See what “mental infantilism” is in other dictionaries.

25.05.201827.05.2017

Many adults find the unusual behavior of some children funny and appropriate for the child's current developmental stage. For a long time, mental infantilism in many families can be perceived as the norm or creative dissent of a growing child. Parents who constantly pamper their child, trying to please him in everything, do not even notice how they introduce into the child’s behavioral norms the endless satisfaction of even the most insignificant needs, maintaining soft tones and being too almond-y about any reason. There is another picture of childhood infantilism caused by a delay mental development children. And this is due to various reasons and factors.

Mental infantilism syndrome is a broad concept that includes a number of different mental disorders related to personal immaturity, with a pronounced lag in the emotional-volitional sphere. Such children are easy to identify in groups. And not only in terms of behavior, but also in terms of the level of perception and analysis of current events, mastering the school curriculum, contacting peers, identifying oneself in society, positioning oneself as an individual.

Options for mental infantilism:

true (based on delayed development of the frontal lobes of the brain);
general (the child is poorly developed, looks younger than his age both socially and physically);
Not proper upbringing(parents turn a child, normal from birth, into a mentally immature individual with their egocentrism).

For some children, parents deliberately allow them to remain in a state that can be described as childishness. There are families where the manners of communication with children who have reached sufficient mature age, at the infant level; and already quite elderly parents speak and behave with their older children in funny children's sayings. Such big children are allowed to conduct conversations in an “unctuous” voice; speech defects are encouraged, which are acceptable in early age. Grown-up children categorically refuse to pronounce simple word forms correctly, constantly “lisping”, trying to appear still small and very vulnerable. This behavior should alert parents and those closest to them. Unless, of course, the parents themselves try to keep the child in a similar state, enjoying his childish spontaneity.

Perhaps, it is this variant of mental infantilism that brings the greatest harm to a person who is healthy from birth, forming an asocial element out of him, sometimes for the rest of his life. Such children have a harder time with the passing of their loved ones; it seems to them that they remain lonely and abandoned. They rarely create families, make real friendships, and often pose a big problem for the work collective. And this seems completely absurd - normal physical development and undisguised childishness. Already after 5 years, a child whose development is artificially delayed gives the impression of a person with disturbances in the functioning of the centers of the brain.

Symptoms and signs of infantilism

Everyone needs to know and be able to track the characteristic symptoms of childhood infantilism, which signal a delay in the child’s development:

excessive timidity in ordinary everyday situations;
poor development of the muscular system;
thin bones that are not typical for a certain age;
delayed onset of puberty in adolescents;
reduced size of the genital organs;
weak libido or no libido in adults;
women have infrequent and painful menstruation;
lack of sexual desires;
scanty body hair;
tendency to obesity;
impotence in men;
delayed bone age, especially the bones of the thoracic and pelvic regions;
inability to perform acceptable physical activity;
voice immaturity in teenage boys;
increased anxiety;
excessive coquetry, sometimes very inept.

Infantilism in adults, unless, of course, it is caused by pathologies of the brain, can be characterized as defensive reactions to subjective stimuli from the external objective world.

An adult, avoiding a high degree of responsibility, conflicts, making choices in ambiguous situations, often prefers to withdraw himself and shift the solution to the dilemma or complex issue on someone else, pretending to be incompetent, sometimes even weak-minded. Often in our society, such people are actually given a head start or are simply relieved of responsibility. By pretending to be like this, a person unwittingly remains in the mask of a fool for a long period of time. He gets used to the role, remaining in it for a long time, and then he no longer knows where he is and what he is. This behavior is most typical for men.

Factors causing mental infantilism can be:

congenital anomalies of intrauterine development;
hormonal disorders of early age;
tumor processes of the meninges;
severe illnesses in parents (alcoholism, syphilis, prolonged intoxication, renal failure);
infectious diseases suffered at an early age;
strong psychological pressure on children (for example, in religious sects and even educational institutions);
social influence (substitution of concepts and generally accepted norms of behavior in the family, computer addiction).

Treatment of infantilism

Treatment of such a complex disease as mental infantilism, which is complex, must begin with determining the main cause that caused it. Perhaps, by eliminating this cause, there will be chances of successfully overcoming infantilism as such.

In cases where the disease is severely advanced and there are congenital causes, you can try to create new living conditions for the patient, qualitatively change his life, so that he has a reassessment of values, a rethinking of his existence, and begins to independently identify interesting abilities that will help self-development.

The main drugs prescribed by endocrinologists for sexual infantilism are the corresponding sex hormones, which the patient takes for a fairly long period under the supervision of a doctor.

An important role is played by general strengthening measures, exercise therapy, active occupation sports, daily physical activity.

For many children, the climate of their place of residence is often unsuitable. It can be extremely difficult, sometimes impossible, for parents to solve this problem. Such a child should get healthy at sea as often as possible, breathe mountain air, and eat natural food rich in fiber, vitamins, and microelements. In addition to a nutritious diet, parents should spend more time with such a child, constantly trying to develop him, teaching him to read, express his thoughts beautifully, and observe wildlife. Often a dog or cat in the house can work a miracle, helping with their mere presence to strengthen memory, sense organs, improve concentration, body tone, becoming a true friend and example for such a family member.

Possible dangerous consequences

Observation of children and adults suffering from mental infantilism should be transferred to a serious, long-term basis, since sometimes such people can pose a threat to society. Some of them are capable of various deviations, including self-harm and physical harm to others. Cases of suicide among such people cannot be ruled out. The doctor and loved ones should pay close attention to their behavioral reactions.

Particularly dangerous are those who, in their childhood, often experienced ridicule from peers who were physically superior to a weak, developmentally retarded child.

Unfortunately, growing up, such children try to “catch up” for lost time, sometimes carrying out acts of retaliation against their immediate environment and random people who fall under their hot hand. Many serial maniacs exhibited mental immaturity.

Sometimes physically weak infantile people They set themselves the goal of catching up and surpassing a fairly significant person in society. It would be good if this person was someone from the field of cinema or show business, and not from the cruel criminal world.

Mental infantilism (with mental retardation)- a state when the child seems to have “stayed” at the previous age stage of mental maturation. Traits of immaturity or underdevelopment of the psyche, primarily in the emotional-volitional sphere, when, according to L.S. Vygotsky’s definition, significant aspects of the child’s psyche retain an earlier child’s organization, lead to a later development of skills in educational activities, to more direct behavior than is customary in a school setting.

Harmonic infantilism(with DPR of constitutional origin) - n a proportional combination of physical and mental immaturity with a fairly favorable mental state as a whole (manifestations of infantilism are not complicated by additional unfavorable factors and are expressed only in emotional-volitional immaturity, children are characterized by relative mental alertness, curiosity, interest in the environment, they are active in the game, bring to it creative element, fantasy). This form of infantilism usually occurs with a hereditary predisposition to later development of mental functions; the presence of infantile traits in childhood can also be detected in close relatives; sometimes infantilism also occurs in twins and premature babies.

The development of children with harmonious infantilism has a favorable prognosis: with proper organization of upbringing and education, these children over time catch up with their peers academically, and the negative trends in their personal development are smoothed out.

Motor infantilism(with mental retardation of constitutional origin) - the characteristics of motor skills correspond to the characteristics of normally developing children more younger age(movements are often impetuous, not clear enough, motor immaturity is manifested in difficulties in coordinating fine movements of the fingers and hands, developing motor stereotypes necessary for mastering writing skills and manual dexterity). The delay in the development of motor skills is especially pronounced during purposeful activities (drawing, writing, manual labor).

Somatogenic infantilism(with mental retardation of somatogenic origin) - delayed maturation of the emotional and personal sphere . It is not caused, on the one hand, by gross disturbances in metabolic processes and nutrition of brain cells due to frequent and/or severe illnesses leading to a slowdown in its maturation, but on the other hand, by the peculiarities of raising a somatically weakened child (increased care, limited communication with peers ).

Disharmonic infantilism - combination of infantile characteristics and distortion of the child’s motivational sphere (with mental retardation of psychogenic origin) . With the unfavorable influence of the environment on the infantile child (upbringing in conditions of increased care, neglect and pedagogical neglect, inadequately high demands from adults, lack of emotional contact with loved ones) and with a combination of infantility with certain pathological character traits (excitability, conflict, demonstrativeness, egocentrism, pronounced capriciousness, weakness of volitional regulation, etc.) the ground arises for the distorted formation of personality.

With this type of infantilism, the inability to exert volition, the weakness of moral principles, and the orientation in actions towards obtaining pleasure come to the fore; or, on the contrary, increased inhibition, painful self-doubt, inability to achieve success due to refusal to try to do something (such a child is so unsure of his abilities that he says “I can’t” before attempting to complete a task, not is active in activities and games).

Organic infantilism - emotional-volitional characteristics of a child with mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin.

With this variant of infantilism, there is no brightness and liveliness of emotions, they are little differentiated; children are poorly interested in evaluating their activities and have a low level of aspirations. Suggestibility has a rougher shade and approaches uncriticality. The game is characterized by monotony and monotony, its content is primitive, the desire to play arises more often in situations requiring mental stress, and looks more like an escape from difficulties than a need for play activity. Such children are often disinhibited, and their behavior exhibits psychopathic-like elements.

People who take a naive approach to everyday situations, in politics, do not know how to make thoughtful decisions in a timely manner, do not strive to take responsibility in any situation, are prone to infantilism. Infantilism can be mental, legal and psychological.

Mental infantilism is a delay in the development of the psyche of either an adult or a child, a lag in mental development, which is manifested in the development of the emotional-volitional sphere and the childish qualities of a mature personality.

Nature of occurrence

Mental infantilism syndrome most often manifests itself as a result of organic brain damage. The causes of infantilism may be intrauterine damage to the fetus. The nature of the occurrence of this disease is created by endocrine-hormonal or genetic factors, infectious diseases during pregnancy of the mother or serious illnesses in the first months of the child’s life.

Criteria for mental infantilism

Infantilism of this type can manifest itself in both adults and children of both sexes. It is characterized by a number of signs:

Lack of stability of perception and attention.
Hasty, unfounded judgments.
Inability to analyze.
Carefree behavior and frivolity, self-centeredness.
Tendency to fantasize.
Lack of self-confidence, tendency to nervous breakdowns.

Mental infantilism in children

Such children are characterized by a rich manifestation of emotionality, not enriched by the development of the true qualities of the mind, which help ensure socialization. Infantile children are sincerely happy, sympathetic, angry, and fearful. Their pantomime is very expressive. They lack emotional depth.

Mental infantilism in adults

In adults, such infantilism is characterized by naivety, egocentrism and selfishness, emotional instability, pronounced fantasy, instability of interests, frequent distractibility, shyness, carelessness, and increased sensitivity.

Mental infantilism - treatment

To get rid of mental infantilism, it is necessary to cure the underlying disease that was the cause of infantilism. The sooner the signs of infantilism are identified, the more successful the treatment will be. For congenital defects, surgery is necessary. In case of disease of the endocrine glands, appropriate treatment is prescribed.

So, mental infantilism negatively affects the mental development of a child at the beginning, and then an adult. As a result of infantility, a person cannot mature for a full life in the adult world.

Mental infantilism

Mental infantilism is the mental and physical immaturity of a child, which, with improper upbringing, leads to a delay in age-related socialization (adaptation to life in society). The prerequisites for it are created genetically, endocrine-hormonal factors, hypoxia or infectious-toxic hazards during pregnancy, asphyxia during childbirth, and diseases of the first months of life. Its development is also facilitated by the aggravation of unfavorable preconditions by egocentric or anxious-suspicious upbringing.

First option true- is based on a delay in the development of the frontal lobes of the brain, caused by the above objective factors and improper upbringing. As a result, the child is delayed in developing an understanding of the norms and rules of behavior and communication, developing the concepts of “not” and “should”, and a sense of distance in relationships with adults; the maturation of the ability to correctly assess situations is delayed, when it is necessary to change behavior and abilities according to their changes. foresee the development of events, and, therefore, possible dangers and threats.

This is the case when a child does first and thinks later. Children with this form of mental infantilism are assessed by their behavior as being one to two years younger than their true age, and upon entering kindergarten there is a need to place such a child in a junior group, and when he reaches school age, leave him “to mature” in kindergarten. Such a child often looks stupid, but this is not mental retardation.

With mental infantilism, children begin to speak on time and even ahead of schedule, ask questions and draw in full accordance with age standards, master reading and counting in a timely manner, are mentally active and even lively. They often express original thoughts and perceive nature in a fresh way. The only thing that confuses us is their naivety, childishness beyond their age and inability to adapt to life. It’s not that they don’t think well, it’s more that they simply don’t think.

The liveliness of the mentally infantile is not disinhibition, but rather a cheerfulness that overwhelms the emotionality of a two or three year old, although in fact the child is already four or five years old. His carelessness, carelessness is not due to mental retardation, but to the naivety of a child who has no idea that someone or something could offend him. A child with this form of mental infantilism knows no evil. His manner of freely treating adults does not come from rudeness and unceremoniousness, but from a puppy’s joy of life and the same reckless liveliness, when there is no idea of what is possible and what is not.

Mentally infantile ones invite an adult to run and play with them, to rejoice, not realizing that mother and grandmother have no time for this. They follow in everything from themselves, from their perception of life. They are cheerful and playful because they are “superchildren.” Their childishness captivates adults and somehow automatically leads to the education of mentally infantile egocentric types, to admiring the spontaneity of a “baby”, “crumb” until reality, the need for their adaptation in kindergarten or first grade at school, sobers up parents , encouraging the child to consult a psychiatrist. Such children were cradled in infancy and did not notice how unforgivably long the cradling lasted. And the infantile ones don’t want to grow up and even talk in baby talk. They know what tomorrow is, but it doesn’t seem to exist for them, they seem to be stuck in today.

Infantiles do not perceive “you can’t” and “you must”, since the development of the frontal-parietal functions of the brain is delayed, and the inconsolable crying and hysterical protest of such “little” children so disarms adults that the time for further development of these fundamental concepts is often missed. They come to their senses when the requirement to fulfill “impossible” and “must” causes bewilderment, resentment and, naturally, violent protest in the infantile. And the child capriciously demands what is not allowed, does not accept what is necessary, and wants everything to be as he wants. Infantile people are kind, but the result of their development is such that they do not understand when they can play pranks and when they can’t, because there is trouble or grief in the family.

Peers approach them as equals, because they are physically developed and look their age, but communication does not work out, because infantiles think, speak and act like younger people. Naturally, such children are blatantly dependent and do not know how to do anything, because everything that requires skills and effort has been done and is being done for them. Not only do they not want to dress themselves, but they also don’t want to eat on their own, and the kindergarten teacher doesn’t know whether to cry or laugh - it’s just the right time to pick up a four-year-old. And here is the result: the time has come for the infantile to go to school, but he is not ready for it. However, age is age, the requirements for it are strict, and a child with mental infantilism is sent to his age environment, where he is faced with reality and is at first surprised, and then upset - severely, to the point of neurosis, of course, hysterical.

Infantile children are characterized by rich natural emotionality, but it is not enriched by the parallel development of the qualities of the true mind, which ensure full orientation and socialization, and therefore does not reach the level required by age. They are genuinely happy, angry, sad, sympathetic, and afraid, but all this is over the edge, stormy, uncontrollable and superficial. Their facial expressions, like their gestures, are lively and expressive. But they do not know deep love, true sadness, real longing. They do not know anxiety or a sense of danger. They lack emotional depth to cry like that
I cried, but I was so happy. Their emotionality is like summer rain: it’s dripping and there’s sunshine, but the result is neither one nor the other.

Most of all, the volitional principle suffers in infantile people. Delayed development of the frontal lobes of the brain with their function of long-term goal formation and planning also predetermines a tendency to delay the formation of will. Improper upbringing exacerbates the infantilism of the volitional factor in such children. What kind of will is there if a child under five to seven years old does not know any serious efforts to overcome difficulties. The strong-willed component is inherent in temperament, but this side of it, like other useful ones, was not developed. And the volitional principle of the infantile will never develop unless measures are taken for re-education.

Second option mental infantilism - general psychophysical immaturity according to the infantile type ( harmonic infantilism , when the child is physically miniature and looks socially younger than his age, according to E.E. Sukhareva). The prerequisites and reasons are the same as for the first option. However, the immaturity in the second option is total. The child not only behaves like a younger child, but at five years old also looks like a three-year-old. He is born with low weight and height, and is miniature. This is a “boy with a thumb” or a “Thumbelina” girl. Such children are called by diminutive names: gulenka, bunny, baby. A child with this variant of mental infantilism is graceful, mobile, but weak and fragile.

Not lagging behind in psychomotor and psycho-speech development, timely mastering all the skills and abilities, drawing, counting and reading, such a child is also musical, emotionally alive, but, as in the first option, his maturation of higher social functions is delayed. Time passes, but the child is not ready for equal communication with peers and is blatantly dependent. He is one of those who does not mature in time. Similar things occur in the animal world, but there such a baby is doomed. The brood is taken away, but it remains in the den. A child with the second variant of mental infantilism is a child for a long time if this is not overcome in a timely manner. His fragility and miniature size cause concern among parents. He has poor appetite and is often sick. He is naughty, but in moderation, often quiet. He is not demanding and not capricious, affectionate and obedient.

Such a child does not exhaust the parents, but causes aching pity. And his upbringing, as a rule, takes on alarming tendencies. In kindergarten, the teacher protects him, and this does not cause protest on his part. He takes the patronage of his elders for granted. The teacher leads such a child by the hand, does not let him go, and involuntarily lowers the requirements for him. Everyone accepts his childishness, and even his peers willingly play with him, assigning him the role of a little one, projecting the nascent parental instinct onto him, protecting him, comforting him if he cries. And the child accepts the role assigned to him. She is comfortable and pleasant.

He doesn't want to grow up and school years. If events develop in the same direction, he, becoming an adult, continues to play the same role. And then we are talking about a man-son, a woman-daughter already in a marital relationship, when his wife takes care of him, and her husband takes care of her.

According to the second option, a mentally infantile person does not have a feeling of inadequacy. He accepts his givenness. Accordingly, he has a rare neurosis. Anxious upbringing perpetuates his infantility, and, protected by a special attitude towards himself, he is not anxious. It is obvious that such a person is not adapted to life and sooner or later he will face collapse, insolvency, and a kind of disability.

Meanwhile, proper upbringing can lead away from infantilism. In this case, by the age of six to eight years, the child matures in higher mental functions, acquires the qualities of masculinity and, after puberty, differs from his peers only in his short stature and diminutiveness, compensated by physical dexterity and normal health. According to the second option, the mentally infantile is not rushed to develop. He will follow his peers, lagging behind them by about a year or two, and will mature by school time. And again we see: education decides a lot.

Completely unacceptable third option mental infantilism. A child is born harmonious in all respects, but, protecting him from life, they artificially delay his socialization with egocentric or anxious-suspicious upbringing. This most often happens to those who gave birth late, who have waited a long time for a child, who are exhausted in anticipation. Six adults admire and amuse themselves with one baby. The most interesting childhood- from two to three years. And parents unconsciously want to keep the child in it, they want and succeed in this. The third variant of mental infantilism in its entirety caused by improper upbringing , when a healthy person was made immature and the development of the frontal functions of the brain was artificially delayed.

In this case, infantilism is cultivated through pampering and overprotection, and is fenced off from peers and life. They think for the child and do everything for him, the road in front of him is cleared, obstacles are removed from his path and, no matter what he does, everyone forgives him. And he, not knowing anything, goes towards life, and this meeting does not promise him anything good. The matter is complicated by the fact that mental development follows a strict genetic program and what is lost due to age in many ways turns out to be lost forever. As a result, after five and a half years, the child is already objectively infantile, as if his brain had been damaged. In the first two options it began with damage, in the third it ends with it. And the third option is worse than the first two. The prognosis is worse. It's harder to overcome.

The mother is panicking. A large child, outwardly in no way inferior to his peers, during a lesson takes a toy from his briefcase and plays with it; gets up, not paying attention to the teacher’s prohibition, and goes to the door; speaks openly with his neighbor and asks to see his mother. At home he only wants to play. He is self-centered and does not accept refusal in anything. He simply ignores the condition of his parents. He is capricious, demanding and hysterical. His childishness no longer pleases anyone. "Doctor, help!" And the doctor is sad. Before this family, the doctor had other patients with severe congenital diseases or diseases that arose due to reasons beyond the parents’ control. Everything was clear. We need to treat, help in trouble. And then they turned the healthy into the sick. A child with the third variant of mental infantilism is at risk of hysterical neurosis.

All of the above is a serious warning to those parents and grandparents who encourage the infantile development of their children and grandchildren. The notorious lisp, admiration for the childishness of the “dear little one,” overprotection, deprivation of independence, raising three-year-olds as one-and-a-half-year-olds, and five-year-olds as three-year-olds are fraught with dire consequences. For the sake of egocentric tendencies, enjoying the childhood of the “dear baby,” the future of a person is sacrificed.

A person born with mental infantilism or who acquired it due to adverse effects in the first months of life is treated by a psychoneurologist, promoting the maturation of higher neuropsychic functions; he is consulted according to the indications of an endocrinologist. In cases where it is necessary to stimulate ripening, traditional medicine recommends apilak, eleutherococcus and nettle. More effective means will be indicated, individually and according to indications, by the attending physician. Such a child will benefit from baths with sea salt, swimming in the Black, Azov or Caspian Seas, staying in the sun, but wearing a Panama hat, T-shirt and shorts. Let your face, arms and legs tan. However, he should sunbathe not on the beach, but on a walk, playing in the air.

The main thing is proper education. Efforts are directed primarily at the socialization of the child. The concepts of “possible” and “impossible”, “good” and “bad” are emphasized and persistently instilled. Compliance with the sleep, wakefulness, feeding schedule from the first months of life in this case It is also important as a disciplined, socializing education for the child. The child is persistently explained the consequences of his mistakes and pranks. They allow him to hurt himself in order to give him the opportunity to feel when and why it hurts. Such a child is constantly encouraged to overcome feasible difficulties, quietly helping and rejoicing with him in his victories. These children love joy; all that remains is to prove to them in practice that it lies in overcoming difficulties and achieving results and goals. The infantile is taught skills and abilities in a timely manner, sparing no effort. And in this case, this is not only necessary for everyday life, but also the path to overcoming mental infantilism. The infantile strives for children younger than himself, and he should be encouraged to communicate with peers, helping to cooperate with them on an equal basis and eliminating conflicts. Excessive expression of emotions is gently moderated; adults cultivate deep emotionality, especially responsiveness, in the infantile.

The influence of parents on the mentally infantile is realized through play. They play with him everything that occurs in the life of a child of his age. They play, for example, in kindergarten, where he is in the role of a teacher, and the father is in the role of a naughty child. The game develops the skills necessary for successful adaptation to kindergarten. They play school with him, and he acts as a teacher, demanding discipline from the student. They play with him the children's game itself, preparing him for games with peers. In a joint game, carelessness, disorganization, ill-considered consequences of actions and the unreasonable actions themselves, selfishness are ridiculed. In the game, a goal is set, plans are developed to achieve it, and in the game it is realized.

If, despite educational efforts, the infant is not ready for school at the age of seven, it is better to detain such a child for a year at preparatory group kindergarten and at the age of eight, send him to school with a formed student’s position, which will ruin the beginning of schooling, and perhaps the whole of it.

Intellectual deficiency in states of mental infantilism is considered by most researchers as a consequence of impaired maturation of the youngest structures of the brain, mainly the systems of the frontal cortex and their connections, caused by various etiological factors (constitutional-genetic, intrauterine intoxication, toxic-infectious effects in the first years of a child’s life) .

The most studied clinical and psychopathological characteristics of simple (uncomplicated) mental infantilism, which also includes harmonious infantilism. In this form, mental immaturity covers all areas of the child’s activity, including intellectual, but manifestations of emotional-volitional immaturity predominate. This is expressed in the increased emotional liveliness, instability, predominance of the motive for pleasure, excessive attachment to the mother, and fear of everything new, which is characteristic of younger children. These children are tireless in play, they are characterized by vividness of imagination, fantasy, invention, and cheerfulness. In intellectual activity, too, “the influence of emotions predominates, intellectual interests themselves are poorly developed, while gaming interests continue to predominate at school age. Active attention is characterized by increased instability and satiety; children cannot organize their activities and subordinate them to the requirements of the school and the team. All this creates the phenomenon of “school immaturity”, which is revealed at the beginning of schooling.

Although in most children intellectual disability is of a secondary nature, determined mainly by a lag in the maturation of the components of the developing personality, the characteristics of their thinking are close to the characteristics of the thinking of children suffering from mental retardation. Such features include the predominance of concrete-active and visual-figurative thinking over abstract-logical thinking, a tendency to imitative activities when performing intellectual tasks, insufficient focus of mental activity, and weakness of logical memory. At the same time, the structure and dynamics of intellectual disability differ from those with nuclear mental retardation.

Children with mental infantilism are characterized by general liveliness, increased interest in the environment, lack of inertia, and stiffness of mental processes. Their play activity is characterized by independence and activity. It contains elements of creativity, fantasy, imagination. The emotional life of children with simple mental infantilism is richer, attachments are more differentiated. Experimental psychological testing makes it possible to identify a broader “zone of proximal development” in children of this group. Their potential intellectual capabilities and the level of their abstract logical thinking exceed that of mentally retarded children. They have the ability to use help and transfer what they have learned to new material. They are more productive in independent activities. Unlike oligophrenics, children with manifestations of simple infantilism require significantly less specification of the task to abstract one or another sign. The somatic status of children with mental infantilism often reveals signs of immaturity, growth retardation, and graceful proportions. At the same time, they do not have the features of gross dysplasticity, anomalies in the development of individual systems and organs, so characteristic of oligophrenic children.

The dynamics of the described states are also different. With age, manifestations of mental and physical infantilism can be smoothed out, sometimes even to the point of complete disappearance, and intellectual deficiency can be compensated. The actual intellectual deficiency in simple mental infantilism is shallow and largely of a secondary nature, determined mainly by the lag in the development of the components of the emerging personality. It is usually transient and reversible. In this regard, in such cases it is more correct to speak not about mental retardation, but about “delayed tempo” mental development". With complicated mental infantilism in the clinical picture, along with the features of childishness and immaturity of the psyche, a number of other pathological manifestations are noted. In this group, several options can be distinguished. The first option is the most difficult to differentiate - "organic infantilism.

Organic infantilism most often occurs on the basis of early organic brain damage due to brain infections and injuries. In this regard, it represents an intermediate form of pathology between dysontogenetic and encephalopathic variants of borderline intellectual disability. In the clinical picture, as with simple infantilism, there are signs of immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere - spontaneity, increased interest in gaming activities, inability to engage in activities that require volitional effort and attention, increased suggestibility. However, the quality of infantilism in these cases is different, “organically colored.” Children lack liveliness and cheerfulness. They are rather euphoric, complacent, disinhibited, their play is poorer, monotonous, devoid of imagination and fantasy. Attachments and emotional manifestations are less deep and differentiated. Unlike children with uncomplicated infantilism, they are more likely to have individual dysplasias of organs and systems.

Psychological examination of such children reveals concrete thinking and a less pronounced ability to use help. Their intellectual activity is characterized by inertia, stiffness, and poor switchability. In severe cases, differential diagnosis with oligophrenia can be difficult. The structure of intellectual impairments is of decisive importance. In organic infantilism, insufficiency of the emotional-volitional sphere and violations of the so-called prerequisites of intelligence (attention, memory, rate of performance) predominate, while intellectual weakness itself, insufficiency of the generalization function, although present, is not the leading one in the clinical picture. The dynamics of this variant of infantilism are less favorable. According to follow-up studies, a significant proportion of such children are transferred to a auxiliary school, while others need education in special conditions. Some authors attribute organic infantilism to the options.

The variants of complicated infantilism include the very common cerebrasthenic variant. Intellectual deficiency in this case is determined by a combination of signs of childishness with symptoms of irritable weakness (increased excitability, instability of attention, motor disinhibition, easy exhaustion, disorders of somatovegetative regulation). Manifestations of infantilism are less striking in nature compared to simple option infantilism. Features of increased inhibition in an unfamiliar environment are more common.

The neuropathic variant of infantilism is close to cerebrasthenic. At the same time, asthenic radicals of mental infantilism are also expressed in the personality structure: increased inhibition, timidity, timidity, suggestibility, lack of independence, excessive attachment to the mother, difficulty in adapting to children's institutions. The study of the follow-up of such children shows that under unfavorable conditions of upbringing and training with neuropathic infantilism, there is a pronounced tendency towards consolidation of asthenic personality traits, either within the framework of an inhibited variant of pathocharacterological personality formation, or in terms of the development of asthenic psychopathy.