The problem of vagrancy among adolescent children. Preventive recommendations

Vagrancy syndrome is a disorder of social behavior characterized by an irresistible desire to leave home. Common among school-age children, less common in adults. As a rule, the syndrome manifests itself in impressionable individuals under the influence of strong external stimuli. These could be problems and quarrels in the family, violence, clashes with classmates at school. Usually the trigger for leaving home is a strong experience: an episode of bullying at school, an adventure film, an act of violence. Dromamania (also called vagrancy syndrome) can also affect adults. In this case, their actions have serious consequences, since they often leave without warning, abandoning their family and children.

Why does wandering syndrome occur?

The exact cause of the disease is unknown. The tendency to wander must be distinguished from the desire to leave home. The first is characterized by sudden impulses; a person can leave his home in the middle of the night, without taking even the most necessary things with him: change of clothes, money, telephone, without warning his family and friends. It has been proven that boys aged 12–17 years are most susceptible to the syndrome (i.e., with the onset of puberty, children more often leave home); this occurs less frequently in girls. Among the possible reasons contributing to the development of dromomania are:

• Microclimate in the family. Most often, children leave dysfunctional relatives. In such families, they often drink alcohol, use force against children, or use sexual coercion. Sometimes parents also lead an antisocial lifestyle, setting a bad example. Children, unable to change the situation, leave home.
• Mental disorders. The craving for street life and vagrancy is most often observed in people suffering from schizophrenia, mild dementia, epilepsy, and autism.
• Problems with social adaptation. Misunderstanding among peers, bullying - all this pushes children to run away from home in search of a better life.
• Psychological characteristics. The desire to leave most often arises among dreamy, impressionable individuals; some seek entertainment and new sensations in this. Such persons often resort to hooliganism, theft, and begin to use alcohol and drugs.

Classification

Children with certain mental disorders make up the lion's share of those who leave home. Depending on the underlying disease, different behavior patterns are formed:

• Schizophrenia and schizotypal disorders. Vagrancy syndrome manifests itself against a background of stress and quarrels with relatives. The child is characterized by aggressiveness, cruelty, and antisocial behavior: theft, drinking alcohol and drugs, begging in crowded places. Such children can be alone for a long time. They return home reluctantly, then miss school, and do not strive to establish normal relationships with peers.
• Decrease in intelligence. Such children leave home unexpectedly, without warning, and do not take money or valuables with them. People suffering from mental retardation do not commit illegal actions; they get food from garbage cans or landfills and rarely beg. Most often they live alone and have virtually no contact.
• Organic psychopathy. The cause of such conditions may be congenital or past diseases (encephalitis, meningitis). The behavior resembles that of schizophrenics, but usually appears during adolescence. Characterized by antisocial habits, craving for alcoholic beverages, and theft. After returning home, depression occurs.

To parents. Adolescent's tendency to vagrancy article

The teenager's tendency to wander

Running away from home can begin from preschool age, during primary schooling, the most critical age is 10-13 years. The danger of minors leaving home is fraught with “inclusion in modern crime.”

Crimes of a selfish nature come to the fore: thefts, robberies, robberies. The proportion of crimes related to drug trafficking is high. At the same time, “modern” psychiatry includes carelessness and vagrancy in the diagnostic criteria for behavioral disorders - F91 ICD - 10, without indicating the nosological affiliation and the characteristics of their formation."

Risk factors for leaving home include:

1) biological factors - aggressive and excitable nature of the mother, puberty;

2) social factors - deprivation life situations, including poor material and living conditions; non-working parents; education according to the type of neglect; conflictual relationships in the family; long stay in an asocial family and later placement of the child in a state institution; failure to attend preschool educational institutions; school maladjustment due to late start of education, lack of motivation to study, systematic absences from classes;

3) constitutional and psychological characteristics - unstable character traits with pronounced sociability, impulsiveness, high search activity, emotional and motivational instability;

4) disorders of psychological development - developmental delay in the first year of life; in preschool age - sleep disturbances, motor restlessness, emotional lability, presence of affective outbursts and aggressiveness;

5) consolidation of infantile forms of behavior - lack of formation of emotional-volitional regulation, lack of adequate ideas about oneself, low level of self-esteem, lack of orientation towards the future;

6) dissocial behavior - a tendency to lie, destruction, arson, crime, sexual assault.

When psychocorrectional work with a teenager, it is necessary to take into account the incentive reasons for engaging in vagrancy:

1. Poor performance at school, which parents try to improve by frustrating the teenager, depriving him of walks, the opportunity to communicate with referent persons, and participation in outdoor games. Such dependence can lead to compulsion to participate in a crime, violence and humiliation. Psychocorrectional work is carried out, first of all, with the parents of the teenager.
2. Increased activity of a teenager. In this case, vagrancy provides opportunities for the implementation of such activity. This type of addiction can be corrected by creating conditions for the teenager to realize himself in positive areas of activity, for example, in sports.
3. The response to physical punishment by parents is opposition to them. The most important preventive measure here is the restoration of spiritual ties with the family. The task of correction will be to eliminate everything that has a harmful effect on the child’s neuropsychic health. “Teenagers prone to vagrancy should develop a sense of confidence and success; they need to shift the emphasis from external demands and categoricalness to a meaningful understanding of the activity and its specific planning.”
4. Many girls run away from home after being sexually abused by a stepfather or a drunken father when their mother was unable or unwilling to protect her from it. Psychocorrectional work in this case consists of isolating the rapist and providing psychological assistance to the victim of violence.
5. A dysfunctional family in which the parents drink, do not work, and also take the wrong pedagogical position - an authoritarian parenting style, in which excessive control on the part of the parents causes the teenager to need emotional release.

Signs of dromomania in adults

An independent adult is less susceptible to the influence of traumatic exogenous factors than children, so dromomania practically does not occur in them (provided that the person has not suffered from it before). The syndrome can develop for no apparent reason, but in most cases it is preceded by certain factors:

• Presence of mental illnesses: schizophrenia, epilepsy, paranoia.
• Constant stress: problems at work and in the family, nervous and mental overload.
• Lack of rest, constant workload.
• Severe shocks: death of a loved one, dismissal from work.

A person may not be aware of his desire to leave home. It appears suddenly or develops over a long period of time. The following signs indicate the presence of vagrancy syndrome in most adults:

• A strong desire to leave the house, which arises unexpectedly - at night, on the way from work.
• The patient does not warn his family and friends and leaves his family and children.
• Subsistence is usually obtained through begging or theft.
• The patient can return home as abruptly as he left.

Complications and consequences

The consequences of vagrancy syndrome in children and adolescents depend on the number of times they leave home, their duration, and also on the nature of the individual. Among the most common are:

• Formation of persistent antisocial behavior. Such children do not attend school, do not think about their future profession and family, and often use alcohol and drugs. Society condemns such actions, but in most cases it has the opposite effect.
• Problems with law. Homelessness leads to various crimes: theft, robbery, prostitution. All this is done in order to get money, food, buy alcohol or drugs.
• Health problems. Living on the street, failure to comply with hygiene rules, poor-quality water and food, consumption of alcohol and prohibited substances - all this can undermine the health of a young body and leave problems for many years, or even for life. Begging for a long time leads to problems with the skin and gastrointestinal tract; such children are more likely to get ARVI.

Vagrancy syndrome is often complicated by depression, mood swings, and an inability to learn and live within social norms. A person cannot take responsibility, solve problems and experience failures, or control his mood.

Consultation “vagrancy syndrome”

Alena Egorycheva

Consultation “vagrancy syndrome”

Vagrancy syndrome in children.

Absenteeism and wandering syndrome is a mental disorder characterized by sudden, unreasonable leaving of home and further wandering. Leaving home or boarding school is accompanied by emotional disturbances – depression, dysphoria, tension; behavioral deviations - family conflicts, skipping classes, antisocial behavior, aggressiveness. The syndrome develops in organic psychopathic personality disorders, mental retardation, and schizophrenia. Diagnosis is performed using clinical and psychological methods. Treatment is complex and includes the use of medications and psychotherapy.

Causes of wandering syndrome

The disorder has a variety of causes. As a rule, the triggering mechanism is an external situation in the presence of certain personal characteristics. Causes of withdrawal and vagrancy syndrome include :

• Emotional and personal qualities. The syndrome is formed on the basis of excessive impressionability, touchiness, emotional instability, and daydreaming. Wandering is driven by the desire to learn new things, the search for entertainment, pleasure, the desire to get rid of everyday life, the lack of interest in family life, and going to school.

• Mental disorders. The syndrome occurs against the background of schizophrenia, mild and moderate mental retardation. Its development is facilitated by a tendency to fantasies, autism, isolation, limitations, unreasonable fear, suspicion, instability of mood, and distorted perception.

• Pathologies of the nervous system. The disorder can form after a brain injury or an epileptic attack. Accompanied by psychopathic character changes.

• The quality of life. Low income, material and living conditions, alcoholism and drug addiction of parents contribute to children leaving the family. Vagrancy becomes a way to relieve stress, an opportunity to satisfy needs, and realize dreams.

• Parenting style. The disorder is formed in conditions of neglect, conflicting demands, and during upbringing based on the type of emotional rejection and hypoprotection. Such features are typical for single-parent families with a permanently employed mother, families where one or both parents suffer from mental illness, pathological addictions, have a low cultural and educational level, and are prone to vagrancy and an antisocial lifestyle.

Pathogenesis

The syndrome of abandonment and vagrancy is formed on the basis of weak attachment to family members and dissatisfaction with everyday life. The child is easily carried away, impressionable, prone to fantasizing - all these features push him to search for a new way of life. The ability to analyze, plan, and calculate risks has not yet been formed; with mental disorders or organic brain damage, a critical attitude towards oneself and the situation is impaired. Therefore, care is spontaneous, its duration ranges from several hours to weeks, months. The triggering moment is a strong emotional shock - an exciting film, a book, a quarrel with parents.

Classification

Currently, options for classifying vagrancy syndrome based on mental illness are being considered. From this position, three groups of patients with the following disorders are distinguished:

• Organic psychopathy. In organic personality disorder, the syndrome is provoked by conflicts at home and quarrels with boarding school teachers. Characterized by early onset – 7-8 years. Conflicts are caused by skipping classes, stealing money, playing computer games, and not complying with the demands of elders. Frequent departures are accompanied by deviant behavior: robberies, car thefts, prostitution, and substance abuse.

• Mental retardation. There are aimless departures, unmotivated vagrancy , mood swings, and emotional lability. The period of wandering lasts more than a month. Children do not make friends, spend all their time alone, live in abandoned construction sites and garages. Illegal actions are unusual.

• Schizophrenia. The acute period of a simple form of the disease is accompanied by severe irritability, conflict, emotional instability, hostility, and negativism before leaving. Return on your own within a few weeks. In patients with the paranoid form of schizophrenia, care is provoked by anxiety-paranoid and hallucinatory-paranoid symptoms. Vagrancy occurs in crowded places and attracts the attention of others due to its inadequacy. Return home is carried out through the police station.

Symptoms of wandering syndrome

Children and adolescents with organic personality and behavior disorder develop neurotic symptoms, feelings of inferiority, and depressed mood. Fear of punishment for leaving predominates. The period of vagrancy may be accompanied by illegal actions, antisocial behavior, and emotional deviations. With epilepsy, twilight stupefactions are observed. Deviations in behavior are typical for adolescents of an epileptoid and hystero-epileptoid character. While wandering, they engage in begging, earn extra money (loaders, cleaners, participate in robberies, steal, use drugs, alcohol. After returning, dysphoria, anger, negativism intensify, and conflict increases. Later, depressive disorders develop.

With persistent intellectual decline, the manifestations of withdrawal and vagrancy syndrome depend on the form of mental retardation. The atonic version of the disease is accompanied by aimless wandering and wandering without clear motives , the sthenic form is accompanied by mood swings, the dysphoric form is accompanied by emotional instability and unmotivated wandering . While wandering , children get food from landfills. They do not commit illegal acts and do not enter into conflicts. The prevailing desire is to get as far away from home as possible, to retire. When meeting strangers, there is a swagger of behavior, an insufficient sense of distance, and a complacent and euphoric mood background. Returning home provokes emotional fluctuations - a euphoric mood is replaced by a depressive, dysthymic one.

In schizophrenia without a paranoid component, the central place is occupied by irritability, mood swings, negativism, conflict, and hostility. Before leaving, relationships with family members become emotionally cold, and rigidity appears on the teenager’s part. Inappropriate actions and episodes of theft of money and valuables are possible. Established friendships are destroyed and new ones are not formed. Trying to get acquainted is unproductive. Teenagers often drink alcohol and commit illegal acts. When returning, emotional isolation, inadequacy, absenteeism, and hostility intensify. Vagrancy syndrome in paranoid schizophrenia is accompanied by pathological fantasizing, hallucinations, and delusions. Withdrawals arise in close connection with paranoid ideas of persecution, harm, damage. Inappropriate behavior while wandering worries people. The teenager is taken to the police department, a psychiatric hospital.

Complications

Complications of the syndrome are most likely with frequent, long-term care, and the predominance of behavioral disorders. Young men develop social maladjustment and deviant behavior. Illegal actions are committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Often their goal is to obtain money and food. The need to eat and support themselves pushes teenagers to steal, rob, harm others, and engage in prostitution. Patients with a predominance of emotional lability suffer from depressive disorders. Under the influence of alcohol, drugs, and in a state of affective excitement, patients attempt suicide.

Source: https://www.krasotaimedicina.ru/diseases/children/vagrancy-syndrome

Diagnosis and treatment

Like any other disease, dromomania can be identified and treated. The standard diagnostic plan consists of the following points:

• Consultation with a child psychiatrist. The doctor will determine whether the child really has a pathology or whether leaving home is associated with something else, and will find out the reasons for the appearance of vagrancy syndrome.
• Psychological research. This includes various tests that determine the severity of certain symptoms - this will help you choose the right therapeutic plan.
• Instrumental methods (MRI, CT) are used when organic psychopathy is suspected.

Treatment also includes a holistic approach that is used for most mental illnesses:

• Psychotherapy.
• Pharmacotherapy.
• Social and occupational therapy.

Prevention

Preventing teenage vagrancy involves creating comfortable living conditions. A child who is loved and protected, and raised correctly, will not leave the family. If you have mental disorders, you should definitely consult a child psychiatrist. The state must monitor those who live in boarding schools and dysfunctional families. The emergence of a craving for vagrancy is most often observed in these children.

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Why does the urge to wander arise?

According to official statistics, about 100 million people around the world are homeless. Some of them are forced to live on the streets and move to other places in search of more comfortable living conditions. Some remain homeless due to alcoholism, problems with the law and lack of financial ability to purchase housing. The rest are vagabonds of their own free will, retaining a desire to run away from home into adulthood.

Teenage theft and vagrancy

It is the latter category that causes concern among psychiatrists.

In vagrancy, dromomaniacs are attracted by the feeling of freedom (uncontrolled movements and behavior during this process), as well as the opportunity to escape from solving any everyday problems. But from the point of view of psychiatry, this is by no means healthy romanticism and irresponsibility, but a disorder that accompanies:

• schizophrenics;

• epileptics;
• people with organic brain diseases;
• hysterics.

Dromamania can also be explained by attacks of dysphoria, which are typical for people with these diseases and disorders. Angry, melancholy moods and obsessive fears instinctively push towards a change of environment, and, given the specifics of the implementation of this need, towards vagrancy and dromomania.