Soviet Psychiatrists Research Articles

Glasnost and Psychiatry

There are a number of reasons for the steadily growing interest in psychiatry worldwide over the past few years. First, mental illness is on the increase everywhere; the clinical picture of mental illness, as we psychiatrists call it, is changing: a multitude of atypical, blurred (i.e., not very marked in their symptoms) kinds of disorders has appeared, thanks to psychopharmacological advances. Another reason is that modern psychiatry has moved closer to everyday life; it has gone beyond the confines of traditional hospitals. I am thinking of such institutions as day hospitals and night hospitals, therapeutic workshops, boarding houses and dormitories for patients, and telephone hot lines. Wide circles of the population are encountering the mentally ill and also, of course, psychiatrists, more frequently. The metamorphosis of psychiatry and the heightened interest in it on the part of the general public have led psychiatrists to rethink the notion of rehabilitation, which has spread over the past two decades into all areas of medicine. This notion has special significance in psychiatry. We regard rehabilitation as a system of various measures (medical, psychological, social) aimed at restoring not only a person's health but also his impaired social relations. The rehabilitative approach to a mentally ill person requires an appeal to his personality, intimate cooperation between doctor and patient, and a bold and skillful combination of drug therapy and psychotherapy. Soviet psychiatrists have, for many years, been doing joint scientific research in the area of rehabilitation and psychotherapy together with scientific establishments in the

A trip to Moscow

The history of this East German plane flight to Moscow is interesting enough to record. In 1983 the All Union Association of Soviet Psychiatrists and Neurologists left the World Psychiatric Association, when it became clear that a resolution condemning the abuse of psychiatry in the USSR was about to be adopted.

Suicide and suicidology in the Soviet Union.

This study was conducted in order to obtain information on suicide in the Soviet Union, an important subject for which we have no scientific literature. Studies of attempted suicide in Soviet psychiatric journals were analyzed. This information was supplemented by interviews with Soviet psychiatrists now living abroad. The results of this inquiry show that suicide is a subject that clearly has become of increasing concern in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, in spite of the absence of essential statistical data on mortality, there is evidence indicating that the rate of Soviet suicide may be rising in certain parts of the country. Finally, growing concern about suicide has led to expanded prevention programs and to a new emphasis on social and psychological etiological explanations. In particular, the role of the Soviet family in crisis has been emphasized as a major influence in understanding the causes of suicidal attempts.

Dr Wendy Orr and the Health of Detainees in South Africa-Reply

In Reply.— Dr Retief's letter commenting on our article demands a response. In the article, we reported on a South African prison physician, a Chilean surgeon, and a Soviet psychiatrist whose courageous actions have brought public attention to the problem of torture worldwide. The purpose of our article was to demonstrate the ways in which health professionals, particularly physicians, can be effective in preventing the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees. Dr Retief implies that there may be another side to the court case brought against the South African police by Dr Wendy Orr and her coapplicants in September 1985. Either Dr Retief is being disingenuous or, perhaps, is unfamiliar with the developments in the Orr case since March 1986. For another perspective, we direct the reader's attention to the letter that follows this one from Dr Orr's attorney, Mr Cheadle. Dr Retief's statement about the Orr case is

A question of conscience. Physicians in defense of human rights.

The vital role physicians can play in documenting physical and mental abuse of political prisoners, treating and rehabilitating victims, and preventing the punitive use of medicine is exemplified by the actions of three physicians whose stories are told here. Wendy Orr, a South African prison physician, took her complaint about police torture of political detainees to court after her superiors ignored her reports of prisoner abuse. An internationally known Chilean surgeon, Pedro Castillo, has been arrested twice for his work against the human rights violations of his country's military government. Soviet psychiatrist Anatoly Koryagin is reported to be near death after several years' imprisonment for his activities against involuntary psychiatric commitment of dissidents. Nightingale and Stover remind physicians of their obligation to protest the misuse of medical skills and urge support for professional organizations actively engaged in human rights issues.

Soviet Psychiatrist Near Death from Hunger Strike

Soviet Psychiatrist Near Death from Hunger Strike

Soviet Psychiatrist Near Death from Hunger Strike

Soviet Psychiatrist Near Death from Hunger Strike

Soviet Psychiatrist Near Death from Hunger Strike

Soviet Psychiatrist Near Death from Hunger Strike

Soviet Psychiatrists Make Preemptive Bid, Quit World Body

Soviet Psychiatrists Make Preemptive Bid, Quit World Body

Intensive learning without sensations

The name of the Bulgarian scientist, Georgi Lozanov, became popular in the mid-I96os when he, together with his colleagues and pupils, using certain principles of psychotherapy, developed a system of methods for creating a favourable emotional and psychological climate at foreign-language classes. The main idea that Lozanov borrowed from psychotherapy was suggestion, which is nothing new in teaching. Back in the i93os, A. M. Svyadoshch, the Soviet psychiatrist and psychotherapist, conducted successful experiments in the plainting of information in the minds of sleeping persons. But it was Lozanov who developed and substantiated suggestion as a detailed teaching method. In his opinion even conscious assimilation of material is accompanied by subconscious mental activity, which can be best controlled with the help of suggestion. Therefore, Lozanov attaches special importance to 'non-specific stimuli', such as the teacher's manner of speaking, his gestures, change of facial expressions, manner of walking, intonation, 'eye contact', the setting, etc.; i.e. stimuli which are not consciously noted by the brain. The importance of all these components is well known in psychotherapeutic theory and practice. There are on record special experimental investigations in which the different ways of establishing contact and their effects on the climat of the psychotherapist-patient Alexei Leon tyev (USSR ). Professor at the Institute of Russian language of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Soviet Psychiatry: Scientific Dissent and Political Dissidents

To the Editor.— We are distressed by news reports that have appeared in the popular press, as well as in scientific and professional newsletters, regarding an article by a Soviet psychiatrist that appeared in the July 1979 issue of theArchives. 1 In his article, Dr Etely P. Kazanetz discussed the problem of applying the diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia to persons with exogenous or acute psychoses, the social and personal dangers of doing so, and the tendency for this to occur in the Soviet Union. In a letter in the subsequent issue, one of us (W.R.) discussed the background and meaning of Kazanetz's article in social, historical, and psychiatric terms. 2 The letter, invited by the chief editor, contrasted Kazanetz's approach to diagnosis with the one now dominant in the Soviet Union, and commended the author's willingness to present data that raised serious questions about the clinical effects of the

Soviet psychiatrist attacks ‘Snezhnevskiism’

Soviet psychiatrist attacks ‘Snezhnevskiism’

Soviet Psychiatrist Criticizes Colleagues

Soviet Psychiatrist Criticizes Colleagues

Psychiatry as ideology in the USSR.

This paper was given as a talk at the Venice Biennale on 9 December 1977. It was part of a symposium on "The Freedom of Science--Problems of Science of Scientists in Eastern Europe". Dr Bloch details some of the problems of psychiatry and its vulnerability to improper use and thus the dilemmas which must ensue in day to day practice. He looks at psychiatry in the USSR and the system within which Soviet psychiatrists must work. The Communist Party and career advancement for psychiatrists would appear to be closely related and it is suggested that, in all probability, the majority of psychiatrists are as perturbed at the misuse of their profession as their Western colleagues, but act compliantly out of fear. Severe punishments have been imposed on those psychiatrists who have dared to speak out against the régime and the system as operated. Dr Bloch concludes by urging Western psychiatrists to do all they can to help their Soviet colleagues to initiate a return to an independent and automous psychiatric profession.

Psychiatry in the Soviet Union.

The services for chronically handicapped people with psychiatric disorders in the Soviet Union are described. The system is based upon a network of community units, each of which includes a day centre, a follow-up clinic, and a sheltered workshop. British services could profitably learn from the experience of these units. The diagnostic system used by many Soviet psychiatrists is different from that incorporated in the International Classification of Diseases. In particular, the term "schizophrenia" is used to describe conditions which British psychiatrists would label in other ways.This clinical difference partly explains the different concept of "criminal responsibility," but another large component of the difference is political rather than medical. There are also variations from British practice in certain juridical procedures. These differences together make Soviet psychiatric practice in the case of political dissenters unacceptable to most British psychiatrists. It is too soon to say that frank discussions of these matters could not lead to improvement. British and Soviet psychiatrists still have something to learn from each other.

Soviet Psychiatrists Defend Detainment

Soviet Psychiatrists Defend Detainment

Vrono’s Study on Childhood and Adolescent Schizophrenia

Reading Vrono's important and remarkable work was a highly satisfying experience. For the first time, at least to my knowledge, the presentation of complete clinical descriptions and detailed quantitative data has paved the way for scientific communication and an exchange of viewpoints between Soviet and Western psychiatrists. My interest was drawn primarily to the section of the work on childhood schizophrenia, and it is to this that I shall direct my comments. Part of my discussion will deal with the general concept of schizophrenia and Professor Vrono's review of the literature on this subject; the other will consist of some reflections on the clinical case studies my Soviet colleague has used to illustrate his proposed classification. I shall begin with the second, and then proceed to a more general level of discussion.

Impressions of Soviet psychiatry. The law and the mentally ill.

In the determination of criminal responsibility, Soviet psychiatrists insist that they base their judgments solely on medical factors, with primary emphasis on evidence of organicity. The author believes, however, that in practice sociocultural factors may also be taken into account. In regard to civil commitments, the law provides no judicial review of commitment practices; Judge Bazelon feels that this policy is open to criticism on several grounds. In general, he feels the Russian mental health services, or all their accomplishments, depend upon a social system which is difficult for an American to accept.

Development and results of social psychiatry in the U.S.S.R.

All the most urgent problems of social and work resettlement of the psychiatrically disabled, as well as of prevention of disability and social readaptation, are emphasized in Soviet legislation as problems of national importance that have to be solved not only by the institutions of Health Security or of Social Assistance, but also by local executive committees, directors of factories, building undertakings, etc., in cooperation with the trades unions. These public organizations have to systematically study the reasons for morbidity and for disablement and help create the conditions for work resettlement in various institutions and places of work. Our experience shows clearly that success depends not only on legislation or on the organization of services for social readaptation, but also on the level of knowledge concerning clinical pathophysiology, and of psychological regularities in the development of remissions and in compensation for defect states. The gradual accumulation of knowledge in these fields increases the optimism and the efficiency of Soviet psychiatrists.

Some debatable problems in social psychiatry

The author discusses some of the ways in which social psychiatry has developed in different countries. He strongly disagrees with the common tendency to consider that social psychiatry is a new development of the past ten years. He also objects to any tendency to opposing social psychiatry, on the one hand, to clinical psychiatry on the other; both are forms of general psychiatry. As early as the nineteenth century Russian psychiatrists were aware of the problems of social resettlement of the mentally ill and, in particular, during the twenties and thirties of this century, Soviet psychiatrists realised clearly that they were creating a system of extramural psychiatry based on a network of dispensaries, day hospitals, psychiatric workshops and social and industrial resettlement services.