Are small children capable of extreme violence? In Conversation with Dr. Rohit Reddy Palugula on the Panchkula assault case involving two minors

He's just an eight-year-old kid. There is a reason why we are not allowed to vote before the age of 18, because we don't have the capacity to judge, understand or find out what the consequences might be. So, it comes through the learning behavior and through some information we acquire from outside. I would definitely not say that he must have been criminal-minded in doing such things, but it's unfortunate, again, to witness all this. So, we can't really blame the child over there, as there are a lot of things that come into the picture here.

Why did he take the girl to a separate place? Why did he get triggered by her? These are things I don't know, and I can't comment on them. But whatever the reason may have been, the behavior he displayed was really concerning. It's unfortunate that the parents had to witness it through the video. I mean, hearing about it is one thing, but the visuals were so disturbing. 

With the information available, I understood that the child told the girl that her father was in a particular classroom and asked her to come along with him or whatever. It seems like he had a plan and an intention, and he chose a place. Secondly, he also told the father that his daughter was in a particular place. So, I mean, I don't need to be a psychiatrist to talk about it in simpler terms. Is it innocence, or is it proper manipulation?

Whatever it may be, he's eight years old. We can't really blame the child for whatever he was planning or whatever happened, but we definitely have to take into consideration the behavior he displayed. So, we can't pinpoint his psychological condition based on this incident alone. However, generally, when a child is violent or behaves in such a manner, we need to understand their background. We need a proper history of how he behaves at school, at home, and socially. We have to understand his behavior in a social context and how he interacts with society.

 With one incident, we can't really comment on his psychological condition. That is the reason they (police) have mentioned that they need a psychiatric or psychological evaluation. So, in a psychological evaluation, we have to see all the domains of how the kid is. Number one, we can talk about the coping mechanism, which is the case most of the time. Number two, there would be something called conduct disorder.

So, conduct disorder we can't comment about it with one incident, we have to see all the things. So that is one thing, and there is another thing called intermittent explosive disorder, which is the amount of anger outbursts comes in a fraction of seconds, and it lasts for a few minutes, or maybe for an hour, most of the times its just a few minutes and later it will go off. So, this is also one of the psychological conditions we generally see in kids as well as adolescents. So these are certain psychological conditions that need to be evaluated. 

And the first thing I mentioned was coping behavior. So, how do I see and where do I learn this from? I am a kid. If I get angry, what should be done? Who is the right person to talk to? Who is the right person to teach them what they need to do when they're angry? But most of them will not talk, and most of them will not let them know. So, they'll observe what people around them are doing, and depending on that, the kid will learn and tend to behave the same way they have learned. This is something we call learned behavior.

Most of the time, as kids, we see things around us, especially from the elders or the people we are surrounded by. By observing them, we try to do the same things we have learned. So, this is one more thing, as I mentioned, that is coping behavior. Again, we have to understand this from the history as well, so we can't really comment based on one incident.

Right. So, I can definitely say the influence will be there, but not necessarily everyone who consumes more violent or aggressive content can become like this. However, the impact definitely shows on people who are more vulnerable. So, the vulnerability angle plays a huge role. If I am vulnerable to seeing more violence, I am also vulnerable to becoming more violent. The influence of aggressive or violent content on social media, movies or other platforms can definitely have an impact and play an important role in influencing such behavior.

This is something I always tell people or school faculty who come in front of me. So, there's something called screening for mental health disorders, psychological disorders or any psychopathology in that case. Not all adamant or hyperactive kids can have ADHD. In the same way, not all the kids who have conduct problems can be called conduct disorder. But who is the right person to tell that this person is having ADHD or this kid is having a conduct disorder? Who are the right persons? So, as qualified teachers over there, if I am not wrong, they are trained in at least understanding child psychology.

So, there will be a subject in their Bachelor of Education or whatever they do. They have the capacity and knowledge of child psychology. In the same way, they also have, at least, if I'm not wrong, the capacity to understand what exactly is normal behavior and what exactly is abnormal behavior. That is the reason I'm sure the government is now changing the rules, stating that every school should have a mental health counsellor. That counsellor should be there, and every school is, according to the new rules and regulations, required to have one. So, that helps in screening for whatever problem that kid might be having.

Number one, most of the time, we get the information from the school itself because the number of hours they (children) spend in school is more. So, school is the primary place where they can be screened. I really can't comment on every other aspect, but school is the primary place where they can be screened. If they are screened, that will give us a higher probability of intervening early.

So, for example, if, as a teacher, I find a kid having violent behavior, I'll try to screen if he's having any problem. If I don't have the capacity, I'll definitely forward the child to the mental health counsellor in the school itself. The counsellor, at least, will be trained to understand if this kid is having any mental health problems or anything. That is when they try to refer the kid to a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist. The clinical psychologist or the psychiatrist will help in intervention, determining what exactly and where exactly to intervene. So, school plays an important role, and apart from that, even at a later stage, I would say the mother and father, the parents also play an important role.