Fundamental changes in the determinants of western ecopsychology at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

The article reveals the theoretical aspects of the subject and the genesis of ecological psychology and ecopsychology as a branch of modern psychological knowledge. It is noted that the ecological crisis and the awareness of the limits of subduing nature have actualized the problem of both protecting nature and preserving psychological health. Different definitions of the subject of environmental psychology, which are available in scientific and educational literature, are considered. It is noted that they are tangential to Western environmental psychology. The fundamental difference between environmental psychology and ecopsychology is indicated. It was found that the first of them is a branch of behaviorist research, the second is a type of Jungian-oriented psychoanalysis. The article argues that ecopsychology arose on the basis of fundamental transformations of the determinants of Western self-awareness in the second half of the 20th century. Nine principles of ecopsychology by T. Roszak are given, which determine the foundations of this psychological direction. It is noted that ecopsychology pays the main attention to the ecological unconscious, which relates a person to the natural world. It is indicated that on the basis of the theoretical approaches of ecopsychology, whole complexes of psychotherapeutic methods of restoring the human connection with the surrounding world, overcoming alienation from nature, have been created. In the conclusions, it is stated that the domestic environmental psychology by subject and method gravitates more towards environmental psychology, but recently tries to take into account the achievements of ecopsychology, sharing its certain theoretical foundations. It is the synthesis of these two directions that will give a new impetus to the development of this field of psychological science and psychotherapeutic practices.