Spiritual and moral problems of non-professional helping activities: The «bright» and «dark» sides of volunteering

Abstract

Introduction. While helping people, volunteers must have a harmonious, stable understanding of themselves and the world, a clear system of spiritual and moral guidelines, and be able to convey them to their wards, avoiding psychological burnout and deformation. This is not always possible, which indicates the need to study this problem, select, train and certify not only professional social workers, but also volunteers.Purpose setting. The purpose of the study is to comprehend the spiritual and moral problems of non-professional helping activities: the «brightˮ and «dark» sides of the activity of modern volunteers and volunteering. The destructive influence of the negative experience of life that precedes volunteering distorts the understanding of the reality, value and purpose of volunteers is dangerous even for professionals, and especially dangerous for volunteers. Such experience, associated illusions and negative assessments increase cases of «infection» with states and forms of reaction that are destructive for the formation and development of a person, increasing vulnerability to states of psychological burnout and deformation of personal, interpersonal and professional development.Methodology and methods of the study. The research method is a theoretical analysis of the spiritual and moral problems of volunteering. The methodological basis of the study is the papers of scientists who have studied volunteering as a kind of helping, prosocial behavior.Results. The spiritual and moral problems of career volunteers' activities are related with their focus on the task and latent hostility: the tendency to confuse goals and means, grumbling and latent cruelty in contrast to event volunteers» numerous illusions and «rose-tinted glasses» in the understanding of themselves and the world. They are also associated with negative personal experience that actively deforms the understanding of self-consciousness and worldview while ignoring a number of situations that require reflection and correction.Conclusions. It is necessary to develop programs for the (re) training of volunteers, helping them to avoid processing illusions and transform deformations that manifest themselves in aggression and other incorrect ways of behavior.