Putin's diagnosis
For several years now I have been following the actions of Vladimir Putin, trying to study and recreate the course of his thoughts on the decisions made. I managed to communicate with the former heads of Ukraine, as well as representatives of the leadership of Russia, Chechnya, Belarus and Germany, and read everything I could find about his upbringing and development. You can't just see someone on TV and say "that's a psychopath." But, in my opinion, Putin did have important prerequisites for the development of the so-called cluster B personality disorders – the most dangerous ones, including psychopathy and narcissistic personality disorder.
What is psychopathy? I use the definition of psychopathy proposed by the American psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley, who in 1941 in his book The Mask of Sanity described a psychopath as a person who looks normal and does everything to maintain this illusion, but if you look at the root, at the deepest features, all psychopaths low emotional empathy. They are manipulators, selfish, aggressors in the highest degree. For the time being they seem fearless, do not feel pity, remorse or guilt. They show callousness and put themselves above all.
Psychopaths are divided into primary and secondary. And they have similar toxic behaviors, but the causes and biological background of these two psychiatric disorders are different. The personality of the primary psychopath is laid down from birth to two or three years of age. This happens through a genetic process called “epigenetic marking”: the regulation of key genes is altered almost irreversibly by trauma and exposure to stress hormones (particularly cortisol) on the genetic regulators of stress genes, and thus hormones, in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. . A secondary psychopath (aka sociopath) has a weaker genetic predisposition to this disorder, and changes caused by emotional, physical, sexual abuse or bullying are somewhat reversible for him. There is a big difference in the behavior of primary and secondary psychopaths (sociopaths). For example, a sociopath understands the immorality of his actions, but cannot stop, and a psychopath is convinced that he is doing the right thing. He believes he is right. This is an essential personality trait of a true primary psychopath: he never doubts that he is doing the right thing. This is not a pretense and not an attempt by a normal person to justify his misdeed. It is to this type of psychopaths that, in my opinion, Vladimir Putin belongs.
As is characteristic of all Cluster B predatory personality disorders, psychopaths, like school bullies, always look for weakness in their victims. They masterfully guess the thoughts of a person or group of people whom they have chosen as the object of their aggression. Psychopaths are a kind of intraspecific predators whose prey is other people. Like any aggressor, they are provoked by weakness. The main gift of psychopaths is to read the emotions and urges of other people against the backdrop of an inability to experience them. In other words, “emotional empathy” is not available to them. Conversely, their "cognitive empathy" is at its best. They understand other people's feelings, fears, triggers and desires and use this knowledge to manipulate victims and get the desired reaction, money, sex or just enjoy the feeling of control.
The main gift of psychopaths is to read the emotions and urges of other people against the backdrop of an inability to experience them.
Psychopaths understand how you feel. Looking into other people's heads is the basis of their existence. A normal person with this ability is more likely to try to help someone who is under stress, and a psychopath will take advantage of the weakness and isolation of another to strike at the right moment. Putin's key method is to keep his opponents from getting stronger. Strike at their moment of greatest weakness. Self-disciplined psychopaths have the patience to wait months, years, even ten years, until their victim shows vulnerability.
Putin has all the qualities that make him not only a psychopath according to Cleckley, but also a malignant narcissist. He also has the features of a sadist, judging by his recent behavior. It is not known how pronounced, but it is enough to place him in the "dark triad". It just doesn't get any worse. However, the level of intelligence allows you to seem normal.
Putin's injury
In addition to a difficult childhood, there have been several traumas in Putin's adult life, one of which is obvious – the collapse of the Soviet Union, which led, among other things, to the creation of a modern independent Ukraine. It was like the young Hitler's trauma when he believed that Germany had been betrayed by the early leaders of the Weimar Republic in 1918 at the end of World War I. Then, in 2011, Putin witnessed the agonizing death of Libyan dictator Gaddafi, which could not help but disturb his deepest fear of violent regime change. Everything implicit has been revealed in the last few years, and especially brightly in the last few weeks until February 24th. Putin, like Hitler, revealed his true nature, and it became clear that he was acting exactly like a psychopath, not a sociopath, and certainly not like an ordinary person with bad tendencies.
One of the key events for the formation of Putin's psychopathy was the collapse of the Soviet Union
Philosopher Joseph de Maistre noticed that almost all dictators (right or left wing, or even religious) like to look into the past to find justification for their actions. The key element here is the appeal to the ancient, little-studied and intricate history of their mythical people, and the older, the better. Putin is also looking for a link to modern times in distant times: after all, you can drag in the Varangians, the Baltic states, any territories up to the Donbass, remember Kievan Rus, which controlled all the river systems from the Baltic Sea to the Crimea and conducted trade along them. These references to the mythologized past became the key justification for the “reconquest” of Crimea and Donbass.
Clouded mind
In Putin's behavior, one can see the features of a serious clouding of reason. It is pointless to guess what exactly led to them, it is pointless, it can be anything from tertiary syphilis and a tumor to neurodegenerative diseases, but judging by the fact that Putin has moved from pompous narcissism to paranoia, to openly hostile, compulsive, unbalanced behavior, some then degenerative processes in his brain, for example, in the lower part of the prefrontal cortex and in the anterior part of the temporal lobe, are probably already underway. Putin has never been impulsive, but now the impenetrable poker face of a KGB agent is a thing of the past. Profound changes have taken place, and the neurodegenerative disease hypothesis fits into the picture.
The illusion of rationality of actions
Ask a terrorist or a Stalinist, they have a rationale for everything. Whatever they do, everything is done rationally, justifiably and for the good. It's the same with psychopaths. This is called "externalization of guilt": they blame others for all their wrongdoings. And they really believe that they have the right to decide the fate of people. And if people don't live up to their standards – for example, the enemy on the battlefield shows weakness or any person stews in their presence, they show complete disrespect. This is what aggressors and psychopaths do, as well as dictators with traits of sociopathy and psychopathy. For Putin, this behavior is rational.
There is no single definition of moral standards that the majority would adhere to. There were also times, whole centuries of French humanism, then the Enlightenment, when it was believed that education decides everything, that a person at birth is a tabula rasa, a clean slate. The last decade and a half of behavioral and genetic research in the field of neuropsychology refutes this concept. Most basic personality traits are genetically determined, but significant changes in the expression of these genes, the susceptibility genes, can occur due to epigenetic processes occurring early in life. For example, if a child is left without parents and is subjected to violence from birth to two or three years of age. Such an experience can serve as an epigenetic trigger for becoming a psychopath. And psychopaths live in their own world, where they believe in the correctness of all their actions. It is useless for them to bring morality as an argument. They develop their own idea of goodness, which can be very different from generally accepted moral standards.
Psychopaths live in their own world, where they believe in the correctness of all their actions, it is useless for them to cite morality as an argument
As for rationality: he was calm, cold and calculating. This was his public image for all 20 years. But now it is clear that he is not completely in control of himself, which means that he is really extremely dangerous. Previously, his decisions could be predicted, because he most often followed the chosen predictable course. Now we see that he is increasingly losing his adequacy: he overestimated his strength and can take extreme measures – for example, in relation to those who rebuff him. Realizing that the Ukrainians did not intend to surrender, he could feel at a dead end. All psychopaths and aggressors are lost if they meet with determined resistance. Often they take to flight, but Putin has nowhere to run. He will feel cornered as long as Ukraine resists. He thought that he could get away with everything, and this is a typical delusion of aggressors and psychopaths.
Putin thought that he could get away with everything – and this is a typical delusion of aggressors and psychopaths
Putin's facial expressions also speak of Putin's failures. On it you can count all the anger and rage that he experiences. We are no longer the cold-blooded and eloquent dominant narcissist, in complete control of himself. Now he looks more like a wild animal in a cage. But that only made him more dangerous. After all, earlier he had at least maintained an image that suggested composure.
Hitler with a nuclear bomb
Putin thinks like Hitler, and he also has nuclear weapons. Now he is extremely dangerous. In such circumstances, some sane and determined general can take control of the situation, as they tried to do in Nazi Germany. We do not know for sure if there will be people around him who can take their finger off the button.
Psychopaths aren't crazy, they don't have psychosis, but they don't have limits either. They are ready to do anything to get their way. Now the question stands like this: “Unleashing a nuclear war is a step unacceptable to everyone. What are the alternatives?" The alternative he is already using at the moment is thermobaric bombs. Their use is permissible for the destruction of military bunkers somewhere in the wilderness, but bombing cities with them to destroy the population is a war crime. Thus, he willingly takes measures that the whole world considers a violation of the laws and customs of war. We can say that before the use of tactical nuclear weapons, he was one step away.
Psychopaths are not crazy, they do not have psychosis, but there are no limits on what is permitted.
People with psychopathy have one thing in common: they can handle a lot, but once the stress becomes too much or too long, if they end up cornered, they can't control themselves. It is impossible to predict when he will be at this point. But when it comes, he will either run away, or he will want to demolish everything and go to the end.
I think he understands the dire consequences for himself and that's why he is pretty much isolated. It just seems like irrational behavior, but in reality he just tests the limits, drop by drop, like any bully testing someone for weakness. They say, let's try, but if it doesn't work out, we will step back and say: "Oh no, all we wanted was the Donbass."
Press but not too hard
Psychopaths and sociopaths come in two types: short-tempered and charismatic. Putin is a clear primary charismatic psychopath. He's not the type to show anger openly. Such predators are looking for clues, looking for weakness in the victims, but if you give them a confident rebuff, they retreat. However, the cornered psychopath will begin to defend himself in all possible ways. And if you press it too hard, it will explode.
For example, immediately after the failure of the attack on Kyiv, he looked more and more like a quick-tempered psychopath: he showed increased vigilance of a predator, more likely ready to jump than trying to hide his intentions. In this case, any action of the victim will cause a response step.
However, with gradual and constant pressure on Putin, he will certainly make a mistake. This is the best tactic in the fight against psychopaths. You need to maintain pressure without making sudden movements. This is especially important in order to defeat him without provoking a nuclear war. So that he does not say: “Why do we need a world in which there is no Russia?”. Like Hitler, who in recent days, according to some accounts, called the entire German people unworthy of life because of defeat.
With gradual and constant pressure on Putin, he will certainly make a mistake
With Putin, the same story can come out. So far, Ukraine is resisting, playing for time and instilling confidence that the war can be stopped. Now taking drastic, radical measures is not the best way out. I wouldn't kick the ground out from under his feet. Even if such a blow eventually incapacitates the psychopath, at the moment he is ready to kill you. Putin is waiting for a misguided move from Ukraine that, in the eyes of most Russians, will entitle him to any response. But it must be something more serious than a missile attack on an air defense system 12 km from the Ukrainian border. If missiles aimed at Russia hit Russian missile systems and similar military installations, that's one thing, but more devastating strikes could give it a reason. He needs either a massive strike from Ukraine on a settlement in Russia, or some larger target.
A psychopath cannot be defeated in such a struggle, because the longer the war drags on, the more Ukraine receives Western weapons and technologies, the weaker support for Putin himself. Prolonged pressure will create a window of opportunity, a period in which other participants in the process can tell him that this is not the way to do it. For example, it can be generals from the inner circle. This will take months of struggle.
Based on my knowledge of military psychology, I think it's worth showing Putin that the West will stop at nothing. A powerful and prudent alliance should be built that carries the following message for Putin: “You are pushing us to the point where we can wipe you off the face of the earth. We don't want to do it, but we can."