The relevance of this research is determined by the growing need for psychological assistance in conditions of social instability and military operations, as well as the presence of potential risks associated with unethical or unprofessional interventions. Psychological safety of the client serves as a key prerequisite for the effectiveness of counseling, as it provides a sense of security and trust in the therapeutic process.
The dissertation is connected with the research work of the Department of Social Psychology of Personality at the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine on the topic "Socio-psychological strategies for the formation of a healthy lifestyle of the individual in conditions of social instability."
Research aim: to determine the content and structure of client psychological safety in professional counseling practice and to develop prognostic indicators of a safe counseling environment.
Research object: psychological safety of the individual.
Research subject: peculiarities of experiencing psychological safety by the client in the process of psychological counseling.
Research methods: theoretical (analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, systems approach, modeling, generalization); empirical (questionnaires, expert survey, CATI telephone interviews, standardized psychometric scales and questionnaires); data processing methods (mathematical and statistical methods, including Student's t-test, factor analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis, network analysis); thematic analysis for qualitative data.
Scientific novelty of the obtained data.
During the research, for the first time:
— developed and verified an integrative model of the client's experience of psychological safety in the process of counseling and psychotherapy, which includes four interconnected components (client, therapist, therapeutic process, context) and two additional ones (risk management and safety culture in the professional community);
— identified individual predictors of the client's psychological safety in the process of counseling and psychotherapy, which include the level of self-esteem, trait anxiety, traumatization, depression, distress, trust in oneself, others and the world, as well as intersubjective interaction; — established that protective predictors of the client's psychological safety are self-trust and the ability for empathic understanding of others, while key risk factors are emotional self-regulation disturbances and difficulties in interpersonal relationships;
— established that negative psychotherapy experience is associated with a complex of negative psychological indicators: decreased trust in the world and other people, increased trait anxiety, and intensified self-organization disturbances in aspects of emotional self-regulation, negative self-concept, and interpersonal relationships;
— revealed differences in the structure of psychological problems, safety needs, and patterns of relationships between psychological variables in clients with high and normative state anxiety in the process of psychological counseling and psychotherapy;
— identified socio-demographic predictors of readiness for psychological help in Ukrainian society under war conditions at two key levels: behavioral (openness to seeking help) and emotional (fear/anxiety about psychotherapy).
Further clarified:
— the concept of the client's psychological safety in the process of psychological counseling and psychotherapy as a dynamic state that combines the objective absence of threats to psychological well-being with the experience of protection based on the client's individual experience; introduced the concept of functional safety as the ability to maintain psychological stability under adverse conditions;
— the typology of psychotherapist interactions that either promote or threaten the client's sense of safety;
— the peculiarities of traumatic experience impact on the experience of psychological safety in the therapeutic process.
Practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of their use for improving the quality of therapeutic services, prevention of iatrogenic effects, diagnosis and monitoring of clients' condition in the process of counseling and psychotherapy, building a therapeutic alliance and adaptation of therapeutic interventions, training and professional development of specialists in the field of counseling and psychotherapy.
Keywords: safety, psychological safety, psychotherapy, counseling, ethics, unwanted events in psychotherapy, negative effects of psychotherapy, psychological assistance, role experience, mental health, counseling process, anxiety, "psychologist-client", personal therapy, professional risks
