- a psychopathological condition based on a delay in the pace of emotional and personal development. It is manifested by childishness, immaturity of behavior, inability to make decisions, to make a choice independently. Schoolchildren are dominated by gaming interests, learning motivation weak, it is difficult to adopt rules of conduct, disciplinary requirements. Diagnosis includes clinical and psychological methods, is aimed at studying the features of the emotional-volitional and personal spheres, social relationships, and the level of adaptation. Treatment is symptomatic, involves medication, psychotherapy and counseling.

General information

The term "infantilism" comes from the Latin language, meaning "infantile, childish." Mental infantilism is understood as a discrepancy between behavior, emotional reactions, volitional functions and age requirements. AT Everyday life infantile people are called people who are distinguished by naivety, dependence, insufficient possession of general household skills. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) singles out a separate nosological unit - infantile personality disorder. In addition, mental infantilism is a symptom of neuroses, psychopathy, reactions to stress. The prevalence among children reaches 1.6%, the ratio of boys and girls is approximately equal.

Causes of mental infantilism

The prerequisites for mental infantilism are pathologies of the nervous and endocrine systems, hereditary predisposition, and improper upbringing. Risk factors include:

• Mild brain damage. Mental infantilism often develops after exposure to adverse prenatal, natal and postnatal factors. These include infections, intoxication, trauma, hypoxia, asphyxia.
• Mental disorders . In children with mental retardation, autism, schizophrenia, mental retardation, the risk of mental infantilism is higher. The syndrome is formed on the basis of social maladaptation.
• Hereditary burden. There are genetic and constitutional features that are passed on to the child from the parents. The rate of maturation of cortical structures, metabolic processes, inertia nervous system- factors influencing the formation of infantilism.
• Parenting style. The development of infantilism is facilitated by the restriction of the freedom of the child, increased parental control. Mental immaturity is the result of overprotection or despotic upbringing.

Pathogenesis

There are three variants of the pathogenesis of mental infantilism. The first is based on the delayed development of the frontal lobes of the brain responsible for the formation of motives, purposeful behavior, programming, regulation and control of mental activity. The reasons are objective factors - trauma, intoxication, infection. The second variant of pathogenesis is general psychophysical immaturity. Developmental delay is determined in the frontal and other parts of the brain. Immaturity is total: the child is miniature, looks younger than his age, the behavior corresponds to the appearance. The third option is an artificial delay in socialization by a disharmonious style of upbringing. The development of frontal functions is hampered by hyperprotection, excessive care, and total control.

Classification

Etiologically, the disorder is divided into congenital and acquired. A more detailed classification distinguishes 4 types of mental infantilism:

1. Organic. Occurs when the CNS is damaged. It is the result of traumatic brain injury, asphyxia, infectious disease, intoxication. Mental immaturity is accompanied by mild psychoorganic syndrome.
2. Somatogenically conditioned. Observed in endocrine diseases, chronic debilitating diseases, lesions internal organs. Mental immaturity is formed against the background of symptoms of the underlying pathology, asthenic manifestations.
3. Psychogenic conditioned. It develops as a result of pampering upbringing, hyperprotection or despotic attitude. Another name is psychological infantilism.

Another classification is based on features clinical picture. There are two types of mental infantilism:

• Total. The child lags behind in height, weight, physical and mental development. Appearance, behavior, emotions correspond to an earlier age.
• Partial. The immaturity of the psyche is combined with normal, anticipatory physical development. The child is unbalanced, irritable, dependent on adults.

Symptoms of mental infantilism

Mental immaturity is manifested by the lack of stability of attention, hasty unreasonable judgments, inability to analyze, build a plan, control activities. Behavior carefree, frivolous, self-centered. There is a tendency to fantasize. Understanding, accepting norms and rules is difficult, children often do not know the concepts of “should”, “should not”, do not keep a social distance when communicating with strangers, adults. Inability to assess the situation, change behavior according to external conditions reduces adaptability.

Children are hard to adapt to the educational institution, duplicate classes. Often a child preschool age remains in the nursery group, the younger student - in preparatory group kindergarten. There is no mental retardation: patients start talking in time, ask questions, draw, sculpt from plasticine, assemble construction sets in accordance with age norms. Intellectual delay is formed a second time, on the basis of maladjustment in society, manifests itself during the period of schooling. The emotional sphere is characterized by instability: the prevailing cheerfulness is abruptly replaced by crying, anger in case of failures. Negative states pass quickly. Purposeful desire to cause harm, revenge does not arise. Emotions are unrestrained, superficial, pantomime is lively, expressive. True deep feelings are not formed.

The egocentric orientation of the personality is manifested by the desire to be in the center of attention, to receive praise, admiration from others. With disharmonious mental infantilism, children are perceived by their peers as equals, but communication does not add up. Gradually, isolation sets in, exacerbating hysterical traits infantile. Children with total infantilism make friends a year or two younger. Peers show a desire to care, protect. Socialization is more successful than with partial infantilism.

Complications

The main complication of mental infantilism is social maladaptation. It occurs due to the inability to accept social norms, control behavior, assess the situation. Neurotic and personality disorders are formed: depression, anxiety, hysteroid psychopathy. The lag in emotional development leads to a secondary intellectual delay. Concrete-effective and visual-figurative thinking, tendency to imitative appearance activities when performing intellectual tasks, insufficient focus of mental activity, weakness of logical memory. By the middle classes, educational failure is manifested.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of mental infantilism is performed in preschool and senior school age. The reason for going to doctors is the difficulty of adapting the child to the conditions, regimen, load educational institutions. The examination includes:

• An interview with a psychiatrist. The specialist conducts a survey: clarifies the symptoms, their duration, severity, features of adaptation to school, kindergarten. Notes the behavioral and emotional reactions of the child: adequacy, the ability to keep a distance, maintain a productive conversation.
• Drawing tests. The techniques "Drawing of a man", "House, tree, man", "Non-existent animal" are used. Infantilism is manifested by the inability to keep the instruction, the humanization of the animal, the simplification of elements (straight trunk, hands) and other signs. The results are informative when examining preschoolers, younger schoolchildren.
• Situation interpretation tests. The methods "PAT", "CAT", the Rosenzweig frustration test are used. The perception of situations as playful, comic, funny is characteristic. It is difficult to explain the thoughts and feelings of people in the pictures. Methods are used to examine schoolchildren of various ages.
• Questionnaires. The use of the Leonhard-Shmishek Character Accentuation Questionnaire, a pathocharacterological diagnostic questionnaire, is widespread. According to the results, emotional instability, features of hysteroid, hyperthymic types are determined. The tests are suitable for diagnosing mental infantilism in patients older than 10-12 years.

The differential diagnosis of mental infantilism is carried out with oligophrenia, autism, behavioral disorders. The difference from mental retardation is the ability to think abstractly and logically, the ability to use help, to transfer acquired knowledge to new situations. Distinguishing from autism is based on assessment social relations A: the child needs them, but installs with difficulty. Behavioral disorders are characterized by a wide variety of manifestations, progressive dynamics. Mental infantilism can be a prerequisite for psychopathy, a symptom of oligophrenia, autism.

Treatment of mental infantilism

Therapeutic measures are determined by the causes, the form of the disorder. With somatogenic and organic mental infantilism, efforts are directed at eliminating the underlying disease, with psychogenic - at psychotherapeutic correction. An integrated approach includes:

Forecast and prevention

Total mental infantilism has the most favorable prognosis: with psychological and pedagogical support, the child gradually becomes independent, active, and shows interest in research and creativity. Symptoms of the disorder disappear by 10-11 years of age. The disharmonious form of the syndrome requires a deeper and longer medical and psychological intervention, is associated with the risk of cognitive deficits, psychopathic personality development. The basis of prevention is proper education, orientation of parents to the actual needs of the child, the zone of his proximal development. It is necessary to encourage the child to be independent, to set an example of an adequate experience of failures, to focus on achieving goals.

To look at the world with surprise and enthusiasm, like a child, is not bad at all. Immediacy and childish delight are also not the worst qualities. But an irresponsible attitude to life and childish behavior of an adult is a very negative character trait.

An infantile person is a person with a naive childish approach to everyday life, politics, and so on. All infantilism. It is impossible to become an adult without the ability to independently make decisions and be responsible for them, to be prepared for the consequences. Wikipedia states that infantile person- wanting to satisfy their needs without doing anything.

What does infantilism mean

Infantilism is a similar concept of infantilism, although a little different. This word is understood as the immaturity of development and behavioral traits that are inherent in earlier ones. What does an infantile person mean? In principle, infantilism is classified as a disease, but in fact it is not a disease. stupidity, unwillingness to grow up - anything. An adult behaves like a child, wants to seem stupider than he really is. Such behavior, similar to the worldview and mannerisms of a child, does not bode well.

An infantile person is a person who is lagging behind in development. He may be 30 years old, but his behavior is similar to that of a 10th child. Why is this happening? Because childhood is a carefree time, you can play and not be responsible for anything. The main task of the child is to grow up healthy, study well and listen to his parents.

Causes of infantilism

This unpleasant most often develops as a result of improper upbringing. When parents seek to protect their child (even an already quite adult child) from responsibility and all the troubles. If a person himself does not want to learn how to solve his problems without outside help, then the infantile traits of his character will only grow and gain momentum.

An infantile person is a big problem for others

For a person who does not want to grow up, there is no such thing as responsibility for their actions and words. He easily makes promises and does not consider it necessary to fulfill them. For him, this behavior is normal. Like many of our problems, infantilism always comes from childhood. This problem grows out of complexes, such as: “I don’t want to become big” and fear of responsibility. There is also a complex of spoiledness, that is, a person is used to the fact that everyone owes him something.

But there are other facets of infantilism, for example, unwillingness to accept one's age, the desire to appear younger. But an infantile personality and a person with a young spirit are completely different, unrelated concepts. Infantilism is a departure from real life, unwillingness to develop. It is difficult to communicate with such people, as they take into account only their needs and desires.

It is also worth noting that infantilism is contagious. After all, it is very interesting and exciting: to return to childhood and behave like a child. Indeed, sometimes it is very important to be a child, but at the same time you must not forget that you are surrounded by people - you should not offend them with your infantile behavior.

Instruction

Becoming an adult on a passport, an infantile person is not ready to build relationships with other members of society, it is difficult for him to find a job for the same reason. Everything would be fine, but such people marry early, and now all care for them falls on the spouse. In marriage, all the negative character traits of the “child” are manifested very clearly: 1. Egocentrism, because he believes that the world revolves around him. 2. The inability to make decisions and the inability to show willpower are manifested in small things.3. Dependency, and this is not only and not so much the material side of the issue. An adult child is not able to serve himself in everyday life, and if children appear in such a marriage, then care for them is completely shifted to the spouse, who plays the role of “senior”.

In such a situation, the growing up of an infantile person depends on the spouse or on the parents, if he is still on their support. And all actions should be aimed primarily at changing one's own position. Usually in such a situation, the spouse, whose husband lies on the couch all day and refuses to take responsibility, begins to nag him. In response, he starts the game at . For a "child" to disappear, it must first lose its "parent". And for this you need to take the position of an adult who has ceased to take care of the "baby" and educate him.

The reaction of an infantile person who has been robbed of his bright rainbow world of irresponsibility can be different. At first, he will try with all his might to return the situation to its previous state. Most likely, he will pretend to be helpless, put pressure on pity. If the wife / mother steadfastly holds on to the position of an adult, then the infantile will begin to recover from his illness. The second development option - the "child" will lose interest and set off in search of a new "mother". If the mother made an attempt to cure, then he will run away from her into marriage; if the wife, then such a marriage will come to an end.

In fact, by overprotecting her child/husband, the mother/wife also gets something in return. She feels needed and useful. If the mother does not have enough arguments to change the situation, then she needs to come to the understanding that her child will not adulthood that being unadapted to realities, he will suffer. Wives, on the other hand, often get tired of infantile husbands themselves and they don’t need to look for special arguments. Even if there is fear, you need to understand that a person and an infantile will still not get along.

Advice 2: What is the social activity of society

Social activity is a certain set of forms and types of activity of a person and society, the purpose of which is to solve the problems set for society, social group and different classes. Tasks depend on the historical period. object social activity it can be both an individual and a collective, a group and society as a whole.

Features of social activity

In sociology, several types of social activity are considered - a phenomenon, a state and an attitude. From a psychological point of view, the state is considered the main type of social activity. It is based on the interests of society and its needs in a given period of time and is considered as an internal readiness for action.

The peculiarity of social activity lies in the transformation of beliefs and ideas into the actions of society. The social activity of a society depends on its leader. It has a strong influence on the beliefs and ideas of society in a given period of time. The level of social activity of society depends on this. The manifestation of social activity occurs when a person realizes his social significance and acts in the aggregate of social and personal motives. This is impossible without a certain freedom of society, which consists in the fact that citizens have the right to participate in the development of society or in local government, without coercion.

Types of manifestation of social activity

Dependent activity - complaints and requests, consisting in the requirement from administrative bodies to solve the problems of citizens. Often these are requests and complaints that are not within the competence of administrative bodies. Constructive activity - proposals and ideas for changing the activities of administrative bodies in order to improve the living conditions of the population and the favorable arrangement of territories. Partnership between the administration and the population. Fictitious demonstrative activity - to increase statistical data are involved. Certain publications in mass media are paid for. Protest activity is the opposition of society to the activities of administrative bodies, without offering alternative solutions. It is presented in the form of rallies, strikes, boycotts or hunger strikes.

Social activity of Russian society

Today's social activity Russian society very low.
Excluding elections, only a quarter of the population takes part in other forms of social activity. The rest of the citizens believe that their social activity is meaningless. According to studies in Russia, social activity takes on a fictitious and demonstrative form. This is explained by the fact that the majority of citizens believe that everything has already been decided and it remains to make the appearance of a decision. Because of this, there low level social activity of society.

Related videos

Infantilism is common in modern society. Paradoxically, the more demanding the modern world becomes for those who make decisions, the more clearly you can see how many infantile people around are running away from responsibility for making any decisions at all.

“Dodik, Dodik, go home! - Mom, can I play a little more? - Not. Go home. Mom, am I cold? - Not. Would you like to eat!" - this classic anecdote perfectly reflects the essence of the origins and content.

beautiful word"Infant" is translated as "child". The word is beautiful, but life with an adult child is never cloudless and is fraught with a lot of stress and disappointment. Not at - not at all. His partner, who has tasted all the delights of living together.

An infantile person is an eternal child. With all the wonderful bouquet characteristic of children from three to five: egocentrism, narcissism, irresponsibility and hysteria. But if only the character of classical infantiles was limited to this. Unfortunately, they are also characterized by the features inherent in adolescents of the puberty period: negativism, life-denial with constant self-affirmation, slight excitability and conscious isolation.

Underage children

“Oh, children, children! So great is their faith in motherly love that it seemed to them that they could afford to be heartless a little more! (James Barry. Peter Pan)

Peter Pan, the hero of a good old children's fairy tale, is a classic representative of an undergrown teenager, moreover, refusing to grow up, provoking his actions to an inadequate reaction, selfish, often indifferent, irritable, arrogant, but demanding exceptional attention. Peter Pan is an infantile modern personality.

As a rule, infantilism is a consequence modern education. In other historical epochs, by virtue of the family and tribal way of life, children were taught almost from infancy to be responsible for their actions and for the well-being of the family. The modern way of life is certainly good in that it makes our everyday life easier, but at the same time, it blurs the boundaries of responsibility for survival, does not pose the dilemma of making momentary responsible decisions from childhood, on which not only well-being, but also the life of the whole family depends.

A few years ago, American anthropologist Carolina Izquierdo from the University of California published a paper in which she touched on the topic of growing up by comparing archaic and modern education. In this work, she described two: the first is the attitude towards raising a 6-year-old child in the Peruvian Matsigenka tribe living in the Amazon, in which Carolina spent several months, the second is episodes from ordinary life American family.

So, the first situation: one day, members of the tribe set out on a two-day "expedition" to collect food for the entire tribe. A little girl of 6 years old asked to be taken with her. Although she did not yet have a clearly defined role in the tribal community, she became a full and useful member of the expedition: she carried sleeping mats, caught, cleaned and cooked crayfish for all members of the expedition, having independently decided to do this. She was calm, self-possessed and did not demand anything personally for herself.

The second situation from the work of an anthropologist relates to the life of an ordinary middle-class American family: an 8-year-old girl, not finding a piece of cereal next to her plate, sat for ten minutes and waited for it to be served to her, and at that time a 6-year-old boy persuaded his father to he untied the laces on his sneakers.

The main features of infantilism

Infantilism is congenital, but most often it is acquired and depends on education. An adult infantile person is a disaster, first of all, for his relatives, for members of his family, if he manages to start one. But even in the sphere of industrial relations, infantile people cannot be called a gift of fate.

An infantile person, as a rule, shows emotional and volitional immaturity, he is unreliable, irresponsible and avoids making any decisions, gladly shifting responsibility to others. Infantiles are fixated on themselves and only care about their own whims and goals, although they can quite successfully hide behind beautiful phrases or even actions, but, alas, in any case, they are based on concern only for personal convenience, well-being and satisfaction of needs. As a rule, they almost always find someone who solves their problems, takes care of them and takes them "under the wing".

But how charming and attractive infantiles are - these eternal children! They are as different as they are attractively beautiful, like Peter Pan and Carlson - archetypes-representatives of infantile individuals: their element - eternal holiday life, where they give attention and gifts.

Something, but they not only love to have fun, but they know how to have fun like no one else, and if life was always just a holiday, then you won’t find a better companion for this: with an infantile person, fun is provided until ... Until the first decision is made - he froze or wants to there is. And if you are ready to make all subsequent decisions for him - forward, to an eternal fairy tale, in which the further, the more terrible.

AT modern world everything appears more people who do not strive for great achievements, but prefer to live at the expense of others. What is infantilism? First of all, behind this concept lies inability to take responsibility for the events that occur in life. There are more than enough reasons for the development of this character trait at the present time. People literally lose the ability to focus on the main thing and become more and more lazy. Having become accustomed to spending time idly and constantly resting, it becomes increasingly difficult for a person to make efforts in order to do something for others. Infantilism often develops in such a family where only child. Over time, he gets used to the fact that his parents are trying only for him alone, and begins to take any manifestations of care for granted.

Signs of infantilism

By what signs can you determine that a person is infantile? In most cases, they are literally conspicuous, because they look very noticeable.

Selfishness

The most important sign of infantility, which is constantly manifested in the behavior of such a person. A strong fixation on one's experiences creates an excessive focus on what is happening inside. Selfishness is expressed in the inability to put oneself in the place of other people, in the inability to experience empathy. characteristic feature is such a strong self-isolation, reaching the point of absurdity. own desires seem to be the most necessary and significant, while the needs of others do not matter at all. It is very difficult for such an individual to explain anything, since he is concentrated solely on his thoughts.

Unwillingness to develop

Infantilism hinders every new undertaking. All because there is no desire to deal with difficulties, to take some action towards the desired result. The personality does not see any prospects for its growth and advancement. Often she has a desire to shift her problems to others. All this comes from the inability to cope with important tasks, to understand the essence of ongoing events. Adult children who have become selfish do not want to start independent life, but prefer to sit on the neck of their parents, constantly demanding funds for their maintenance. Unwillingness to develop is another sign of infantilism. It is much more profitable for an individual to continue to depend on someone than to take real responsibility for his life.

Inability to solve problems

Personality is lost at the first difficulties that arise. She is not at all burdened by the realization that she has to constantly shift her difficulties onto outside shoulders. What is infantilism? This lack of faith in own perspectives and opportunities. A person drops his hands as soon as he encounters challenging task. It doesn’t even occur to him to think about how to solve this or that issue on his own. The inability to solve problems is a sign of infantilism. When an individual does not even try to focus on something important, his strength goes to inner experiences. At the same time, there is no outward action. It is unlikely that with such an approach one can achieve something truly significant in life.

No goals

The lack of aspirations for something nullifies any prospects. Even if opportunities do appear, it becomes impossible to take advantage of them precisely because there are no goals to which one should direct one's efforts. Strongly developed infantilism prevents you from successfully moving through life, perform normal actions. The personality eventually becomes so lazy that it is no longer able to act in accordance with the situation. If she has any concerns, they are related to satisfying her own needs. The more the habit is formed to always and in everything rely on others, the stronger the signs of infantilism appear.

Behavior inadequacy

Usually, an adult accomplished person performs actions based on his own ideas about life. If an individual still lives in the past and does not want to leave the child's perception, then his behavior will necessarily be distinguished by some inadequacy. There may be rudeness, intolerance, irritation or even obvious aggression in the conversation.

Infantilism in men

Especially young guys suffer from this: they fall into childhood and shift the difficulties that arise onto the shoulders of their parents. Very often, infantilism makes them lead a passive lifestyle and sit at the computer for days on end, devoting best years games of your life. In men, this can become a habit over time. Of course, such behavior cannot be called adequate and correct.

Infantilism in women

In women, the reluctance to grow up is manifested in the choice of addictive behavior. It is easier for them to relieve themselves of all responsibility and be weak, defenseless, led. Such girls are completely dependent on men, they themselves do not want to make any decisions. And although such behavior is often perceived by people as the norm, it significantly harms the development of the individual, does not allow her to fully reveal her potential.

How to get rid of infantilism

Such a character trait, of course, harms the individual, cannot lead to a successful outcome. In most cases, a long work on oneself is required in order to defeat the childish view of the world. How to get rid of infantilism? Let's consider in more detail.

Awareness of the problem

Any change begins with trying to understand own mistake. You can’t change something for the better if you don’t strive to work on yourself. Honest recognition of your mistakes will help overcome children's perception of reality. Understanding the essence of the problem will help build promising steps, helping to deal with the situation.

Getting out of the comfort zone

First of all, you need to give up the thought of feeling sorry for yourself. Many people suffer because they try their best to avoid difficulties. It is absolutely impossible to do so. This approach only exacerbates the problem, and does not allow a timely solution to it. Stepping out of your comfort zone guarantees gradual acceptance of responsibility for your life and the events that take place in it. Gradually, new perspectives will open up, additional opportunities will appear. The stronger a person has developed the habit of doing nothing, the more effort will have to be made later.

Having a goal

Being single-minded can work wonders on its own. The individual gradually straightens his shoulders, begins to believe in himself. Thinking about how to overcome infantilism, it should be understood that this cannot be done quickly. First you need to decide what should be done first, and what things can wait. In any case, it is necessary to act, and not sit still.

Taking responsibility

A key moment that changes a lot in everyday reality. Taking responsibility for oneself significantly improves the quality of life, allows you to stop being big baby for which everything is decided by others. From this step begins the true maturation of the individual. Until you take full responsibility for all your actions and actions, there is practically no chance to improve.

Animal care

Care about little creature, whether it be a kitten or a puppy, significantly raises in one's own eyes and improves self-esteem. Here already there is a need to enlist your own support so that the animal does not need anything. The desire to constantly hide behind the backs of the people around you will not help here. It is important to be able to discover additional opportunities in yourself, to take certain steps towards the desired result. Caring for a living being is indeed capable of eradicating laziness, apathy, and a sense of vanity.

Thus, in order to overcome infantilism in oneself, one must first honestly admit the existence of such a problem. Only in this way is it possible to correct a depressing situation. The more frank people are with themselves, the sooner they will be able to get out of this state.

Infantile personality disorder is a condition in which a person does not have emotional balance. At the same time, the influence of non-standard situations, stresses and other troubles on him causes a pronounced negative emotional reaction, which leads to a breakdown in the entire emotional sphere. The person cannot control their feelings of hostility, anxiety, or guilt. Behavioral tendencies characteristic of young children appear. Such people are prone to excessive resentment, negativity, self-will, and so on.

The patient may look no different from other people, but his behavior will give out problems with decision-making, responsibility for his behavior, lack of independence.

The person has childlike features. At first he does not want to, then he cannot make independent decisions, he is constantly looking for support for his decisions and opinions. He is not flexible in life: in difficult situations acts only according to the scenario, which is laid down in his family, familiar from childhood. To change anything in a relationship in order to be different from the parental family, such a person also cannot, this will plunge him into stressful situation for the psyche. Such people will not necessarily be completely obedient. Among the infantiles there are also rebels who want to constantly refute parent rules, installation. But in the end, they always start from parental stereotypes, acting on them or contrary to them.

In adulthood, it is difficult for infantile people to build long term relationship. It is generally very difficult for women with an infantile man, it is easier for men with such women. But these relationships are not durable, because sooner or later, a partner healthy from infantilism will want adult relationships on an equal footing, which the second partner will not be able to give without behavior correction. There are many difficulties for such couples, which often both parties do not overcome: infantile people do not seek to take responsibility for complicated relationship, and the other side gets tired of pulling all the hardships of such a relationship.

Infantilism in recent times found in many children and adults. More and more teenagers, young people are growing up, not obeying any restrictions in behavior, not understanding how to do not what they want, but what they need. They do not take responsibility for their actions, they get used to the fact that someone else is responsible and decides for them. Patients control anxiety, fear, aggression very poorly. A diagnosis confirming this disorder can only be made after the age of 17, when puberty has passed, hormonal changes have ended.

Reasons for this disorder

There are many causes of infantilism, as with all personality disorders. It should be borne in mind that this is a kind of psychopathy, so the causes of the disorder can be social, physiological, psychological factors.

These factors are fundamental in the formation of infantile disorder. The emotional sphere becomes unstable in a person, and even minor stresses can lead to an aggravation of the disorder.

Treatment of this pathology

Treatment of infantile disorders is rather difficult in the first time after the manifestations of the pathology. This is due to the fact that initially the disorder is not perceived as a pathology of personality behavior. People around notice some oddities in behavior, but they associate this with the characterological features of the personality, referring, for example, to her laziness, slowness, frivolity, and others. Already in adulthood, it is possible to determine the disorder by specific manifestations, when the wrong attitudes of the individual's behavior are already deeply rooted.

Often this problem is considered in the plane psychological science, since the treatment does not require the use of medicines. Therefore, only psychotherapeutic methods and approaches are used. But in extreme, borderline conditions, the use of medicines is possible.

Medical treatment

Medications are not the main therapeutic option for infantile disorder. They are used with a pronounced exacerbation of the patient's condition, when some other personality disorder or depressive state is added to this disorder.

This condition is called mixed personality disorder in psychiatry. They occur quite rarely, and the symptoms of the phenomenon appear depending on the associated pathology. Also, medication treatment depends on the degree of development of the disorder. If emotional instability reaches an unacceptable level, it is possible to use herbal remedies with a sedative effect or other similar drugs. Commonly used are Valerian, Glycine or Gilicised, infusions of herbs that have a sedative effect.

If the disorder is accompanied by a depressive state, doctors sometimes prescribe antidepressants that help a person restore metabolism and improve physical well-being. New generation antidepressants are designed to minimize the risk of developing side effects, which lead to inhibition of the human nervous system, toxic effects on the human liver, and others.

The use of medications on their own is strictly prohibited, since only the attending physician determines the dosage and course of treatment.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the main method of treatment of this pathology. "Healing conversations" help a person to realize his infantile behavior, look at his actions from the outside, work out the wrong attitudes in life, replacing them with rational beliefs. Psychotherapy is carried out with the help of several directions in psychology. The most effective of them are cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, classical and Ericksonian hypnosis.

Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy

This type of psychological therapy combines several areas of psychology, therefore it is rightfully recognized as one of the most effective. Psychotherapists working in this direction pay attention to the patient's perception of the doctor, structuring the session and changing the cognitive and behavioral component of the personality.

An infantile personality will always shift the responsibility for his condition and behavior to the psychotherapist at the first meetings. Here, the professionalism of a specialist is necessary in order to show empathy and sympathy for the patient's condition, but also not to take responsibility for his actions.

Psychotherapists who use this direction to treat infantile disorder help a person to detect automatic thoughts charged with negativity, find connections between these thoughts and the patient's behavior, analyze these automatic thoughts with him in order to confirm or refute their validity. The psychotherapist helps to formulate these thoughts more realistically, which helps the patient to realize the fallacy of their statements. main goal psychologist should be the transformation of erroneous statements that lead to infantile disorder.

Of course, the educational situation in childhood and adolescence plays the main role in this phenomenon. It is imposed on the child that he is still small, it is too early to take responsibility for any business, since you can harm yourself or objects. A guardian adult does everything for him, which kills in him initiative, responsibility, diligence, courage. The situation is similar with excessive criticism. When children try to do something (the zone of proximal development according to Vygotsky - a child at certain moments is ready to develop psychologically and physically, learn something new and perform certain tasks), their slightest error is perceived as the gravest sin. Such a child grows up with the conviction that it is impossible to take on anything, since then there will be criticism, any initiative is necessarily punished, and so on.

Having identified such irrational beliefs, automatic negative thoughts, the psychotherapist teaches the patient the right actions.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis helps to work out grievances against significant adults, to identify triggered psychological defenses, in any undertaking or taking responsibility for the slightest task. The psychoanalyst devotes quite a lot of time to studying the psychological situation in childhood that led to the deviation in behavior.

Help is also provided in accepting yourself with your internal problems. The doctor, together with the patient, determines exactly what situations make him want to return to childhood, what exactly in adulthood leads to stereotypes of childish behavior, memories of childhood.

Important! If this method is used to treat an infantile disorder, the doctor must be highly qualified, otherwise (if there is little experience or little knowledge in this direction), the patient's condition can be significantly worsened. This personality disorder is closely related to emotional sphere of a person, and classical psychoanalysis is not used in the treatment of emotional psychoses.

For treatment, methods of psychoanalysis are used to illuminate inner world patient, his feelings. You can actively use art therapy - a method based on psychoanalysis. Treatment lasts from 3 to 5 years.

Hypnosis

Freudian or Ericksonian hypnosis is used for treatment. In the first case, directive methods are used, in the second, softer methods of influencing the patient's psyche. Freudian hypnosis has recently become less popular, as the patient becomes completely dependent on the doctor's wishes, his opinions. This does not allow to completely neutralize the habitual forms of pathological behavior. Hypnosis is used in extreme situations when a person suffers from serious forms of the disease.

To get rid of this pathology, maximum efforts on the part of the patient and his environment will be required. For positive dynamics, it is necessary to introduce a daily routine, sports exercises, and try to communicate more. The development of self-control will help to overcome the symptoms of the disorder by setting yourself insignificant tasks at first, bringing them to the end and analyzing the effort, time and quality of the result.