Overvalued formations and the information environment as potential factors of criminal aggression of minors

Overvalued formations and the information environment as potential factors of criminal aggression of minors

 

Authors

 

V.D. Badmaeva

FSBI “V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

I.S. Karaush

FSBI “V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

I.A. Chibisova

FSBI “V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

 

https://doi.org/10.26617/1810-3111-2025-1(126)-46-55

 

Journal: Siberian Herald of Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. 2025; 1 (126):  46-55.

 

Abstract

Background.The study of psychopathological features of overvalued formations is determined by the lack of unity in understanding essential issues, such as volume, concepts, clear boundaries, and delimitation criteria. The importance of solving these issues is associated with the exceptional place that overvalued ideas occupy on the border of nonpsychotic and psychotic disorders. Objective: to study the features of overvalued formations in the structure of various mental disorders in minors with criminal aggression involved in destructive online communities. Materials. The study involved 34 minors aged 13-18 years who, in connection with their criminal prosecution, underwent a comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination at the Federal State Budgetary Institution “V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Two groups of respondents were identified from the total sample: 1) those who planned and/or committed attacks on educational institutions (n=25), 2) those who committed terrorist acts qualified as public justification and propaganda of terrorism in the Internet space, with the use of weapons, murder or attempted murder of two or more persons (n=9). Methods: clinical-psychopathological, psychological, and statistical. Results.Mental health disorders were detected in 88.1% of respondents. Among mental disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders (35.3%) and emerging personality disorders (29.4%) were noted with a higher frequency (35.3%). The following characteristics were common to all minors, regardless of the presence or absence of mental disorders: the formation of various overvalued formations, passion for destructive Internet content. Overvalued formations in the structure of mental pathology of minors with criminal aggression included a number of components, such as ideational, affective and behavioral, and represented a psychopathologically and plot-wise heterogeneous group. Variants of the ideational component of overvalued ideas in the aspect of hostility, aggression and violent actions towards representatives of certain territorial, ethnic and demographic communities were identified. The category of overvalued ideas includes ideas of radical Islam, promoting the ideology of the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (ISIS), prohibited in the Russian Federation, Slavophile ideas ‒ propagandizing the “purity of the Slavic nation”, Nazi ideas ‒ proclaiming the ideology of fascism. Correlation links between the presence of overvalued formations, aggressive behavior, manifestation of aggression towards living objects and the presence of paranoid syndrome elements in the clinical picture were revealed. Conclusion. The identified options are debatable and represent an object for further research. In general, the plot of overvalued ideas of minors reflects modern socio-ideological trends, as well as the influence of psychological changes occurring against the background of the social situation of development of children and adolescents in the era of digital socialization.

 

Keywords: overvalued formation, minors, mental disorders, criminal aggression, destructive content.

 

Article (pdf)

 

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Materials  

For citation: Badmaeva V.D., Karaush I.S., Chibisova I.A. Overvalued formations and the information environment as potential factors of criminal aggression of minors. Siberian Herald of Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry.2025; 1 (126): 46-55. https://doi.org/10.26617/1810-3111-2025-1(126)-46-55

 

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