“Between birth and death is life divided into milestones; Each new stage of life is marked by a “hot spot in the biography” of A.G. Ambrumova, 1981. We live in an era of change and great social upheaval. There is a global restructuring of the world, which is in a phase crisis, one of the criteria of which is the destruction of the old paradigm. Humanity has moved into a zone of turbulence, rapid change, uncertainty, and shaky foundations. The level of anxiety in society due to current events is growing. Everything changes, including psychology. The requirements for the competencies of a psychologist are changing and these changes are dictated by time. Nowadays, the integral competence of any specialist who deals with psychotherapy and psychological assistance should be crisis psychotherapy. A crisis is the most acute form of manifestation of contradictions associated with a violation of stability. There are many definitions of crisis. Here we will consider the crisis in the logic of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy of the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) school of psychotherapy (according to Karvasarsky, Tashlykova, Isurin). A crisis is understood as a state of a person that arises when his purposeful activity is blocked by reasons external to his personality (frustration), or internal reasons due to the growth, development of the individual and its transition to another life cycle, stage of development (Karvasarsky B.D.) A personal crisis affects all planes of a person’s existence:_ close relationships (parental family, own family);_ friendly relationships;_distant relationships (work, friendships, political significance);_relationships with oneself. Personal crisis can be: “normal” and pathological. In the occurrence of normative crises, a change and restructuring of the personal system (the system of relationships, conditions of social functioning, leading activities) plays a role. In a normal crisis, psychological help is not required, since psychotherapy reduces one’s own adaptation needs. In case of a pathological personal crisis, help is necessary, since this is a crisis state that exceeds the capabilities of the individual’s psychological adaptation systems, leads to the development of a mental disorder, or can lead to!suicide! Criteria for a suicidal crisis: 1. Events of traumatic content raise the question: “why should I live now?”; 2. A frustrated need of high significance (in fact, this is a violation of identity and self-understanding - “I don’t know who I am after this loss”?); 3. Lack of information necessary to solve the problem (“I don’t know how to improve the situation”); 4. Absence of a model of behavior in a situation of frustration (“I don’t know what can be done about this?”);5. The idea of ​​the fundamental unsolvability of the situation (“nothing can be done”);6. Inability to get help from others (“no one can help”). *Need frustration is the objective impossibility of realizing a vital need. The goal of crisis psychotherapy is aimed at achieving sustainable change, as a result of which a person gains subjective control over the course of his own life, restores orderly and consistent the picture of the world of which he is a part restores the previous level or creates a better level of adaptation. To successfully overcome a crisis, a person needs to:_Emotionally experience the event (reflection);_Aware of the existing problem (reflection) - “awareness is the beginning of healing” (Abrumova A.G.) ;_Give up old illusions (identification);_Determine your capabilities (identification and socialization);_Make a decision on how to live further (coordinated work of all personal mechanisms). The publication was prepared based on materials from a lecture by Nazyrov R.K. on the topic: “Modern crisis psychotherapy»