previous crisis did not lead to a proper solution of existential problems.

At this time, we are acutely experiencing dissatisfaction with our lives, the discrepancy between life plans and their implementation. Added to this is a change in attitude on the part of colleagues at work: the time is passing when one could be considered “promising”, “promising”.

Quite often a crisis of 40 years is caused by an exacerbation of family relations... The loss of some close people, the loss of a very important common side of the spouses' life - direct participation in the life of children, daily care for them - contributes to the final understanding of the nature of the marital relationship. And if, apart from the children of the spouses, nothing significant for both of them binds, the family may fall apart.

In the event of a crisis for 40 years, a person has to once again rebuild his life plan, develop a largely new one. "I am the concept" ... Serious changes in life can be associated with this crisis, up to a change of profession and the creation of a new family.

Retirement crisis (55-60 years old). This crisis is associated with the termination of employment and retirement. The usual regime and way of life are violated, we have nothing to occupy ourselves with. At the same time, we retain our ability to work, and its lack of demand greatly depresses. We feel ourselves as if "thrown to the sidelines of life", which already takes place without our active participation.

We suddenly realize that life is coming to an end, and we are no longer at the center of its cycle. We feel lost, we can become depressed, lose interest in life.

To get out of this crisis, it is very important to find an application for oneself, to find a new occupation that can replace labor activity.

Personality crises accompany us throughout our lives. Any struggle with various established rules, values ​​and norms of behavior is acutely experienced by us. A crisis manifests itself as a fear of change, a person immersed in life's vicissitudes has a feeling that this will never end and he will not be able to get out of this state. Often times, a crisis feels like a ruin of life.

Each age crisis is both a change in a person's worldview, and a change in his status in relation to both society and himself. Learning to perceive yourself, new, from a positive point of view - this is the main thing that will help to overcome the psychological difficulties of age crises.

Psychologist
service "Urgent social assistance"
Bernaz Ksenia Georgievna

Personality crises

History of the study of the problem. Causes of personality crises.

Although the problem of the crisis of individual life has always been in the field of attention of humanitarian thinking, including psychological, as an independent discipline, developed mainly within the framework of preventive psychiatry, the theory of crises appeared on the psychological horizon relatively recently. It is customary to start it from an article by E. Lindemann devoted to the analysis of acute grief (see Kozlov, 2003).

Historically, the theory of crises has been influenced mainly by four intellectual movements: the theory of evolution and its application to the problems of general and individual adaptation; theory of achievement and growth of human motivation; a life cycle approach to human development and an interest in coping with extreme stresses. Among the ideological origins of the theory of crises are also called psychoanalysis (and primarily such concepts as mental balance and psychological defense), some of Rogers' ideas and the theory of roles.

Distinctive features of the theory of crises of individual life, according to J. Jacobson, are as follows:

· It refers mainly to the individual, although some of its concepts are used in relation to the family, small and large groups; the theory of crises considers man in his own ecological perspective, in his natural human environment;

· The theory of crises emphasizes not only the possible pathological consequences of the crisis, but also the possibilities of growth and development of the individual.

The causes of individual crises can be divided into two large groups: crises associated with deformation of the ego structure (static changes, loss of any part of the ego) and crises associated with the impossibility of realizing personality tendencies (they are associated with the dynamic characteristics of the personality). Theoretically, life events are qualified as leading to a crisis if they create a potential or actual threat to the satisfaction of fundamental needs and at the same time pose a problem for the individual that he cannot get away from and which he cannot solve in a short time and in the usual way.

It is deformation or the threat of deformation as a frustrating factor for the main components of the Ego and components close to them in value significance that is the main cause of the individual crisis. This deformation can relate to the material, social or spiritual aspects of life.

Crisis factors in this case:

Physical factor - illness, accident, surgery, change in appearance, childbirth, miscarriage, abortion, extreme physical stress, prolonged food deprivation, excessive sexual experience, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, long-term sexual dissatisfaction or traumatic sexual experience, catastrophically rapid weight loss or obesity;

· Loss of significant items and valuables due to fire, natural disaster, bankruptcy, robbery, deception, ruin, etc .;

• loss of integrative social status due to dismissal, layoffs, retirement, bankruptcy or disqualification;

Deformation of significant social ties or social environment that provoke strong emotional experiences and are designated by the individual as major failures: loss of important family ties, death of a child, relative, separation from parents, family, friends, the end of significant love relationship, excessive long stay in an aggressive environment, divorce, loss leadership positions, expulsion from a significant social community, forced social deprivation, prolonged forced stay in an unusual role;

• loss of the meaning of life due to vital disintegration. We regard the desire for a person's search and realization of the meaning of his life as a motivational tendency inherent in all people and which is the main engine of behavior and personality development. At the initial stages of the loss of meaning, a person has a feeling that he “lacks” something, but he cannot say what exactly. To this is gradually added the feeling of abnormality and emptiness of everyday life. The individual begins to look for the origins and purpose of life. The state of anxiety and anxiety becomes more and more painful, and the feeling of inner emptiness becomes unbearable. A person feels that he is going crazy: what constituted his life has now for the most part disappeared for him like a dream, while the new light has not yet appeared. A person seeks to find meaning and feels frustration or vacuum if this desire remains unfulfilled;

• a moral crisis, which consists in the fact that a person's conscience wakes up or sharpens; a new sense of responsibility arises, and with it a heavy feeling of guilt and torment, repentance. The person judges himself in all severity and falls into a deep depression. At this stage, thoughts of suicide often come. It seems to a person that the only logical conclusion of his internal crisis and decay may be physical destruction. Man cannot accept daily life, not be satisfied with it, as before. This state is very reminiscent of psychotic depression or "melancholy", which is characterized by an acute sense of their own unworthiness, constant self-destruction and self-blame;

· In-depth participation in various forms of meditation and spiritual practice, designed to activate spiritual experiences: Zen techniques, Buddhist meditations, yoga, Sufi exercises, reading Christian prayers, various ascetic deprivation practices, monastic reflections, static meditations on mandalas, etc.;

· Group and individual experiments using psychedelic substances;

· Participation in various intensive forms of group psychological work with a person;

• unprepared inclusion in various ethnic rituals and ecstatic practices;

· Participation in the life of totalitarian sects.

Crises associated with the inability to realize the basic tendencies of an individual arise when a tendency meets difficulties. In this case, the following factors may become critical:

The rapid prosperity of a person in the material sphere, when during short term economic wealth not correlated with the claims of the individual is accumulating;

· Tearing poverty, in a situation of which the expansive function is reduced to a minimum and often there is not enough money even for the physical existence of a person. It is especially dangerous for the individual in those cases when it does not allow to realize a significant social function (to feed the family, buy medicines for a loved one in case of illness, etc.);

· "From rags to riches", when, due to a fortunate coincidence of circumstances, a person falls into a social stratum, with whose representatives he does not have communication skills and, which is no less important, is not ready to perform imperious, managerial role functions. Frustration of this kind, arising from the rapid realization of the expansive function, can lead to existential emptiness;

· "I deserve more" - a large gap between personal claims for social growth and the status achieved due to the impossibility of realizing the expansive function of the social "I";

• too fast flow of the process of spiritual self-disclosure; the speed of this process exceeds the integrative capabilities of a person, and it takes on dramatic forms. People who find themselves in such a crisis are exposed to an onslaught of experiences that suddenly challenge all their previous beliefs and the very way of life;

• too slow flow of spiritual self-disclosure, when the search for the basic meanings of existence turns into painful expectation and tragic hopelessness. Often, the activation of the psyche, characteristic of such crises, includes the manifestation of various old traumatic memories and impressions; due to this, there is a violation of the daily existence of a person and a devaluation of the dominant aspects of life;

· Cognitive intoxication - too rapid accumulation of knowledge in a certain science, type of activity, or a collision with a large amount of information and experiences in life;

· Quick qualitative personal changes, for which both the personality itself and the social environment are not ready;

· "Longing for stability", when the development of a conservative tendency leads to material, social stability of such an order that it causes a feeling of freshness and colorlessness of life. With a personality in such a situation, "nothing happens", and this causes an existential melancholy of existence;

· “Longing for stability” - when it is impossible to realize the dynamic life circumstances, a person has a feeling of fragility and unreliability of life, which is the reason for the existential longing for order and well-being.

Symptoms of an Individual Crisis

J. Kaplan described four successive stages of the crisis: 1) primary growth of tension, stimulating habitual ways of solving problems; 2) a further increase in stress in conditions when these methods are ineffective; 3) an even greater increase in tension, requiring the mobilization of external and internal sources; 4) if everything turns out to be in vain, the fourth stage begins, characterized by an increase in anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, disorganization of the personality. A crisis can end at any stage if the danger disappears or a solution is found (see Kozlov, 2003).

The system-forming category of the concept of crisis is the category of individual life, understood as a developing whole, as life path personality. Strictly speaking, a crisis is a crisis in life, a critical moment and a turning point in life. When, in the face of events covering the most important life relationships of a person, he turns out to be powerless (not at this isolated moment, but in principle, in the perspective of the realization of a life plan), a critical situation specific for this plane of life arises - a crisis.

We can distinguish two types of crisis situations, differing in the degree to which they leave the possibility of realizing the inner necessity of life. A crisis of the first kind can seriously complicate and complicate the implementation of a life plan, however, it still retains the possibility of restoring the course of life interrupted by the crisis. This is a test from which a person can emerge having preserved his life plan in the essential and confirmed his self-identity. A situation of the second kind, a crisis itself, makes the realization of a life plan impossible. The result of experiencing this impossibility is the metamorphosis of the personality, its rebirth, the adoption of a new plan of life, new values, a new life strategy, a new image of I. Experiencing in an extremely abstract understanding is a struggle against the impossibility of living, it is, in a sense, a struggle against death within life ... But, naturally, not everything that dies off or is exposed to any threat within life requires experiencing, but only that which is essential, significant, fundamental for a given form of life, which forms its internal necessities. In other words, each form of life has a specific type of experience.

With all the variety of emotional and sensory manifestations of an individual crisis, specific patterns of experiences can be distinguished, the presence of which indicates the fact of a crisis:

· fear. Various forms of fear in general are characteristic of all aspects of the functioning of the individual as an integral system of relations with reality, however, in crises, fear can take on a rather specific character. It can be an undifferentiated fear that arises suddenly and is accompanied by a feeling of an imminently impending threat, a catastrophe, often of a metaphysical, unobjective nature; fear of new, unexpected internal states, rapidly replacing each other, of unacceptable, unexpectedly arising thoughts and ideas, as well as fear of losing control over the contents of consciousness; fear of loss of control associated with the loss of basic life guidelines and the devaluation of previous goals, as well as the experience of new states characterized by intense emotions and bodily sensations; fear of insanity arising from the overflow of consciousness with unconscious contents; this fear is closely related to the fear of losing control; fear of death associated with the horror of destroying the body (this type of fear is explained by the activation of unconscious contents, primarily the death-birth process;

• feeling of loneliness. Loneliness is another component of a spiritual crisis. It can manifest itself in a wide range - from a vague sense of their remoteness from people to complete absorption by existential alienation. The feeling of loneliness is associated with the very nature of those experiences that make up the content of an individual crisis. High intrapsychic activity causes the need to move away from everyday life into the world of inner experiences more and more often. The significance of relationships with other people fades away, and a person feels a breakdown in connection with his familiar identifications. This is accompanied by a sense of remoteness from the surrounding world and from oneself, causing a kind of painful "anesthesia" of habitual feelings and recalling a severe clinical form of depression. In addition, people in crisis tend to regard what is happening to them as something unique that has not happened to any person before. Those who face these experiences feel not only isolated, but completely insignificant. Most people tend to extrapolate this state to the world around them, which appears as absurd and meaningless, and any human activity seems trivial to them;

· A sense of alienation. In a social environment where certain norms and rules of behavior are accepted, a person who begins to change internally may not seem entirely healthy. Talking about your fears, feelings associated with death and loneliness, experiences of a transpersonal nature, can alert friends and loved ones and lead to social isolation. The person experiencing a spiritual crisis may change interests and values, he may not want to participate in the usual activities or pastimes. A person can awaken an interest in spiritual problems, prayer, meditation, in some esoteric systems and practices, which will seem strange to his immediate environment and contribute to the emergence of the feeling that he is a stranger among people;

· Subjectively experienced states of "madness". Individual crises are rarely accompanied by a loss of control over inner experiences and extreme forms of behavior. At the same time, the role of the logical mind is significantly weakened, and a person is faced with internal realities that lie outside the boundaries of ordinary rationality. Dramatic mood swings and lack of self-control should be noted. These are common initial reactions to intense experiences. A person can experience sudden, unreasonable mood swings from one emotion to a completely opposite one. Partial paralysis of voluntary attention is possible, a person may feel that he has almost completely lost control of himself, his thoughts and feelings. These experiences sometimes cause an ambiguous reaction in a person: on the one hand, there is a feeling of complete loss of rational control over what is happening in interior space, regarded as the beginning of insanity, on the other - the expansion of the sphere of awareness and a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around us;

• the experience of symbolic death. Confrontation with the manifestations of death is a central part of the transformation process and a unifying component of many crises. When the development of a crisis brings a person to the fullest possible awareness of his mortality, he most often begins to experience colossal resistance. The awareness of their mortality can drain a person who is not ready to face this aspect of reality, but it can also become liberating for those who can accept the fact of their mortality. The activation of the theme of death in the consciousness of a person always speaks of a sufficient depth of the crisis process and, as a consequence, of the high transformational potential of these states. Themes of death can be activated by external events associated with the destruction of the usual social status, large material damage. In other cases, the process of psychological death is triggered when faced with a potentially life-threatening situation: severe somatic illness, trauma, catastrophe, natural disaster and others. One of the forms of experiencing symbolic death is the feeling, characteristic of many crisis states, of the loss of the meaning of everything that previously constituted a person's life, the destruction of previous attachments and liberation from previous roles. Such experiences can be accompanied by deep melancholy, their companions are often depressive tendencies.

These problems are generated by the awakening of new thoughts, aspirations and interests of a moral, religious or spiritual nature.

Stages of an individual crisis

The experience of a crisis can be divided into five main stages, some forms of existence that differ in the meaning and strength of the experience:

Everyday life of a person with his usual concerns and functions,

Death-rebirth,

· Ending the crisis and returning to ordinary life with new qualities.

a) Everyday life

The first form is a habitual way of life for each of us. We exist in accordance with the conventions of society, without strong tensions. Public beliefs, morals and restrictions are either accepted by a person unconditionally, as completely natural, or he violates them as much as everyone violates them. Every person in Russia knows that a respectable citizen should not violate laws and regulations (tax laws, traffic rules, etc.). He violates them as much as this violation is a measure of sanity, and as much as everyone else does.

In science, this stage of human development is called linear. At this stage, he is far from unusual questions and global problems, unless, of course, they are the usual way of structuring space and time. Ordinary, intelligibility, dullness filled with illusions - these are the characteristics of this form of life. Life prospects from this stage are built into the usual perception of the world, they are understandable, a person has the utmost knowledge of what is good, what is bad, how to act, how not to, where to strive, where not to. All knowledge, abilities, skills that are acquired in everyday life are an expression of habitual tendencies, motives, goals, interests.

A person knows neither anxiety, nor joy, nor pain. And if they are present, they do not have a shocking intensity. Everything is as good as socially acceptable. Everything is as bad as everyone's.

It can be said that nothing happens at this stage, even if someone dies or is born; it happens to everyone and does not break the rhythm of life.

For the bulk of people, life is normal to the extent that it is familiar and mundane. Moreover, a person makes every possible effort to maintain this "normality". In a sense, he sleeps and sees a dream, which is called life, and quietly hate those who want to wake us up. In a stable, linear segment of their lives, people tend to live in a comfort zone. Nothing happens in this zone, or life just happens: time and space are structured in accordance with the motivational-need and value-orientational systems of the individual. Sense-activity structures are self-sufficient and stable. There is a well-established social and psychological communications. Living in a comfortable zone is associated with a familiar way, a style of existence.

The intensity of life circumstances is such as to maintain a certain background activity of existence. It cannot be said that there are no problems, tensions or conflicts in this zone. They, no doubt, exist, but they are of an ordinary nature and are some characteristics of the usual ways of interacting with internal and external reality.

In the comfort zone, there is no challenge, situations that frustrate the personality. The personality has a margin of safety, a stock of experience, a system of knowledge, skills, and abilities in order to linearly structure the meaningful activity field and, at the same time, not to encounter unsolvable situations. Many psychological structures at the level of perception of life are arranged in such a way as to maintain existence in a comfortable zone. Any complex system can function only if it has a sensitivity threshold. We don't seem to notice or join, we don't want to get involved in emotional states and situations that threaten to disrupt comfortable homeostasis. All defense mechanisms are designed according to this logic. The threshold of sensitivity is often deliberately lowered precisely by our desire to live in a comfort zone.

Existence in the comfort zone is provided by several variables:

· Conflict-free between the main global structures (material, social, spiritual). Without any tension and conflicts within these spheres and between them, the existence of a personality is, of course, impossible. Conflicts and contradictions are the source of personality functioning. It is important that these conflicts do not have a traumatic intensity, do not have a stressful charge. Existence inside a comfortable zone is always associated with the idea of ​​the correctness of life, with the idea of ​​stability;

· Total identification, merging with oneself. With regard to individual crises, the task of "developing" oneself is of decisive importance, to free oneself from everything that actually no longer corresponds to a person, so that authenticity, truth and reality, the true "I" become more and more obvious and effective;

· Increase in internal stiffness and rigidity.

Any significant step in the development of personality presupposes an understanding of one's own limitations and going beyond one's limits. This is not a war of all against all, or a rebellion involving confrontation with social laws of coexistence and ethical norms. This is a change in the place of perception of oneself in life, a look at oneself from outside oneself and an honest recognition of one's limitations and illusions.

After all, it is a law of development that such precursors of change arise. At first imperceptibly, but then more and more intensively life begins to indicate that the bosom that you have inhabited is already outdated, or cramped, or smells musty. The call for change begins to fill the space of life. This call is called a crisis.

The call of the crisis is multifaceted. This can be a breakdown of the established ideas about your body and other parts of the material I: illness, threat of death, loss of home or money. It can be a shocking encounter with illness, old age, or death, as was the case with the Buddha. Sometimes it is not the very deprivation of a significant part of one's material existence, but simply the threat of such deprivation that becomes the cause of the crisis, its call.

Often the call is realized through breaking the usual social relations and identifications with roles and statuses: loss of a job, betrayal of a wife, inability to earn money, deprivation of prospects for professional growth, divorce, loss of children, friends, close relatives ... The call is the stronger, the more significant parts the sweeping force touches the social "body" with it.

The call of the crisis manifests itself even more intensely in the spiritual dimensions of the individual. It can be an existential crisis that breaks all the usual ideas and beliefs. Sometimes a call can also come as a push from within: an impressive dream or vision, a phrase accidentally dropped by someone, an excerpt from a book.

The call can be embodied in ominous figures of existential melancholy, feelings of loneliness and alienation, the absurdity of human existence, a painful question about the meaning of life. A spiritual crisis can take the form of a nagging, as it were, causeless divine dissatisfaction, depriving the meaning of the usual interests, small and large pleasures of life from sex, fame, power, bodily pleasure.

It can be assumed that in terms of intensity, the call is a manifestation of a risk zone, which is less inhabited by humans, but more filled with vitality and strange attractiveness. This zone is attractive for unusual experiences, its main emotional content is a mixture of curiosity and fear. It is always an opportunity for a somewhat dangerous but real expansion of the inner experience.

The comfort zone, for all its stability, stability and reliability, in the end causes nausea and boredom. These feelings appear especially quickly if there is a lot of vital energy in the personality. The personality "interrupts" the linearity of the comfort zone with new states. The personality develops new areas of experience, acquires new knowledge and skills. L. S. Vygotsky wrote about the zone of proximal development as the most optimal variant of training. The risk zone is the zone of proximal development. Learning or overtraining occurs precisely in that life situation when ignorance or inability is dangerous. Students know this well during the session.

This zone has a huge positive potential due to the fact that it brings to life the resources of the individual, increases physical, intellectual, heuristic and other psychological capabilities. At the same time, it is training of new possibilities, opening up new perspectives of life and recognizing its new facets.

There are two unpleasant patterns in interaction with this zone:

· The more a person explores it, the further its boundaries shift, the more intensity the experience is needed to achieve new states or embodied living of old ones. That is, each interaction with this zone expands the comfort zone, and an increasing intensity of experience is needed to reach the risk zone;

· A long stay in this zone leads to devaluation of the comfort zone and to psychobiological exhaustion, to the formation of a habit of living at the limit of possibilities, etc. as a consequence, to crisis states with negative disintegration.

It is not so important what form the call of the crisis takes. It is important that it is heard with a greater intensity of experience than with ordinary existence. It is important that he touches the most important strings of the personality and shows the limitations of its capabilities, the usual perception of life and calls a person to new expanses of development. It is important that it evokes fear and panic, but at the same time curiosity and excitement.

This challenge presents a person with a choice:

· Follow the call into incomprehensible and unexplored areas of reality, to new territories of personality, consciousness, activity, to a new quality of life;

· Not accept the challenge, as if not to notice the impending crisis and close deeper in the familiar.

Deafness to the call, caused by the fact that curiosity has been hoarded by fear, can turn for a person into regret about missed opportunities, about that. that everything could have been different - better, stronger, deeper, brighter. And if the challenge is heard, then by and large a person may face a more unenviable fate than the usual routine.

c) Climax

Death-rebirth is the culminating phase in the experience of the crisis. Her experience lies in the ruthless destruction of important old pillars and foundations in human life. This form can be designated as the death of the previous structure, content of the Ego, its assessments, relationships. The death of the former structure can be the result of intense physical experience (sexual, painful, changes in the image of the Self), emotional catastrophe, intellectual defeat, moral collapse. Death and rebirth occur only in the shock intensity of the experience or as a result of the cumulative effect of strong experiences from the previous zone.

With the cumulative effect and depletion of the biopsychic potential, the shock effect can be induced by an instant “last drop”. In a debilitating crisis, the person first effectively handles a series of isolated or stress-related events following one after the other. But in the end, the resistance weakens, and a person can reach the point where he no longer has sufficient strength and resources - external and internal - to cope with the cumulative effect of subsequent blows. In such a situation, a state of acute crisis is inevitable.

In case of shock intensity, a sudden cataclysm in the material, social or spiritual structures of an individual can cause a strong emotional reaction that suppresses the adaptive mechanisms of the individual. Since the event occurs unexpectedly and the person usually does not have time to prepare for a terrible blow, he can fall into emotional shock and "waste away." Shock intensity is always associated with the impact of the crisis on the important nuclear constructs of the personality - the image of the self, integrative status, existential values.

There are only four exits from the shock zone:

· Positive disintegration with the transition to a qualitatively new level of integrity of consciousness and personality;

• madness with various possible contents;

· Negative disintegration with the loss of social communications, vitality and return to a comfortable zone with a minimum level of vitality;

· death.

With positive disintegration, the death of the Ego is perceived not as a disappearance with its metaphysical fear of non-being, but as a qualitative transformation, a departure from the usual perception of the world, a feeling of general inadequacy, the need for overcontrol and domination. Ego death is a process of self-denial. This form is revealed through a reassessment of all values, a change in the goals of life. At this stage, much of what seemed valuable is no longer so. Many important meanings disappear, and a person can part with them.

A crisis is the death of a former identity that no longer corresponds to the tasks of the current stage of personal development. And in death is reborn new fabric vitality. The old self-image must die, and from its ashes a new individuality must sprout and unfold, more in line with the evolutionary, material, social and spiritual goal.

In a new, accepted quality, a sense of spiritual liberation, salvation and redemption arises. A person perceives the deep meaning of freedom as a state. The content of this stage is associated with the direct birth of a new personality. At this stage, the process of struggle for new qualities comes to an end. The movement through the scrapes of the crisis reaches its climax, and the peak of pain, suffering and aggressive tension is followed by catharsis, relief and filling of life with new meanings.

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the phase of death and rebirth is not only a stage of psychobiological or socio-psychological evolution of a person, but also a real experience of evolution. This stage, in addition to individual, personal experiences, has a pronounced archetypal, mythological, mystical content, is distinguished by a distinctly numinous character and is associated with deep existential insights that reveal an all-encompassing unity behind the world of separation.

The lesson phase requires discipline from the individual. Constructive experience is essential for her. The search for new goals, life strategies, new values ​​is important behind death and rebirth. Finding them often becomes a breakthrough that drastically changes the perception of the world. It could be new social projects, insights related to existential meanings of existence, understanding of their place in society and their mission. In the spiritual space, this can be expressed in enlightenment, liberation, union with God, or in a feeling of unusual lightness, clarity and simplicity of life. During the period of awareness and clarification of perspectives in a new capacity, people are especially sensitive to help. Habitual defense mechanisms are weakened conventional models behaviors seem inappropriate, and the person becomes more open to external influences.

As a person gains experience of a crisis in this phase, new mechanisms for resolving the conflict appear and new ways of adaptation develop, which will help him to more effectively cope with the same or a similar situation in the future.

The main lesson of the crisis is the state of equal treatment of everyone and everything - a deep expression of the factuality of life. A person does not grasp for anything and does not consider anything as his own, he has nothing and at the same time has everything. He himself has everything: all states, all ideas, all reactions - and he is nothing. He has risen above the field of human experience and already from this point has the ability to enter any form, into any experience, into any state, into any relation, into any contact with reality.

At the same time, this is a state when the main thing remains to serve other people and a person is fully manifested in his spiritual potency. He is free from identifications, the desire to be someone and something, but the lesson in wisdom gained from the crisis makes him a conductor of the highest values ​​of human existence - love, mercy, compassion, understanding, empathy. It is the crisis that reveals the essential understanding of humanism as a recognition of the intrinsic value of a person's personality, his right to freedom, happiness, development and manifestation of his abilities. The lesson of crisis in its highest manifestations is a lesson in virtue - the sacred duty of serving every person along the path of life.

V. Frankl considered the search for meaning to be an important component of the way out of a crisis situation. “A person is free to answer the questions that life asks him,” he writes. “But this freedom should not be confused with arbitrariness. It must be understood in terms of responsibility. A person is responsible for the correct answer to the question, for finding the true meaning of the situation ”(6, p. 293-294).

When the crisis is over, the person becomes a "wise experience." A person cannot gain wisdom in the ordinary. The teacher is born in the crucible of crisis. Moreover, any standing personality is formed only through the experience of a crisis.

e) End of the crisis

Actually, the crisis is over. There is already a clarity of understanding in the inner space. But inner clarity is not enough to complete it completely. The end of the crisis comes only when its experience is manifested in the return to the usual society and serving other people.

The value of people who have lived through a deep crisis is extremely great not only for the spiritual, but also for the social, material life of society. Often experience experiences personality crisis is an invaluable gift of insight for hundreds of thousands of people.

The passage of the crisis may not be very dramatic. Many are in crisis, but few attain wisdom. The crisis does not always fly into itself in all five forms at peak intensity. We go through many crises in our lives. They look like a series of circles, like a spiral, in which the person again and again returns to his everyday life, but each time reaching a higher perspective, unless, of course, some of the crises lead to the complete destruction of the personality and the impossibility of returning to the usual bosom of life ...

What is the significance of this from time to time repeated experience of the agony of the ego, which we designate as an individual crisis? Crises are an evolutionary challenge. This is the last mechanism for selecting the most powerful and strong individuals in the struggle for social survival. This is a powerful, eternal experience, the test of which leads to the ultimate effectiveness of man as a carrier of the human.

A crisis is a process hidden in the human psyche and concealing an evolutionary potential. It is he who can lead to the reconstruction of the psyche, personality and consciousness of the order that is evolutionarily necessary for man and humanity. It is he who gives birth to a person who is less conflicted, free from the past, less attached to his conditioning and conformism, healthier and more integral. It is the crisis that gives rise to all the best in a person.

Individual crisis mechanisms

F.E. To describe any experience, Vasilyuk singled out four forms of "life worlds" (motivators and sources of the content of the subject's vital activity). He set two categorical oppositions on which he built a typology of life-worlds, or forms of life. The structure of this typology is as follows: the "life world" has external and internal aspects, designated respectively as external and internal world. The outside world can be easy or difficult. Internal - simple or complex. The intersection of these categories defines four possible states:

• externally light and internally simple life world;

• outwardly difficult and internally simple life world;

• externally easy and internally complex life world;

• outwardly difficult and internally difficult life world.

The world, simple in the internal and light in the external relation, can be depicted by imagining a being with a single need and living in the conditions of the immediate givenness of the object corresponding to it. The external world is perfectly adapted to the life of a given creature, there are no excesses or deficiencies in it in relation to this life. The external world is co-natural with the life world, and therefore in the psychological world there are no special phenomena that, by their presence, would manifest within the psychological world the presence of the external world and would thus serve as a kind of border between them. The world of life and the external world turn out to be poured into each other, so that the observer, looking from the side of the subject, would not notice the world and would consider this being to be substantial, i.e. not requiring another being for its existence, and an observer from the side of the world would not single out this very being from him, he would see, in the words of V.I. Vernadsky, just "living matter". The life of a subject in such a world is a naked being, being completely open to the world. Spatial remoteness and temporal duration as an external aspect of the world are absent. Such a being leads a psychologically absolutely passive, passive existence: neither external nor internal activity in the lung and simple world Not needed. The principle of pleasure is the central principle of the perception of the world inherent in a simple and easy life; pleasure would be the goal and the highest value of such a life if it were built and realized consciously.

In such a world there is no place for experience, since the lightness and simplicity of the world, i.e. security and consistency of all life processes, exclude the possibility of situations that require experiencing.

However, if a living being has passed through the experience of simple and easy existence, then the phenomenological structures generated by such being are effective, eternally living and unremovable layers of his consciousness, moreover, being layers in the sense that they seek to define all consciousness by themselves, direct its processes into the responding to these structures the mainstream, in general to impose on the consciousness their mode of functioning. In any life-world, no matter how difficult and complex it may be, no matter how powerful and diverse the activity and psychic "organs" developed in it and the phenomenological structures corresponding to them, remain unavoidable primary vitality, the atom of which is the act of immediate satisfaction of any need.

The prototype of the considered existence and attitude can be the presence of the fetus in the womb of the mother, infantile existence and the corresponding infantile attitude.

In an outwardly difficult and internally simple world of life, the benefits of life are not given directly, the outer space is saturated with obstacles, hindrances, resistance of things that prevent the satisfaction of needs. In order for life to be fulfilled, these difficulties must be overcome. The external aspect of the psychological world unfolds into a certain spatio-temporal perspective. Along with the “here” and “then” dimensions, new dimensions “there” and “then” appear.

Activity in this world is characterized by a steady aspiration to the object of need. This activity is not subject to any distractions that lead to the side. Each object is comprehended only from the point of view of its usefulness or harmfulness in order to satisfy the always tense single need of the subject. Life is subject to the dictates of the principle of reality, the subject must adequately reflect reality. The pleasure principle is not a modification of the pleasure principle, but an independent reality.

The common basis for all the processes of experience inherent in this type of life is the mechanism of patience. Patience is a mechanism that obeys the principle of reality. It interacts with a defense mechanism subordinate to the pleasure principle. Protection recognizes the blessing as being available, patience as being available in the obligation.

There are two types of "realistic" experience. The first is carried out within the affected life relationship. In the simplest case of this variant of experience, the way out of a critical situation, which subjectively seems insoluble, occurs not due to an independent psychological process, but as a result of an unexpected objective resolution of the situation (success after failure, consent after refusal, etc.). A critical situation is not psychologically overcome here, but is actually eliminated due to effective behavior or a fortunate coincidence. More complex cases requiring special activity from the subject are carried out through lost abilities or substitution. The possibility of resolution in this psychological world is provided by two features - the ability of the subject to postpone the satisfaction of the need for a certain period of time, during which compensatory abilities can be developed, workarounds to the goal can be found or created, as well as the ability to be satisfied with any replacement of the object of need, if only could satisfy her.

The second version of "realistic" experience differs from the first in that there are no subjective connections of continuity between the disturbed attitude, which caused the need for the experience, and the subsequent life attitude, the normal realization of which signifies the success of the experience. The new activity and the old, frustrated one are not internally connected in any way. This "compensation" does not change anything in the previous, disturbed life relationship, it is a substitution without substitution.

The well-known prototypes of such a life path are a fanatic or a maniac, the state of the personality at the moment of "impulsive drives" or the state of the personality at the moment of the actualization of the motive, which has no alternatives.

In the case of an internally complex and externally light world of life, all the processes occurring between the initiative of the subject and the realization of the motive are eliminated. The entire internal structure of activity seems to drop out, each individual activity, as soon as it begins, is carried out instantly.

The main problematic nature and aspiration of an internally complex life is to get rid of the painful need for constant choices, to develop a value consciousness that would have a measure of measuring the significance of motives and the ability to cement life relationships into the integrity of individual life. Value is the only measure of comparison of motives. The principle of value is the highest principle of a complex and easy world of life.

In the inner world of the individual, separate units are “conjugated”, ie. he can keep in his internal field several relationships and there is a sequence between them.

The types of events to be experienced in an easy and complex world are an internal conflict (an insoluble contradiction between two life values) and an external conflict (for example, the disappearance of an object of one of the subject's life relationships).

In these events (whatever their specific nature), the psychological future, and the meaning and integrity of life are violated at the same time. There is a breakdown in the entire system of life, i.e. systems "consciousness-being"; consciousness cannot accept being in this form and loses the ability to comprehend and direct it. Overcoming this disorder of life, i.e. experience in an easy and complex world is carried out due to value-motivational restructuring. There are two main subtypes of value experience. The first is realized when the subject has not yet reached the highest stages of value improvement, and is accompanied by a greater or lesser change in his value-motivational system. The value experience of the second subtype is possible only at the highest stages of the development of value consciousness. If before reaching these levels the value belonged to the personality, was a part, even if the most important and integral, but still a part of her life, and the personality could say: "my value", now this relationship is turned around - the personality is already a part of the value that encompasses it , belongs to her, and it is in this communion of value, in serving her that he finds meaning and justification for his life.

The prototype of such existence is any moral choice when an individual has to distract himself from the difficulty of the world, from "matter". In other words, there is such a layer of human existence, the sphere of moral behavior, in which life is reduced to consciousness, the matter of vital activity is taken out of the brackets.

In an internally complex and externally difficult life world, the difficulty of the world is opposed to a set of activities. On the other hand, the complexity of the world confronts here cannot be resolved only internally. The main neoplasm that appears in a creature of such a life world is will. This is a psychological "organ" that is a representative of an integral subject, personality in its own mental apparatus and in general in life. We are talking about the self-construction of the individual, about the active and conscious creation of himself by a person, and not only about the ideal design of himself, but also about the sensory and practical embodiment of these ideas in conditions of a difficult and complex existence. The highest principle of this type of life-world is creativity.

The path of activity towards one's goal is at the same time complicated by external obstacles and complicated by internal fluctuations. Difficulties arouse the claims of other motives to determine the activity of the subject, and this actualized internal complexity increases the difficulty of its implementation and special work of will is needed to bring this activity to the end under these conditions. One of the main functions of the will is to prevent the struggle of motives that flares up in the field of activity to stop or reject the activity of the subject. Will is a struggle against the struggle of motives.

Space and time are linked into a single non-additive integrity.

An experience specific to this type of life-world is a crisis. A crisis is a turning point in the life of an individual. A crisis arises when, as a result of certain events, the implementation of a life plan becomes subjectively impossible.

The outcome of experiencing a crisis can be twofold. It consists either in the restoration of the life interrupted by the crisis, its revival, or in its rebirth into another life. But one way or another, we are talking about a certain product of one's own life, about self-creation, self-construction, i.e. about creativity. In the first subtype of creative experience, life is ultimately restored, but only that essential that constituted this life, its value idea, is preserved in it. The second subtype of creative experience takes place when the plan of life turns out to be based on false values ​​and is discredited along with them by the very experience of its implementation (Vasilyuk, 1984).

So, the qualitative features of individual crises are described above. Age-related or normative crises differ from them in their content.

Any problem has a gift for you. You look for problems because you need their gifts.

At various stages of life, a person is faced with crisis situations that can provoke personal (existential) crisis. It seems that in some cases it is possible to identify developments that serve as a trigger for the crisis, such as accident, operation, injury, injury. It can also be situations associated with the death of a loved one, experiencing various kinds of loss, loss of a family or job; crises caused by separation, loneliness, incurable illness, change in social status, etc.

However, the nature of the crisis is such that there may be more than sad or traumatic experiences among the triggers. Crisis can also be caused by joyful, positive events.- for example, having a child, falling in love, getting married or promoting. Sometimes in a crisis it is generally difficult to find some external cause... Just a person has a feeling that something has changed inside and today he can no longer live the way he lived yesterday: he became different. Very often, the event that "triggers" a crisis may be completely insignificant; it works by the type of "last drop". Thus, the triggering mechanisms of the crisis are determined not only by the external, but also by the internal content, the dynamics of the psychological life of the individual, which so often remain outside the limits of consciousness, and therefore cannot be controlled and foreseen.

Speaking about trigger mechanisms, one must also take into account the fact that the emergence of crises can be provoked not only by the events of a person's personal history, but also extreme situations of a global level associated with political, economic, social, environmental and natural disasters. And if we consider our planet and what is happening on it as a context for the biological, psychological and spiritual development of all mankind and individuals, then the connection between the personal and global levels becomes more obvious. As E. Yeomans writes, " those experiences that many, many people go through in their lives are a mirror image of events occurring at the level of a more generalized "and at the same time they are" part of the general world situation". In these cases the depth of a person's experiences of his own crisis can be aggravated by the scale of the tragic events.

Sometimes crises have certain names - for example, " the first love", "farewell to stepfather's house", "a crisis mid life", "retirement crisis"However, many of these crises remain nameless and are not attached to any external events, although they represent serious personal shifts that are reflected in all aspects of a person's life.

We see that the external characteristics of the crisis may differ from each other: triggers can be completely different in nature, and yes responses to crisis situations will be specific to each person. That's why to understand the crisis, it is important to know its inner essence, that is, the psychological mechanism of the emergence... According to J. Jacobson, a crisis arises if life events create a potential threat to the satisfaction of fundamental needs and at the same time they pose a problem for the individual that he cannot get away from and which he cannot solve in a short time in the usual ways“So, the essence of the personality crisis is the conflict between the old and the new, between the familiar past and the possible future, between who you are now and who you could become.

The crisis moves a person into a marginal position or a neutral zone; a situation when the usual stereotypes of thinking and behavior no longer work, and new ones do not yet exist... This state " between heaven and earth", "interim period"about which E. Yeomans writes that it is" time of questions, not answers to them, this is the time to learn to love questions, to love that which has no solution yet ". The presence in this border area is evidenced by the appearance in this period resistance, experienced as a fear of change, as a fear of being different, breaking away from habitual and therefore safe stereotypes and going in search of the unknown in oneself and in the world around.

Thus, a crisis- this is a kind of personality reaction to situations that require her changes way of being - life style, way of thinking, attitude to oneself, the world around and the main existential problems. We can say that if overcoming age crises promotes human development, then existential - the formation of personality... So, a crisis is an answer to the call of potential opportunities for personal growth, and any crisis is already embedded in the main personality trait - the desire to develop and improve, that is, to constantly change.

It looks like it is somebody, who really wants a person to gain confidence and strength, become more open and tolerant, let love and a deep understanding of life into their hearts. And he patiently teaches him this. But, alas, a person is too busy today and he has no time for personal growth. And this someone, after several unsuccessful attempts to turn a person to himself, makes a bolder decision. And at this very moment a person falls into a situation that destroys all his habitual foundations and creates such a life problem "from which he cannot get away and which he cannot solve in a short time in the usual ways." A person is confused and confused, he perceives this situation as an intolerable evil, as darkness that has fallen on his life, as a complete and irreparable collapse, "moment of sinking to the last depths "(CG Jung). And for the one who teaches him, this is just a lesson, another attempt to help a person look into his soul and not recoil. Because, as CG Jung writes," when all the foundations and supports collapse, there is not the slightest shelter, insurance, only then the possibility of experiencing the archetype of meaning arises" .

Here we recall the great wisdom that came to us from Buddhism: "There is no good and evil, there is good." She says that when freeing any events that occur with a person from evaluations in the categories "good - bad", they become simply experience , the next step in self-realization. As T. Yeomans writes, “the problem is not to try to turn away from them, to avoid or soften them, but to learn to accept them when we encounter pain, suffering, and the nearness of death. both the experience itself and the meaning of suffering. "

Most psychologists, both domestic (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, L.I. Antsyferova, R.A. Akhmerov, V.F. T. and E. Yeomans, K. and S. Grof, D. Tyarst, C.G. Jung, J. Jacobson and others), who were engaged in crisis psychology, are of the opinion that the crisis is a prerequisite for the most important personal changes, character which can be both positive (constructive, constructive, integrating), and negative(destructive, destructive, disconnecting).

From this it follows that in resolving a crisis situation one can single out two main outputs... One is that a person takes risks, opening up to new opportunities and overcoming the fear of change... Thus, he realizes, according to R. Assagioli, " basic drive for growth "or, as F. Haronian called it," responds to the call of the Supreme ". Then a person moves on to the next stage of his development, receives new experience, new knowledge about the world and about himself.

Another way out is in preserving the existing order... As F. Haronian writes, " there are many ways people use to avoid the call of the Supreme. We are afraid of him, because he involves the abandonment of the acquaintance in the name of the unknown, and this is always associated with risk." . In those cases when it comes to cardinal and far-reaching changes, they certainly causeanxiety . Almost all serious researchers who have studied anxiety are of the opinion that personal growth and anxiety are inseparable... Therefore, often, choosing the need for security and the desire to preserve the existing order, a person stops in his development, while limiting or even destroying himself.

Thus, in order to develop, actualize their potentialities, and sometimes just survive, an individual needs to learn to cope with various critical situations, which determines the importance, relevance and social relevance of psychological assistance to people in crisis situations.

but the essence of the crisis is such that it makes a person doubt the possibility of overcoming it. Understanding the crisishow transition from one way of being to another usually exists for a person outside of a crisis situation. When he finds himself immersed in the dark depths of life's vicissitudes, he has a feeling that this will never end and he will not be able to get out of this state. In this case, the crisis is perceived as the finalruin of life .

Therefore, a client experiencing a crisis is characterized by a load of unresolved problems, a feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, experiencing life as a "dead end". In this period a person acutely feels the lack of inner support, connections with the world and with other people are lost; former life goals collapse, meanings lose their value. The pressure of this state pushes the person to actions that could solve the problem immediately. Among destructive ways the way out of the crisis may be suicide, neuropsychic and psychosomatic disorders, social maladjustment, post-traumatic stress, criminal behavior, alcohol or drug addiction, etc. Thus, if the crisis is not resolved or is resolved inadequately, then this can introduce a destructive aspect into the personality and thereby complicate the process of further growth and development.

But a crisis is not only a "catastrophe threat", but also the possibility of change, transition to a new stage of personality development, a source of strength... And this is its positive aspect. A crisis in this case can become an opportunity for an individual to change something in himself and in his life, to learn something new, to rethink, and sometimes for the first time to realize his life path, his own goals, values, attitude to himself and to other people.

Adequate crisis resolution gives the client the opportunity to move to the next stage of development as a more mature person... K. and S. Grof note that " if you correctly understand the crisis and treat it as a difficult stage in the natural process of development, then it is able to provide spontaneous healing of various emotional and psychosomatic disorders, a favorable personality change, the resolution of important life problems and an evolutionary movement towards what is called higher consciousness". Similar ideas were adhered to in their works by C.G. Jung and R. Assagioli.

So, we see that a situation is experienced as a crisis when a person ceases to see possible ways out, but at the same time, during a crisis, a client is open to new experiences, which means that a crisis can serve as a basis for positive changes and become an important personal experience. ... The pain that a person experiences in a crisis motivates him to search for new solutions, resources, to acquire new skills and, as a result, to further develop. Thus, nature of the crisis can be described as transforming, since it simultaneously carries not only the rejection of the old, familiar ways of being, but also the search and improvement of new, more progressive ones.

It can be assumed that a positive or destructive way out of the crisis is determined not only by the ratio of creative and destructive tendencies in the personality and the way of solving existential problems, but also by the person's attitude to the crisis situation itself. Based on the data we obtained in the study, two types of this attitude can be distinguished: we called them " Crisis as an opportunity for growth" and " Crisis as martyrdom".

In the first case, the crisis is perceived by the individual as an opportunity for a deeper, more authentic being. This approach is also characterized by acceptance of one's own destiny, a sense of ontological security (according to I. Yalom), which can be described as experiencing a close emotional connection with the parental family and one's own childhood, accepting the spiritual and bodily aspects of one's personality, and striving for growth. Among the existential values ​​present in this relation to the crisis, one can note the meaningfulness of life, tolerance for its variability, a high level of responsibility for oneself, as well as acceptance of one's own feelings in relation to death and belief in the immortality of the soul.

In the second option, a crisis situation perceived as punishment or torment and expressed in concentration on their suffering - illness, old age, fears, evil, helplessness and loneliness. This approach does not imply taking responsibility for overcoming the crisis, but rather embodies passive, "suffering doing nothing". It is interesting that this attitude towards one's own life is associated with the idea of ​​death as an absolute end and fear in relation to it.

It is noteworthy that in a crisis, a person's choice of a strategy for overcoming it is associated with the acceptance or rejection of meaning in the events taking place, as well as with the attitude towards such basic existential problems as life and death. A crisis situation, thus, as a situation of collision with the main existential categories, provides an opportunity for a personality both for growth and for "going into illness"... The choice in this case depends only on the personality itself, which confirms the main ideas of the existential - humanistic direction in psychology and determines the main directions in the provision of psychological assistance in crisis situations. Such areas ("reference points") include assistance to the client in: finding the meaning of life and the meaning of the crisis being experienced, where the most important element is a "sketch of the future"; awareness and acceptance of responsibility for your life, feelings and actions; integration of the spiritual and physical aspects of their personality; understanding the constant fluidity of life and tolerance for it; contact with the inner child; release of psychological trauma and fears; the desire for personal growth, as well as in the awareness of the rational and emotional components of the attitude towards death as a symbol of the inevitability of change.

Speaking about the possibilities of psychological assistance in crisis situations, one cannot help but stop on the main method - crisis intervention, which is based on the theory of the crisis E. Lindemann and stage concepts life cycle and the identity crisis of E. Erickson... The main idea underlying the crisis intervention is the concentration of counseling on the actual situation, that is, work with the problem that has arisen during the crisis and the client's feelings towards it. In crisis intervention, it is important to remain "here and now", without delving into the client's history and other, past problems, even if they are related to the current one. The purpose of the intervention is not so much to solve the problem as to make it possible to work on it, since many problems that arise in a crisis cannot be solved immediately. It is clear that the above directions of psychological assistance to people in crisis are just some beacons in the raging sea of ​​human experiences, because everyone who applies for help is unlike anyone and lives his own, one and only, life, and therefore his own, something special, a crisis.

In conclusion, I would like to dwell on one more type of crisis, which K. and S. Grof identified in the variety of states experienced by a person in connection with any crisis situation. In their works on this topic, they associate this type of crisis with altered states of consciousness and call it spiritual (also a crisis of the evolution of consciousness or transformation of the personality). Recalling the works of R. Assagioli, one can use his idea that the term "spiritual" "... reflects not only those experiences that are traditionally considered religious, but everything that concerns perception and cognition, all human activity and all functions, who have one common denominator - the possession of values ​​that are higher than the generally accepted ones - such as ethical, aesthetic, heroic, humanistic and altruistic. "

Starting with the works of R. Assagioli and K.G. Jung, in psychology, the idea is very actively developed that many episodes of an unusual state of mind (extraordinary emotional and physical sensations, visions, extraordinary thought processes, etc.) are not necessarily symptoms of an illness in the medical sense... They can be seen as manifestations of the evolution of consciousness and compare with the states described in various mystical teachings of the world.

Any spiritual crisis in the terminology of S. and K. Grof can be filled with various experiences, which they divide into three main categories: 1. biographical category - the experience of traumatic events closely related to the history of the individual's life; 2. perinatal- experiences addressing the topic of dying and rebirth; 3. transpersonal- experiences that go beyond the life experience of an ordinary person, since they involve images and motives, the sources of which are outside the personal history of the individual.

Everything that we have said above about a personal crisis will also be true for the spiritual. It can also be triggered by various life situations - dramatic or mundane; its course is also very individual - both in strength and in duration, and in the same way changes in a person experiencing a spiritual crisis can be both constructive and destructive. A spiritual crisis, like a personal one, is filled with intense emotions and experiences that affect the deep foundations of human existence, which means that a person in a spiritual crisis also needs psychological help and support.

For a person experiencing a crisis of personality transformation, the following experiences may be characteristic: lack of understanding of what is happening to them and the resulting panic; fear of going crazy or being mentally unhealthy; experiencing your loneliness in this process and ambivalent feelings - on the one hand, the desire to receive support, and on the other, the desire to retire, to be alone; hypersensitivity to words, actions and even the internal states of other people. This crisis can revive old grievances that overwhelm a person with their pain and injustice; fears, including those associated with death, can be actualized. A person during this period re-evaluates his life, as a result of which he is possessed by various experiences for what he has done - feelings of guilt, remorse, grief, anger, etc.; goals, meanings, values ​​and relationships are changing, in particular, with loved ones.

Very often, all these spiritual searches occur against the background of unusual physical sensations or mental states, which can significantly complicate the process of overcoming the crisis and increase the requirements for the competence of psychological assistance. However, there are no fundamental differences in the provision of psychological assistance in a spiritual crisis, since all the known principles and methods of counseling and psychotherapy described in the existential-humanistic approach can be used when working with such clients. The only, apparently, fundamental difference between psychological assistance in these cases will be determined by the degree of our ignorance about the nature of a person's spiritual life, the power of our own fear of unknown depths of the psyche and the inertia of traditional beliefs in "material, measurable, tangible."

The most important task in working with people in crisis is to create a supportive, trusting atmosphere and tell them about the process they will be going through. It is very important to show here that the difficulties they go through are "not manifestations of a disease, but an expression of a healing and transforming process." As K. and S. Grof write, "all they need is access to the right information, supportive conversations, and a good context for spiritual practice."

And finally one more important point, which I would like to talk about in the light of psychological assistance to people in crisis. We said above that a crisis is both a danger and an opportunity, destruction and creation, loss and gain, death of the old and the birth of a new one. Every phenomenon in this world contains its opposite; this is what V. Zhikarentsev called the duality of the world: “... our world is dual, otherwise, it is dual and consists of only two principles. because there is another. " Therefore, when dealing with a crisis, it is very important to remember and talk with clients that it contains not only a period of destruction, but also a period of creation, and both of these periods are natural components of the process of growth and development. You cannot gain something without losing anything; likewise, it is impossible to constantly lose without gaining anything in return.

One of the features of the states of destruction and creation is that, being in one of them, the other remains hidden. This does not mean that it does not exist; this means that we may not notice it. Another feature is the presence of regularities in each of the processes - both destruction and creation. Sometimes it seems incredible, but both of these processes unfold according to certain laws and all events in them are logically connected with each other. The problem is that, being, for example, inside the process of destruction, it is difficult for the client to see it and only after going through it and understanding it, he can understand that he also gained a positive experience, despite the fact that during the crisis his experiences were negative. devoid of any meaning and were absolutely not linked into a single plot series.

By virtue of our perception of life, the process of creation attracts us more, so we know its strengths better. The period of destruction is associated with pain, which forces people to create a lot of defenses in order to avoid it, as well as bypass the experience of other people in this state. However, as E. Yeomans writes, "an understanding and respectful attitude to the process of destruction as a necessary stage of personal and social development is a gift that we can present to ourselves, our families and our patients, if we really learn to see the destructive phase of development." Destruction is a gift, since it contains a still unmanifested creation and our role as a consultant is to remember this and try to see what is still hidden. As Ram Dass wrote, “after all, something in you dies when you endure the unbearable. And only in this dark night of the soul can you prepare yourself to see as God sees, and love as God loves” [ cit. to 7, p. 115].

In this regard, we can recall the well-known parable of how a person got to heaven and tells God about his life. “I thank You for the help that You have shown me,” he says, looking around the world spreading below and seeing two pairs of footprints in those places where he and God walked side by side with each other. But then he remembers the dark periods of his life, he looks down again and notices only one pair of footprints. "But where were You," he asks, "when I needed You the most? After all, there are only one footprints on the sand." And God answers: "It was then that I carried you in my arms." This parable says that the process of destruction can support us as much as the process of creation, if we allow ourselves to see it, because these two processes are one.

Summing up, we can say that a crisis is a time of being in a cocoon, sometimes in complete darkness and loneliness, alone with your fears, disappointment and pain. It is a time of goodbye, sadness and rejection; a time of endless questions and endless misunderstandings. This is the time of searching for that fine line that separates humility and overcoming, will to live and hopelessness, obstacle and reward, forward movement and silent peace. This is the time that strengthens our spirit with faith and opens the heart to love; time to learn to understand and accept the volatility of life and life itself. A crisis is a time that gives the caterpillar the opportunity to make a choice: succumb to the fear of darkness and uncertainty, or turn into a butterfly.

P.S We accept this idea as fundamental when dealing with a crisis, but at the same time we understand that those people who seek psychological help may have a different idea of ​​what is happening to them. In addition, each of them has freedom of choice and they are free to make decisions that may be wrong from our point of view, regrettable, sad and even tragic. As K.G. Jung, "... the fate of a person often depends on the transformation experienced." We know that not all people have the patience, strength and faith to help them "turn into a butterfly" during the crisis. To some extent, it becomes our pain, because "... never ask for whom the bell tolls." In this case, it helps to realize that each of us, not only who comes for help, but also provides it, is doing his job. And this is our freedom. But at the same time, each of us is responsible only for his own business. And this is our responsibility - deep, indivisible and enduring.

Used Books:

Assagioli R. Comprehension of the Higher Self and psychological disorders // In the book: Psychosynthesis and other integrative techniques of psychotherapy / Ed. A.A. Badkhen, V.E. Kagan. M .: Smysl, 1997 .-- 298 p. Pages 40 - 69.

A.A. Bakanova Attitude towards life and death in critical life situations. Abstract of thesis. diss. for a job. uch. Art. c. ps. n. SPb., 2000.

Grof S., Grof K. Spiritual Crisis: Understanding the Evolutionary Crisis. // Spiritual Crisis: Articles and Research. M .: MTM, 1995.256 p.

Grof S., Grof K. Help with a spiritual crisis // Spiritual crisis: Articles and research. Moscow: MTM, 1995.256 p.

Zhikarentsev V. The Way to Freedom: Good and Evil. The duality game. SPb., 1996.

Yeomans T. Introduction to the psychology of the spiritual dimension // In the book: Psychosynthesis and other integrative techniques of psychotherapy / Ed. A.A. Badkhen, V.E. Kagan. M .: Smysl, 1997 .-- 298 p. S. 154 - 196.

Yeomans E. Self-help in gloomy periods. // In the book: Psychosynthesis and other integrative techniques of psychotherapy. / Ed. A.A. Badkhen, V.E. Kagan. M .: Smysl, 1997 .-- S. 108-136.

Levin S. Who is dying? Kiev, 1996.

Psychotherapeutic encyclopedia / ed. B.D. Karvasarsky. - SPb., 1998.

Haronian F. Suppression of the Higher // In the book: Psychosynthesis and other integrative techniques of psychotherapy / Ed. A.A. Badkhen, V.E. Kagan. M .: Smysl, 1997 .-- 298 p. S. 92 - 107.

Jung K.G. Archetype and symbol. M., 1994.

Yacobson G. Programs and techniques of crises intervention // American handbook of psychiatry. N.Y., 1974.825 p.