Soviet Psychiatry Research Articles

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

More Soviet psychiatry: Physicist held

More Soviet psychiatry: Physicist held

The political misuse of Soviet psychiatry: Honolulu and beyond.

Evidence for the misuse of psychiatry for politcal purposes in the Soviet Union is now incontrovertible. For several years some members of the Soviet psychiatric profession have colluded with the political authorities in a practice which entails the labelling of dissenters - among them human rights activists, religious dissidents and would-be emigrants - as mentally ill, and their forcible ‘treatment’ in mental hospitals. The accumulating evidence has recently been documented in a number of books and articles (Medvedev and Medvedev, 1970; Gorbanevskaya, 1973; Khodorovich, 1976; Podrabrinek, 1977; Bloch and Reddaway, 1977; Wing, 1979). This documentation has been examined and acted upon by several national psychiatric associations but reached a head at the 1977 International Congress of the World Psychiatric Association (W.P.A.) in Honolulu. Significant developments have followed since. In this paper I shall provide a brief account of salient events at the conference and then deal primarily with the aftermath of Honolulu. Events at Honolulu The W.P.A. Congress was an occasion of unparallelled significance for three chief reasons. First, the Congress accepted unanimously, and for the first time, a statement of ethical principles to guide psychiatrists in their professional work, the so-called Declaration of Hawaii. A committee set up at the previous World Congress in 1971 had spent several years painstakingly preparing the document. Second, a special session was held at the request of the American Psychiatric Association to discuss actual cases of psychiatric abuse wherever they might occur. In the event, most contributors

Soviet psychiatry: Mock trial in London

Soviet psychiatry: Mock trial in London

A Brief View of Soviet Psychiatry

A Brief View of Soviet Psychiatry

Letter: Wold psychiatric association and Soviet psychiatry.

Letter: Wold psychiatric association and Soviet psychiatry.

Psychiatry in the United States and the USSR: a comparison.

On the basis of personal observations made during a recent tour of the Soviet Union and on an investigation of the literature on Soviet psychiatry, the author presents a brief description of psychiatry in the USSR, a comparison of the Soviet and American systems of psychiatry, and a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each system.

Psychiatry as a Tool of the State

Psychiatry as a Tool of the State

The psychotherapy of work

quently asked and immediate means of identifying another person. The fact is that a person’s capacity in the area of work is quickly and often severely limited by psychological problems. Accordingly, decompensation and growth ought to manifest themselves as clearly in work activities as in interpersonal relationships. It is, therefore, conceivable that work activities might be deliberately structured in a fashion analogous to the structuring of social relationships in a therapeutic milieu. so as to constitute themselves a therapeutic modality in a hospital or workshop-type setting. The consultation room bias which ignores work experiences and for the most part typifies the contemporary American mental health scene is fortunately not universally held. An important exception is a pilot study reported by Bernard F. Riess, Ph.D., Research Director of the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York.5 Dr. Riess reports a pilot study of 450 patients of the Mental Health Center who after a median of 57 sessions reported a median weekly income rise of $29 per week, in sharp contrast to a predicted rise of $6 per week based on Department of Labor statistics for a comparable population. The refreshingly direct notion that successful psychotherapy ought to be directly represented in substantially increased earning capacity for wage earners is a notion which Dr. Riess proposes to explore in considerably more detail. In an even more radical development, psychiatry in the Soviet Union and in other communist states has taken the position that work activities constitute an invaluable treatment modaliy.4 Joseph Wortis, M.D., in his book Soviet Psychiatry, describes the efflorescence of occupational psychotherapy programs as resulting from “the fundamental theoretical convictions

Impressions of Soviet psychiatry. The child mental health care system.

Children's services, which are integrated into the total health program, are given special emphasis in the U.S.S.R.: concern for children is high in the hierarchy of social values. While there did not seem to be any striking innovations in clinical approaches or administrative arrangements, and some child psychiatrists seemed overworked and harried, the U.S. team observed an unqualified concern for the child patient and his problems.

Psychiatry in the Communist World.

This is a compendium of reports on psychiatric theories and practices in the USSR, East Germany, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, and China, each written by an authority resident in the respective communist country. Ari Kiev's introduction, although occasionally overlaid with statistics, discerningly reviews the political, economic, and doctrinaire evolution of Soviet psychiatry, its rejection of strictly individualistic motivations, (Freud, consequently, is anathema) and its derivative emphasis on the sociocultural determinants of human behavior. Paradoxically, however, psychiatric disorders—which are rising as rapidly in the communist world as elsewhere—are not placed in this context, but are classified as separate no sologic entities somewhat obscurely explicable on Pavlovian principles. Therapy is generally eclectic: there is considerable reliance on ECT, insulin, ataractics and prolonged sleep, but with special emphasis on a warm, personalized, supportive doctor-patient relationship directed toward an early

Impressions of Soviet psychiatry. Organization of health services in the Soviet Union: overview and trends.

In a society in which the state operates all psychiatric facilities, long-range planning can be directly related to what the top health officials see as major patient needs. After reviewing the organization of health services, with particular reference to budget-making, research, and training, the author reports that the U.S. team was impressed with the self-questioning and flexibility that characterize the thinking of Soviet psychiatric planners.

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.

Soviet psychiatry and social structure, culture, and ideology: a preliminary assessment.

Soviet psychiatry and social structure, culture, and ideology: a preliminary assessment.

Editor's Note

This issue of Soviet Psychology — Vol. V, No. 1 — marks a new point in the development of English translations of Soviet psychology and psychiatry. Our original journal, published in Volumes I-IV as Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry, has given birth to two new journals: Soviet Psychology and Soviet Psychiatry. This will give International Arts and Sciences Press the opportunity to publish twice as much material from the fund of Soviet theory and research in the study of human behavior. The increased space in this new journal will allow for a broader coverage of Soviet work in psychology, as outlined in our last issue, the special Handbook of Soviet Psychology.

Soviet Psychiatry

Soviet Psychiatry

Soviet Psychiatry

Soviet Psychiatry

The interpretation of the neurotic conflict in Soviet psychiatry.

The interpretation of the neurotic conflict in Soviet psychiatry.

Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy: The Organization and Character of Soviet Psychiatry

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ArticlesNo AccessProceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy: The Organization and Character of Soviet PsychiatryZigmond Lebensohn*, M.D.Zigmond Lebensohn*Washington, D. C.*Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.Search for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:30 Apr 2018https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1962.16.2.295AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail PDFThis content is only available as a PDF. Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - APT - American Journal of Psychotherapy $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - APT - American Journal of Psychotherapy Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byCommunist Europe and Transnational Psychiatry22 May 2020Anthropology & Medicine, Vol. 4, No. 1Psychiatry in the Soviet Union Today26 April 2017 | Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, Vol. 20, No. 3 Volume 16Issue 2 1962, pp. 187–362Pages 295-301 Metrics PDF download History Published online 30 April 2018 Published in print 1 April 1962

The Subconscious, Dreams and Intuition: A Materialist View

Soviet psychiatry and psychology are based on the Pavlovian or strictly physiological approach to all mental phenomena, as against the Freudian which is considered idealist. Here a doctor explores those aspects of human thought processes which have traditionally been viewed as proving that there is something inexplicable, hence mystical and "divine," in the subtler forms of mental manifestations. (Nauka i Religia, 1960, No. 9.)