The theoretical framework of this analytic study is based on studies in the field of film perception. Films are considered as a communicative system that is encrypted in an ordered series of shots, and decoding proceeds during perception. The shots are the elements of a cinematic message that must be "read" by viewer. The objective of this work is to analyze the existing theoretical approaches to using films in psychotherapy and education. An original approach to film therapy that is based on teaching clients to use new communicative sets and psychotherapeutic patterns through watching films is presented. The article specifies the main emphasized points in theories of film therapy and education. It considers the specifics of film therapy in the process of increasing the effectiveness of communication. It discusses the advantages and limitations of the proposed method. The contemporary forms of film therapy and the formats of cinema clubs are criticized. The theoretical assumptions and empirical research that could be used as a basis for a method of developing effective communication by means of films are discussed. Our studies demonstrate that the usage of film therapy must include an educational stage for more effective and stable results. This means teaching viewers how to recognize certain psychotherapeutic and communicative patterns in the material of films, to practice the skill of finding as many examples as possible for each pattern and to transfer the acquired schemes of analyzing and recognizing patterns into one's own life circumstances. The four stages of the film therapeutic process as well as the effects that are achieved at each stage are described in detail. In conclusion, the conditions under which the usage of the film therapy method would be the most effective are observed. Various properties of client groups and psychotherapeutic scenarios for using the method of active film therapy are described.

The paper reports the results of the phenomenological study of client experiences in the process of psychotherapy. It describes the stages of categorization, generalization, and interpretation of data. We raised the following questions: what changes happen to client experiences during the same treatment session and between sessions; and how these changes relate to the components of optimal experience. The sample consisted of 6 people aged 32—53, 5 women, and one man. One female client attended four meetings with a psychotherapist; the male and four female clients attended three meetings each. The transcripts were coded by two independent experts, followed by a joint discussion. First, unique semantic units were marked, then the statements were coded and categorized by experts. We give an account of the generalized dynamics of client experiences. The results of applying the categorical grid of the model of optimal experience to the dynamics of client experiences are presented separately. The yielded results can be interpreted as qualitative effectiveness markers of psychotherapeutic work.

The prevalence of depression among the population estimated at 8-12%. The World Health Organization admits that the existing help system is not sufficiently successful in dealing with depression, and gives priority to online methods – accessible and anonymous. So it can be used by a large number of people and can help to overcome the problem of stigmatization of people with depression. In the article current trends in using online diagnostics tools (mobile applications and gadgets) are discussed and detection of groups with depression risk in social media digital footprints are analyzed. The prospect of research consists in studying the mechanisms and identifying specific components of programs related to the preventive effect, as well as the possibilities of using online methods to work with other mental disorders.

The purpose of the study was to develop a method to assess the different characteristics of goal setting among psychotherapists with varying professional experience, and also to trace the relationship between the parameters of goal setting and the effectiveness of psychotherapy. To do this, a productive methodological basis can be a procedure for the study of professional thinking used in the psychology of expertise. The authors identified the characteristics and conditions of goal setting that contribute to the better achievement of goals. The basis for the development of the method was an assumption that the analysis of someone else's psychotherapeutic session from an expert position should stimulate the specialist's ideas about the standard goal setting process. The authors developed a grid of categories for the analysis of structured interview records. Studies using the developed procedure can be carried out in the following areas: 1) identifying the characteristics of goals that are more or less effective in the context of therapy outcomes; 2) studying the transformation of a goal setting process in connection with building up the professional experience of a psychotherapist; 3) revealing the peculiarity of the representation of a client's problem by psychotherapists with varying degrees of expertise; 4) studying the features of goal-setting and the representation of a client's problem by psychotherapists of different approaches. The approbation of this methodology for studying goal setting among therapists with more than 10 years of experience allowed us to identify the main characteristics of the problem and target state descriptions that correlate with the effective achievement of psychotherapeutic results, according to other research.

The paper describes the results of a phenomenological study of client experiences in the process of psychotherapy. We assumed that the experience changes during the course of psychotherapy, and the dynamics of the experience could be observed both within one session and between sessions. The sample consisted of 6 people aged 29 to 53, 5 women and 1 man. One woman attended 4 meetings with a psychotherapist, the man and other women — 3 meetings each. Conversations were recorded on a dictaphone and then transcribed. Two independent experts read and coded each transcript, and then codes were discussed. At the first stage of analysis, we noted unique semantic units. At the second stage, they were coded. We describe the dynamics of the experiences of each client separately from the beginning to the end of work with a psychotherapist. The results allow us to conclude that there are transformations of experiences in all clients; both in their experiences regarding the work process and also regarding the problem situations that were the reason for treatment. The results of further categorization, generalization, and interpretation will be described in the next paper.