Lack of any success in contacts between the leaders of the United States and Europe with Russia’sleader regarding the war in Ukraine prioritizes the need to analyze the psychology of decision-making by the President of Russia.
Some major aspects influence Vladimir Putin’s decision-making, we believe:
1. Health condition. We rest assured Putin’s health is poor, as several diseases affect him, leading to incapacity within six months. With Putin’s entourage remaining loyal, he is unlikely to die within a year, appropriate medical care provided. But the course of disease and the pace of external changes suggest that Putin’s condition will deteriorate quickly, and he will lose the ability to function as head of state. Putin knows the disease prospects, which adds to his awareness that disability and death are inevitable. Those developments make him afraid and furious, shaping into paranoia. The feeling of boundless power comes into conflict with the fear of death, adding to paranoia that fills his entire mind.
2. Paranoia makes him more suspicious, adherent to conspiracy theories, used by his entourage to influence decision making.
3. Parkinson’s triggers dementia progress.
The rooms for erotic shows in Gelendzhik mansion, together with the abuse of perverted sexual jokes, point to Putin’s low self-esteem, with unfulfilled sexual fantasy and needs.
There is also a hypothesis that he questions his own gender identity and has intimacy issues, as a result of diseases. His relationship with Kabaeva, therefore, is unlikely to be based on physical contact, questioning they had children together. More likely this relationship is artificial, with a view to show Putin can be attractive to the opposite sex. But the nature of diseases raises doubts about whether Putin is a fully functioning man. These problems, along with high needs, make him aggressive and angry.
4. Effect of drugs. His appearance suggests that Putin takes anabolic steroids, used to treat cancer. Swollen face and neck of the Russian dictator witness to this. If we compare Putin’s appearance two days apart, we’ll see the effect of drugs.
The drugs taken, along with Parkinson’s progress, add to the symptoms of Schizoaffective disorder or antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), caused by the consumption of drugs.
The disease is in stark contrast to the image of a physically healthy, athletic, good-looking leader. Pain and tremor over Parkinson’s incite a conflict in Putin’s mind, as reality differs from the long-term self-image. This makes him take actions that are irrational but prove he can influence the situation, he is strong-willed, and protects the power.
Signs of cognitive deterioration are increasing, including failure to identify primitive cause-effect relationships or make decisions based on the situation. First of all, we speak about rigidity, which means he is not flexible, cannot compromise or adapt to the external environment, as a result of a range of diseases. Realizing he is weak over the disease, Putin becomes more and more cruel. That way, he believes he would show everybody he’s strong, he will not accept betrayal or doubts about the President’s capacity.
5. Personal influence. Age-related changes, “deep KGB” people around, make him more and more paranoid about the Soviet-times propaganda clichés. Putin fails to move outside the Soviet-era worldview. Isolated from alternative viewpoint and unable to accept the facts that contradict his worldview, he sees reality as a standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Nobody can predict Putin’s actions or behavior, therefore.
Losing control of one’s own body increases the request for cruelty and self-assertion, including the people around.
Putin suffers from narcissistic personality disorder. This disorder is dispersed and combines hysteroid inclusions and infantilism. This toxic narcissistic personality disorder has already resulted in narcissistic psychosis.
Putin is convinced he’s unique, he’s in special position, and is superior to the rest of the people. He has an exaggeratedly high opinion of his talents and achievements, he is absorbed in fantasies about his success; he expects other people to certainly treat him well and kiss the rod. He has no compassion; he is obsessed with not obeying any rules. That explains why it is so easy for him to withdraw Russia from international bodies.
We may also assume there are delusional disorders, paranoid, and high-value ideas.
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There are signs of persecutory delusions: obsession that everything around is staged, American biological laboratories functioning, a global conspiracy against Russia. There are also delusions of grandeur. It includes delusions of reformation and delusions of high origin, as he identifies himself with Peter the Great, while the latter, on the contrary, tried to integrate Russia into Europe, when Putin makes it isolated. As a consequence, he cannot accept defeat.
It is obvious that Putin’s complexes stem from psychological pressure on him by his father. Emotionally, we see is a 5 or 6-year-old boy, with a range of complexes, who particularly seeks to prove his superiority to himself. Thus, he compares himself to Peter the Great not just in policymaking, but primarily physically. In the eye of the beholder, therefore, he wants to be seen not as a deathly ill man with paranoid ideas, but as a tall leader.
A physically weak child seems to compensate for disability all his life. His inferiority complex, aside from the disease, sometimes causes speech impediment, but is expressed as unthinkable dominance or arrogance.
At the last economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin deliberately distorted the name of Kazakhstan’s President, Tokayev, humiliating him. He demonstrated his dominance in this regard, but psychologically, that was a sign of weakness.
Putin has been more categorical over the past 10 years – his worldview positions have been dogmatized
Putin started demonstrating arrogance, prejudices, voluntarism, authoritarianism and despotism brighter and more often. Megalomania overcompensation behavior has been recurrent. This psychopathological condition gave birth to illusory extraordinary strength and superhuman omnipotence fantasies.
As a result, today we can observe a discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal behavior, a partial self-control loss shown in weakening of facial expressions and gestures control; neurotic coughing, and long speech pauses. He perceives dissenters and opponents as potential enemies.
All this made him send threatening messages openly without assessing his opponents’ status. He constantly searches for an illusory threat in public statements, information and neutral events. Such paranoiac world perception makes him more suspicious, vindictive and cruel.
The world omnipotence complex and his strong belief in it are getting stronger and stronger.
An impartial assessment of reality is absent and consciousness ignores the facts.
Since his plans cannot be implemented quickly the mental health deteriorates significantly. The fear of losing power or being displaced in his lifetime turns to a dominant decision making trigger. Therefore, decisions and actions are more and more impulsive and situational. His critical thinking abilities weaken by letting xenophobic mood prevail – all this minimizes any chances to predict his behavior and steps in the future.
Clinically, Russia’s leader will just become more and more aggressive, with total suspicion, vindictiveness and cruelty increasing.
His decisions and actions will keep on being impulsive and situational, with critical thinking weakened, xenophobic mood (zero tolerance, aggressive denial of certain nationalities, hatred), which will make it impossible to predict his behavior in future.
It is advisable, therefore, to look for alternative lines of communication with Russian leaders, as the dialogue with Putin is pointless, for clinical and psychological reasons.
