CHILD PSYCHIATRY FACILITIES IN MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Abstract

On July 9, 1959, I visited a psychiatric hospital for children in Moscow, Russia, with an internist from Cornell Medical School. Our conversations were carried on through an excellent interpreter assigned by Intourist who made the arrangements for our visit. The children’s section of the hospital was located close to an adult mental hospital on the outskirts of Moscow. The architectural style of all the buildings was similar to that of the state hospitals built in this country during the 19th century, and I was surprised to learn that the children’s hospital, which looked as if it could easily have been one hundred years old, was built in 1938 specffically as a children’s psychiatric unit. The patient-staff ratio was quite favorable. For 240 children there were 120 registered nurses, plus 25 student nurses, and 65 maintenance personnel. There were also 17 full time child psychiatrists. On the whole, the hospital had a gloomy atmosphere. Wards were large with 20 to 30 children in each ward. There were no facilities for the children’s personal belongings. We wore white coats as we toured the hospital and were shown the kitchens, the wards, the dining rooms, and a darkened room where 20 children were receiving electro-sleep treatment. Electro-sleep treatment is given to children with chorea and encephalitis, as well as to schizophrenic and neurotic children. Schizophrenics are also treated with vitamins and insulin. The neurotic children are not, as a rule, given insulin. In addition to these somatic treatments, the staff considered the ward experience to be therapeutic. They were very proud of their large garden in which the children could work as a therapeutic activity. They were also quite proud of their small zoo which included a donkey, foxes, and monkeys. We spent over 3 hours with 7 Russian