Asocial Children

ASOCIAL CHILDREN, difficult-to-raise children, "morally defective," with character traits that cause clashes with others and lead to the violation of society's rights. When analyzing children's asociality, it turns out that this concept encompasses far from homogeneous cases. From the standpoint of psychoneurology, it is necessary to distinguish the following groups of asocial children: 1. Socially neglected, whose improper behavior is predominantly the consequence of a lack of proper upbringing, the harmful influence of the environment, homelessness, and orphanhood. The number of such children usually increases sharply in connection with the consequences of war, famine, displacement, and social upheavals in general. 2. Psychopaths with a disharmonious psyche, heightened drives, and a disproportionate reaction to external stimuli, resulting in conflicts with others; under the influence of the environment, such children may show greater or lesser sharp deteriorations (or improvements), but nevertheless, the main cause of their improper behavior is connected with constitutional features (varying in different forms of psychopathy). The most severe form of psychopathic asociality is known as insanitas moralis (moral insanity); the spitefulness and cruelty of such subjects make them extremely dangerous to those around them. 3. A comparatively small group of asocial children is represented by cases with organic brain lesions resulting from trauma, infections, etc., with notes of character and behavior changes toward asociality in the almost complete absence of other mental disorders. Such changes are especially often observed as consequences of epidemic encephalitis. Asocial behavior can, of course, also be observed in various kinds of mental illnesses (epilepsy, schizophrenia, etc.), but in these cases, such behavior is only an episodic manifestation of more complex and widespread mental changes and does not stand in the foreground of the disease picture.--The indicated three main groups of asocial children, differing in the sense of pathogenesis and the causes of the development of certain features, require various measures to combat these deviations. For the socially neglected, re-education and a change in the environment in a favorable direction are necessary; in this regard, the liquidation of homelessness and the establishment of appropriate institutions with a labor regime (labor communes, colonies, etc.) are of primary importance. Psychopathic children require a psychoneurological approach, a sanatorium regime, and appropriate medico-pedagogical measures. Character changes after epidemic encephalitis are the most stubborn and resistant to medical and pedagogical interventions; such children are especially difficult for those around them and must be kept in closed institutions.--Offenses committed by children are examined in juvenile commissions (consisting of a physician, a pedagogue, and a judge). When analyzing cases in these commissions, it is very important to establish the personality traits of the given minor and their affiliation with a particular asocial group; in case of doubts, an examination in specialized psychoneurological institutions is necessary. The correct organization of the fight against children's asociality is possible only with the establishment of a network of appropriate institutions for the re-education and treatment of such children.