4. The dynamics of the personality of a minor in conditions of social isolation

To develop the most effective system of measures of re-education and prevention of deviant behavior, a prerequisite is to study the dynamics of the personality of the minor and the nature of the changes occurring in her in the setting of places of social exclusion.
The study showed that social isolation causes significant changes in the personality of the minor. At the same time, in the first period after arrest (placement in the reception center, arrival at a special school, special vocational school, VC), a minor still does not realize a radical change in his social status and continues to live and think unconsciously in categories of an ordinary teenager or young man, if he hasn’t conditions of social exclusion. He sometimes prevails the thought of the past, and not about the present and the future, which is still vague and uncertain. The rapid and radical break-up of life plans by placing a minor in conditions of social isolation gives him a complex of negative reactions that make it difficult to correct and re-educate him. The choice of a behavior strategy for minors in the first days of their stay in isolation depends largely on: their own understanding of the meaning and necessity of the legal boundaries to which they are subjected; awareness of his new social status and the seriousness of his new position, which, naturally, will affect his future life and plans; the extent to which it is incorporated into the new environment and its acceptance of its norms and values; inclusion in general education and vocational training, in production activities that could “distract” the minor from the experiences he experiences, from illegal activities aimed at violation of the regime, including in the form of deviant behavior.
After some time, when all the reserves of the imaginary improvement of their new situation are exhausted, and social isolation becomes a reality, the reaction of the minor to the right to restrict all his life plans for many years comes to the fore. The main features taken into account in the diagnosis of personality changes and reactions of a minor include:
a) suddenness and a high degree of concentration of the psycho-traumatic impact of the very fact of social exclusion;
b) the presence in the psychology of the personality of a minor of typical changes associated with separation from the habitual and placement in a new social environment, for survival in which it is necessary to clearly define the strategy and tactics of their behavior;
c) a steady correlation between the content of the experiences experienced by a minor and the nature of the impact of the legal restrictions to which he is subjected;
d) awareness of his new position and social status with his internal rejection;
e) the possibility of gradual habituation of a minor to his new position and conditions of life.
For analyzing the reactions of minors to the restrictions to which they are subjected, which have a traumatic effect on a person, one can use the scheme known in psychotherapy, according to which the reactions are distinguished: 1) adequate, i.e. normal (increased, medium, low and familiar), and 2) inadequate with elements of pathology (with various phobias, depressive with elements of anxiety, hypochondria, hysterical).
When classifying a minor's reactions to adequate and inadequate, the following objective indications of behavior are taken into account:
- for an adequate response: the conformity of the behavior of the minor with valid information about the future prospects of his stay in conditions of social exclusion; his compliance with the requirements of the regime, orders of the administration; ability to control one's behavior and emotions;
- for an inadequate (pathological) reaction: a reaction to the fact of social isolation with elements of psychopathological symptoms in a minor who was considered mentally healthy in terms of indicators taken from a personal matter.
Adequate response is a reaction to the novelty inherent in all people who fall into an unusual, unknown to them situation. A normal reaction with a higher degree of adequacy is characterized by the concentration of a minor on the very fact of social isolation, a realistic assessment of their life prospects, the desire to find opportunities to improve them and quickly get graduation from special schools, special technical schools, liberation from VC by exemplary behavior, active study and diligent work, etc. P. These persons are looking for friends among positively-minded adolescents and young men, have a positive attitude towards the educational activities conducted with them, deeply outlast their guilt; their repentance of criminal behavior is deep and steady. The mood is somewhat reduced, but has a significant sthenic effect.
With a normal reaction with an average degree of adequacy, minors reasonably relate to the arrest event itself, the investigation and the court, adequately assess their new position in conditions of social exclusion, possible perspectives, based on the information they possess. They expressed the installation for correction, criminal installations are loosened and eliminated in the process of investigation, the court (the proceedings in the juvenile affairs commission), they feel guilty, repentance is steady and deep. Mood quickly stabilized, rising to normal. They enter the life of the school, special vocational school, VC relatively painlessly, especially if they met their friends and compatriots. The rules and procedures that exist in places of social exclusion are taken for granted.
With a normal reaction with a reduced degree of adequacy, minors give the impression that they are not critically critical of their position. They overestimate the degree of favorableness of the prospects for them, their actual situation, their opportunities to improve it, and they diminish the consequences of social exclusion for their future life. However, with a deeper analysis, it can be found that behind external bravado, daring attitude towards caregivers, heightened mood hides an objective assessment of one’s position, but with insufficiently good understanding of the consequences of criminal behavior for later life. Most of the minors of this group tend to live for today, discarding "dark" reflections, quickly get used to the new environment, belong to various criminogenic and criminal groups and groups. However, they are unwilling to accept the legal restrictions they are subjected to and their new status. As if denying the fact of social exclusion and its consequences, they seek psychological protection from psycho-traumatic circumstances in the form of self-justification, the requirement of the regime, the established procedure, etc., not necessary for them, the result of which may be one or another kind of deviant behavior.
Habitual adequate reaction is noted in those non-believers, adults, on whom social isolation did not have a psycho-traumatic effect. They are not “behind bars” for the first time; they know all the conditions of social exclusion, the regime’s requirements are not new to them. This applies to persons who have successively passed through a special school, a special technical school, a VC, have repeatedly been placed in reception centers or have repeatedly served their sentences in VC.
Inadequate reactions are characterized by the emergence and development in minors, who were previously mentally healthy, of various mental disorders. First of all, these are phobic reactions: claustrophobia - fear of a closed space, especially experienced in solitary isolation, for example, in a disciplinary room; sexophobia - fear of committing sodomy and other sexual perversions towards oneself; phobias associated with the expectation of other various harassment and abuse of a newcomer, etc.
Anxiety-depressive reactions are manifested in the prevalence of depressed, depressed mood, hopelessness, despair, pessimism. Minors consider their lives "ruined", experience great internal stress, show irritability, anxiety, excessive excitement, which makes it difficult to carry out educational work with them. They have sleep disorders and insomnia, homesickness is much deeper and stronger than others. There is also a motor concern, changes in the activity of the cardiovascular system.
Negative-depressive reaction is characterized by the presence of all the above symptoms in combination with an internal negative attitude towards the fact of social isolation, not recognizing oneself guilty, lack of repentance for deeds, violation of the regime, ignoring the requirements of caregivers, lack of attitude to correction with outwardly depressed mood, apathy and indifference.
A negative hysterical reaction finds a way to demonstrate negative behavior, the desire to attract the attention of educators and the administration as “innocently affected”. Such minors seek to arouse sympathy from others, constantly write letters to relatives and friends, accusing them of their troubles, and embarrassing about the allegedly unfair attitude of the administration and educators towards them. The most significant feature of their personality is egocentrism, manifested in perverted and distorted forms against the background of emotional lability.
For minors with a positive hysterical reaction are characteristic: defrauding their past, recognizing their criminal behavior as "certain merit", lack of orientation toward correction, striving to draw the attention of other minors with their imaginary merits, to win authority from them, to subdue them. These people rarely think about their future life.
Further development of the personality of a minor under conditions of social exclusion may be: 1) normal development with sufficiently reliable adaptation to the conditions of a special school (special vocational school or VC), which may be increased, moderate or decreased effectiveness; 2) inadequate development, characterized by the deepening and manifestation of mental maladjustment with the consolidation of negative qualities.
Normal personality development can take place under conditions of increased adaptation to social exclusion, when a minor objectively assesses his position, his status, the forecast of his further stay in a colony or a special institution, when he is involved in active collective life, studies diligently, participates in various types of amateur performances of adolescents and youths he has no internal resistance to educational influences, the psychological barrier between him and his teachers has been removed.
With an average psychological adaptation, the conditions for development are also favorable. A minor critically assesses himself and his shortcomings sufficiently, recognizes the need for his correction. It is included in the collective life, although it may not be active in it; school and vocational training, industrial work are used by him to cut off obsessive thoughts about people and events on the other side of the "barbed wire". Along with collective activities, learning, various types of amateur activities play a role in sublimating, participation in the council sections of minors (students, convicts), sports, rationalization and invention, mass cultural work, etc.
Reduced psychological adaptation is generally characterized by an adequate behavior of a minor, a positive general tendency of his development, however, in various cases of rapid changes in the situation in places of social isolation, he begins to show specific mental states and reactions, although not reaching the level of pathological. These persons have an increased level of anxiety, dissatisfaction with caregivers, teachers, administration, a desire to resist the educational effects in connection with the psychological barrier that has arisen and the inclusion of false compensation mechanisms.
Among persons with mental maladjustment, it is possible to distinguish juvenile neurotics, who develop various kinds of disorders in a mild form, most often in the form of a neurotic syndrome: irritability, instability (lability) of mood, insomnia, anxiety for their future. Such adolescents and young men try to make sense of their position and find ways to improve it, often turning to educators, teachers, and industrial education masters on these issues.
Correction and re-education of persons with mental maladjustment is much more difficult and requires a series of psychological and psychotherapeutic measures to facilitate the removal of their neurotic manifestations. Psychological assistance and support should play an important role.
You can also identify minors with pathological personality development, manifested in a decrease in the level of criticality in self-esteem, the loss of critical attitudes towards mental disorders that have arisen. The most common leading psychopathic syndrome is hypochondria. All the attention of these minors is riveted to their own personality, their own well-being, which, in fact, exhausts their interests. They are reinforcing the conviction that others are to blame for their misadventures, and they themselves do not need re-education. They are prone to aggravating and simulating diseases, and some of them resort to self-harm. Their re-education is associated with the treatment and prevention of pathological personality development.
Such is the dynamics of the personality of minors of different classification groups who were considered mentally healthy before entering places of social exclusion. In addition, for a number of reasons, minors with psychic abnormalities that have arisen at large (with psychopathies, chronic substance abuse, and vascular diseases of the brain, have suffered birth injuries, etc.) fall into these institutions. Such a contingent significantly complicates the situation in places of isolation, causing various types of behavior deviations. Since these mental disorders may worsen even more, which requires qualified psychiatric care, it is unacceptable by law to keep their carriers in places of social exclusion.