BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience ISSN: 2068-0473 | e-ISSN: 2067-3957 Covered in: Web of Science (WOS); PubMed.gov; IndexCopernicus; The Linguist List; Google Academic; Ulrichs; getCITED; Genamics JournalSeek; J-Gate; SHERPA/RoMEO; Dayang Journal System; Public Knowledge Project; BIUM; NewJour; ArticleReach Direct; Link+; CSB; CiteSeerX; Socolar; KVK; WorldCat; CrossRef; Ideas RePeC; Econpapers; Socionet. 2021, Volume 12, Issue 4, pages: 358-373 | https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/12.4/255 Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in Postmodern Practical Psychology Nataliia TROFAILA¹, Nataliia MATEIKO2, Iryna MELNYK3, Nataliia MAKSYMOVA4, Oksana VDOVICHENKO5, Svitlana VASKIVSKA6 1 Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Ukraine, trofaila_09@i.ua 2 Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ukraine, mnm2807@ukr.net 3 Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine, IraMelnyk@i.ua 4 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, 3481160@gmail.com 5 The State institution "South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky", Ukraine, werta4877@gmail.com 6 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, vasswet17@gmail.com Abstract: The article talks about the personality-oriented approach of postmodern practical psychology to counseling a crisis client. Coping strategies for overcoming a life crisis by a person at the cognitive, emotional and behavioral levels are analyzed. Based on the consideration of practical work with crisis clients, algorithms for overcoming a crisis situation in the form of stages and phases of its experience are highlighted. The important role of neuropsychological correction at the first stage of work with the client is emphasized. Theoretical and methodological provisions of postmodern psychotherapy and practical psychology on the features of psychological support of a crisis client, taking into account his personal resource. The variability of the personality as one of its fundamental properties and the psychological mechanism providing a flexible choice of coping strategies, process of adaptation to conditions of crisis situation are considered. It is revealed that in the conditions of overcoming the life crisis there are personal transformations as expression and development of specific personal characteristics and properties. The model of overcoming a life crisis situation by an individual in the context of postmodern practical psychology is presented. In the presented author’s model of overcoming the personal crisis the postmodernist, personality-oriented and phenomenological approaches are applied. Keywords: crisis situations, coping strategies, personal crisis, adaptation, postmodernism, personal resources, crisis, psychological assistance. How to cite: Trofaila, N., Mateiko, N., Melnyk, I., Maksymova, N., Vdovichenko, O., & Vaskivska, S. (2021). Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in Postmodern Practical Psychology. BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 12(4), 358-373. https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/12.4/255 https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/12.4/255 mailto:trofaila_09@i.ua mailto:mnm2807@ukr.net mailto:IraMelnyk@i.ua mailto:3481160@gmail.com mailto:werta4877@gmail.com mailto:vasswet17@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/12.4/255 BRAIN. Broad Research in December, 2021 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 12, Issue 4 359 Introduction At its core, postmodern practical psychology is reflexive, dialogical, subjective and creative in a subject-personality-oriented approach to the optimal actualization of the client's potential resource in a situation of his unique life crisis. The study of the problem of personal growth under the influence of unpredictability, chance, unexpectedness, abrupt life changes is the main task of practical postmodern psychology. Undoubtedly, the most common cause and onset of life crisis is the exacerbation of intrapersonal contradictions: between "real - Ego" and "ideal - Ego", between ideas about their resource potential, subjective expectations of other people and real circumstances and their assessment environment, between ideas about human values and the impossibility of realizing them in the realities of social crises. All these conflicts are transformed through the frustration of goals, needs, values of human life in the inner world of man as a subjectively significant psychological problems. Personal contradictions against the background of unpredictable crises can become a source of professional or individual development, new strategies for life, provided a sufficient level of personal resources to resolve complex crisis situations. Instead, the consequence of unconstructive strategies of life crisis is a wide range of psycho-emotional disorders, psychosomatic diseases, manifestations of social maladaptation. Classical psychological positions require a somewhat structured model of solving complex crisis situations by the individual, integrity and completion in theoretical constructions of the description of human crisis states and ways to overcome them. Postmodern practical psychology relies on the client's acceptance of unpredictable and continuous strategies for changing the social environment and his own inner world, his identity simultaneously filled with a “game” process, accepted “shadow” emotions, freedom of choice and creativity in behavior and thoughts. The urgency of the problem of choosing a strategy for resolving a crisis situation by the individual in the context of postmodern practical psychology is associated with individual unique living and development of life crisis difficulties by each person, actualization of its subjective abilities and creative life potential in a postmodern format - unique, dialogical, creative, inclusive-partner, classical psychological and post-social at the same time. The essential goal of the article is a theoretical analysis of constructive strategies for overcoming the life crisis in the context of the postmodern practical psychology. In the unique individual experience of Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in … Nataliia TROFAILA, et al. 360 algorithms for solving a crisis problem of an assertive personality, the creative level of its supersituational subjective activity, the ability to successfully construct life in an environment with new conditions are significant. However, most crisis clients need neuropsychological correction of their crisis mental states in the first stage of counseling before resolving a psychological problem associated with the situation of uncertainty. The individual features of the choice of life-building strategies in a changing environment are the subject of study of postmodern practical psychology. Therefore, the next, and no less important goal of the article is a theoretical consideration of the psychological conditions for choosing constructive strategies for overcoming the crisis by an individual in the context of postmodern practical psychology, as well as highlighting the main tasks and methodological foundations of organization of the counseling process, that contributes to the successful overcoming of life crisis by a client. The scientific novelty of the researched problem is due to the fact that for the first time psychological coping strategies of overcoming crises by an individual in the context of postmodern practical psychology are determined and psychological conditions of choosing a constructive life crisis recovery by an individual are substantiated. Scientific ideas about the relationship of postmodern tendencies in the vision of crisis recovery by an individual in an unexpected situation have been deepened. It is noted that in a situation of absent or weak personal resources recovery from the life crisis is recommended at the initial stage of work with a client neuropsychological correction of his crisis state to restore and optimize functioning of the nervous system. The practical significance of the article lies in the facty that the generalized conclusions on the theoretical study of psychological coping strategies for overcoming crises by an individual in the context of postmodern practical psychology can be used in existential and cognitive- behavioral psychotherapy, neuropsychology and psychology of life crises. Theoretical analysis of scientific research of psychological coping- strategies for overcoming personal crises in the context of postmodern practical psychology Ukrainian citizens are constantly in crisis situations (economic inflation, war, environmental and political cataclysms, viral pandemics), as a result of which everyone has experienced a "traumatic neurosis" that can trigger internal conflicts in any unpredictable and subjectively significant situation and become the beginning of chronic crises. Many works have been devoted to the issue of psychological strategies for overcoming the life BRAIN. Broad Research in December, 2021 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 12, Issue 4 361 crisis by personality in psychology (Bezliudnyi et al., 2019; Bukovska et al., 2019; Bushuyeva, 2018; Cherezova, 2016; Kisarchuk et al., 2015; Nerubasska et al., 2020a, 2020b; Palamarchuk et al., 2020; Panasenko & Voitovych, 2016; Panok, 2019; Tytarenko, 1998, 2014; Vasyliuk, 1984). The criteria for reviewing the specified literature are postmodern and creative personality-oriented approaches to the variative constructive overcoming of life crises by an individual through creative identification of the resources of his/her inner subjective world. Actualization of resources by an individual, depending on the degree of importance of the situation of life crisis, may be manifested through internal changes (subjective coping strategies) or more focused on social change, communicative interactions of an individual with the social environment. Strategies for the construction of personality in a changing social environment in the postmodern context are most successfully revealed in the work of Tytarenko et al. (2014). However, social aspects alone are not enough to understand the internal mechanisms of the crisis state, disharmonious strategies for overcoming crisis with low personal resources, internal conflicts and psychotraumatization of an individual who requires primarily neuropsychological assistance and rehabilitation. They are most fully covered in the works of Titarenko (1998), Kisarchuk et al. (2015), Robinson et al. (2013), Robinson & Stell (2014). Creative expression both in more social and more psychological strategies of personality interaction with the new social environment in the postmodern vision, with new ways of thinking about social roles and values in it is sufficiently reflected in the work of Adam Blatner (1997). At the same time, creativity is the main value that helps an individual to carry out super- situational activity, to resort to reflection on the crisis situation and to harmonize the contact between the inner and outer worlds. Adam Blatner’s work (1997, 2005) is harmoniously complemented by views of Vasyliuk (1984) on the creative potential of the inner world of an individual experiencing a life crisis and variability of personality in each specific life situation. Psychological coping strategies for overcoming life crises by an individual in practical postmodern psychology are described as an individual's search for ways to renew his identity, manifestations of flexible behavior in situations of social change, an adequate emotional response to new experiences with a minimum energy resource and successful construction of life despite age or abnormal crises. Thus, in the understanding of Vasyliuk (1984), life crisis is a search for a new value system, a complex and multidimensional state that mobilizes the creative Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in … Nataliia TROFAILA, et al. 362 potential of the individual, a turning point in human life, which arises in a situation of impossibility of life. Translated from the Greek, the word "crisis" means a choice, change of direction, decision. According to the study of T.M. Tytarenko (1998, p. 14), a crisis can be called such a turn in life, when the life plan, the project of the future universe is threatened. The old world of life is being partially or almost completely destroyed. Man has to abandon the usual ideas about values, ideals, meanings, goals. There are usually three types of crisis: neurotic crisis, developmental crisis and traumatic. Neurotic crises are caused by the inner preconditions of the individual and are related to his experience. Developmental crises (or age crises) occur during the transition from one age period to another. Traumatic crises occur in response to a traumatic situation. Some authors distinguish between the crisis of loss and the biographical crisis. The cause of the crisis, as a rule, is a crisis situation caused by a significant stress factor and destroys the usual ways of overcoming adverse life circumstances, Kisarchuk et al. (2015). In practical psychology, the study of personal dynamics, which accompanies the rapid process of building a person himself and his life, is becoming increasingly important, mostly in a situation of chance - the main "favorite" of postmodernism. From antiquity to the present, chance is interpreted as cognitive deficiency, and in the postmodernist vision - as a bold improvisation, an unpredictable creative beginning, far from something cyclical, linear and consistent. Personality becomes a process of dialogue, autonomy, identification, practice. The desire to transgress through what it is and is not at the same time, through reality, testifies to the variability, the development of the individual as a creative process, rather than to its rigid structure. In addition, the classical personality tries to approach the most important meaning of its existence, while the postmodern personality finds in its own depths many contradictory meanings, expanding its creative potential (Tytarenko et al., 2014, pp. 45-62). According to Vasyliuk (1984), coping strategies include everything that a person does to overcome a crisis. The actualization of cognitive, emotional and behavioral strategies for overcoming crises is influenced by the presence of needs and the possibility / impossibility of meeting them in different life worlds: internal (presence and degree of satisfaction of needs or one need) and external (ability to meet needs or obstacles). If a person evaluates the problem cognitively, he analyzes it and looks for ways out of life crisis. As a rule, few people immediately manage to adequately approach the analysis of what is happening and go to the actual coping. Most researchers adhere to a single classification of copings and BRAIN. Broad Research in December, 2021 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 12, Issue 4 363 styles of crisis response: coping, aimed at assessing the problem (overcoming a difficult situation involves analyzing the problem, its causes and consequences, finding possible solutions to the situation); coping aimed at the problem (exit from stress occurs as a result of reducing or eliminating the source of stress, ie the causes of a difficult life situation); emotion- focused coping (cognitive and behavioral efforts to reduce emotional discomfort and maintain emotional balance) (Panasenko & Voitovych, 2016). Zaika (2015) concluded that the multidimensionality of initiating personal transformations in overcoming the crisis of personal autonomy and crisis states of personality is characterized by the expression of typological features that are manifested in the development of specific personal characteristics and properties: socially dependent, situationally dominant, creative -voluntary and rationally independent types. In the absence of initiation of change, low self-actualization and external locus of control prevail, which demonstrates the shrinking of its potential, the tendency of self-preservation or even regression of the current status and level of development. In general, domestic and foreign scientists and practitioners refer to the basic coping strategies as strategies of “solving problems”, “seeking social support” and “leaving”, constructive and non-constructive strategies; adaptive, relatively adaptive and non-adaptive strategies. Constructive strategies for overcoming crisis situations were proposed by L. Perlin and S. Schuler: a strategy to change the problem (by eliminating or changing the conditions that created the problem); strategy to change the way of seeing the problem (by perceptually managing the content of experiences in such a way as to neutralize their problematic nature); strategy of managing emotional distress (by keeping the emotional consequences of the problem that arose within reasonable limits) (Cherezova, 2016). Most people get out of the crisis thanks to their personal resources, which is reflected in the multidimensional BASIC Ph model, using 6 main channels: I. Belief (B) Belief and values (the way to overcome the crisis is based on the ability to believe - in God, people, a miracle or by myself) II. Emotions (A) Affect and emotion (the ability to express your various emotions and feelings and be aware of them) III. Communication (S) Social (overcoming the crisis through social contacts, professional help from psychologists, communication with loved ones) IV. Imagination (I) Imagination (a way to overcome the crisis through creativity, fantasy, intuition) V. Prudence (P) Cognition and thought (analysis of the problem and its solution through mental abilities) VI. Physical activity (Ph) Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in … Nataliia TROFAILA, et al. 364 Physiology and activities (activities, physical activities, walks, hikes) (Panasenko & Voitovych, 2016). In turn, Lahad, in the BASIC Ph model, considers a psychotherapeutic way of overcoming a crisis traumatic event using the methods of self-storytelling, psychodrama, and reflection practice (Vettraino et al., 2019). Postmodern practical psychology in counseling crisis clients oriented them towards expanding their individual consciousness. In this regard, A. Blatner considers the postmodern monopoly on “worldview production” as a set of “cultural myths” and invites the client to obtain “personal mythology”, putting forward the following tasks of psychotherapy and practical psychology in the postmodern era: welcome clients in creating “personal mythology”, at the same time, make creativity the main value, help form a transpersonal (that goes beyond the personality) perspective as the basis of the worldview and accept a pluralistic image of your I, make wider use of the metaphor of a diverse Ego, develop the ability for metacognition, flexible thinking (Blatner, 1997, 2005; Pătroc & Perţe, 2011). Postmodern psychological practice, as already mentioned, is focused on psychological assistance to the client, especially in unforeseen situations of life crisis. The set practical tasks require reconsideration of conformity of methodology of postmodern practical psychology to possibilities of psychologists and psychotherapists who also work in modern social and crisis conditions and need its expansion and qualitatively new conceptual and methodological provisions for psychological support. In this regard, modern researchers have described the requirements for expanding the theoretical and methodological provisions of postmodern psychotherapy and practical psychology: 1. The eclectic approach and styles come to the fore. Competition between approaches disappears, concepts and methods of different psychological schools, scientific directions are borrowed and successfully combined. 2. A psychologist or therapist is dethroned as the bearer of the criteria of the norm and its imposition on others, as an expert in great theories, becoming a caring creator of therapeutic relations. 3. The psychologist is required to sensitively cooperate with the client, when it is the client and not the therapist who determines what goals should be achieved. 4. The psychologist is called to tolerate differences, seeing them only as a source of information, and to help the client tolerate the diversity of the world and problems. This approach and its methods have been and remain debatable. However, in such a discussion there is an attempt to find solutions that meet modern requirements (Mykolaichuk, 2013, p. 157). Postmodern psychotherapy from the standpoint of modernity focuses on the creative discovery of resources of BRAIN. Broad Research in December, 2021 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 12, Issue 4 365 the inner subjective world, not ignoring the emotions of human sadness, dissatisfaction, etc. and accepting them against the background of new opportunities for freedom of choice (Pătroc & Perţe, 2011). As noted by Kisarchuk et al. (2015), on the basis of practical work with crisis clients the algorithm of overcoming of a crisis situation is allocated: a phase of collision with a crisis situation (the person is temporarily disoriented, loses the integrity, is confused, the crisis condition develops at it); phase of actualization of experiences (living of actual emotions, without resorting to their exaggeration, suppression or displacement from consciousness); phase of mastering the crisis (a person is aware of the crisis as a whole, understands his role in its development and the role of others, does not blame anyone, and consciousness works towards expanding horizons of vision, ways to adapt to the situation and search for development prospects); phase of integration of experience (a person enriches the idea of himself, others and the world around him, his own experience is integrated and he moves on). Such an algorithm for overcoming crisis circumstances is rare. As a rule, it is built together with a psychotherapist or psychologist. The most typical for domestic clients is stuck in the first or second phase of a crisis, as a result of which a person feels helpless, may have depression, psychosomatic diseases, consciousness narrows so much that a person realizes only the negative side of any life situation, loses meaning in life. and justifies its way of life through the search for culprits (Kisarchuk et al., 2015, pp. 17 - 18). We believe that it is in the phase of confrontation with the crisis situation that it is appropriate to apply correction of psycho-emotional disorders and manifestations of psychological maladaptation, definitely with neuropsychological recovery of functionality and stabilization of the nervous system, optimal mental self-regulation. Foreign researchers, as well as domestic, believe that the psychological features of overcoming the crisis of life are influenced by age and gender characteristics. Thus, O. C Robinson and A.J. Stell explored the main areas of the crisis of old age (life events and relationships, self and personality, motivation and goals, cognition and affect) and identified effective strategies to overcome them: actualization of personal resources, combating ego integrity, increasing awareness of mortality, scaling of goals, activities, and social roles (Robinson & Stell, 2014). Robinson et al. (2013) developed a model of early adulthood crisis, which examines the main stages of this crisis: blocking (there is a feeling of helplessness and falling into a trap, relationships and activities are undesirable, career path causes Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in … Nataliia TROFAILA, et al. 366 dissatisfaction, often accompanied by compulsive actions - drug or alcohol use, increased feeling of lack of control, especially in men, concealment of suppressed affect), division and expectations (a person begins to distance himself mentally and physically from obligations, there may be internal conflict - between optimistic self-confidence and self-loathing, loss of responsibilities and roles, increasing motivation for change and escape, there is a cognitive-affective separation; formation of a new identity), intelligence (search and development of new life strategies, their coordination with their own values, aspirations and inner identity, experimentation in new relationships, testing new career paths and retraining options, clear identity change), restoration (relationship restoration, commitments and clear plans, the presence of intrinsic motivation and meaning of life, expressed identity, strengthening the sense of authenticity). Each of these stages has variable characteristics in the psychological analysis of the environment of a person experiencing a crisis, in its identity, motivation, emotions and perception of the crisis situation (Robinson et al., 2013). V.G. Panok also considers the variability of personality as one of its fundamental properties (variability, lability, variability) as the main mechanism that ensures the process of human adaptation to the conditions of a crisis situation. At the same time, variability acts as a mechanism that ensures the development of personality in ontogenesis, gradually forming and improving the qualitative neoplasms of a particular age period and a mechanism that ensures the process of human adaptation to changing conditions of social and natural environment. Restructuring of ambiguous connections between the properties of various levels of integral individuality under the influence of the requirements of the external environment in the form of social roles, expectations, values, beliefs, tasks of activity, etc. is the psychological mechanism that provides personality variability in each specific life situation (Panok, 2019). The internal characteristics of variability, analyzed by Panok (2019), are capable of being exteriated into external manifestations as ways of overcoming life's difficulties. Tytarenko et al. (2014) propose to consider variable strategies for constructing life in the conditions of postmodern sociality as ways of personal life constructing, contributing to the search for renewed identities, provide a person's awareness of his continuity, give her the ability to flexibly respond to social changes, move towards new experience. Based on the results of an empirical study of personal resources to overcome the psychological crisis of youth, modern domestic researchers have established their leading coping strategies: "Cognstion", which reflects BRAIN. Broad Research in December, 2021 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 12, Issue 4 367 the appeal to mental abilities, the ability to analyze the situation and their resources to solve it; "Belief" - involves faith in higher powers, faith in yourself and people; "Imagination" - the solution of crisis situations through creativity, imagination (this strategy is quite similar to the protective mechanism of the psyche - sublimation, and allows you to relieve stress in socially receptive ways); "Social", which reflects the tendency to resolve crisis situations through relationships with others, communication with loved ones, professionals who can help. Less relevant for today's youth are the strategies of "Physiologi" (reflects the use of their own physical resources to overcome crisis situations) and "Affect" - respondents with such results, overcoming life crises, try to understand their feelings and express them constructively (Bukovska et al., 2019). According to Stavytska and Ulko (2018), the analysis of past injuries and past crises affects the effectiveness of the method of psychoanalytic therapy to address the psychological problem of the client associated with the current crisis situation. The experience of an actual traumatic situation is renewed by old infantile conflicts, which in a normative situation are supplanted by sublimation or reactive formations, and this can lead to "traumatic neurosis". In itself, a complex life situation, including a crisis, is not unambiguously and equally traumatic, it is made by the very perception and interpretation of a life event as such. Age and gender characteristics of the individual are important for the interpretation of the crisis situation as traumatic. In psycho-correctional work, the psychologist can speak to those who will help the "victim of crisis" to find a new "spiritual-semantic definition" and assure (convince) that the choice is, but, accordingly, is from the future life and actions. Such psychotherapeutic help in a crisis situation will become a new resource for many people not only for further life, but also for their own individual and personal development (Stavytska & Ulko, 2018). Modern domestic researchers describe psychological strategies for overcoming crisis situations, which psychologists offer their clients. Thus, M.Y. Variy offers a psi-program approach in overcoming the crisis, based on the provisions of the psychoenergetic concept of the psyche and mental pro (resource) of the unconscious, subconscious, conscious and superconscious as the formation of psi-programs in conditions where people are constantly busy , and his thinking works in a positive mode, constantly replenishing its positive psycho-energetic potential and displacing the negative (Variy, 2018). The greatest role in choosing behaviors in a stressful situation is played by the processes of personal reflection. They have a significant positive connection with strategies of cognitive adaptation to stress and various Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in … Nataliia TROFAILA, et al. 368 psychological constructs (dispositional or situational), the search for informational, emotional and effective support through interaction with other people, (Myroshnyk, 2019). Certain personal characteristics can also be considered as predictors of coping, determining the age dynamics of personal determinants of coping in different periods of adulthood and developing psychotechnologies to prevent maladaptation of different age groups. For example, personal determinants for women's choice of coping to overcome the crisis are self-confidence, optimism, activity, friendliness (Bushueva, 2018). We believe that in experiencing a life crisis, a person receives a unique existential experience, resorted to semantic reflection, assessing their own life story as a chance for personal renewal and integrates relationships with the environment on cognitive, emotional and behavioral levels. This is how individual psychological strategies for overcoming a personal crisis with a variable adaptive type are formed. Maladaptive or non-constructive psychological strategies for overcoming a life crisis can be associated with a lack of experience in using the mechanisms of psychological defense of the optimal degree, that is, without their rigid inclusion in a critical life situation, with insufficient potential of personal resources for solving it and preventing painful experiences. Psychological conditions for the choice of constructive strategies for overcoming the crisis in the context of postmodern practical psychology Classical practical psychology, due to its directive methods of professionalization, has trained a large staff of specialists inclined in their work to "descriptive psychology", as a result of which most of the psychological counseling with an active position in the conversation is psychologist, not a client. Moreover, the professionalism of a psychologist is often evaluated by others as the ability to explain, analyze, talk about different strategies for overcoming the crisis for a long time. Postmodern practical psychology recommends collegial interaction, when the client and the practical psychologist cooperate as partners, each of whom takes an adequate degree of responsibility for the case. In this cooperation there is the same transition from individual consciousness to partnership, as integration and search of optimum receptions of creative rethinking by the individual of crisis realities of the internal and external world, according to individual psychological features of the personality. The model of constructive overcoming of life crises by personality in postmodern practical psychology contains a creative personality-oriented BRAIN. Broad Research in December, 2021 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 12, Issue 4 369 approach to variable analysis by psychologist and client as the situation itself, moving it in imaginary space and time to expand individual consciousness of psychological counseling and acceptance of crisis reality and variants resources to deal with the crisis. In such a model, the ability or formation of the crisis client's ability to distinguish between primary and secondary, to identify key and subjectively relevant elements as part of the crisis problem and to solve it in stages is important. Under these conditions, a person in a situation of psychological counseling gains experience in the manifestation of subjective activity in a life crisis as a person responsible for their fate, able to make successful decisions. The creative level of subjective activity is a constructive criterion for managing a crisis situation, which is typical for frustration stable individuals. For a postmodern practical psychologist, the manifestation of the professional cognition of crisis counseling as criteria for the effectiveness of their activities are: not the speed of providing psychological assistance, but assisting the client in the gradual resolution of the layered traumatic conflicts that caused the crisis; in-depth study by the client of one’s own experiences of the past and present with their integration and awareness of the existential context of the crisis; mandatory use of neuropsychological exercises to restore and optimize functioning of the client’s nervous system; variable expansion of the client’s personal resources, use of crisis experience for one's own development. Dialogic partnership between the psychologist and the client takes place at the stages of crisis support: attentive listening; talking about possible behavioral strategies in crisis and overcoming it, finding previously unknown ways to solve the crisis situation using the methods of free verbal associations, psychodrama, gestalt therapy, cognitive- behavioral therapy and normalization of crisis states in art therapy. From the standpoint of a phenomenological approach in the work of a practical psychologist with the problem of personal crisis is to identify, above all, the phenomenological features of the client's analysis of their experiences, the level of reflexive self-awareness and individual perception of life crisis and the ratio of individual opportunities to overcome it. Their research requires an in-depth and phenomenological interview, analysis of a diary of records of experiences or emotional response to the events that caused the crisis and related feedback to build an individual map of personal and existential strategies to overcome the crisis of life. In the context of postmodern practical psychology, the criteria for overcoming a life crisis by an individual is their psychological readiness to variative acception of the crisis recovery, with the awareness of freedom of choice and possible change of values in the crisis period of life and creative Psychological Strategies for Overcoming the Life Crisis of the Individual in … Nataliia TROFAILA, et al. 370 approach to overcoming it. Realization of the personal resource of overcoming crisis states, with the adaptive transformation of the crisis reality is within the powers of an assertive person who knows how to take care of their mental health in the deprived conditions of existance. Such cases are quite rare in consultative practice. In our opinion, increased anxiety, deteriorating mood, possible sleep problems and impaired productivity are characteristic of most people experiencing a crisis, who primarily need neuropsychological correction. Neuropsychologist is the first specialist whose professional task is to normalize the nervous system of a crisis client, in the form of “emergency aid”. Any specialist, providing psychological support to a person in an acute crisis is obliged to use neuropsychological exercises to optimize their mental state and improve performance. As a result, the client becomes more able to objectively determine their psychological problem and the goals of counseling before discussing the contract for counseling practice. Conclusion The psychology of personal crisis is associated with important issues of postmodern practical psychology: the formation of personal identity, the development of reflection, creative search, expansion of consciousness and creative potential for a variative recovery from a life crisis, changes in life. For the manifestation of oversituational subjective activity in a personality situation, it is very important to be psychologically ready for a new life construct in an environment with new conditions and to be able to maintain internal balance, which is the key to its creative adaptation to situational surprise in the absence of algorithms for solving the problem with strategies for overcoming it in individual experience. Postmodern practical psychology has formed a methodology of partnership dialogue, in which the individual independently chooses numerous alternatives for the creative transformation of unexpected life circumstances with elements of life crisis, tries them through social roles and changes according to their demands, values, needs. Postmodernism excludes direct interference in the client's choice of psychological strategies for overcoming the crisis, its important principle is to create such a personal space for which the counselor himself develops rules to protect its boundaries and coping strategies in a difficult crisis situation. The main task of the postmodern practical psychologist is to transform the consultative dialogue into a creative process, through which the client learns to analyze their internal changes, crises, personal potential to update psychological coping strategies and rethink new life experiences as BRAIN. 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