Types of psychological assistance

In general, the types of psychological assistance can not even be demarcated, because in some cases they may overlap. But there is several criteria, which help to identify the main types of psychological assistance. These criteria include:

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  aid specialist: psychologist works with people, mentalthe state of which does not go beyond the norm, he has a liberal education; a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist have a medical education, they work with people whose mental state goes beyond the norm;
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  with whom the specialist works: the client's mental state does not go beyond the psychological norm, the patient - goes;
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  used methods of assistance: psychotherapy, counseling, use of medicines, etc.

All these criteria are interrelated: so, the psychologist works only with clients and prescribing medicines has no right, since he does not have medical education.

Let's take a closer look at the different typespsychological help. Let's start with psycho-prevention and psychological education. These types of psychological assistance, strictly speaking, are not aimed at help as such, but on prevention of situations in which this assistance may be needed.

Psychoprophylaxis Is the prevention of psychosomatic and psychogenic diseases. Psychological education is closely related to psycho-prophylaxis andpsychological counseling. The goal of psychological education is to form a correct idea of ​​the psychological help and activity of psychologists.

It's no secret that many people do not want to go to a psychologist, believing that it helps only mentally ill people with serious problems. The task of psychological enlightenment is to break this stereotype, so that people are not afraid to seek help and did not aggravate their psychological problems.

The following types of psychological assistance vary depending on the severity of psychological problems. So, psychological counseling Is to help people who are withinpsychological norm. In this case, the task of the psychologist is to help the client solve the problem (while the psychologist is forbidden to give advice, he should encourage the client to make an independent decision, whatever it is).

Psychotherapy is aimed at solving more serious problems. It includes many directions, from hypnosis and psychodrama to art therapy and fairytale therapy, which can be classified according to different signs. Psychiatry can be clinical and non-clinical.

The concept of "psychotherapy" is rather vague. So, according to the order of the Ministry of Health, psychotherapist is a doctor, a person with a higher medical education,who received appropriate training. In Europe, psychotherapists are traditionally called psychologists who specialize in specific psychotherapeutic practices.

And here psychiatry quite accurately refers to clinical medicine. The psychiatrist does not deal with clients, but with patients (although so-called humanistic psychiatry treats patients as people with a different worldview and borders on psychotherapy). Psychotherapists have the right to prescribe medication.

Psychocorrection (psychological correction) is aimed at restoring the norm in terms of personality traits and emotional state. Sometimes, as a separate type of psychological assistance, psychological training, which is a special exercise. Training can be used both for immediate psychological help and for diagnosis.

As you can see, it is difficult to classify types of psychological assistance: the line between them is rather thin. But they are all based on certain ethical principles, which a good specialist must adhere to. Briefly, they can be characterized by the well-known phrase "do no harm".

It is important not to be afraid to seek psychological help: problems that seem insignificant to us,can once start a life in a dead end. Do not be afraid of psychotherapists, believing that they work only with schizophrenics. Depression, for example, is not just a bad mood, often this disorder requires medical treatment.

Protect your mental health in the same way that you protect the physical: there is nothing shameful in getting help from a specialist.