How to evaluate the effectiveness of different areas of psychology and choose the best

Want to see a psychologist but don't know which one? Let's explore the complex world of psychology together.

Preface

I would like to make it clear right away that psychological work is a delicate matter. Its effectiveness depends to a greater extent on the psychologist and to a lesser extent on the client. As is well known, even eggs are a hindrance to a bad dancer. And unmotivated clients are a hindrance to a bad psychologist.

Well-known psychologist Mikhail Labkovsky suggests changing your psychologist if you don’t see any results from their work after four sessionsI recommend doing this already. after two. In this case, the reason for the lack of results is not particularly important. Either something is wrong with the psychologist, or the method of work chosen by him does not give the desired result (which, in fact, again raises questions for the psychologist).

For the purposes of this article, let's abstract from the personality of the psychologist himself and focus on the tools he has. After all, they matter, too. And not a little. You can dig a hole with a shovel or an excavator.

Some go to the forest, some for firewood

Today, according to various estimates, there are from 300 to 3,000 different schools and directions of psychology and psychotherapy. Of course, it is impossible to attach a label to each direction with a clear indication of its effectiveness. Moreover, some of them are highly specialized and were developed to solve a narrow range of problems.

If we talk about the most common psychological problems, then methods from various psychological schools are suitable for their solution. Naturally, the question arises: which direction is the most effective? Which specialist should I contact?

This whole situation is very similar to the problem of a customer who needs to develop a website. He faces dozens of questions, something like this:

• develop from scratch or use CMS?

• If CMS, then which one?

• And if from scratch, what is better: Python, Node.js or Laravel?

• Or maybe React would be better? Or is PHP better?

The attempt of a person not very familiar with psychology to evaluate the effectiveness and scope of application of various directions looks roughly the same.

Of course, most people don’t do this, but try to find just a good psychologist, who is good because he knows exactly what and how.

But we will not look for easy ways and will still try to figure out what is what in the confusing world of psychology.

Evaluation method

Further on I will speak more about psychotherapy, and not about psychology. After all, it is psychotherapy that deals with practical work, while psychology, as a science, deals mainly with theory.

There is probably no psychotherapist who would be equally proficient in absolutely all methods of psychotherapy and could adequately test their effectiveness on a large sample of clients.

And comparing the opinions of different specialists using different methods doesn't make much sense. Every snipe praises his own swamp.

So we will take a different approach. We will evaluate the effectiveness of psychotherapy methods based on what levels of the human psyche they work with.

About the levels of the human psyche

Of course, the levels of the psyche are a very conditional thing. This is just another convenient psychological concept. And there can be many options for dividing the psyche into levels. Let's look at two of them:

The neurological levels model proposed by Robert Dilts:

Model N.D. Linda:

Both of these models are quite clear and somewhat similar to each other. And the principles of working with them are the same:

• any problem in a person's life can be correlated with one of the levels of the pyramid

• the problem is solved effectively if the work on it is done at the same, or better yet, at a higher level

• the problem can be solved from a lower level, but either the solution will be partial, or much more time and effort will be spent in the process

• If a psychologist works at a higher level, then the effectiveness of solving the problem depends on the difference between the level of work and the level of the problem. The greater the difference, the more effective the work.

For example, the problem can be formulated as follows: “I don't like my boss.” It is obvious that according to Dilts' model, it is related to the environment level. Accordingly, it can be solved in different ways:

• From the behavioral level: change jobs. There will be a different boss.

• From ability level: identify your entrepreneurial skills and open your own business or develop your ability to effectively interact with your boss.

• From the level of beliefs and faith: believe that all people in our lives are given to us so that we can develop. Then the nagging of the boss will be regarded as an opportunity for personal growth.

  And so on. The higher the level at which a problem is solved, the more effective the solution will be, the more positive impact it will have on other aspects of your life..

  Let's take another example. A person has a belief “I'm unlucky in relationships.” In this case, you can build relationships with new people (level of environment), develop communication skills (level of behavior, abilities) as much as you like – you will still have no luck. Because the problem is formulated at the level of beliefs. At the very least, it needs to be resolved from this level.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of psychotherapy directions

Now let's look at how different directions of psychotherapy relate to different levels of the psyche.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). As the name suggests, it is based on working with level of behaviorThe client is asked to become aware of negative attitudes, get rid of them and act on the basis of positive ones.

The trouble is that man is, for the most part, an irrational creature. We are rational by 5-10%. The rest of the reactions and behavioral stimuli are controlled by the unconscious. And it, excuse me, is irrational.

Even if you are aware (and this is the next level in Linde’s model) of all the reasons for your actions, this is far from always enough for the necessary changes.

We all know that smoking is bad. Many have tried to quit (behavioral level of problem solving). Some succeeded. Most did not. Why? Because smoking affects the level of States according to the same Linde model. I think this is obvious to any smoker.

Psychoanalysis works for level of awareness. Personally, I have the most questions about the method of solving the client's problems. Yes, it has an excellent theoretical basis and the method itself requires a high intellectual level from the psychoanalyst. But it has only two practical methods of working with the client – dream analysis and the method of free associations.

You can go to your psychoanalyst for years and even decades (no, this is not an exaggeration), but still not solve the problem for which you sought help.

Gestalt therapy (and all other directions oriented towards awareness and self-knowledge) also works at the level of awareness.

Logotherapy by V. Frankl is based on the belief that personal development is impossible without searching and implementing the meaning of lifeIf a person has no meaning in life, then existential frustration (life stagnation) occurs, leading to neuroses and mental illnesses.

To be honest, I have hardly met any specialists who work with the meaning of life. Either there is no demand, or no supply.

Psychocatalysis by A. Ermoshin. This is a method of regulating mental processes and restoring effective self-regulation of the body through immersing a person’s attention in bodily and spatial sensations associated with experiences.

It is designed to treat phobias, panic attacks, psychological trauma, drug and alcohol addiction, psychosomatic problems.

In terms of work levels, it is related to levels of state, essence in the Linde model and level I in the Dilts model.

Various directions of art therapy (art therapy, phototherapy, music therapy, fairy tale therapy), dance and movement therapy, psychodrama, etc. try to work on state level and I level.

But the working methods themselves cannot guarantee a quick and high-quality result; it’s a matter of luck.

Hypnosis, classical or Ericksonian can work with any levels proposed models. It works directly with the unconscious (like some other methods), which provides quite broad opportunities for change.

Here the “bottleneck” is the psychotherapist himself, who, although he can work in a trance state, is still forced to remain conscious.

Integral neuroprogramming (INP). Has ways of working for each level of the Dilts pyramidIn most cases, works with the unconscious, using various “methods of access”.

Emotionally-figurative therapy (EOT). Works on levels essence, state and understanding based on Linde's model.

conclusions

Of course, the proposed method of comparing the directions is very conditional. And my knowledge of the subtleties of the work of most methods of psychotherapy is also limited. However, the proposed method of comparison is not without practical meaning.

Let's take such a problem as panic attacks as an example. A good psychotherapist working in the direction of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is able to solve the problem in 10-15 sessions. And with the use of emotional-figurative therapy (EOT), the problem can be solved in 1-2 sessions. Such a difference in effectiveness is due to the chosen method of work.

Unfortunately, the most popular methods of psychotherapy, such as CBT and Gestalt therapy, are far from the most effective, although they work quite well.

In my opinion (and not only mine), the most effective areas of psychotherapy today are EOT and INP.

I hope this article will help you decide on the direction of psychotherapy. But remember that any method is always used by a person. Therefore, be careful when choosing not only the method, but also a specific specialist.