Background. Today, the problem of addiction is very relevant. Addicted persons may act against themselves, often becoming an enemy to themselves. Therefore, it is very important to develop effective psychotherapeutic methods of working with addiction. There are different models of working with addiction, but this problem has not yet been resolved.

The Objective is to present an existential-analytical approach to the therapeutic work with addiction.

Design. Addiction is deemed as an obstacle to Person-Being. This extremely strong mental need regularly makes free will obey it. The Will submits and plays along. It brings a person relief. The problem is in the fact that the Will acts against its own Person-Being, i.e. the person acts against himself. A person falls into a state of selfdestruction. In order to get out of this self-destructive state, a systematic correlation with one’s own Person is proposed, in order to strengthen relations with it and gradually begin to live a fulfilled life. In contrast to the behavioural model, where the stimulus immediately causes a reaction within the method developed in the framework of the existential-analytical approach, another model is established, that implies that an attempt is made to interpose the Self as Person between the stimulus and the reaction, due to which it is activated, which leads to a psychotherapeutic result.

Results. The main stages of the implementation of this model in psychotherapeutic work with addiction are considered. The exercises and methods for outlining the personal strengths of an addicted person are described, starting with the adoption of addiction, so as to try to provide the Person with more freedom of action and overcome the addiction.

Conclusion. This paper can contribute to the development of a personal and existential view of an addicted person.

The paper presents the ideas of P.Ya. Galperin on the nature of moral behaviour and the basic patterns of internal responsibility in childhood and adolescence. Distinctive features of objective and subjective responsibility, internal and external responsibility are highlighted. It is argued that internal responsibility expresses the person’s attitude to society and social groups and might be developed only if involved in certain relations and implemented in socially useful activities, i.e. if it is significant for other people. The psychological roles of cooperation for of responsibility are compared in J. Piaget’s works and P.Ya. Galperin’s scientific theory. The research results of internal responsibility in primary school students and adolescents conducted by P.Ya. Galperin and T.V. Morozkina are discussed. The decisive role of value orientation and motivation in solving «affective type» problems and in moral behaviour is shown. According philosophy issues, responsibility is considered as a perceived necessity, which assumes a free moral choice. Three criteria of moral responsibility are introduced: the causal relationship between the subject’s behaviour and its consequence, subject’s ability to predict the possible consequences of his/her behaviour, the possibility of free choice. The psychological content of responsibility is the subject’s commitment and further response regulated by a certain system of norms and regulations on the basis of moral choice and self-regulation. The distinction between the action device and motive as the accepted moral basis for behaviour has been introduced. Accordingly, responsible behaviour is considered as willful behaviour. The genesis of strong-will behaviour is associated with social relations and moral values and is developed in the course of cooperation. Conditions of orientation in moral choice as a prerequisite for actualizing the individual’s internal responsibility are discussed.

In this paper the outcomes of the continuous studies of will are analyzed. The concept of “will” and the concept of “sense” were introduced in the ancient psychology as theoretical constructs. Later these concepts were replaced with narrower ones that now reflect various psychic processes. The whole concept of “will” has changed through time. In the 20th century it was perceived as a separate psychic process of an unknown nature, that is why K. Levin has even proposed excluding this concept from psychology.

The first outcome can be summarized as follows. It is essential to analyze the way concepts are introduced and developed in terms of a particular science. The reason is that all the basic psychological concepts were initially introduced not to reflect the realities, but to explain them as theoretical constructs. Moreover, it is important to consider the possibility of initial constructs differentiation. For instance, mind can branch out into perception, notion, imagination and thinking. In Russian psychology, the concept of will as a capability of overcoming inner and outer barriers was in active use until the 70-ies. The nature of this phenomenon was unknown. Only the analysis of a willful act generation and the way the concept of will was introduced scientists to formulate the task of identifying the mechanisms of a willful act itself.

The second outcome is as follows. To solve a problem it is needed to replace it with a task to complete. For instance, to understand the nature of will we can replace the problem of its understanding with a task of generating a willful act, compensating for the deficiency of initial motivation.

The third outcome is that it is essential to coordinate a new concept with all the rest concepts of that particular science.

The article presents the text of a lecture presented by the author to psychology students on the theme "Volition" in the course "General Psychology". Author examines the history of the problem and its current state.