Infantility is a child’s perception of the people around them and the world. This term denotes developmental immaturity. A person retains in his behavior the psychological and physical traits inherent in a child. Infantile people are naive, spontaneous, do not know how to set goals and are afraid of responsibility.
Concept of infantilism
In modern society, the phenomenon of infantilism is quite common and almost everyone has encountered infantile people at least once in their life. But since this phenomenon is not inherently socially dangerous, it, as a rule, is not given the necessary amount of attention. And this is quite a big mistake, because despite the fact that infantile behavior is not socially dangerous and does not pose a threat, it significantly worsens the quality of life of both the person with infantilism and the life of his loved ones. And besides, the phenomenon of infantilism often comes from the family, and understanding the mistakes of upbringing will help raise a child in accordance with the norms of development.
That is why it is very important to know what it is, why it arises and how you can fight it if you are nevertheless faced with the phenomenon of infantilism.
The term “infantilism” itself (infantilismus) comes from the Latin word “infantilis”, which means “infant, childish” or from “infans” - non-speaking.
Infantilism can also be defined as immaturity in development, that is, an infantile person is inherently an immature personality.
Unlike mental retardation, such people suffer from emotional-volitional sphere. That is, children begin to speak on time, draw, sculpt, ask questions and perform other intellectual actions appropriate to their age. The development of motor skills does not suffer either: they are as active as their peers. But at the same time, they experience frequent mood swings, their behavior is more situational than that of their peers. Their emotions are superficial, there are no deep feelings. Such children are spontaneous and dependent.
Mental immaturity is manifested by a lack of stability of attention, hasty unfounded judgments, an inability to analyze, build a plan, and control one’s activities. Infantile children do not know how to regulate their behavior, objectively and adequately assess the situation and change behavior according to external conditions. All this ultimately leads to disturbances in the social adaptation of infantile people.
A lag in emotional development entails a secondary delay in intellectual development, which is the result of social maladjustment. As a rule, this begins to manifest itself during schooling:
- Firstly, it is more difficult for such children to find a common language with peers and make friends, and this can lead to a decrease in interest in school life and educational activities.
- Secondly, infantile children have difficulty solving tasks that require attentiveness and the ability to analyze, this also reduces the success of their educational activities. As a result, interest and motivation to study disappear, such children often remain in the same class for the second year, their intellectual development also begins to lag behind their peers.
Houston, what's the problem?
Overprotection, despotism, restriction of freedom, increased parental control, prohibition of independence and initiative - all this leads to a stop in the psychological growth of the individual.
The main differences between infantile and adult individuals:
- responsibility does not concern our hero;
- refusal of independent choice;
- there are no rules and self-disciplinary requirements that are practiced in society;
- gaming interests prevail;
- self-centeredness.
We must understand that every person has childish traits and they can manifest themselves depending on the circumstances or condition. However, if they predominate this can become a problem!
Distinctive features of infantilism
There are many different types of developmental delays, and people often confuse them. In order to better understand what infantilism is and understand the reasons for its occurrence, it is worth first finding out how it differs from other types of developmental delay.
To begin with, it is worth clarifying that infantilism is associated primarily with a delay in the development of the emotional-volitional sphere. And unlike mental retardation, in this case intelligence remains intact. If there is a delay in intellectual development, then this is a secondary phenomenon arising as a result of social maladjustment. Such people can successfully engage in creativity, sing, draw, write stories, poems. They are capable of abstract logical thinking, so many mental operations are available to them. The difficulties they have in solving certain problems are mostly associated with impaired concentration, inability to plan and analyze their activities and their consequences, as well as avoidance of taking responsibility for their actions.
Another mental development disorder with which infantilism is confused is autism. In both cases, a person experiences a decrease in social activity and a violation of social adaptation. However, people with autism, as a rule, do not need social contacts at all and even avoid them. All their attention is directed inward; they are simply not interested in other children. An autistic child is always aloof from other children and prefers to play independently.
For those who suffer from infantilism, social contacts are not initially impaired. On the contrary, such children strive to communicate with others and love to be the center of attention. Social adaptation decreases as a result of the fact that such people cannot control their behavior and the expression of their emotions; it becomes difficult for them to exist with those who are ahead of them in development. This leads to disruption of social contacts.
In addition, autistic children, unlike infantile children, have delayed speech development or its absence altogether.
Also, delays in physiological development will not always indicate that such a person is infantile. Often, the reason for the delay in physiological development is hormonal imbalance. For example, dwarfism caused by a lack of somatotropic hormone (growth hormone), thyroid hormones. Such people look much smaller than their peers, but their mental development in most cases fully corresponds to the age norm.
general information
In ICD-10, the disease is included under the code F60.8. In young children, identifying emotional-volitional lag and a decrease in the level of motivation is difficult, so the disorder in most cases becomes clear from the beginning of education, and then is clearly visible during puberty. The most noticeable distinctive features are a penchant for games with little interest in learning, misunderstanding and the inability to comply with teachers’ requirements, including with regard to discipline. The prevalence is just over 1.5%.
Despite the difficulties in diagnosing developmental delay as a type of mental infantilism in young children, scientists were able to identify the corresponding signs when observing a group of patients who were in hospital for a long time, underwent repeated operations and, thus, “missed” certain stages. Experts note that in such cases, along with the psycho-emotional component, motor functions and intelligence suffer.
Despite the study of various forms and age-related manifestations, researchers still have insufficient understanding of the dynamics and outcome of the disorder as a whole. In adults, the pathological condition is detected in the presence of mental illness.
Causes of infantilism
The causes of infantilism depend on its type. There are two main ones:
- Physiological infantilism.
- Psychological (mental) infantilism.
The cause of physiological infantilism, as a rule, is damage to the central nervous system, resulting from asphyxia, various types of head injuries and infectious diseases affecting the nervous system, in particular the brain. Another reason for the development of physiological infantilism can be diseases of the endocrine system, which lead to hormonal disorders throughout the body.
Physiological infantilism
Physiological infantilism can be either congenital or acquired. Congenital, as a rule, is associated with disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system in the prenatal period. These may include various diseases and injuries during pregnancy. Acquired infantilism is associated with the direct impact on the human nervous system of various risk factors, which are traumatic brain injuries, infections that affect the nervous system, and various types of influences that limit the supply of oxygen to the brain.
Physiological infantilism can also be viewed from a medical point of view. In medicine, the term “infantilism” characterizes a state of the body in which the organs of the reproductive system in a person are underdeveloped, and there is practically no sexual attraction to a partner. Due to reproductive dysfunction, such people are most often unable to bear children.
As for psychological infantilism, the main reason for its occurrence lies, first of all, in the delayed development of the frontal lobes of the brain as a result of improper upbringing. Mental infantilism is often the result of overprotection or, conversely, insufficient attention and connivance towards the child on the part of the parents.
Mental infantilism
Mental infantilism is only acquired and, in turn, is divided into total and partial.
Total infantilism implies a lag in both the physical development (weight, height) of a person and his psychological development. Both the child’s appearance and his behavior will then correspond to an earlier stage of development.
Partial infantilism includes a lag only in mental development; the physical development of the child is fully consistent with his age.
It is worth dwelling on the causes of psychological infantilism in more detail, since this is a more common type of infantilism and absolutely everyone can encounter it. As mentioned earlier, the main reason for its occurrence lies in upbringing mistakes, which many parents often do not even realize. So what are these errors?
Causes of psychological infantilism
First of all, this is hyperprotection. A child for whom parents make decisions, protect him from various difficulties, and indulge all his whims does not learn to take responsibility and solve his problems on his own. From the people around him, he also demands the same attention and care, fulfillment of all his requests. His behavior becomes self-centered.
The flip side of overprotection is a permissive attitude towards children . Parents who do not pay enough attention to their child can also provoke the appearance of infantilism in him. A child, left to his own devices, tries to make up for the lack of communication with his parents by watching films, TV series, computer games, and communicating on social networks. The real world is replaced by a fictional one. The child does not know how to behave in reality, does not know how to build adequate communication with living people, he is not adapted to the conditions of the real world around him, and all these are signs of infantility.
Another common mistake that parents make is prohibiting independent activities. During early childhood, the child’s leading activity becomes object-based activity. Through the objects around him, the child gets acquainted with the world and gets to know it. By the age of two or three, he begins to try to repeat the actions of an adult and learn to do everything on his own. But many parents do not allow their child to perform even simple actions on his own. Most often, this is done for reasons of the child’s safety and saving time, but subsequently this position will lead to the child growing up infantile. He will not learn to act independently, and already in adulthood he will expect that decisions will be made for him and everything will be done.
Authoritarian parenting. Parents do not give the child the opportunity to exercise independence and make decisions. Adults do this for him. A child in such a family becomes dependent on his parents for everything. He does not learn to solve his problems himself, make decisions and be independent.
Raising a child is a very responsible process. And parents should always understand what consequences their actions may lead to in the future, what their upbringing mistakes will cost their child. And if all parents approach parenting issues consciously and responsibly, many problems can be avoided.
Legal infantilism as a factor of negative impact on the level of legal consciousness in Russia
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LEGAL INFANTILISM AS A FACTOR OF NEGATIVE INFLUENCE ON THE LEVEL OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN RUSSIA
legal infantilism power
The formation of civil society and the construction of a rule of law state is impossible without the participation of citizens in this process, without them having clear legal guidelines, without actively defending their rights. However, at present, the instability of the situation in society, the arbitrariness of the bureaucracy, and the social gap between the rich and poor classes lead to the emergence of various legal deviations. The most striking and widespread deviation among Russian citizens is legal infantilism.
Legal infantilism is a special form of deformation of legal consciousness, expressed in the population’s lack of information about legal issues, the presence of gaps in legal knowledge, as well as the reluctance to acquire it.
More M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin ironically said that Russian people themselves do not know what they want: either pig meat with horseradish, or constitutions. One gets the feeling that nothing has changed since the time of the great writer. Citizens of Russia have little idea of not only the structure of the highest state bodies, but are also not aware of their rights and freedoms proclaimed by the Basic Law of the state - the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as the methods of protecting and defending them.
M. Butorin conducted sample surveys among various social groups of the population - urban and rural, which confirmed that the majority of society has the vaguest idea of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. “Many people perceive it with a certain degree of surprise,” he says, when you begin to explain to them that, in accordance with Article 3, “the bearer of sovereignty and the only source of power in the Russian Federation is its multinational people.”
There are several reasons for such pronounced legal infantilism in Russia.
First, the historical roots of infantilism.
Legal infantilism is an exclusively Russian national trait. The mentality based on infantilism and laziness goes back to the past, to the era of serfdom, when there was no need to think about anything. Everything will be decided by the master or the sovereign. In the 20th century, under the Bolsheviks, this infantilism was further aggravated, any initiative was punished, the irresponsibility of collectivism was added, as well as the desire and opportunity to profit at the expense of others. Now a person is placed in such conditions where nothing depends on him either. The implementation of his rights depends entirely on the official, who either allows or does not allow such implementation.
Secondly, there is a frequent discrepancy between the form of the law and its content. The problem is that some legal norms are filled with completely different content that is beneficial to the state. A striking example is the possibility of appointing a governor of a subject by the President of Russia, which does not correspond to the meaning of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Amendments to the law “On the general principles of organization of legislative (representative) and executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation” concerning the new procedure for the appointment of governors came into force on December 15, 2004. This law abolished the direct election of governors by the population of the region and introduced a procedure for the approval of his candidacy by the legislative assemblies of the constituent entities on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation.
These provisions were challenged in the Constitutional Court by fourteen representatives of the Union of Right Forces, as well as citizen Vladimir Grishkevich from Tyumen. But the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation confirmed the constitutionality of the current procedure for appointing heads of the subjects of the Federation.
As stated in the Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the power of the President to nominate the head of a subject of the Federation for approval by the legislative body of this subject is not directly provided for by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, but this circumstance does not prevent the federal legislator from assigning certain functions to the President of the Russian Federation as the head of state to participate in the election of powers of the head of the subject. Such a right of the President cannot be considered a violation of the principle of separation of powers, since the final decision remains with the legislative body of the subject of the Federation. The resolution of the Constitutional Court emphasizes that the heads of the constituent entities of the Federation are links in a unified system of state power and “are in a relationship of direct subordination with the President of the Russian Federation.” The Constitutional Court also terminated proceedings on complaints from V. Grishkevich and other citizens regarding the constitutionality of the provisions of the law on the possibility of dismissal of the head of a subject of the Russian Federation by the president and dissolution of the Legislative Assembly of the subject by the president.
At the same time, the special opinion of Judge A. Kononov is interesting, who believes that “the arguments of the judges of the Constitutional Court cannot convince - despite all the evidence that they do not really correspond to reality. The CS says: this is right, that is right, but it doesn’t explain why it’s right.”
A. Kononov joins the opinion of the famous German constitutionalist Otto Luchterhant, who said that the unconstitutionality of this law is so clear that it is understandable even to a non-lawyer.
In this context of the problem, the state should be invited to introduce into the ordinary legal consciousness of the population the possibility of such a discrepancy. Then there will be no illusions or unjustified expectations.
Thirdly, the absence in Russia of a clear and transparent system of law enforcement. Undoubtedly, in Russia there is no clear implementation of laws, no real implementation of new legal norms, the population does not see the real meaning of the functioning of the legislative branch of government.
The adoption of Federal Law No. 122 “On the monetization of benefits” caused a huge resonance in society. The legal norms laid down in this act were implemented with a completely different content. According to the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy, A. Isaev, “the people’s anger was caused not by the “monetizing” law itself, but by its implementation, which “turned out to be a failure.” The main blame for this lies with the Russian Government, the parliamentarian is sure. — The Cabinet of Ministers entered into the implementation of the law without having any schedules, no scheme for its implementation, or the necessary by-laws. This led to serious social tension."
Fourthly, the antagonism between man and the state, the complete discrepancy between their interests. It should be noted that a complete coincidence of the interests of the state and the individual, as well as a complete coincidence of public and private interests, is impossible. However, in order to interact, these two subjects of law must find certain points of contact.
P.A. Ohl believes that “the individual and the social are opposites, but they exist in unity and mutually determine and condition each other. The level of development of one of them is directly dependent on the level of development of the other, therefore, denying or belittling one means denying or belittling the other.”
Responsibility for reducing legal infantilism among the population lies with the state, which, in order to overcome this deviation, must solve 2 problems:
1. Formation of citizens' trust in the authorities.
2. Providing the state with the opportunity for citizens to obtain high-quality legal knowledge. In 2004, ROMIR Monitoring conducted a sociological survey on citizens' knowledge of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. As a result, it turned out that about 60%, i.e. the majority of Russians, do not know when the current Constitution of the country was adopted.
The wrong answer to the question about the date of adoption of the Russian Constitution was given by 24% of respondents, 16% of respondents answered correctly. Compared to last year's data, the number of citizens who answered correctly decreased by 5%, the number of those who do not know the year of adoption of the current Constitution of the Russian Federation increased by 5%. Those who answered incorrectly retained their positions.
In addition, respondents were asked to what extent they are familiar with the current Constitution. The answers to it were distributed as follows: 35% of respondents “familiar in general terms”, the same number - “badly familiar”, do not know at all - 21%, are well known - 7%, 2% of respondents know completely. In total, 1 thousand 600 Russians over the age of 18 were surveyed.
The following ways to solve these problems can be proposed:
1. Development of a general system and strategy for reforming the state.
It is necessary to have a clearly formulated program for the development of the state in order for citizens to understand what tasks the state sets itself and what its goal is.
At the moment, the government reports only on upcoming reforms, but there is no general reform strategy in the state, which leads to fragmentation of these measures and a lack of understanding of their essence among the population.
2. Detailed explanation to the population of the upcoming reforms.
Before implementing any innovations, the government must inform citizens in detail about upcoming reforms in order to avoid unjustified expectations and undermine the trust of citizens.
3. Improving the quality of teaching legal disciplines in schools, secondary educational institutions, universities.
It seems that the eradication of legal infantilism should begin with the younger generation.
Mikhail Butorin, in his research, points out the following: “On average, no more than five percent of respondents have ever looked at the Constitution. It follows that the teaching of the fundamentals of legislation in educational institutions is extremely poor. How else can one explain the fact that the majority of school graduates are confident that the Constitution guarantees them the right to work? And few people know that this article has a completely different content, namely: labor is free.”
Knowledge of the law, education in the spirit of law must come from childhood, from upbringing in the family, at school, because this is a necessary component of a comprehensively developed personality. It is not without reason that in ancient Rome, during the period of republic and democracy, elementary legal education, like upbringing, was part of general education. Then the entire way of Roman life required a general acquaintance of one and all with the elementary provisions of law: the entire people took part in political life, the entire people were called upon to discuss and resolve legislative issues.
Of course, family and school play a big role in the legal education of the individual, in overcoming such deformation as legal infantilism, but this is not a “one-way street.” The state must take an active part in this. And no matter how hard teachers and parents try, the citizen eventually goes out into real life, where he is faced with illegal manifestations.
4. Introduction of a mandatory examination for all state and municipal employees on knowledge of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen.
Before requiring ordinary citizens to know the basics of legislation, government officials need to study it.
“The fact that someone does not know what the Constitution is in general is not surprising. Still fresh in my memory are the hesitations of Stanislav Govorukhin, who in one of his interviews with journalists for a long time could not remember what the status of our country is and what it is called. And mind you, he’s a deputy, not an ice cream seller.”
5. Propaganda of law-abiding behavior in the media.
Increasing legal awareness directly depends on reducing the level of legal infantilism among Russian citizens. At this stage, the state pays almost no attention to this problem. It seems that for now it is not interested in having an educated, literate and proactive society that knows its rights and freedoms and knows how to defend them.
Literature
1. Butorin M. When the people do not know the Constitution // www.russia-today.ru/2003/no_15/15_mail.htm
2. https://www.sinfo.ru/ru/main/focus/news/detail.shtml?id=34693
3. http//www.sps.ru
4. http//www.sps.ru
5. The Federal Law on the Monetization of Benefits is one year old // https://law.edu.ru/news/news.asp?newsID=7606
6. Ol P.A. Justification of the idea of public interest in Western and domestic political and legal thought: some aspects of legal understanding // Materials of the V international scientific and theoretical conference “Public, corporate, personal law: problems of conflict and prospects of consensuality.” - St. Petersburg, 2005. - P. 147.
7. https://top.rbc.ru/news/incidents/2004/01/20/20103809_pv.shtml
8. Butorin M. When the people do not know the Constitution // www.russia-today.ru/2003/no_15/15_mail.htm
9. Pokrovsky I.A. History of Roman Law. 3rd edition, corrected and expanded. - Petrograd: publication of the Legal Book Warehouse “Pravo”, 1917.
Manifestations of infantilism in life
Much has already been said about the behavior of infantile children and adults; now these topics need to be summarized.
The infantilism of children begins to manifest itself more clearly and noticeably at school age. Children learn worse and have problems concentrating. They may get up and leave in the middle of class or interrupt the teacher. Their play activities prevail over their learning activities. In communication with peers, infantilism manifests itself in the inability to control one’s behavior, in a direct reaction to what is happening around. Such children are gullible and naive. Often their social circle consists of younger children, since they are closer to them in terms of development.
Naivety and spontaneity also persist in adults. Their emotional reactions are not always adequate to the situation. In addition, in adults, infantilism manifests itself in an unwillingness to take responsibility for one’s actions. Such people rarely get married or start a family on their own initiative. In relationships, such people, on an unconscious level, will look for someone who can play the role of a parent, that is, care and patronize. In professional activities, immature individuals will avoid responsibility in every possible way. This category of people does not like to solve problems. When faced with difficulties, they either run away from them, or try to forget, or shift them onto the shoulders of other people. They are dependent on the opinions of others, so they are afraid of criticism and react very sharply to it.
Many psychologically immature people subsequently become dependents. Women find wealthy men who fully provide for them. Male infantilism often manifests itself in reluctance and inability to run a household. Such men will look for women on whom they can shift all the worries about the household.
Of course, for the most part, manifestations of infantilism do not pose a threat to the life and health of the person himself or his relatives and friends. But still, this phenomenon cannot be ignored.
Characteristic signs of infantility
It is worth noting that infantilism is not affected by gender: it can manifest itself in women, men, and adolescents. But it is quite difficult to determine this problem in a child, because all children, in fact, behave childishly and naively.
General signs of an infant:
- the desire to relieve oneself of responsibility and shift responsibilities to others;
- reluctance to acquire new knowledge;
- inability to show concern for loved ones;
- emotionally immature behavior (inappropriate for age), inadequate reaction;
- lack of adequate assessment of one’s behavior;
- inability to solve problems;
- difficulties in career, at work;
- naivety, boastfulness;
- suggestibility, following other people's advice;
- inability to live in everyday life
- tendency to blame others for one's own mistakes.
The biggest fear of infantile people, which largely determines their personality in adulthood, is the fear of loneliness. They are very afraid to be alone. This condition is normal for a child: he is afraid to be alone because he cannot cope with difficulties on his own. For him to survive, someone adult is always needed nearby.
For an adult, this fear is subjective - it grows from childhood, childhood traumas, the understanding and feeling “that I alone, on my own, cannot cope with my life and solve problems on my own.” Therefore, infantas will hold on to the people nearby with all their arms and legs, just as people who cannot swim will hold on to a piece of a ship... Sometimes fear forces them to be close to those people who are physically dangerous to be near (abuse, etc. ).
— Nikolay Strelkov,
psychologist, psychotherapist, expert of the YouTube channel “Where are my children.”
Infantility in men
Many of us are familiar with the type of man who lives with his parents for a long time. This is a real child. An infantile man rarely creates his own family; often tired parents begin to offer him this or that option, but everything is fine with him: they will feed him, wash the dishes, wash him and buy him clothes. If marriage does take place, then the wife takes on the role of mother. The husband has fun with the computer, eats, sleeps, sometimes works, but in family relationships he plays the role of a child.
The first sign of male infantilism is selfishness.
This trait reflects a person’s fixation only on his own personality. If this quality is natural for a child, then the manifestation of pronounced egocentrism in adults is, at least, surprising.
An infantile man imagines himself as the center of the Universe; he is sure that everything around him was created only for him. Such men never doubt that they are right, therefore they do not notice the dissatisfaction of others at all.
The infantile man does not see the need to become the head of the family, content with a situation that does not require him to take on more responsibility than in an illicit relationship. In a conflict, it is difficult for him to understand what his spouse requires of him; he usually blames her for all problems.
The next sign is a lack of desire to make independent decisions and take on household chores.
Such husbands do not like to take initiative. Household affairs cause them great problems. A man's infantilism leads to his inability to make significant decisions - a lack of willpower interferes. Men with a childish character often choose as wives more mature women who are ready to show parental care, which allows them to remain children for a long time.
Infantility in women
A woman with a childish character resembles a little helpless girl - either her parents or her husband take care of her. According to a study conducted by American psychologists, 34% of infantile women behave like children, mostly only around a man, and 66% are constantly in the image of a frivolous girl.
True infantilism makes a woman's life chaotic and crazy - she constantly gets into adventures, she has many chaotic acquaintances. Her social circle consists mainly of people much younger than her.
The reason for a woman’s “false” immaturity lies in the need to get what she wants the easy way.
Instead of taking responsibility for her life, she dreams that someone else, for example, an adult and wealthy man, will take on her problems. When choosing a partner for life, she prefers to rely on the wealth, generosity, sense of responsibility and reliability of the partner. Demonstrating her defenselessness, she expects the hero to take custody of her.
Men love adventure - it gives them an adrenaline rush, and with a girly woman there is never a dull moment. You want to take care of her, protect her from all misfortunes, and treat her with special tenderness. It’s easy with her - she doesn’t think about the future, doesn’t start talking about having children, marriage doesn’t play a significant role for her. Next to women who behave childishly, men feel strength and experience, which, of course, has a positive effect on self-esteem.
Such women not only have an infantile character, but also take advantage of it. In an effort to win a man's attention, they try to appear fragile and sensitive, speaking in a childish, high-pitched voice. They can pretend to be hurt or unhappy if they know what they want.
An infantile woman can make a man believe that without his support she will feel very bad, and without him she will be lost. Instinct tells the man that the girl cannot be scolded, she must be protected - and the woman thus gets what she wants.
Infantilism in children
Not only adults, but also children are susceptible to infantilism.
Children's infantilism is manifested in the fact that children's gaming interests prevail over educational ones.
Such children are not able to deeply perceive the educational process and the requirements associated with it, or to exercise discipline, which, in turn, leads to maladjustment at school and outside it - this manifests itself in various social problems that negatively affect the mental state. Although such children are sometimes mistaken for being mentally retarded or autistic due to school maladaptation, they are quite productive and can apply learned concepts to new specific tasks.
The causes of childhood infantilism may lie in the peculiar conditions of the family. Often such children grow up in single-parent families or in conditions where the relationship between parents does not work out.
For example, a woman raising her son alone can be extremely strict and suppress masculine qualities in the boy. Therefore, the guy remains dependent longer and does not carry out independent actions. The causes of infantilism can be influenced by the characteristics of the crisis of adolescence, because its outcome determines how strong a person will be in the future.
If you, as parents, see that your child is not ready to take responsibility and is constantly trying to solve emerging problems at your expense, the main thing you must do is to “push” him away from you and stop solving his problems with the help of your resources . Try to give him independence and the opportunity to “lean on his wings.”
— Nikolay Strelkov,
psychologist, psychotherapist, expert of the YouTube channel “Where are my children.”
The danger of infantilism
The main danger for a person suffering from infantility is, of course, social maladjustment. As a result of the fact that it is difficult for such people to adapt to the world and people around them, they often find themselves alone, and they may have a feeling of inferiority and uselessness. This can ultimately lead to various kinds of neuroses and depression, which in some cases end in suicide.
For a child who was indulged in everything in childhood and protected in every possible way from difficulties and troubles, the frustrating circumstance will be that in adulthood he will have to decide everything himself, and no one will fulfill his wishes on demand. And this again will lead to the fact that such a person will be rejected by society. As a result, the risk of developing neuroses and depressive states with all the ensuing consequences increases.
In professional activities, such people also, as a rule, do not achieve significant success. They do not know how to navigate emergency, extreme situations, and often shift the solution to problems that arise onto the shoulders of their colleagues. In this regard, infantile people rarely occupy good positions and are fired quite often. Losing a job for people with this type of disorder is also akin to a disaster. It is very difficult for them to navigate what happened, adequately assess the reason for the dismissal and start looking for a new job. They, as a rule, blame the employer for their dismissal and go into their feelings about the injustice of what happened. Many never start looking for work, plunge into depression, start playing computer games, trying in this way to escape the reality that oppresses them. The financial situation is deteriorating, which leads to the fact that such people try to find a person who can be their dependent.
For those around them, infantile people do not pose a danger as such. As a rule, the main difficulties arise as a result of their immaturity and impaired social adaptation. At their core, they are big children, and in their professional activities such workers are ineffective in many areas. Any difficult situation can unsettle them and deteriorate the quality of work, which is undesirable for the employer. On the other hand, violations of social adaptation will lead to the fact that it will be difficult for such a person to join the work team and build adequate relationships with colleagues. And this will lead to industrial conflicts, which in turn will be very undesirable for the employer.
As for family life, as a rule, infantile people are afraid to take responsibility and get married and have children. But if this does happen, then you cannot rely on such people in family life. They are unlikely to be able to be the head of the family, they are unlikely to be able to fully provide for themselves and their loved ones, or cope with the difficulties that arise. And besides, a child raised in a family where there is an infantile parent is also highly likely to become infantile. Or he will form a misconception about the role of the mother or father in family life. Girls who grew up in a family with an infantile mother are highly likely to copy her infantile behavior when building their family life. If the father was infantile, then there is a high probability that such girls will choose infantile men in the future, since such a pattern of behavior will be the only possible one for them. The same thing happens with boys.
In addition, if it so happens that both parents are immature individuals, then the personal development of their child will also suffer. In almost one hundred percent of cases, the child will be infantile at best. In the worst case, mental retardation may also be added to this, or deviant behavior will begin to appear.
How to get rid of immaturity? Does it need to be treated?
Not all types of infantilism require treatment.
In the case of pituitary infantilism, which is classified as a pathological condition, it is necessary to diagnose the disorder and carry out hormonal therapy. Sexual infantilism is subject to psychotherapy by a sexologist. However, if partners do not experience discomfort, treatment is not necessary. The same is true with childhood infantilism, which can go away with age. If the child’s development is significantly hampered, consultation with a specialist is necessary.
In the case of mental infantilism associated with a specific mental disorder, specialized treatment is necessary, including psychological therapy and rehabilitation. They are aimed at eliminating not only the consequences of infantilism, but also treating the disorder that caused it.
In the case of the most common - psychological - infantilism, treatment is advisable when it significantly interferes with normal functioning, for example, contributes to problems at work. The rest of your behavior can be adjusted independently.
Learn to be rational
Make it a rule not to make decisions right away. Set yourself a time limit (for example, 5 minutes) during which you must analyze the situation.
Learn to empathize and understand other people's feelings
Force yourself to ask others for their opinions every day, especially in controversial situations. You don't have to accept someone else's point of view, but you should be able to hear and understand it.
Get rid of egocentrism
You are not the only person on the planet. You don't have to sacrifice yourself, but you do need to develop selflessness. Social peace is based on mutual respect and concessions. Before talking about yourself, take an interest in the other person’s affairs, ask him if he is tired after a day of work, how his day went.
Get away from the “I want it or I don’t want it” position, take the “should” position
Every person has not only desires and rights, but also responsibilities. Identify and become aware of them. If you live with someone, do your part every day: clean, cook, help financially.
Learn to make decisions
This will not only help your life, but also the lives of your loved ones. Plan your day, week, month, years ahead. Make a to-do list. Set immediate and distant goals, identify opportunities and means to achieve them. Set priorities with a long-term perspective. Every time there is a struggle between a want and a need, list the wins and losses. What ultimately outweighs in terms of value, then choose.
How to deal with infantilism?
It is possible and even necessary to fight infantilism. This is not always an easy or quick process, however, its results can help significantly improve the quality of life of both the person himself and his loved ones.
There are different approaches to solving the problems of infantilism and they are primarily related to its etiology.
If manifestations of infantilism are associated with physiological reasons, then, first of all, it is necessary to consult a doctor who will prescribe competent drug treatment. After which you can contact a psychologist.
If the reasons for the manifestation of personal immaturity are related to psychological factors, then in this case a consultation with a psychologist is necessary. Let's look at this from both sides.
In the case when infantilism manifests itself in a child, consultation with a psychologist is necessary for both the child and his parents. A psychologist will conduct a diagnosis and find out what the main problem is. And a conversation with parents will help you understand where mistakes were made and jointly develop an education system that will help the child develop further without delays. It is quite possible that timely joint psychological consultation will help solve the problem of infantility, and the child’s development will gradually catch up with its peers. The psychologist will help the child learn new adaptive ways of social functioning.
With an adult, the situation is a little more complicated, but everything can be solved. If a person realizes that he has a problem that needs to be solved somehow, then working together with a psychologist can give significant results. The most important thing is not to be shy about seeking help from a qualified specialist and not to be afraid to work on yourself, because this can help significantly improve your quality of life.
But it is worth remembering that you cannot try to save a person from infantilism on your own, if you do not have a psychological education. You can tell him which specialist to contact and support him when he works with a psychologist. But you shouldn’t solve this problem yourself. A competent psychologist will carry out the necessary diagnostics, find out the cause of the disorder and think about how the person can be helped. Only in this case will the help be effective.
How to distinguish an ordinary person from an infantile one?
The first is capable of self-control, can be responsible for himself and everything that happens to him, earns a living, knows how to wisely use its benefits, resolve conflicts and discuss problems, no matter what he does, no matter what he looks like and no matter what he loves. Behind a funny hairstyle and a children's sweatshirt with cartoon characters, the most efficient and responsible person can be hidden.
An infantile person constantly needs someone to take care of him.
He is not distinguished by the ability to keep up with the times, his desires, his life. He is unable to openly express his needs (let others puzzle over it) and is unable to provide for himself. He tries to manipulate people, but does not know how to work on himself and his relationships. At the same time, his clothes and appearance can be the most conservative.
Organic
The syndrome of uncomplicated organic mental infantilism is observed with brain lesions. In many patients, damage occurs in utero, the signs of pathology are combined with the stigmas of embryogenesis: abnormal hair growth, malocclusion, high palate, short stature, etc. Manifestations are extremely diverse, depending on the volume and location of damage to cerebral structures.
As with the children from the previous group, naivety, suggestibility, and a penchant for games are noted. Thinking is characterized by inertia and difficulties when switching. Emotions are often smoothed out, not sufficiently lively and bright, imagination is poor, attachments are superficial. Children do not feel the need for approval and evaluation of the results of games and learning, which indicates a low level of aspirations. Disinhibition and elements of pathological behavior are possible.
Within the framework of the complicated organic variant, disproportionate, neuropathic and cerebrasthenic types are considered. In the first case, there is a significant discrepancy between the levels of various aspects of personality. The second type is characterized by timidity, timidity, uncertainty, and problems adapting to a team. In the third case, irritable weakness and slight intellectual decline are observed.
