The Plovdiv District Court remanded in custody the five detainees for the murder of a 37-year-old man on the Youth Hill in Plovdiv. The detainees are children between the ages of 14 and 17. According to the magistrates' motives, the crime was committed with particular cruelty. The topic of extreme aggression among adolescents was commented on by clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Velislava Donkina to bTV.
According to her, there is no way to know what exactly led to the children's actions, after it became clear that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has no data on pedophilia on the part of the 37-year-old man, who was initially alleged to have been attacked for such.
“There is no way to know whether this person resembled anyone, whether any of these children had any traumatic, unpleasant experiences, whether they somehow identified with someone who had one“, said Dr. Donkina.
According to her, human behavior depends on many factors, including the earliest relationships and experiences.
“Our mind and our brain, our effective regulation – when what structures are activated, how we deal with some very strong experiences, how we become who we are – it depends on many factors, but it also depends on our very early relationships“, she explained.
According to her, from the very beginning of life, patterns are built that can influence behavior at a later age.
“A baby, when born, is like a super powerful computer, in whose brain all kinds of connections can be made. Everything that happens encodes what we will observe later, especially during adolescence, with great force,” said Dr. Donkina.
She also commented on the role of group dynamics and the influence of a sense of power and impunity on human behavior.
“People, including smart, promising, excellent students, can, when they are instilled with the idea of a position related to power, related to impunity, related to some ideological idea or moral case that they must adhere to, a person can become extremely cruel. Extremely cruel“, she pointed out.
Regarding the information that the police are also working on a version to imitate the so-called “pedophile hunters“, Dr. Donkina said that not all responsibility should be shifted to social networks.
“Responsibility is absolutely blurred. When we are in a group, the blurring of responsibility, which is individual, is even stronger“, she said.
According to her, a person on their own can be less prone to extreme aggression than when they are part of a group.
“The group already has its own life, the psychological dynamics within it. A person's individuality seems to disappear“, the psychologist explained.
According to her, social networks are not the only reason for such manifestations.
“I wouldn't blame them. I don't think that any phenomenon in reality can be a cause in itself. They may contribute or accumulate some effect, but this seems more like a lack of value for ourselves – symbolic, of authorities, of regulators in a society“, said Dr. Donkina.
She added that the lack of authorities leads to young people not recognizing the limits and consequences of their actions.
“They do not exist in our minds as benchmarks, as authorities, as stoppers, as someone to rely on or someone to have respect for. Not fear, but respect“, she pointed out.
According to Dr. Donkina, aggressive behavior in children is often associated with experienced violence, but it is not always visible.
In almost 100% of cases, children who exhibit aggressive behavior have themselves been victims of aggressive behavior, according to the clinical psychologist.
In her words, violence is not only expressed in physical aggression.
“Usually, people imagine, when they say violence, that there must necessarily be beatings, rape, some very extreme incidents, but violence can be invisible. It could be neglect, it could be an inadequate response to emotional needs,“ the clinical psychologist explained.
She emphasized that society should pay more attention to early childhood development and support for parents.
“We should try to organize programs for assistance in early childhood. For screening, for support for parents, for young mothers, even during pregnancy, for the mother-baby relationship“, said Dr. Donkina.
According to her, the emotional needs of the child are just as important as physical care.
“For babies, an inadequate response to their emotional needs is much more terrible, it leaves much more serious traces later in the development of the person, including in his mental, intellectual development“, she pointed out.
Dr. Donkina also commented on the role of the children who filmed what was happening without intervening, and then distributed the video.
“I think this is the same degree of unemotional, personal, mental, complicity including. We are all complicit in our society. How many times do we talk about the aggression of children in malls, on the streets? How many times do we pay attention to how we behave with each other?“, she said.
At the end of the conversation, Dr. Velislava Donkina pointed out that after such cases, not only the victims remain victims, but also the perpetrators themselves and society.
“In addition to this person who lost his life, they are also victims and we are victims too“, she said.