[Results of an investigation on abuses in psychiatry in the USSR]

The authors present information on the work of a delegation of psychiatrists and lawyers from the USA in the Soviet Union which was accomplished at the beginning of 1989. The delegation examined a group of 27 political dissidents who were formerly (12) or at the time of the investigation (15) in psychiatric asylums either after trials or they were forcibly hospitalized because they were a "social threat" to society. Data are presented on differences in the diagnosis, sometimes inadequate treatment and on forensic practice in the USSR. The delegation investigated also the position in selected special and general psychiatric hospitals. Finally it proposed solutions for the assessed shortcomings. There is also a brief account of the view of the Soviet party on the conclusions of the report submitted by the American delegation.