Impressions of Soviet psychiatry

Psychiatry in the Soviet Union is essentially conservative, middle-of-the-road and eclectic. It rejects both extremes: radical surgical treatment such as prefrontal lobotomy, and Freudian psychoanalysis. It is Pavlovian and neurophysiological in its orientation and closely linked to Marxian philosophy; most personal problems are believed to be sociocultural in origin, and they are expected to diminish as the country moves closer toward its political and economic goals, making psychiatry progressively more circumscribed in its applications.The varieties of therapy include work therapy, aimed toward returning patients to society quickly and productively; electrosleep therapy and electroconvulsive therapy, both of which seem to be falling into disrepute; insulin-coma therapy, widely used in psychosis; hunger therapy; pharmacotherapy similar to our own but lacking in the large numbers of drugs we use; tissue therapy; psychotherapy, of limited depth and chiefly concerned with the rational, conscious elements in the patient's life.