Age crises. Experiences during acute crises

Every woman is more emotional, she can easily talk about her problems and express her emotions. For men, everything is much more complicated. When they have an identity crisis, they withdraw from the world, become withdrawn, and suffer from depression. In this situation, support is needed so that the person learns to enjoy life again. How dangerous is an identity crisis? How to avoid it?

Age crises

• Children change dramatically at 3, 7, 14 years old. They are of great importance in the development of certain qualities.
• The youth crisis appears at 18 years of age. It is necessary to overcome the further path of life.
• The midlife crisis from 35 to 40 years old provides an opportunity to take stock of life, evaluate your experience, and adjust your future path.
• From 55 to 60 years after a person retires, he completely changes his usual way of life and tries to reinvent himself in the world.

Signs

Almost every person has to go through periods of crisis. Teenagers, when they grow up, perceive the outside world completely differently. After completing a certain stage of life, you need to leave the past behind. This is where the problem arises, there is a strong fear that you can lose the old and not gain the new. In this case, everyone begins to protest, fight with all their might against different circumstances. After bursts of rage, a protracted rage develops.

Situational crises occur quite often - habitual conditions change, loved ones die, a person loses his job, his financial situation changes. Everyone has to overcome many difficult stages; some events have a negative impact on life and prevent them from living fully. A person experiences a crisis in his own way, he has individual characteristics.

Misunderstanding "Yourself"

Consider a situation where you take off old clothes, put on new ones, and you probably won’t recognize yourself in the mirror image. When something old passes away, a person experiences a crisis, and he has to change his “masks.” An unpleasant feeling arises in front of the unknown: "What will be next?". To accept yourself as new, you need desire, strength and time. Depression and shock can last for a long time.

Feelings of anger, injustice

A turning point in life is always a responsibility. Remember, you can’t blame anyone, both sides are always guilty. Many people, after losing something important, shift the blame onto others. In this case, there is no sense of responsibility and serious problems arise.

Apathy

There are often situations when you urgently need to act, but inner strength prevents you from doing so. Because a person gives up and stops believing in change, serious problems arise.

Lack of interest in life

What bothers you the most? As a rule, these are phobias, a feeling of hopelessness. An exhausted person gets out of bed every day and doesn’t want to do anything because he lacks moral and physical strength.

Causes

In men, a personality crisis develops as a result of low emotionality. They are influenced by various factors:

• Marriage.
• New job.
• Separation from parents.
• Changing the type of activity.
• Career success.
• Loss of loved ones.
• The appearance of a child in the family.

When a man has everything in life for happiness - profession, family, children, money, he cannot understand what is happening to him. He wants to fight for something else, but he doesn't know his next steps. In this case, an imbalance begins to grow, and a coldness appears towards the entire surrounding world. Psychologists in this situation talk about a catastrophe, a crisis.

All negative events have a negative impact on the emotional background. Subsequently, blocks arise, strong tension that does not allow you to relax emotionally and physically. Over time, pain appears, the body twitches involuntarily, and severe tension arises, which is difficult to cope with.

How to overcome an identity crisis?

Unfortunately, many, instead of turning to a psychotherapist, begin to get involved in drugs and alcohol. As a result, the problem gets even worse and the man needs the help of a specialist. In this case, it is necessary to do everything to prevent a loved one from ruining his life. Of course, you will have to make every effort, but they will all be rewarded. There are several steps to help your loved one:

• Prove your love. A man must believe that he is with him not because of profit, but because of love. He is sensitive, he needs sincere feelings.
• Gain trust. It’s difficult, of course, to do this, because almost every man is a skeptic. In this case, a woman must get rid of excessive emotionality and composure. Only when a person trusts completely will he tell you what worries him and why he behaves this way.
• Be an example. Some women find it quite difficult to adjust to their man. But sometimes you have to “lose everything” in order to start a new, interesting life. Try to inspire your loved one with optimism, revive him, start all over again.

Please note that a crisis state is the destruction of the external, unrooted, that which sits shallow. Everything that has accumulated deep in the soul sooner or later comes out. In this way, consciousness is purified, the true depth of human existence comes into contact with the existential.

So, in order to overcome a personal crisis, you need to learn to plan the future, consciously choose the most The best decision. Sometimes a difficult period in life provides an opportunity to move to another level. In this case, a person realizes that he has emotions, feelings, and not just a physical shell. The main thing in any case is not to give up, to overcome obstacles in your path with all your might, and everything will definitely work out. Learn to live again, try to forget about problems, find in each, even difficult situation, the positive side!

Everything was fine, and then - out of the blue - something happened, it seemed to break, and everything went downhill...
This is a crisis.

Crisis... A word that sets one's teeth on edge.

We are sincerely afraid of it - this crisis, because we assume that nothing good can bring anything good. On the contrary, it will catch you in its prime, at its very takeoff, and will hit you painfully on the sinful earth. That's all. A crisis- this 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) - revolution, time of transition, turning point, state in which existing facilities achieving goals becomes inadequate, resulting in unpredictable situations.
Scientists note that, in turn, the Greek κρίσις comes from the verb κρίων, meaning “to determine, to choose.” Thus, this is a certain the most important moment, indicating the necessity and timeliness of a transition to another, qualitatively different state?
But this is great! So the crisis is a harbinger of development!

What crises do we help cope with on our website?

Personal crisis in Lately- a fairly common occurrence. The article describes the factors of its appearance, varieties and ways to get rid of it.

The content of the article:

A personal crisis is a special mental state caused by dissatisfaction with oneself, others, work and even the world in which a person lives. Such a mental phenomenon can appear at any age, at any time of the year and under any circumstances. Whatever the life situation, it is always extremely difficult, and in some cases there are even negative consequences that can only be eliminated by a professional psychologist.

Causes of a personal crisis

Most people, at least once in their lives, have encountered the feeling that their existence has no meaning and all actions are absolutely empty. This inner sensation has a strong impact on the psyche. And most often, it is quite difficult to determine the cause and understand how to overcome a personal crisis.

There are several key factors that can lead to such a complex emotional state:

• Dissatisfaction with yourself. A fairly common reason that every second person encounters. The fact is that the media actively impose certain standards of appearance and level of income. Not everyone can achieve similar results in life.
• Problems at work. A person can be the best worker, but his work goes unnoticed. Or, on the contrary, he understands that his knowledge is outdated, no one needs his services anymore, and age and fear no longer allow him to start anything new. The loss of a well-paid job will have no less impact on your condition.
• Self-perception. Usually middle-aged people face a crisis. This is due to the oppression of oneself with thoughts that most of life has passed, that much has not yet been achieved that one wanted, and time is running inexorably.
• Family problems. The departure of one of the couple to a new partner hurts not only one’s self-esteem, but also forces one to begin the process of self-oppression. After all, being abandoned is very difficult.
• Difficulties at school. Crisis is often characteristic of adolescence. It is especially pronounced in children who are “not like everyone else.” They become outcasts, they are not accepted by society, and they still cannot or do not know how to realize themselves in other directions and with other people.

A crisis of personal growth can develop into a state of deep emotional depression, from which it is simply impossible to get out of it without the help of psychologists. It is extremely important for relatives to notice the symptoms promptly and help the person cope with the situation.

Main symptoms of a personality crisis

The fact that a person is in crisis can be seen with the naked eye. Its signs are:

1. Changes in emotional state. Such people are extremely apathetic to everything that happens and do not express feelings. It is very difficult to make them smile or hear sincere laughter.
2. Detachment. A crisis of personal growth in people facing it causes absolute indifference to everything that happens. They are not worried about the worries and problems around them, they are completely immersed in themselves. In some cases, irritability, nervousness and even aggressiveness are observed when family and friends try to get them out of this state.
3. Sleep disorders. Individuals with this problem sleep very poorly, regularly get up at night, and cannot wake up in the morning.
4. Physiological changes. During a crisis, a person begins to refuse food or eat it in very small quantities, which causes rapid fatigue. Due to lack of sleep, the color and condition of the skin changes. Mental illness can negatively affect your physical well-being. Such people often get sick due to weakened immunity.

You will have to start working to get out of the state by adjusting your behavior, because the problem always affects him first.

Features of overcoming a personal crisis

A depressed state will certainly affect both the person himself and his relationships with others. He can become completely self-absorbed without seeking help. When he realized that something needed to change, it was time to act. If you look at it, then overcoming personal crisis within the power of every person. The main thing is not to lose control and gradually achieve your goal.

Assessing the situation and drawing up a plan to overcome a personal crisis

To understand the depth of the problem, you need to look at what is happening soberly and turn off your feelings. If it is difficult to do this on your own, you can ask for help from loved one.

Some psychologists recommend writing a list of what causes dissatisfaction. Describe which area of ​​life is at a critical point. In some cases the problem is absolutely obvious. This could be the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, illness or anything else.

In any situation, you need to try to separate emotions from facts and create a plan of action. The way out of a personal crisis largely depends on a well-thought-out step-by-step list of work. To regain your former self, it is important to understand what to do next and where to go.

The plan will only be effective if:

• Set a clear goal. You need to choose a realistic and achievable goal that will at least slightly improve the deplorable situation: find a job, learn English language, go to college, meet your soulmate, make friends, travel. Do everything that will help get out of the crisis and bring positive emotions.
• Find the main motive. It is worth noting that there may be several of them, but it is important to determine the main one. For example, a new job is the path to a good financial situation. That is, set yourself a goal and explain what it will give.
• Define search parameters. What specific job do you need to find, what to do there, who to be? How should others, colleagues, friends perceive you? What should a working day look like? What level of income will suit you? What can you sacrifice to achieve your goal? All these questions will have to be answered. This way you can correctly identify a potential goal and not deviate from it.
• Write a list of things that are necessary on the way to achieve the goal. To find new job, you need to register at the labor exchange and search for vacancies yourself. You can also call friends and acquaintances, because very often work appears in an unexpected way. In order to achieve high altitudes, it is recommended to take advanced training courses, improve your foreign languages ​​and devote time to your self-education. If the main goal is to find friends, then it is important to visit public places, communicate more and show interest.
• Don't deviate from the plan. After drawing it up, in no case should you give in and retreat even by one point. And, despite the fact that the result is not immediately visible, this does not mean that the actions taken were in vain. Sometimes you have to wait to get the desired “fruit”.
• Don't give up. Even if some point of the plan does not work out the first time, this is not a reason to doubt your abilities. Many successful people At the beginning of my journey I encountered failures several times. The easy path does not lead to something great and bright.

Remember that there are always two ways out of any situation: stay in the same position and complain all the time, or start doing something. Not everyone can act actively, but it is important to force yourself not to remain stuck. Don’t be shy about using the help of other people, especially if they themselves show a desire to participate in this.

Changing behavior to overcome a personality crisis

A kind of infantilism in behavior can lead to problems. Changing your behavior, rethinking your values ​​and outlook on life will help you cope with it.

In this case, the action plan will be supplemented with the following tips:

1. Take responsibility. Everyone must be responsible for both defeat and victory. It is impossible to go a long way without these two components. If you lose, you shouldn’t lose heart, you just need to draw a conclusion and not repeat your mistakes in the future. You should not look for those to blame in case of defeat - this is a very bad companion for success.
2. Stop looking around. Very many modern people are under the influence social networks, where classmates, friends and acquaintances post their photos from exciting travels, happy moments or successful purchases. Colleagues also brag about trips and home purchases. You should never compare your life with others. Also, young people often look at their school friends and see how wonderful their family life and career have turned out. A person may begin to panic because he does not have something. If you regularly compare your life with wealthier people, then this is a direct path to a personal crisis.
3. Get rid of constant expectations. In most cases, life does not go according to plan, and this must be accepted as an indisputable fact. Some expectations are met, while others are missed. In any case, there is no reason to be upset and, especially, to plunge into depression. You should learn to get rid of constant expectations, and if something doesn’t work out, then come to terms with it and try to achieve the goal again.
4. Stop relying on someone. Also, don't place high expectations on other people. This is especially true if a person wants to start a relationship and family.

Important! Can not be ideal people, and great expectations only lead to great disappointments. Remember one simple truth: there will always be people better and worse than you, you shouldn’t race and compete with someone, it’s better to fight with yourself and conquer your own peaks every day.

Working on yourself to get out of a personal crisis

It is very important for people to feel beautiful and successful. It gives confidence, courage and self-love. Therefore, personal improvement plays a huge role in the fight against a personal crisis, for example:

• Making a real dream come true. Almost every person has a small dream that they didn’t have enough energy or time to achieve. Perhaps you always wanted to learn how to knit, take up floristry or bake deliciously, go fishing in unknown places or conquer a mountain. Don't limit yourself, inspire your nature and do what brings you spiritual pleasure. People who devote time to such an activity will never be immersed in a personal crisis.
• Sports activities. It may not be easy Gym, the modern sphere allows you to find something to your liking. Dancing can be an excellent option for girls, because it not only improves their figure, but also adds femininity. If there is a personal crisis in men, then you can choose some combat types art or swimming pool. Some people do not have time to attend separate classes, in which case ideal option will be a morning jog. Plus, such pastime has a positive effect on brain activity. It is worth noting that during exercise, the production of a hormone is stimulated, which is responsible for our feeling of happiness.
• Personal care. As statistics show, a personal crisis in women very often appears due to dissatisfaction with their appearance. But men are also susceptible to this factor, although to a lesser extent. If you don’t like the reflection in the mirror, then you need to try to make yourself the person you want to see every morning. Of course, this will require a lot of effort, but the result is worth it. Changing your hairstyle, clothing style, manner of speaking, hair color - everyone can do this. Anything, as long as the appearance inspires you to leave the house and start doing important things.

It also happens that all measures turn out to be practically useless. This is often faced by people who set unrealistic demands on themselves and their dreams. Therefore, a breakdown becomes inevitable.

How to Avoid a Mental Breakdown During a Personal Crisis

Any crisis reaches its climax, and at this moment it is extremely important to prevent a mental breakdown. Otherwise, only a professional psychologist will help you cope with the problem.

1. Dance more. Psychologists have found that during times of stress, a person puts himself in a so-called shell; it is difficult for him to loosen up and throw out negative emotions. It is very important to be able to relax emotionally. To prevent negativity from taking over, you need to dance every day until your muscles become relaxed. The body should move easily, naturally, without unnecessary stiffness. To do this, you definitely need to choose your favorite dynamic music. Psychologists believe that if you dance for at least five minutes a day, your body will become more flexible, which means it will begin to develop resistance to stress.
2. Learn to quickly “exhale” and relax. A crisis is precisely the state that forces you to be in constant tension. Therefore, it is important to learn to relax and leave negativity behind. In addition, it is better to start solving any problem after you have completely gotten rid of past experience. Tension is illness, stress, crisis and fear. Relaxation is success, joy, creativity and ease. Today you can find a huge number of relaxation methods that will help you achieve your goal. If stress takes you by surprise, then there is one simple and effective way: Tighten all the muscles of the body as much as possible and hold your breath for five to ten seconds, and then exhale sharply. Try to breathe deeply for at least a couple of minutes.
3. Focus on positive thoughts. Even in a crisis there is a positive side, and you should only think about it. For example, in most cases, some negative moment forces you to take action. He encourages self-development and improvement appearance. Therefore, a crisis can force you to improve. You need to tune yourself exclusively to positive thoughts. Even if all this does not help you think in a positive way, it is worth making up a story with a good ending and believing in it. For example, that they have really achieved their ultimate goal and are completely happy. Many psychologists say that self-confidence is half the journey.
4. Be sure to praise yourself! If you focus exclusively on negative aspects, you can completely lose control of the situation. Plus, it puts you in a position to achieve your future goal. Every time a small goal is successfully completed, praise yourself. Focus and take action.

How to overcome a personal crisis - watch the video:

During times of stress, it is important to focus on the end result. This will allow you to avoid all failures and achieve your goal. Don't pay attention to external circumstances, but just act. During a crisis, you need to quickly set goals and achieve them. Each conquered peak will gradually lift you out of your depressive state. If you start thinking for a long time about all the pros and cons of a particular situation, for example, changing jobs, then it will be extremely difficult to make a decision. So act quickly and think only positive things.

The second chapter of our work will be devoted to the main types of personality crisis. In psychological science there are different approaches and views on understanding the essence of crisis phenomena and their typology. In our opinion, all personality crises that occur along the path of life can be divided into two large groups, namely “Crises of the material and social “I”” and “Crises of the spiritual “I””

We will consider the crises of the material and social “I” through:

· professional crises

And we will consider crises of the spiritual “I” through:

· critical semantic crises

life crises

Based on the strength of the impact on the psyche, we can conditionally distinguish three stages of crisis: staged, in-depth and deep.

· The floor crisis manifests itself in an increase in restlessness, anxiety, irritation, incontinence, dissatisfaction with oneself, one’s actions, plans, and relationships with others. One feels confusion and tension in anticipation of an unfortunate development of events. Indifference to everything that worries us arises, once stable interests are lost, and their range is narrowed. Apathy directly affects decreased performance.

· A deepened crisis manifests itself in a feeling of powerlessness in the face of what is happening. Everything falls out of hand, the ability to control events is lost. Everything around is just annoying, especially those closest to you, who must endure outbursts of anger and remorse. Activities that were always easy now require significant effort. A person gets tired, becomes sad, and perceives the world pessimistically. It disrupts sleep and appetite. Depending on individual characteristics, aggressive reactions may occur. All these symptoms complicate contacts, narrow the circle of contacts, and contribute to the growth of alienation. One’s own future causes increasingly serious concerns; a person does not know how to live further.

· A deep crisis is accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness, disappointment in oneself and others. A person acutely experiences his own inferiority, worthlessness, uselessness. Falls into a state of despair, which is replaced by apathy or a feeling of hostility. Behavior loses flexibility and becomes rigid. A person is no longer able to spontaneously express his feelings, be spontaneous and creative. She goes deep into herself, isolates herself from her family and friends. Everything that surrounds her seems unreal, unreal. The meaning of existence is lost.

Our task in this chapter is to consider and study the main types of “identity crisis” that occur in humans.

Crises in the material and social “I”

As mentioned earlier, we include crises of the material and spiritual “I” such as:

· crises of mental development

· professional crises

We will consider crises in the material and social “I” through crises of psychological development.

The development crisis is the next main element of the human development mechanism. A developmental crisis means the beginning of the transition from one stage of mental development to another. It occurs at the junction of two ages and marks the end of the previous age period and the beginning of the next. The source of the crisis is the contradiction between the growing physical and mental capabilities of the child and the previously established forms of his relationships with people around him and types (methods) of activity. Each of us has encountered manifestations of such crises.

IN domestic psychology the term “age-related crises” was introduced by L.S. Vygotsky. L.S. himself Vygotsky understood the age-related developmental crisis as the concentration of sharp and major shifts and shifts, changes and fractures in the child’s personality. A crisis is a turning point in the normal course of mental development. It arises “when the internal course of child development has completed some cycle and the transition to the next cycle will necessarily be a turning point...”

In our work we highlight the following crises:

Newborn crisis. Associated with a sharp change in living conditions. The child goes from comfortable, familiar living conditions to difficult ones (new nutrition, breathing). Adaptation of the child to new living conditions.

Year 1 crisis. Associated with an increase in the child’s capabilities and the emergence of new needs. A surge of independence, the emergence of affective reactions. Affective outbursts as a reaction to misunderstanding on the part of adults. The main acquisition of the transition period is a kind of children's speech called L.S. Vygotsky autonomous. It is significantly different from adult speech and in sound form. Words become polysemantic and situational.

Crisis 3 years. The boundary between early and preschool age- one of the most difficult moments in a child’s life. This is destruction, a revision of the old system social relations, crisis of identifying one’s “I”. The emergence of the phenomenon “I myself,” according to Vygotsky, is a new formation of “external I myself.” “The child is trying to establish new forms of relationships with others - a crisis of social relations.”

The motivation for the child’s behavior changes. At the age of 3, he first becomes able to act contrary to his immediate desire. The tendency towards independence is clearly manifested: the child wants to do everything and decide for himself. In principle, this is a positive phenomenon, but during a crisis, an exaggerated tendency towards independence leads to self-will.

The crisis of 3 years is associated with the awareness of oneself as an active subject in the world of objects; for the first time the child can act contrary to his desires.

Crisis 7 years. The identification of this crisis in the development of a child is associated with the name of L. S. Vygotsky. He noted that the older preschooler is characterized by mannerisms, capriciousness, deliberately pretentious, artificial behavior, fidgetiness and clowning. And in general, he is distinguished by a general lack of motivation in behavior, stubbornness, and negativism.

Analyzing these manifestations, L. S. Vygotsky explained them by the loss of childish spontaneity, involuntary behavior, which disappears as a result of the beginning differentiation of external and inner life. Another distinctive feature During this critical period, L. S. Vygotsky considered the emergence of a meaningful orientation in his own experiences: the child suddenly discovers the fact of the presence of his own experiences, discovers that they belong to him and only him, and the experiences themselves acquire meaning for him.

L.I. Bozhevich wrote that a child of this age begins to become aware of his “social self.” It was at this time that “back to school” games and imitation of adults’ “work” appeared. According to L. I. Bozhovich, at the heart of the crisis of 6-7 years is a conflict that arises as a result of the collision of qualitatively new needs formed in the process of development with the unchanged way of life of the child and the attitude of adults towards him. The latter prevents the child from satisfying the needs that arise in him and causes him to experience frustration and deprivation of needs, which are generated by mental neoplasms that arise by this time.

The puberty crisis (from 11 to 15 years) is associated with the restructuring of the child’s body - puberty. The activation and complex interaction of growth hormones and sex hormones causes intensive physical and physiological development. Secondary sexual characteristics appear. Adolescence is sometimes called a protracted crisis. Due to rapid development, difficulties arise in the functioning of the heart, lungs, and blood supply to the brain. In adolescence, the emotional background becomes uneven and unstable.

A feeling of adulthood appears - a feeling of being an adult, a central neoplasm of early adolescence. A passionate desire arises, if not to be, then at least to appear and be considered an adult. The teenager strives for emancipation.

It is also at this age that the “I-Concept” is formed. It includes the “Real Self” and the “Ideal Self.” “Ideal self” is a certain “ideal image” with which a teenager associates himself. “Real self” is who a teenager actually is in a social environment. The discrepancy between the “real self” and the “ideal self” leads to pubertal crisis.

Intimate and personal communication becomes the leading activity during this period. Bright, but usually alternating hobbies also arise.

Crisis of 17 years (from 15 to 17 years). It appears exactly at the border between the usual school and the new adult life. May shift by 15 years. At this time, the child finds himself on the threshold of real adult life.

Most 17-year-old schoolchildren are focused on continuing their education, a few are focused on finding a job. The value of education is a great benefit, but at the same time, achieving the set goal is difficult, and at the end of 11th grade, emotional stress can increase sharply.

Those who have been going through a crisis for 17 years are characterized by various fears. Responsibility to yourself and your family for your choice, real achievements at this time is already a big burden. Added to this is the fear of a new life, of the possibility of making a mistake, of failure when entering a university, and, for young men, of the army. High anxiety and, against this background, pronounced fear can lead to neurotic reactions, such as fever before final or entrance exams, headaches, etc. An exacerbation of gastritis, neurodermatitis or other chronic disease may begin.

A sharp change in lifestyle, inclusion in new types of activities, communication with new people cause significant tension. A new life situation requires adaptation to it. Mainly two factors help to adapt: ​​family support and self-confidence and a sense of competence.

Focus on the future. Period of personality stabilization. At this time, a system of stable views on the world and one’s place in it—a worldview—is formed. The associated youthful maximalism in assessments and passion in defending one’s point of view are known. The central new formation of the period is self-determination, professional and personal.

Midlife crisis. (30 to 55 years old).

Midlife crisis is special age stage in the structure of a person’s life path, which can be successfully overcome only if there is a meaningful attitude towards personally significant motives or needs, which are identified by everyone as leading or basic. Around the age of 30, sometimes a little later, most people experience a crisis. It is expressed in a change in ideas about one’s life, sometimes in a complete loss of interest in what was previously the main thing in it, in some cases even in the destruction of the previous way of life.

The “mid-life” crisis arises as a result of the unrealized life plan. If at the same time there is a “reassessment of values” and a “revision of one’s own Personality,” then we are talking about the fact that the life plan turned out to be wrong in general. If the life path is chosen correctly, then attachment “to a certain Activity, a certain way of life, certain values ​​and orientations” does not limit, but, on the contrary, develops his Personality.

The “mid-life” crisis 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 search, like the entire crisis as a whole, marks the transition from youth to maturity.

A person acutely experiences dissatisfaction with his life, a discrepancy between life plans and their implementation. A.V. Tolstykh notes that added to this is a change in attitude on the part of work colleagues: the time when one could be considered “promising”, “promising” is passing, and the person feels the need to “pay bills”.

In addition to the problems associated with professional activities, the “midlife” crisis is often caused by an exacerbation family relations. The loss of some close people, the loss of a very important common side life of spouses - direct participation in the lives of children, daily care for them - contributes to the final understanding of character marital relations. And if, apart from the children of the spouses, nothing significant binds them both, the family may fall apart.

In the event of a “mid-life” crisis, a person has to once again rebuild his life plan and develop a largely new “I-concept”. Serious changes in life may be associated with this crisis, including changing professions and starting a new family.

Crisis of aging and death.

Undoubtedly, the problem of death is of all ages. Nevertheless, it is precisely for the elderly and elderly that it does not seem far-fetched, premature, transforming into the problem of natural death. For them, the question of attitude towards death is transferred from subtext to the context of life itself. The time comes when the intense dialogue between life and death begins to clearly sound in the space of individual existence, and the tragedy of temporality is realized.

The actualization of thanatological reflections is due not only to pathological changes leading to deterioration of health and an increase in the likelihood of death, but also to the peculiarities of the lifestyle of an old person. The latter include a certain monumentality of internal subjectivity, distance from momentary social stimuli, a significant weakening of the motives for achieving success, comfort, and a career. A person who has freed himself from everything trivial and superficial can concentrate on the sphere of the deep and essential.

Aging, fatal diseases and dying are not perceived as integral parts of the life process, but as complete failure and a painful lack of understanding of the limitations of the ability to control nature. From the point of view of the philosophy of pragmatism, which emphasizes the importance of achievement and success, a dying person is a failure.

Religion, which can be a significant support for the dying, has largely lost its meaning for the average person. Western religions have been reduced to the level of formalized rituals and ceremonies that have lost their inner meaning. The view of the world developed by science, based on materialistic philosophy, increases the severity of the situation of the dying person. After all, according to this approach, nothing exists outside the material world. Physical destruction of the body and brain is the irreversible end of human life.

Elderly and elderly people, as a rule, fear not death itself, but the possibility of a purely plant existence devoid of any meaning, as well as suffering and torment caused by disease. It can be stated that there are two leading attitudes in their attitude towards death: firstly, the reluctance to burden their loved ones, and secondly, the desire to avoid painful suffering. Therefore, many, being in a similar position, experience a deep and all-encompassing crisis, affecting simultaneously the biological, emotional, philosophical and spiritual aspects of life.

Personal crises

History of the problem research. Causes of personal crises.

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

Historically, crisis theory has been influenced mainly by four intellectual movements: the theory of evolution and its application to problems of general and individual adaptation; theory of achievement and growth of human motivation; approach to human development from point of view life cycles and an interest in coping with extreme stress. Among the ideological sources of crisis theory, psychoanalysis (and primarily its concepts such as mental balance and psychological protection), some ideas of K. Rogers and role theory.

The 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; crisis theory views man in his own ecological perspective, in his natural human environment;

· crisis theory emphasizes not only the possible pathological consequences of a crisis, but also the possibilities for personal growth and development.

The causes of individual crises can be divided into two large groups: crises associated with deformation of the structure of the Ego (static changes, loss of any part of the Ego) and crises associated with the impossibility of realizing personality tendencies (they are associated with dynamic characteristics of the individual). Theoretically, life events qualify 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 from which he cannot escape and which he cannot solve in a timely manner. 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 may concern 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, prolonged sexual dissatisfaction or traumatic sexual experience, catastrophic fast 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, staff reduction, pension, bankruptcy of the enterprise or disqualification;

· deformation of significant social connections or social situation, which 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, end of significant love relationship, excessively long stay in an aggressive environment, divorce, loss of leadership positions, expulsion from a significant social community, forced social deprivation, long-term forced stay in an unusual role;

· loss of meaning in life due to life disintegration. We consider the desire for a person to search and realize the meaning of his life as a motivational tendency inherent in all people and is the main driver of behavior and personal development. In the initial stages of loss of meaning, a person has a feeling that he is “missing” something, but he cannot say what exactly. To this is gradually added a feeling of abnormality and emptiness of everyday life. The individual begins to search for the origins and purpose of life. The state of anxiety and restlessness becomes more and more painful, and the feeling of inner emptiness becomes unbearable. A man feels that he is going crazy: what was his life is now for the most part disappeared for him like a dream, while the new light had not yet appeared. A person strives to find meaning and feels frustration or a vacuum if this desire remains unfulfilled;

· moral crisis, which consists in the fact that a person’s conscience awakens or becomes aggravated; a new sense of responsibility arises, and with it a heavy feeling of guilt and torment, repentance. A person judges himself harshly and falls into deep depression. At this stage, thoughts of suicide often occur. It seems to a person that the only logical conclusion to his internal crisis and decay can be physical destruction. Man can't accept daily life, not be satisfied with it as before. This condition is very similar to psychotic depression or “melancholia,” which is characterized by an acute sense of unworthiness, constant self-destruction and self-blame;

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

· group and individual experiments using psychedelic substances;

· participation in various intensive forms of group psychological work with the individual;

· 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 the individual arise when the tendency encounters difficulties. In this case, the following factors may become crisis factors:

· rapid success of the individual in the material sphere, when within short term economic wealth that is not correlated with the aspirations of the individual accumulates;

· crushing poverty, in a situation in which the expansive function is reduced to a minimum and often there are not enough funds even for the physical existence of a person. It poses a particular danger to the individual in cases where it does not allow the realization of significant social function(feed your family, buy medicine for a loved one if they are sick, etc.);

· “from rags to riches”, when, due to a successful combination of circumstances, a person finds himself in a social stratum with representatives of which he does not have communication skills and, what is equally important, is not ready to perform power, managerial role functions. Frustration of this type, arising as a result of the rapid implementation of the expansive function, can lead to existential emptiness;

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

· too rapid process of spiritual self-discovery; the speed of this process exceeds the integrative capabilities of man, and it takes 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 their very way of life;

· too slow progress of spiritual self-discovery, when the search for the basic meanings of existence turns into painful anticipation and tragic hopelessness. Often the psychic activation characteristic of such crises includes the manifestation of various old traumatic memories and impressions; due to this, there is a disruption of a person’s daily existence and a devaluation of the dominant aspects of life;

· cognitive intoxication - too rapid accumulation of knowledge in a certain science, type of activity, or exposure to a large amount of information and experiences in life;

· fast quality personal changes, for which both the individual and the social environment are not ready;

· “longing for stability”, when the development of a conservative tendency leads to material and social stability of such an order that it causes a feeling of insipidity and colorlessness of life. “Nothing happens” to a person in such a situation, and this causes existential melancholy of existence;

· “longing for stability” - when it is impossible to realize dynamic life circumstances, a person develops a feeling of fragility and unreliability of life, which is the cause of existential longing for order and structure.

Symptoms of an individual crisis

J. Kaplan described four successive stages of a crisis: 1) primary growth of tension, stimulating habitual ways of solving problems; 2) further increase in tension in conditions where 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 increased anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and personality disorganization. A crisis can end at any stage if the danger disappears or a solution is discovered (see Kozlov, 2003).

The system-forming category of the concept of crisis is the category of individual life, understood as an unfolding whole, as the life path of an individual. Strictly speaking, a crisis is a crisis of life, a critical moment and turning point in life's journey. When, in the face of events covering the most important life relationships of a person, he turns out to be powerless (not at a given isolated moment, but in principle, in the prospect of realizing his life plan), a critical situation specific to this plane of life arises - a crisis.

Two types of crisis situations can be distinguished, differing in the degree of opportunity they leave for the realization of the internal necessity of life. A crisis of the first kind can seriously hinder and complicate the implementation of a life plan, but with it there is still the possibility of restoring the course of life interrupted by the crisis. This is a test from which a person can emerge having essentially preserved his life plan and confirmed his self-identity. The situation of the second kind, the crisis itself, makes the implementation of life plans impossible. The result of experiencing this impossibility is the metamorphosis of the personality, its rebirth, the adoption of a new plan for life, new values, a new life strategy, a new image of the Self. The experience 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 or is exposed to any threat within life requires experience, but only what is essential, significant, fundamental for a given form of life, which forms its internal necessities. In other words, each form of life corresponds to a special type of experience.

With all the diversity of emotional and sensory manifestations of an individual crisis, it is possible to identify specific patterns of experiences, the presence of which indicates the fact of a crisis:

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

· feeling of loneliness. Loneliness is another component of a spiritual crisis. It can manifest itself in a wide range - from a vague feeling of one’s distance from people to complete absorption by existential alienation. The feeling of loneliness is associated with the very nature of those experiences that constitute the content of an individual crisis. High intrapsychic activity causes the need to more and more often escape from everyday life into the world of internal experiences. The significance of relationships with other people fades away, and the person feels a loss of connection with his usual identifications. This is accompanied by a feeling of distance from the outside world and from oneself, causing a kind of painful “anaesthesia” of familiar feelings and reminiscent of a severe clinical form of depression. In addition, people in crisis tend to regard what is happening to them as something unique, something that has not happened to any other person before. Those who face such experiences feel not only isolated, but also completely insignificant. Most people tend to extrapolate this condition to the world, which appears as absurd and meaningless, and any human activity seems trivial to them;

· feeling of alienation. In a social environment where very specific norms and rules of behavior are accepted, a person who begins to change internally may seem not entirely healthy. Talking about your fears, feelings associated with death and loneliness, and transpersonal experiences can alarm friends and family and lead to social isolation. A person experiencing a spiritual crisis may have a change in interests and values, and may not want to participate in usual activities or pastimes. A person may develop an interest in spiritual problems, prayer, meditation, and some esoteric systems and practices, which will seem strange to his immediate environment and contribute to 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 internal 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 beyond ordinary rationality. It should be noted sudden mood swings and lack of self-control. These are common initial reactions to intense experiences. A person may experience sudden, causeless mood swings from one emotion to the completely opposite. Partial paralysis of voluntary attention is possible; a person may feel that he has almost completely lost control over 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 the internal space, regarded as the beginning of madness, on the other hand, an expansion of the sphere of awareness and a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around him;

· experiencing 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. Awareness of one's mortality can be draining for a person who is not prepared to face this aspect of reality, but it can also be liberating for those who can accept the fact of their mortality. Activation of the theme of death in a person’s consciousness always indicates a sufficient depth of the crisis process and, as a consequence, 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 and major material damage. In other cases, the process of psychological death is triggered when faced with a potentially life-threatening situation: severe somatic illness, trauma, disaster, natural disaster etc. 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, certain forms of existence that differ in the meaning and strength of the experience:

· everyday life of a person with his usual worries and functions,

· death-rebirth,

· end of the crisis and return to normal life with new qualities.

a) Everyday life

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

In science, this stage of human development is called linear. At this stage he is far from asking unusual questions and global problems, unless, of course, they are a familiar way of structuring space and time. Ordinariness, clarity, dullness, filled with illusions - these are the characteristics of this form of life. The prospects for life from this stage are built into the usual worldview, they are understandable, a person has the utmost knowledge about what is good, what is bad, how to act, what not to do, where to strive, where not to. All knowledge, abilities, and skills that are acquired in everyday life are an expression of habitual tendencies, motives, goals, and 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 it is socially acceptable. Everything is as bad as it gets for everyone.

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

For the majority of people, life is normal to the extent that it is familiar and ordinary. Moreover, a person makes every possible effort to maintain this “normality”. In a sense, he sleeps and dreams, which is called life, and we quietly hate those who want to wake us. During a stable, linear period of their lives, people tend to live in a comfort zone. In this zone, nothing happens or life just happens: time and space are structured in accordance with the motivational-need and value-orientation systems of the individual. Meaningful structures are self-sufficient and stable. Here we can see well-established social and psychological communications. Life in a comfort zone is associated with a familiar way of being, 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 are no challenges or situations that frustrate the individual. The individual has a reserve of strength, a reserve of experience, a system of knowledge, abilities, skills in order to linearly structure the semantic field and at the same time not encounter insoluble 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 don’t join in, we don’t want to get involved in emotional states and situations that threaten to disrupt comfortable homeostasis. All defense mechanisms are designed in accordance with 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 ensured by several variables:

· lack of conflict between the main global structures (material, social, spiritual). Without any tension and conflicts within these spheres and between them, the existence of the individual 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 and do not have a stressful charge. Existence within a comfort zone is always associated with the idea of ​​the correctness of life, with the idea of ​​stability;

· total identification, unity with oneself. In relation to individual crises, the crucial task is to “develop” oneself, 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 rigidity and rigidity.

Any significant step in personal development presupposes an understanding of one’s limitations and going beyond one’s limits. This is not a war of all against all or a rebellion that involves 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 harbingers of change arise. At first, imperceptibly, but then more and more intensely, life begins to indicate that the womb 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 crisis has many faces. This may be a breakdown of established ideas about your body and other parts of the material self: illness, threat of death, loss of home or money. This may 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 the breakdown of habitual social relationships 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 stronger the call, the more significant parts there are. the social “body” is touched by a sweeping force.

The call of crisis manifests itself even more intensely in the spiritual dimensions of the individual. This may be an existential crisis that breaks all the usual ideas and beliefs. Sometimes a call can 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 longing, feelings of loneliness and alienation, the absurdity of human existence, the painful question of the meaning of life. A spiritual crisis can take the form of a painful, seemingly causeless divine dissatisfaction, depriving the meaning of habitual interests, the small and great pleasures of life from sex, fame, power, and bodily pleasure.

It can be assumed that, in terms of intensity, the call represents a manifestation of a risk zone, which is less inhabited by man, 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 inner experience.

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

This zone has enormous positive potential due to the fact that it brings to life personal resources and increases physical, intellectual, heuristic and other psychological capabilities. At the same time, it is training new possibilities, opening new prospects for 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 greater 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 the habit of living at the limit of one’s capabilities, etc. as a consequence, to crisis states with negative disintegration.

It is not so important what form the call of crisis takes. It is important that it is heard at a greater intensity of experience than in everyday existence. It is important that it 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 spaces of development. It is important that it evokes fear and panic, but at the same time curiosity and inspiration.

This challenge confronts 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 accepting the challenge, as if not noticing the impending crisis and withdrawing deeper into the familiar.

Deafness to the call, caused by the fact that curiosity is hidden by fear, can turn into regret for a person about missed opportunities. that everything could have been different - better, stronger, deeper, brighter. And if the call 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 experiencing a crisis. Its experience lies in the ruthless destruction of important former supports and foundations in a person’s life. This form can be designated as the death of the previous structure, content of the Ego, its assessments, relationships. The death of the previous structure can be a consequence of intense physical experience (sexual, painful, change in self-image), emotional catastrophe, intellectual defeat, moral collapse. Death and rebirth occur only in the shock intensity of experience or due to the cumulative effect of strong experiences from the previous zone.

With a cumulative effect and depletion of biopsychic potential, the shock effect can be induced by an instant “last straw”. In a debilitating crisis, a person first copes effectively with a series of individual or stress-related events that follow one another. But eventually the resistance weakens, and the person can reach a 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.

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

There are only four exits from the shock zone:

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

· madness with various possible contents;

· negative disintegration with 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 disappearance with its metaphysical fear of non-existence, but as a qualitative transformation, a departure from the usual perception of the world, a feeling of general inadequacy, the need for super-control and dominance. Ego death is a process of self-denial. This form is revealed through a revaluation of all values ​​and a change in life goals. 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 previous identity that no longer corresponds to the tasks of the current stage of personal development. And in death a new fabric of vitality is reborn. The old self-image must die, and from its ashes a new individuality, more in keeping with the evolutionary, material, social and spiritual purpose, must sprout and unfold.

In the new, accepted quality, a feeling 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 life with new meanings.

At the same time, it must 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 a comprehensive unity behind the world of separation.

The lesson phase requires discipline from the individual. Constructive experience is very important for her. Beyond death and rebirth, the search for new goals, life strategies, and new values ​​is important. Finding them often becomes a breakthrough that radically changes the perception of the world. These could be new social projects, insights regarding the existential meaning of existence, an understanding of one’s place in society and one’s mission. In the spiritual realm, this can be expressed in enlightenment, liberation, unity with God, or a feeling of unusual lightness, clarity and simplicity of life. During the period of awareness and clarification of prospects in a new capacity, people are especially sensitive to help. Habitual defense mechanisms are weakened, usual patterns of behavior seem inadequate, and the person becomes more open to external influences.

As a person gains experience of a crisis in this phase, a person develops new mechanisms for resolving conflict and develops new ways of adaptation that will help him to more effectively cope with the same or 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 grab hold of anything and does not consider anything 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 stood above the field of human experiences and from this point he has the opportunity to enter into any form, into any experience, into any state, into any relationship, into any contact with reality.

At the same time, this is a state when the main thing remains service to other people and a person is fully manifested in his spiritual potency. He is free from identification, the desire to be someone or something, but the lesson of wisdom received 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 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 of virtue - the sacred duty of service to every person on the path of life.

V. Frankl considered the search for meaning to be an important component of getting 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 from the point of view of responsibility. A person is responsible for the correct answer to a question, for finding the true meaning of a situation” (6, pp. 293-294).

When the crisis is over, the person becomes “wise with experience.” A person cannot find wisdom in everyday life. A teacher is born in the crucible of crisis. Moreover, any worthwhile personality is formed only through the experience of crisis.

e) End of the crisis

Actually, the crisis is over. There is already clarity of understanding in the inner space. But inner clarity is not enough for complete completion. The completion of the crisis occurs only when its experience is manifested in returning to familiar 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 and material life of society. Often the experience of experiencing a personal crisis is an invaluable gift of insight for hundreds of thousands of people.

The passage of the crisis may not be very dramatic. Many experience crisis, but few achieve wisdom. A crisis does not always manifest 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 personality returns again and again to its everyday life, but each time reaching a higher perspective, unless, of course, one of the crises leads to the complete destruction of the personality and the impossibility of returning to the usual bosom of life .

What is the significance of this periodically 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 powerful individuals in the struggle for social survival. This is a powerful, eternal experience, the experience of which leads to the utmost effectiveness of man as a bearer of humanity.

A crisis is a process hidden in human psyche and its 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 conformity, healthier and more holistic. It is crisis that brings out the best in a person.

Mechanisms of individual crisis

F.E. To describe any experience, Vasilyuk identified four forms of “life worlds” (motivators and sources of the content of the subject’s life 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 an external and internal aspects, designated respectively as the 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;

· externally difficult and internally simple life world;

· externally easy and internally complex life world;

· externally difficult and internally complex life world.

A world that is simple internally and easy externally can be depicted by imagining a being that has a single need and lives in conditions of the immediate givenness of the object corresponding to it. The external world is completely adapted to the life of a given being; there are neither excesses nor deficiencies in it relative to this life. The external world is co-natural with the life one, and therefore in the psychological world there are no those special phenomena that, by their presence, would manifest the presence of the external world within the psychological world and would thus serve as a kind of boundary between them. The life world and the external world turn out to be fused into each other, so that an 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 it, he would see, in the words of V.I. Vernadsky, simply “living matter”. The life of a subject in such a world is a naked being, a being completely open to the world. Spatial distance 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 activities in an easy and simple world they are not needed. The pleasure principle is the central principle of the attitude inherent in a simple and easy life; pleasure would be the goal and 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. the security and consistency of all life processes exclude the possibility of situations that require experiencing.

However, if a living being has gone through the experience of simple and easy existence, then the phenomenological structures generated by such existence are effective, ever-living and irremovable layers of his consciousness, and existential layers in the sense that they strive to define all consciousness, to direct its processes to the corresponding these structures have a channel, in general, to impose their mode of functioning on consciousness. In any life world, no matter how difficult and complex it may be, no matter how powerful and diverse the activity and mental “organs” developed in it and the phenomenological structures corresponding to them may be, primary vitality remains irreducible, the atom of which is the act of direct satisfaction of any need.

The prototype of the considered existence and worldview can be the stay of the fetus in the womb of the mother, infant existence and the corresponding infantile worldview.

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

Activities in this world are characterized by a steady focus on 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 for satisfying the always intense single need of the subject. Life is subject to the dictates of the reality principle; the subject needs to adequately reflect reality. The pleasure principle is not a modification of the pleasure principle, but an independent reality.

The common basis of all experiencing processes characteristic of this type of life is the mechanism of patience. Patience is a mechanism that obeys the principle of reality. It interacts with the defense mechanism, subordinate to the pleasure principle. Defense recognizes good as existentially present, patience as present in obligation.

Two variants of “realistic” experience can be distinguished. The first takes place within the affected life relationship. In the simplest case of this type 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, agreement after refusal, etc.). The critical situation here is not overcome psychologically, but is actually eliminated thanks to effective behavior or a successful combination of circumstances. More complex cases, requiring special activity from the subject, are carried out through lost abilities or replacement. The possibility of resolution in this psychological world is ensured by two features - the subject’s ability to postpone the satisfaction of a need for some 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, as long as it is not 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 relationship that caused the need for the experience and that subsequent life relationship, the normal implementation of which marks 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 replacement without replacement.

Well-known prototypes of such a life path are a fanatic or a maniac, a state of personality at the moment of “impulsive drives” or a state of personality at the moment of actualization of a motive for which there are no alternatives.

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

The main problematic 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 the significance of motives and the ability to consolidate 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 the complex and easy life world.

In inner world individual units are “conjugated”, i.e. he can hold several relationships in his internal field and there is a sequence between them.

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

In these events (whatever their specific nature) the psychological future, the meaning, and integrity of life are simultaneously violated. A breakdown of the entire system of life arises, i.e. “consciousness-being” systems; consciousness cannot accept existence 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 development of value consciousness. If, before reaching these stages, value belonged to the personality, was a part, even the most important and integral, but still part of its life, and the personality could say: “my value,” then now this relationship is reversed - the personality is already part of the value that embraces it , belongs to her and it is in this participation in value, in serving her, that she finds meaning and justification for her life.

The prototype of such an existence is any moral choice when an individual has to abstract himself from the difficulties of the world, from “matter.” In other words, there is such a layer of human existence, a sphere of moral behavior, in which life is reduced to consciousness, the matter of life is taken out of the equation.

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

The path of activity towards its goal is both 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 the will is needed to bring this activity to completion under these conditions. One of the main functions of the will is to prevent the conflict of motives flaring up in the field of activity from stopping or rejecting the activity of the subject. Will is a struggle against the struggle of motives.

Space and time are connected 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 an individual's life path. A crisis occurs 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 of either restoring a life interrupted by a crisis, reviving it, or regenerating it into another life. But one way or another we are talking about some generation 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 thing that constituted this life, its value idea, is preserved. The second subtype of creative experience occurs when the plan for 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.