Psychological Adaptation to Correctional Institutions of First-Time Convicts With Substance Addiction

The article presents the results of a pilot study aimed at examining borderline mental states in first-time prisoners with substance abuse who experience difficulties adapting to the conditions of a correctional facility and at further substantiating the possibilities of short-term psychological correction aimed at returning them to normal mental health. The study involved 60 first-time prisoners serving a criminal sentence in a correctional facility of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Ryazan Region. Based on the diagnostic results, 30 individuals were selected and formed into a control and experimental group of 15 individuals each. The subjects' ages ranged from 25 to 40 years. The study was conducted using methods aimed at identifying liminal states and adaptive capacities in first-time prisoners with substance abuse: the standardized multifactorial personality test (L. N. Sobchik); and the "Reflection of Liminal States" questionnaire (E. E. Sapogova). The effectiveness of the correctional meetings was measured using the color selection method (M. Luscher). Following the assessment, a conversation was held with each inmate. According to the study results, 27% of first-time inmates exhibited mental maladjustment, lack of self-confidence, and avoidance of responsibility. A short-term associative experiment and a meditative drawing test were used as psychocorrection methods. The scientific innovation of the study consisted of a comprehensive examination of liminal states in first-time inmates with substance abuse during the adaptation period to the conditions of a correctional facility; short-term correction for this category of inmates was scientifically substantiated and experimentally tested.