Psychological Syndromes: Approaches to the Design of Content Diagnostics of Development

The paper describes several psychological syndromes (that is, unfavorable types of mental development) that were explored basing on the assumptions made by Lev Vygotsky and Daniil Elkonin. It analyzes the pos- sible causes of such syndromes, factors underlying their stability, prognostic estimates and therapeutic guide- lines. Taking three syndromes — 'authoritarian self-assertion', 'emotional estrangement' and 'intellectualism' — as an example, the paper demonstrates the general principle of the syndrome analysis: the disclosure of the 'vicious circle' securing the stability of the syndrome. Therapeutic work is thus focused mainly on destroying such 'circles'. The syndromes themselves were revealed using the clinical method basing on parental reports, anamnestic data collected in the course of psychological counseling, outcomes of psychological testing, and catamnesis.

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