Psychological care as understanding

The article traces the development of the concept of «understanding» in the philosophical and psychological directions - the theoretical assumptions concerning the understanding of a Russian philosopher Vladimir Rozanov, of a German psychiatrist, psychologist, philosopher Karl Jaspers, modern concept of phenomenological psychology, the relevant aspects of existential psychotherapy. Jaspers shares the understanding of what has been said, considering that this is the basis of phenomenology, and understanding of the speaker, that is the prerogative of understanding psychology. Rozanov considers knowledge and understanding in opposition. The characteristics of understanding are depth and indissolubility. Understanding contains the consciousness. The knowledge exists due to the senses, the understanding - due to the mind. Rozanov considers the differentiation of two notions - good and evil as the most important issue of human understanding. Further, the article considers the revealed specificity and function of human understanding in difficult situations, where it is difficult, but more is needed. A person can be understood in different ways - his words, his emotions, rationally or emotionally, something like a static fact or as included in the situations dynamics, etc. These parameters are studied in four main areas - psycholinguistic, phenomenological, psychotechnical, and existential. All of these areas are exploring the concepts of meaning, intention, narrative, experience, but they are studying different aspects of understanding. Psycholinguists study how people associate thought and word, how speech can help in the research of subjective representation by a person of any situation. In this case, the most important concept is the Intention - focus of consciousness on the object, intention to express a judgment about the object. The notion of experiences (a stream of subjective emotions, thoughts, interpretations) is studied by phenomenological psychology. There is a problem in this direction - an accuracy of the subjective stream translation. The criteria for a correct translation are the agreement of the subject with it, the presence in the translation of new aspects, the assistance from these interpretations to coping. According to the methodology of understanding psychotherapy (this is the third direction of phenomenological ideas), a psychologist can understand the personal experience with the help of specific psychological techniques. Experience is a special activity for coping. Representatives of the fourth direction (existential psychotherapy) also aim to search for the meaning of the situation, however, they give special importance to a person's ability to detect him-self and his existence. K. Jaspers distinguishes two types of understanding - incrimination and excuse. Modern European psychologist I. Petzold supports this concept and calls the ability to show a sense of tenderness, apology, delight as the basic conditions of a deep understanding. Thus, ethical direction of understanding is more important than epistemological aspects.

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