Psychologists evaluated the behavior of the Izhevsk shooter: how to prevent such crimes

Stressed children need psychotherapy sessions

The shooting at the Izhevsk school became, perhaps, the most resonant incident with shooting after last year’s shooting at the Kazan gymnasium. Like last time, society is asking the question: is it possible to prevent this kind of terrorist attacks? “MK” collected the opinion of psychologists on this matter.

The number of victims in the Izhevsk school increased to 15. The offender himself, according to investigators, committed suicide. About what motivation can drive this kind of criminals and how to identify them among other citizens, experts in the field of psychiatric disorders spoke.

Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Natalya Dralyuk believes that these are, as a rule, “people who are angry with the whole world.”

– Often such people can be diagnosed with a personality disorder, that is, they cannot adapt to life, they constantly feel discomfort and anger at others, – Dralyuk said. – It can also be patients with schizophrenia who commit a crime for delusional motives. Perhaps such a person was ordered by “voices in his head” to enter the school and kill everyone.

Psychotherapist, educational psychologist Evgeny Sedov agrees with his colleague:

These people are driven by hatred. There are two sides – love and evil. If you do not bring up bright qualities in a person, then he will do crazy things, which will not even have an explanation.

Child psychiatrist Anastasia Chebotaeva believes that behavioral deviations could have formed in childhood:

– An important role is played by the family, the conditions in which a person grew up, what attention the family paid to education … Analyzing past crimes of a similar nature, I can say that all offenders were diagnosed with either a mental disorder or a trauma that led to inferiority.

Most experts agreed that it is very difficult to identify a criminal among the crowd. According to Yevgeny Sedov, “they do not differ from ordinary citizens.”

“When this fact was revealed in the course of numerous experiments after the Second World War, psychologists and psychiatrists around the world went into a state of shock, because it turns out that even a seemingly good-natured person can commit cruel acts,” he said. – The answer lies solely in the plane of education. If we do not closely engage in the education of citizens, then we will encounter such atrocities more and more often. At the same time, the inculcation of spiritual and moral values ​​and control over their level in society should by no means be limited to school years. This is important whether or not the offender is given any psychiatric diagnosis.

Assessing the behavior of Izhevsk school teachers in an extreme situation, Sedov said:

– Teachers first of all need to think about the salvation of children and act according to the circumstances. Since, unfortunately, such attacks do happen, teachers in schools need to be instructed on how to act depending on the number of children, the location of the classroom, the doors and windows in it, and many other factors. It is important to approach this very thoroughly and develop standards for preventing terrorist attacks and reducing the number of victims.

According to the psychologist, quite a lot of methods have been developed to provide emergency and crisis assistance in such situations. There are also special techniques that trained psychologists possess.

– Parents need, in addition to warm and careful communication with the child, in the coming days to take their child to a specialist who knows how to provide assistance in crisis situations. And school psychologists, by the way, need to be taught these methods, – the specialist advised.

Psychiatrist Anastasia Chebotaeva also recommends conducting individual psychological work with each witness of what happened in the Izhevsk school – to combat fear, anxiety, and depression. In order to detect and prevent the disorder in time.

Read also: “The shooting of children in the school of Izhevsk: massive stress provokes mental illness”