Sluggish Schizophrenia in the Soviet Union: A Diagnosis for Political Dissenters

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: The Soviet Union was well-known for its commitment to official ideology and its frequent punishment of those who acted or spoke against the regime. While methods of punishment for political dissenters varied, a particularly cruel and often overlooked method was the institutionalization of dissidents in psychiatric hospital-prisons. Dissenters punished in such a manner were often diagnosed with “sluggish schizophrenia,” a diagnosis developed by leading physician Andrei Snezhnevsky. This sham diagnosis had its roots in the legitimate symptoms of schizophrenia, but instead allowed healthy individuals to be diagnosed under the pretense that the disorder had simply not yet manifested. This paper examines this phenomenon through a broad exploration of the development of psychology in the Soviet Union, and specifically focuses on the roles played by psychiatrists, psychiatric institutions, and the state. Two primary case studies investigating the institutionalization of both Vladimir Bukovsky and Natalya Gorbanevskaya provide examples of the scope and intensity of Soviet abuses. Additionally, a multi-country comparative analysis places the Soviet Union within the global context, and illustrates the ways in which the Soviet Union was unique in its abuse of psychiatry. Ultimately, this understanding of both the roots and methods of Soviet abuse is essential for the prevention of further psychiatric abuse in present-day Russia.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 5, 2019

Author	Graber, Madelaine Grace
Primary advisor	Weiner, Amir
Advisor	Mason, Daniel
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

Subject	psychiatry
Subject	Soviet Union
Subject	schizophrenia
Subject	Stanford Global Studies
Subject	Center for Russian East European Studies
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/cj200yf2075

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Graber, Madelaine Grace. (2019). Sluggish Schizophrenia in the Soviet Union: A Disease for Political Dissenters. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/cj200yf2075

Masters Theses in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

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