APPLICATION OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES TO DETERMINE THE STATE AND INCREASE THE DYNAMICS OF IMPROVEMENT OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

Ignatov Konstantin Alexandrovich

The article discusses the main methods developed to assess the level of mental and social development of adolescents with developmental delays. It is noted that the considered methods must be applied in an adapted manner, taking into account a specific group of adolescents. The function of projections in intrapsychic dynamics is analyzed. The main classifications of projective techniques are given, which allows for a more selective approach to their choice when working with adolescents with mental retardation. It is indicated that, despite the fact that the analyzed methods have been used for quite a long time, they have not lost their relevance and universality in many cases. The completed supplementary test of their suitability in relation to a group of adolescents with mental disorders allows them to be used more broadly and facilitates the tasks of clinical psychologist researchers. It is concluded that projective techniques in the form of drawing tests are useful additional tools in psychological diagnostics, but they should be used by professionals with appropriate training, and their results should be considered in the context of other data and methods for studying personality and psychological characteristics. It is indicated that psychologists’ directions to students’ actions should not be of a mentoring nature, but only of a helping and approving nature. This will allow achieving positive dynamics in the development of children, obtaining more accurate results that correspond to reality, and will also allow repeated tests to be carried out after some time, which will be met by children with understanding, recognition and trust.

Keywords:projective methods, intrapsychic diagnostics, object relations theory, internal unconscious objects, child, teenager, projective methods of testing, diagnostics and therapy