Psychotherapy is a long and multi-stage process, and therefore, when assessing its effectiveness, it is necessary to rely on different criteria. The effectiveness of psychotherapy depends on many factors. In any case, responsibility for effectiveness is shared, since psychotherapy is a mutual process, the joint work of the psychologist and the client. The client in this process acts as an active subject, not an object. He formulates a request, his wishes and expectations from therapy. The psychologist, in turn, helps to formulate a realistic request and creates conditions for change. The problem of the effectiveness of psychotherapy arises when the client either does not feel the effect, is not satisfied with it, or would like to move at a different pace. And then we need clear performance criteria that could be compared with realistic deadlines for achieving the goal. For example, it is difficult to expect from the first session that after it the client’s life will change dramatically. At the first session, acquaintance takes place, contact is established, and the client’s wishes are clarified. And the maximum that can be done at the first session is to sort the problem into pieces, bring up internal conflicts related to the problem for discussion and outline strategies for further work. When assessing the effectiveness, it is also important to take into account the regularity and duration of the psychotherapeutic process. For a short period of time, it is possible to set only simple and clear goals, and then the therapeutic process will focus on them - on developing a specific skill or working with a specific symptom. Over a long period of time, more profound changes are possible - in the client’s life scenarios, his personal complexes, attitudes, beliefs, attitude towards himself and what is happening. The effectiveness of psychotherapy is sometimes delayed. In these cases, psychotherapy has an impact on the client and his life, but not immediately. For example, in cases where a person needs time to think about something and make a decision. Or it takes time to notice that some changes have happened to him. Psychoanalytic approaches activate the client’s unconscious, and sometimes it “wakes up” and does not take effect immediately. The old defense mechanisms are still in effect, the psyche retains its inertia. And then, when assessing the effectiveness, it is important to pay attention not only to what is happening here and now, but also to what happens some time after therapy, for example, after several months or a year. What criteria for assessing the effectiveness of psychotherapy should be based on? 1. Current condition and well-being of the client. Since psychotherapy is aimed at helping the client cope with his difficulties, he usually feels better after it. In the psychologist’s office, the client freely expresses his feelings, structures his experiences, understands what is happening to him and why, and completes situations from the past. Therefore, as a rule, the client’s condition improves as a result of therapy. In some sessions he experiences insights, in others he feels a surge of inspiration and strength. But this criterion is not the only and exhaustive one, since sometimes, by raising painful and difficult mental material for oneself, the client may experience temporary deterioration. And then it is important, in principle, that the client reacts to the process and to the psychologist. Any strong emotional reactions indicate that the process is underway. An active process is also indicated by the appearance of vivid dreams or irrational feelings in the client. Perhaps the consciousness is not yet ripe for a reaction, but it is important that the unconscious has already turned on, and, therefore, the process has begun. 2. Increasing internal stability. Thanks to psychotherapy, the client becomes more resistant to those external events that previously could have caused him fear, panic, depression, or otherwise upset his daily adaptation. As a result of working with a psychologist, the client draws boundaries, breaks out of merging with other people, begins to criticize other people’s attitudes, beliefs and]