Inside the Middle-Age Unemployment

In this work, from the standpoint of psychoanalysis, those factors, experiences and events are considered that could be the root cause of difficulties in finding a job for people from thirty-five to sixty years old. The study examined such psychological defenses, when demonstrated, the motivation for a new job search or profession either decreases or disappears altogether. The hypothesis of this work: during the period of unemployment, a middle-aged person who has long-term difficulties in finding a job or choosing a new profession demonstrates three main psychological defenses: repression, substitution, and isolation. The first part of the work presents the theoretical basis of the research: analysis of scientific sources; identification of the psycho-emotional state of middle-aged unemployed people; disclosure of the nature of the psychological defenses demonstrated by them. In the second part of the work, the hypothesis put forward by the author is proved empirically. The study was carried out at the State Institution of Technical Services "TsZN Odoevsky District". The total number of participants is thirty people. The studied age group includes representatives of middle age, the definition of which is based on the age periodization of Erickson. The respondents were selected into two groups according to the following characteristics: The first group: middle-aged unemployed citizens who first apply to the CPC, with an interval between previous jobs of less than three months. The second group: middle-aged unemployed citizens who have repeatedly applied and are in search of work through the employment center for five months or more. The methods of empirical research were used in the work: interviews and testing of respondents (Structural interviews in the study of personality disorders (Kernberg O.), projective drawing of a person (Mahover K, 1996)., Kinetic drawing of a family (Burns and Kaufman, 2000). To analyze the data obtained methods of statistical processing were used. The main focus of the structured interview in the current study is the analysis of the personal characteristics of the respondents, as well as the degree of influence of psychological defenses on the strategies of finding a new job or profession. The data obtained by the author in the course of the interview made it possible to reveal a much more frequent manifestation of psychological defenses in the middle-aged unemployed of the second group (who are in a long job search (from five months). When using the psychoanalytic method "Projective drawing of a person", it was established that there are some characteristic features of the family situation in both groups of respondents. According to the data obtained, the second group more often faced negative family experiences, and therefore more pronouncedly demonstrates anxiety, frustration, aggressiveness, and rigidity. According to the results of testing using the "Family kinetic pattern" method, anxiety, frustration, aggressiveness and rigidity are also more inherent in the representatives of the second group. From all the data obtained during the research, the author concludes that the manifestation of such psychological defenses as repression, substitution and isolation is more typical for those unemployed middle-aged people who have a history of difficult family relationships and have been looking for a long time. Based on the results of the work, specific recommendations were presented for the CPC consultants and career coaches. The recommendations proposed by the author will allow the specialists of employment centers to offer middle-aged people effective solutions for getting out of the situation of unemployment, for career development and for a new professional self-determination.