Biomaterial Database

Psychiatry as ideology in the USSR. 1978

S Bloch

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.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011570	Psychiatry	The medical science that deals with the origin, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders.
D011582	Psychological Theory	Principles applied to the analysis and explanation of psychological or behavioral phenomena.	Social Cognitive Theory,Psychologic Theory,Psychological Theories,Theories, Psychological,Theory, Psychological,Cognitive Theories, Social,Cognitive Theory, Social,Psychologic Theories,Social Cognitive Theories,Theories, Psychologic,Theories, Social Cognitive,Theory, Psychologic,Theory, Social Cognitive
D011678	Punishment	The application of an unpleasant stimulus or penalty for the purpose of eliminating or correcting undesirable behavior.	Punishments
D003148	Communism	A totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production with the professed aim of establishing a classless society.	Leninism,Marxism
D005619	Freudian Theory	Philosophic formulations which are basic to psychoanalysis. Some of the conceptual theories developed were of the libido, repression, regression, transference, id, ego, superego, Oedipus Complex, etc.	Theory, Freudian
D006126	Group Processes	The procedures through which a group approaches, attacks, and solves a common problem.	Group Meetings,Group Process,Group Thinking,Group Meeting,Group Thinkings,Meeting, Group,Process, Group,Thinking, Group
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D012559	Schizophrenia	A severe emotional disorder of psychotic depth characteristically marked by a retreat from reality with delusion formation, HALLUCINATIONS, emotional disharmony, and regressive behavior.	Dementia Praecox,Schizophrenic Disorders,Disorder, Schizophrenic,Disorders, Schizophrenic,Schizophrenias,Schizophrenic Disorder
D014586	USSR	A country located from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, for a time including 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. The capital was Moscow.	Soviet Union,Union of Soviet Socialist Republics