“It’s better to run away”: a psychiatrist advised how to behave when meeting an inappropriate person

The other day in Moscow, an inadequate man attacked a girl with a knife in the subway for refusing to take her home. He chased the passenger he liked to the Ploshchad Revolyutsii station, and when he heard another refusal, he stabbed her several times in the neck, head and arm. Such wild incidents with insane characters have become noticeably more frequent in recent days, and people, out of habit, associate this with the “spring exacerbation” in patients with schizophrenia. MK found out from psychiatrists and criminologists whether the chances of running into a mentally abnormal citizen really increase in the spring, and how to behave when meeting such people.

According to the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, the attacker on the metro passenger is 23 years old and has a previous conviction. It’s good that the guy didn’t manage to escape. After the attack, the villain tried to escape, but was detained by passengers and handed over to law enforcement officers. He was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder.

Whether this is a repeat offender or a mentally ill person, it is difficult for a non-specialist to understand, and this is not so important for the victim himself. Mortal danger comes from both. And if the person who suffered is not guilty of anything before the attacker, this is a sign of “inadequacy.” Suffice it to recall cases when sick people pushed passengers from the edge of the platform under a train… From a recent police report: a strange man tried to attack a resident of Altufyevo. As an eyewitness later told the police, at about three o’clock in the morning a man with a knife began to break into the neighbors’ house and loudly threatened to kill them for some non-existent debt. People called the police; the man, who was in an insane state, wanted to escape, but got stuck in the elevator, from where the arriving operatives pulled him out. The man did not respond to the police’s demands to drop the knife and began to rush at the law enforcement officers. To stop the inappropriate citizen, the policeman had to fire a warning shot.

A resident of another Russian city behaved even more incomprehensibly from the report of incidents; this cannot be explained otherwise than by a mental “feature.” The guy was not allowed into the nightclub (he did not pass the “face control”), and after that he took his anger out on an unfamiliar girl who, unfortunately, found herself in line next to the psycho. According to her, she didn’t do anything bad to this guy, but he (in retaliation against the club?) hit her hard in the face, breaking her nose. Unfortunately, he managed to get away unpunished. What prompted him to commit this crime—mental illness or illegal drugs—is still unknown.

Another recent example is that in a shopping center in one of the regions, an inadequate citizen broke windows, cutting his hands, and screamed loudly while doing so. “Spring has just begun…”, users comment on the video recording the emergency.

MK found out from experts how to behave when meeting with clearly mentally unstable citizens with the least risk to health and life.

– First of all, is there really a “spring exacerbation” in schizophrenics?

“No, this is a myth, of course there is no “spring exacerbation”, otherwise psychiatric clinics would not be crowded in the spring, and in winter it would be freer,” explained psychiatrist Artem Gilev. – I myself have been working in a psychiatric clinic for many years, and I don’t notice much of a difference depending on the time of year. This belief in society is due to the fact that in winter someone supposedly lacks vitamins, although in our time there are enough of them all year round; that people are in a depressed state, waiting for spring, and the beginning of spring is characterized by greyness, slush… But these are no longer questions of psychiatry, but rather questions of human psychology. There is indeed a seasonality for a number of mental disorders, including schizophrenia, but it is individual for each patient. In some patients, the condition may regularly worsen during certain months.

– How to behave when you see that an inappropriate person is pestering a passerby?

– Firstly, you need to understand that he could have a knife or any other weapon. Therefore, even if a person is physically developed and in good shape, this will not save him from bullets or knife wounds, which can lead to death. If this happened in the metro, then at each station there are duty officers whose duties include maintaining order; you need to contact them so that they call the police. If you decide to turn to passers-by to calm the attacker together, then these people may also suffer from his actions. Or, if you “as a group of people” inflict bodily harm on him, or it turns out that he dies after this, then you may end up behind bars. It can be very difficult to prove that it was self-defense. Therefore, you need to contact the police in any case.

– Is it possible to find some words to calm an insane person, to dissuade him from committing illegal actions?

– If he is mentally ill, if he is delusional, then it is impossible to convince him, but if he can be convinced, then this is no longer delusional. And if he does this out of hooligan motives, then why on earth should he listen to you? This is also the task of the police.

– What can you advise if some crazy person is following you, as in the case of a girl in the subway?

– The first thing is to run to the police, but if it’s impossible, there is only one thing left, no matter how trivial it may sound, – hide, run away, disappear into the crowd. There is no other option to escape from a man with a knife. Therefore, good physical preparation will be useful. If you see a person on the street who behaves inappropriately, but “quietly” and does not offend anyone, then you should still call the police.

According to the forensic expert, senior lecturer of criminology at Ural State Law University named after. V.F. Yakovlev Maxim Matveev, when meeting a person whose behavior seems inadequate, it is not recommended to enter into any contact with him at all or try to avoid him. If possible, go out into a crowded place and do not be alone with this person. Behave as restrained and friendly as possible, answer in monosyllables, without engaging in a long conversation. Naturally, in this case, you need to quietly call the police or an ambulance (or ask someone about it).