This collection is divided into two series. The first series, "abuse of psychiatry and psychiatrists", consists of subject files compiled by Dr. Loren Roth, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. They are evidence of Dr. Roth's efforts to stop the abuse of psychiatry and psychiatrists for political reasons, with an emphasis on the former Soviet Union. The subject files contain correspondence, articles, reports, evaluations, meeting minutes, agendas, planning materials, diaries, photographs, memoranda, handwritten notes, programs, books, videotapes, ephemera, and other items. Together, these materials date from around 1950 to 2008. However the bulk of them date from the 1970s to the 1990s, when Dr. Roth participated in U.S. delegations to the former Soviet Union and was part of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Committees on Human Rights and International Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists.
The second series consists of materials that were gathered and produced for the "Retrospective Review of the 1989 U.S. State Department Psychiatric Mission to the U.S.S.R." project. These materials include oral history interviews with individuals involved with the 1989 mission, a 1989 recorded interview with a psychiatric patient, project correspondence, biographical files, interview minutes, and an organizational chart. Most of the items in this series date from the time of the project, 2021 to 2022.
Researchers may only access and view the materials in this collection onsite and in-person at the University of Virginia Law Library in Charlottesville, Virginia. The following additional restrictions apply to any materials that contain the names of the interviewees of the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union and/or 1991 ad hoc mission to the Soviet Union by the World Psychiatric Association:
1. To obtain access to these records, interested researchers must sign a form to agree not to use, document, or disclose names of the patients or their families, or other identifying information about these persons and to abide by all the provisions specified in the present document. The form is available on site from the responsible official of the UVA Law Library.
2. These materials may not be copied, photographed, or otherwise reproduced digitally.
3. Before accessing the requested materials, interested researchers must agree to abide by reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, as approved by the UVA Law Library, to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of the information. These procedures shall be followed by all persons associated with the applicant's research project.
4. Records in this category are also subject to the following safeguards: (i) Any information that would permit the identification of an individual (names, biographical data, etc.) may not be used, documented, or made public by the researcher, nor will any attempt to contact them be made. However, this does not preclude the researcher from contacting a person in advance of gaining access, for the purpose of obtaining access. (ii) If a researcher obtains written authorization for access from an interviewee or from his/her legal guardian, the records may be made available to that researcher. (iii) Interviewees themselves may have free access to their own health information if contained in this collection.
5. If the University of Virginia Law Library discovers that a researcher has violated the confidentiality of information or the conditions of access, the Law Library shall take steps to revoke the research privileges of the researcher and shall consult with University of Virginia legal counsel to prevent further disclosure of the health information.
Finally, different access restrictions may apply to some of the items in this collection. Whenever possible, archivists have made a note of these restrictions in other parts of the finding aid.
In March 2023, Dr. Loren Henry Roth donated all of the materials in this collection to the University of Virginia Law Library.
While it is understood that the misuse of psychiatry for non-medical reasons allegedly started in the U.S.S.R. after the October Revolution of 1917, its widespread and systematic use as a tool to silence political dissent became well-documented during Khrushchev's era. In a 1959 speech attributed to Khrushchev, he allegedly attempted to justify putting dissidents in psychiatric hospitals by saying that only a mentally ill person may be opposed to Communism (1). While there also were "political" parts of the R.S.F.S.R. Criminal Code that criminalized anti-Soviet agitation and slander of the Soviet state, psychiatry was often used to isolate dissidents, punish them with psychiatric drugs, discredit their ideas, and avoid criminal law procedures.
The "Sluggish schizophrenia" concept developed by academician Snezhnevsky had overly broad diagnostic criteria that allowed the diagnosis of schizophrenia in patients who showed no symptoms, on the assumption that these symptoms would appear later (2). In almost every case, dissidents were examined at the Serbsky Central Research Institute for Forensic Psychiatry. Information about Soviet repressive psychiatry became well-known in the West after 1971 dissident Vladimir Bukovsky smuggled over 150 pages documenting the political abuse of psychiatric institutions in the Soviet Union into the West. The papers were studied by independent psychiatrists in several countries and released to the press (3). "Bukovsky's papers" galvanized human rights activists worldwide and those within the Soviet Union.
While the attempt to bring the matter to the official agenda of the World Psychiatric Association (W.P.A.) at their 1971 World Congress in Mexico was unsuccessful, it kept gaining more and more outcry worldwide. So, in 1977, the W.P.A. adopted the Hawaii Declaration – a milestone defining principles of good and ethical medical practice. The All-Union Society of Psychiatrists and Narcologists, the official Soviet professional organization, was bound to withdraw from the W.P.A. at its next Congress in 1983—the allegations of the political abuse of psychiatry inflicted irretrievable damage on the prestige of Soviet medicine.
In 1975, the Soviet Union, the United States, and other countries signed the Helsinki Accords - the key document of the Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe (C.S.C.E.). The Accords signaled a détente between the East and the West and built the foundation for the end of the Cold War, the U.S.-Soviet disarmament talks, and the "third basket" on human rights and freedoms in the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev, who became the head of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985, prioritized the improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations. Also, Gorbachev launched the domestic "perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) initiatives. These combined foreign and domestic policy developments fostered interest, internally and externally, in the plight of Soviet political prisoners. The Soviet Union released many political prisoners from labor camps, and in April 1987, Secretary Schultz and Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Shevardnadze agreed on a human rights dialog (4). As part of this broader dialog, in September 1987, the Soviet representatives began to try to assure their American counterparts that the abuse of psychiatry had ended (5).
Notes:
1. Khrushchev had said this in a speech published in the state newspaper Pravda on 24 May 1959: A crime is a deviation from generally recognized standards of behaviour frequently caused by mental disorder. Can there be diseases, nervous disorders among certain people in a Communist society? Evidently yes. If that is so, then there will also be offences, which are characteristic of people with abnormal minds. Of those who might start calling for opposition to Communism on this basis, we can say that clearly their mental state is not normal. Knapp, Martin, et al. Mental Health Policy and Practice Across Europe: The Future Direction of Mental Health Care, McGraw-Hill Education, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uva/detail.action?docID=316293.
2. Sfera, Adonis. Can psychiatry be misused again?. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 9 September 2013;(4):101. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00101. PMID 24058348.
3. For more information, see Reddaway, Peter (12 March 1971). "Plea to West on Soviet 'mad-house' jails". The Times. p. 8.; Bloch, Sidney; Reddaway, Peter (1984). Soviet Psychiatric Abuse. The Shadow Over World Psychiatry. London: Gollancz.
4. Schifter-Adamishin book, timeline, page xix
5. Id, pages xix and xx
During the late 1980s, U.S.-Soviet discussions about the abuse of psychiatry led to the formation of a special U.S. delegation to the Soviet Union. In February 1989, the U.S.S.R. allowed the delegation to independently assess 27 Soviet citizens believed to have been psychiatrically committed for non-medical reasons. The U.S.S.R. also allowed the delegation to inspect ordinary psychiatric hospitals and other hospitals known as "psychoprisons." The U.S. delegation's psychiatric leader was Dr. Loren Roth of the University of Pittsburgh. The U.S. State Department organized the trip, closely cooperating with the American Psychiatric Association and the National Institute of Mental Health. Their Soviet counterparts were the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Soviet Ministry of Health and the conservative leadership of Soviet psychiatry, both believed to have been deeply involved in abuse, internally opposed the visit. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs overcame this opposition, and their support was critical to the U.S. delegation's success.
The U.S. delegation consisted of leading experts in psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, forensic psychology, law, and Sovietology. Also, it included a representative of the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.), and émigré Soviet psychiatrists living in the United States.
From April 1988 onward, Dr. Loren Roth engaged in extensive negotiations with his Soviet counterparts on the details of the visit. They discussed the list of people ("patients") to be assessed by the delegation and the processes for obtaining their consent. There were difficult negotiations over the presence of Soviet psychiatrists during the examinations, and the need to protect the interviewees from potential intimidation and retaliation.
The U.S. delegation advocated for and adopted critical precautions to ensure the transparency of the mission and its findings. They used scientifically developed structural psychiatric interview schedules, brought U.S. interpreters to assist the delegation, avoided sharing the cost of the trip with the Soviet side, collected urine samples to rule out overmedication, videotaped the interviews, and spoke with friends/relatives of those interviewed.
Although there was a significant risk that the Soviet Union would cancel the delegation's visit, it occurred between February and March, 1989. The American team evaluated 27 Soviet citizens and inspected special psychiatric hospitals in Kazan and Chernyakhovsk as well as ordinary psychiatric hospitals in Vilnius and Kaunas.
Among those interviewed by the U.S. team were people still hospitalized, and those who had been previously discharged. The American team was greatly assisted by Mr. Aleksandr "Sasha" Podrabinek, the Soviet and, subsequently, Russian dissident. He was an expert on the issue of abuse of psychiatry and author of the 1979 book "Punitive Medicine" (see references). Mr. Podrabinek facilitated access to those who had been previously released and claimed to be unavailable by Soviet counterparts.
The U.S. team detailed their conclusions in their final report, "Assessment of Recent Changes in Soviet Psychiatry" (available in this collection), which researchers are encouraged to read. The Soviet Union responded officially with its own report.
The 1989 visit laid a foundation for subsequent collaboration between the two countries in the area of mental health. The U.S.-Russia Health Committee met from 1994 to 2000 as a part of a larger Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission. It focused, in particular, on mental health care during disasters and the primary care physician's role in caring for patients with depression.
Shortly after the American mission was over, the W.P.A. congress in Athens decided to provisionally readmit the Soviet All-Union Society after receiving an official, although somewhat vague, admission of the past wrongdoings (covered in detail in On Dissidents and Madness by Robert van Voren). In 1991, the W.P.A. undertook an ad hoc psychiatric inspection of the Soviet Union that Dr. Jim Birley headed. Dr. Loren Roth and other experts who served on the 1989 U.S. State Department mission joined this inspection.
In 1990, a delegation of Soviet psychiatrists and politicians visited the United States for an educational trip to American psychiatric services and scholarly dialogues.
Researchers are encouraged to read the resources listed below to gain a better understanding of the historical events surrounding the 1989 delegation:
- the Schizophrenia Bulletin (supplement to Vol 15, # 4, 1989), which contains the brief overview of the reasons, methodology, and findings of the American team in the U.S., the final report of the U.S. delegation both in English and Russian, as well as the Soviet response in both languages (Hyperlink1) - The New York Times article "Accord Is Sought by U.S. And Soviet on Mental Wards" of May 22, 1988 - The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Volume 49, Number 4, 2021 "Jonas Rappeport: A Direct, Accomplished AAPL Leader" by Dr. Loren Roth - Report by the World Psychiatric Association Team on the Visit to the Soviet Union, 9-29 June 1991, headed by Dr. Jim Burley - Human Rights, Perestroika, and the End of the Cold War co-authored by Anatoly Adamishin and Richard Schifter in 2009
In 2021, three decades after the 1989 trip to assess the conditions of Soviet citizens confined in psychiatric hospitals for political reasons, an oral history project was initiated to document it. Loren H. Roth, Ellen Mercer, and Richard Bonnie, three members of the delegation, had always wanted to evaluate if the mission had had any lasting impact on the lives of the people interviewed and on the quality and ethical integrity of psychiatric care in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The oral history project began in conjunction with the donation of Loren Roth's papers to the University of Virginia School of Law Library. Olena Protsenko, a Ukrainian human rights lawyer, organized Roth's papers and began researching related collections. Richard Bonnie's papers and Saleem Shah's files on the abuse of psychiatry, also part of the University of Virginia Law Library manuscript collections, were essential to the project's development.
Olena Protsenko processed this collection. She was a post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.
The Arthur J. Morris Law Library does not grant researchers permission to publish copies of any of the materials in this collection.
There are access restrictions on some of the materials in this series. When a file or item is restricted, an additional note explaining the conditions of access is attached to the file or item description.
The files in this series are arranged by subject into 14 sub-series.
This series consists of subject files that Dr. Loren Henry Roth assembled and used while working to stop the abuse of psychiatry and psychiatrists for political reasons, emphasizing abuse in the former Soviet Union. The files contain correspondence, memoranda, meeting documents, articles, reports, lists, forms, evaluations, photographs, diaries, and other materials.
World Psychiatric Association Proposed Declaration of Hawaii; "Honolulu Paper": Somerville, John: "Ethics and Psychiatry," (1977); Committee of French Psychiatrists Against The Political Uses of Psychiatry Special Bulletin, the World Congress of Psychiatry in Hawaii; newspaper clippings from Hawaiian newspapers (1977). APA white paper: "Misuse and Abuse of Psychiatry in the U.S.: A definition and Discussion," (1991); correspondence and papers of Paul Chodoff, (1989-1990 and undated); Helmchen, H. and A. Okasha: "From the Hawaii Declaration to the Declaration of Madrid," Acta Psychiatr Scand 200:101: 2023
Copy of the Report to the Board of Trustees, American Psychiatric Association of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Use of Psychiatric Institutions for the Commitment of Political Dissenters (1972); Boekovski Berichten Bukovsky News: The Case of Irina Grivnina (1985?); Statement of Dr. Algirdas Statkevicius to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1988); copy of letter from Peter Reddaway to Viktor Nakas, Leon Stern, Robert van Voren and Algirdas Statkevicius (1989); copy of translation of SB case (1987-1989); U.S. Helsinki Watch Committee [memorandum] re Shatravka Family (1988); Committee of Concerned Scientists, Inc "Call for Action for Three Soviet Former Prisoners of Conscience," (1988); and newspaper clippings mainly of Pyotr G. Grigorenko and Anatoly Koryagin
"Special Report, The Medical Profession and the Prevention of Torture," The New England Journal of Medicine (October 1985); "Sowing fear: The Uses of Torture and Psychological Abuse in Chile," A Report by Physicians for Human Rights (October 1988); Proposal. Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims [RCT], New York, NY and Roseland, New Jersey (undated); RCT International Newsletter on Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (1990-1991); RCT IRCT [International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims]: Torture [packet of documents] (1991-1992); Jacobsen, Lone and Pete Vesti: Torture Survivors – a New Group of Patients, The Danish Nurses Organization, 1990; Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture
Human Rights Task Force of the APA survey on human rights organizations (1984); Human Rights Survey Responses (1988); Human Rights Cases Monitored by the APA (1990); photocopy of European Convention on Human Rights Collected Texts, Strasbourg, 1965. Folder includes an incomplete set of The World Medical Association press releases (1975-1990), printed materials and news clippings
Documents from the Ninth Session of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Committee for Health Cooperation, (1988-11-17); Trip Report – P.H.S. Delegation Visit to the Soviet Union November 13-20, 1988 Ninth U.S.-U.S.S.R. Health Committee Meeting (1989-01-25); Summary of Cooperation in Health Between the US Public Health Service and the Ministry of Health of the U.S.S.R. (1989-01-26); Peter Henry thoughts re Implications of Trip for U.S.-Soviet Health Agreement (1989-02-02)
Roth's printed account of trip that he made with Rabbi Mark Staitman, Larry Hurwitz, cardiologist; Harold and Esther Garfinkel, community leaders; Joy Weber, science writer, and Rabbi Jonathan Stein. September 20-October 1, 1986. (2 versions)
Dr. Roth and Ambassador Schifter's preliminary planning documents for the U.S. mission to the U.S.S.R. in April of 1988.
APA Memorandum re "use of psychiatry for political purposes" (1988-03-21); [USSR] Regulations for Psychiatric Hospitals, LS No. 124600 JS/AO Russian, Appendix to Decree No. 225 of the USSR Ministry of Public Health, 21 March 1988; Pre-summit discussions. Report of Soviet Contact (1988-03-23): Gennadi N. Milyokhin, M.D. visit to Parklawn; [Unedited] On the Record Briefing of Richard Schifter, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, March 25, 1988
Peter Reddaway: "Will Perestroika End Political Abuse in Soviet Psychiatry?" (1988-07-03); copy of pages 5-6 of "Argumenty I fakty" No. 11/1987, [Reporter V. Romanenko interviews with Dr. Marat Vartanyan (1987- 03-21-27)]; anonymous draft "Ground Rounds", "Abuses in Soviet Psychiatry" (undated); Karklins, Rasma: "The Dissent/Coercion Nexus in the USSR, Working Paper #36, Soviet Interview Project (1987-05); Roth's handwritten notes; copies of printed materials related to Soviet psychiatry; annotated copy of Berman, Harold J.: Soviet Criminal Law and Procedure. The RSFR Codes. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1977, pp. 3-124
Stipulations for Delegation of U.S. Psychiatrists and Other Experts Visiting the USSR (1988-11-09); Roth's handwritten notes. Also Ellen Mercer U.S.S.R. Trip Confidential Report (1988 -11) and Saleem A. Shah Department of Health and Human Services Report on International Travel (1988-11-18). Correspondence to Alexander A. Churkin with documents: US-Soviet Understanding for Delegation of US Psychiatrists and Other Experts Visiting the USSR; "Discussions"; Consent Forms for Persons Interviewed and of Relatives and Friends (1988-12-19)
re assesment of Soviet Psychiatry (1988-08-04), memorandum re "Sensible Tactics re U.S. Delegation on Soviet Psychiatry; human rights and Soviet Psychiatry; "things to do; Roth's notes; and Roth: "Uses of Psychiatry in the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A," Browning Hoffman Lecture, UVA School of LAw (1988-10-07).
International Association on the Political Use of Psychiatry [IAPUP]: Information Bulletin Nos. 3, 9, 11, 18-21; also copy of "II. The Case of All-Union Society (undated). Soviet Psychiatry News, vol. 1, nos. 1-2 (1989)
US State Department Soviet Psychiatric Project Delegation to the Soviet Union Planning Trip – correspondence, telegrams, memoranda re: negotiations, support and concerns, instructions, logistics for the trip. Correspondence with Soviet and US officials, and other psychiatrists. Summary of discussions with Ambassador Richard Schifter (1989-02-11); comments from Saleem Shah (1989-02-10); from Robert van Voren, Ellen Mercer, Dr. Edward Kelty and others.
This sub-series contains materials related to the organization, planning and logistics of the trip, as well as background information about the psychiatric abuse in the U.S.S.R.
This file contains memoranda, handwritten notes, list of participants, questionnaires, Forensic Interview Schedule, and Interpersonal Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE).
DSM-III-R Criteria Checklist (1988-05-23; Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Patient Version (1988-06-01) SCID-NP/OP Psychotic Screening (1988-06-01); Instruction Manual for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (1988 and 1989)
DSM-III-R Criteria Checklist (1988-05-23; Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Patient Version (1988-06-01) SCID-NP/OP Psychotic Screening (1988-06-01); Instruction Manual for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (1988 and 1989)
Russian version of IPDE (1989-02-16); Russian version of Revised SCID Standardized Clinical Study According to DSM-III-PD Criteria (SKID) (1991-04); Russian version of World Psychiatric Association visit to the USSR Forensic Examination (1991-03)
The items in these folders contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
The reports were written by doctors Jonas Rappeport, M.D., Vladimir Levit, MD., Samuel J. Keith, M.D, Darrell A. Regier, M.D., Loren Roth, M.D., Felix Kleyman, M.D., Joseph Bloom, M.D., William. T. Carpenter, M.D., Robert Hirschfeld, M.D., Alla Arsenian (interpreter); Elmore Rigamer, M.D., Joel Klein; Boris Shostokovich, M.D.; John Monahan; Nancy Andreason, M.D.; William Farrand.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Reports of forensic evaluations done in Moscow and Leningrad by Jonas R. Rappeport, John Monahan, Joseph D. Bloom; draft of Roth's "Patient Sample –Description. Methodological Issues – Obstacles" (1989-04-10); assessments and handwritten notes re patients; Russian document with translation re patients (undated); Roth's notes on various interviewees (1991-02-07)
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
The materials in this file include Roth's letters to persons who he wished to interview but didn't; U.S. Department of State "transliteration" of names (1989-04-04) and inventory of status of cases (1989-04-05)
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
"Delegation of US Psychiatrists Issues Press Statement" signed by members of the US Psychiatric Delegation: Nancy Andreasen, M. D.; Joseph D. Bloom, M.D.; Richard J. Bonnie; William T. Carpenter, M.D.; Robert M. A. Hirschfeld, M. D.; Samuel J. Keith, M.D.; Joel Klein; Felix L. Kleyman, M.D.; Vladimir A. Levit, M.D.; David Lozovsky, M. D.; Ellen Mercer, John Monahan, PhD; Jonas R. Rappeport, M.D.; Peter B. Reddaway, Ph.D; Darrel A. Regier, MD.D., M.P.H.; Elmore E. Rigamer, M.D.; Leon Stern, M.D.; Harold M. Visotsky, M. D.]
Testimonies of Darrel A. Regier, Robert W. Farrard, Peter Reddaway, Robert van Voren, Loren H. Roth; statement of Steny H. Hoyer; LHR's handwritten notes; correspondence; responses, printed materials; draft I Report of the U.S. Delegation and Preliminary Soviet Reply: Brief Analysis of Points of Agreement and Disagreement; Loren H. Roth Final Report of the US Delegation to Assess Recent Changes in Soviet Psychiatry. Objectives and Execution of the Visit. American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, New York, NY, May 15 1990; some correspondence and memoranda related to CSCE meetings in Copenhagen (June 1990); and copy of U.S. Report (speech) on CSCE – Moscow (1991-10-02)
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Copy of Reddaway's Trip to Moscow, October 29-November 2, 1988; memo re: "The difficult situation we are in: how should we proceed," (1989, 02-19); notes on Soviet Psychiatry Developments (1990-01-20); copy of "Trip to Moscow, August 20-30, 1992."
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
"Dissent and Disorder: Human Rights in Soviet Psychiatry," (1989-07-); copy of unauthored paper; "The Legacy of Psychiatric Abuse in the U.S.S.R.," (undated); Russian version and translation of "Proceedings of the session of Working Party formulating the draft law on 'Psychiatric Help in the U.S.S.R.'," (1991-02-14)
"Soviet Access to and Utilization of Mental Health Services: A Comparative View," paper presented at the National Conference on Soviet Refugee Health and Mental Health, Chicago, IL (1991-12-11); Isaac Ray Lectures: "The Future of the Doctor-Patient Relationship. Lesson from Two Cultures, The Former Soviet Union and the United States," Discussants: Loren H. Roth, M.D., Dean Eckenrode, George Huber, J.D., Mark Schmidhofer, M.D. (1998-05-07)
"The New Soviet Legislation on the Provision of Psychiatric Care," speech delivered at the symposium of the International Association on the Political Use of Psychiatry, Washington, D.C., (1988-10-14); Koryagin: "A Green Light of Injustice," Zurich, (1988-12-20); notes from Boris Zoubok, M.D.; copy of "Law of the USSR on the protection of the rights and legal interests of persons suffering from psychiatric disorders and on the grounds and procedures for the administration of psychiatric care," (1990-10-08); Roth's Notes on Meeting of USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Mental Health Law, Moscow (1990-10-26); copy of Smit, Jonna: "Human Rights and Mental Health Legislation: the USSR," (1991-05-21); van Voren, Robert: "Ukrainian Psychiatry: Starting from Scratch," (undated); Regulations on a psychiatric hospital (Положение о психиатрической больнице), [printed Russian document] CCCP, No. 225, 1988; printed materials and news clippings, 1988-2004; Patients in Psychiatric Hospital Requiring Follow-up and Review – interview methodology, list, memoranda
Draft and confidential memorandum of meeting with Minister of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs [Yuri A.] Reshetov. Also interview methodology and memoranda.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Kazan Special Psychiatric Hospital, Vilnius Ordinary Hospital, Kaunas Hospital, Chernyashovsk Special Psychiatric Hospital
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Richard J. Bonnie draft; "Legal and Humanitarian Aspects of Soviet Psychiatry: Some Preliminary Conclusions" (1989-03-28); also comments on Klein's and Reddaway reports (1989-04 to 1989-05); LHR Confidential Drafts #1-5 (1989-05-19-31); Objectives of the Clinical Interviews (1989-05-22); Dr. Harold M. Visotsky Response to Joel Kline (1989-05-30); Hospital Team Report by Harold Visotsky, Elmore Rigamer, and Loren H. Roth (1989-05-30); remarks from Joe Bloom (1989-06-05); Richard Bonnie: Note to Members of the US Delegation to the Soviet Union (1989-06-16); Bill Farrad; Executive Summary [annotated] (1989-06-20); "USSR Psychiatrists at a Human Rights Round Table in Moscow in April 1988," annotated copy of attachment sent by Joel Kline to Roth (undated); Vladimir A. Levit comments (1989-06-26); Saleem [Shah]: Soviet Compliance and Study Limitations (1989-06-28) and comments (1989-06-26); Peter Reddaway draft (1989-06-28) [2 folders], 1989-03 to 1989-06
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contains sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Also: State Department "rough translation" of Soviet response: "Response to the medical part of the report by the U.S. delegation of psychiatrists and lawyers," (1989-07-06); Draft translation of the final Soviet comments on the report: Commentary on the Report [130008 JS/AO Russian] (1989-09-26); U.S. Department of State Memorandum re Comments on the Soviet response to the Report (1989-10-12); printed Russian document inscribed by Polubinskaya to Loren H. Roth: [Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Soviet State and Right. Separate Report, Moscow 1990]; translation of S. V. Polubinskaya and S. V. Borodin: "The Legal Problems of Soviet Psychiatry: The Views of American and Soviet Experts," Soviet State Law, No. 5, 1990, pp. 67-76
Resolution of the WPA (1989-10-17); WPA Statement by the All Union Society of Soviet Psychiatrists and Narcologists of the U.S.S.R. before the World Psychiatric Association General Assembly in Athens (1989-10-18); Memorandum re: Site Visit by the WPA Review Committee to the U.S.S.R. (1990-03-13); Reddaway, Peter: The Struggle over Reform in Soviet Psychiatry Intensifies: Is the Establishment Beginning to Panic? (1990-04-30); Remarks by Svetlana Poloubinskaya at the APA's Committee of International Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists (1990-05-16)
APA correspondence with the Center for Democracy in the U.S.S.R., U.S. Department of State, (Schifter and Mercer); University of London Institute of Psychiatry, 1989-05 to 1989-11. Also, miscellaneous correspondence with literary agents (1989-03 to 1989-04)
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed by the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Translations of A. Karpov, Chief Psychiatrist, U.S.S.R. Ministry of Health: "The Registration of Mental Patients in the U.S.S.R." (1990-10-25) and "Basic Findings of the Conclusion of the U.S.S.R. Constitutional Supervision Committee on Whether Legislation for the Compulsory Treatment and Re-Education of Through Labour of Persons Suffering from Alcoholism or Drug-Addiction Conforms to the U.S.S.R. Constitution and International Enactments on Human Rights," by B. M. Lazarev, Deputy Chairman of the USSR Constitutional Supervision Committee (1990-10-25). Also Saleem A. Shah: "Forensic Interview Schedule". Correspondence with Otto Dorr Zegers, Csaba Banki, M.P. Deva, Driss Moussaoui, Jim Birley, and Gerard Low-Geer
Correspondence with Dr. Otto Dörr-Zegers (Chile); Dr. Csava Bànki (Hungary); Dr. M. P. Deva (Malaysia); Dr. Driss Moussaoui (Morocco); Dr. Jim Birley (WPA Negotiating Team); Dr. Gerard Low-Greer (England).
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed in the U.S.S.R. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed in the U.S.S.R. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed in the U.S.S.R. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of the persons interviewed in the U.S.S.R. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Included are: Gostin, Larry: "Human Rights in Mental Health: Japan. Report of an international mission to Japan: 1987," World Health Organization/Harvard University International Collaborating Center on Health Legislation, World Federation for Mental Health [1987]; Kawasaki, Shigeru: "Like a Shedding Snake," English Summary, J. JAPH 2:2 Spring 1991; news-clippings.
Correspondence with Ellen Mercer re Singapore (1985-09-18); UN Commission on Human Rights E/CN. 4 Sub.2/1988/23: Report on the Sessional Working Group on the question of persons detained on the grounds of mental ill-health or suffering from mental disorder; Proceedings. International Forum on Mental Health Reform, Kyoto, Japan, January 29-30, 1987; Benatar, S. R.: correspondence and articles (1990); Final draft of the "UN Principles Produced by the Working Group on Human Rights," Annex A Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care
The sub-series consists of materials Loren Roth collected as part of his work on this committee. These include meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, reports, articles, clippings, memoranda, and other items.
The files in this sub-series are arranged in chronological order.
APA lists of cases in the U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia and Romania (1988-07-05); memo for the record re Soviet dissidents
APA minutes of meeting (1988-09-07); Draft Statement Following Discussion with Dr. Sabshin; APA Draft Resolution by the Committee on International Abuse of Psychiatry to not object to the re-admittance of the All-Union Society of Psychiatrists and Neuropathologists of the USSR into the WPA (1988-09-07); minutes of the APA Committee on Human Rights (1988-09-09); some correspondence, (1988 -09)
Minutes of conference call (1989-02-15); correspondence; IAPUP documents re to Soviet psychiatry (1989-02); copy of Dr. Marvin Brook handwritten comments on the By-Laws of the WPA (undated); Application of the Independent Psychiatric Association of the USSR (IPA) for membership to the WPA, includes Constitution and Declaration (1989-03-09); APA Guidelines for Psychiatric Services in Jails and Prisons; APA draft guidelines on the Right of Refuse (Anti-Psychotic) Medication.
Includes some correspondence and documents: Memorandum re Revision of the WPA Review Committee's Operational Instrument ( 1989-04-270; translation of letter from Nikolai Fedrovich Zhukov to US Congress (1989-03-04); IAPUP Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the USSR 18: The Founding of the Association of Independent Psychiatrists in the USSR and the US Delegation of Psychiatrist to the USSR (March 1989); IAPUP Report and brochures, 1989-04
Memorandum re Detention of Cuban psychiatrist Dr. Alfredo Samuel Martínez Lara (1989-04-19); WPA Proposed alterations (1989-04 -25); copy of entrance application of the International Independent Research Centre on Psychiatry to the WPA (1989-03-27), news clippings; Dr. Marat Vartanian original article sent to the International Journal on Mental Health
Included are: Ellen Mercer and Fini Schulsinger interviews with Radio Canada (1989-03); and "rough" transcripts of Radio Free Europe with Viktor Lanovoy, President of the Independent Association of Psychiatrists (1989-06-15); Croatian Committee for Human Rights press release re human rights abuses (1989-06-24); [translation] of M. Buyanov articles in Uchitelskaya Gazeta (1988-11-19); Association Psychiatric Independent (IPA) press release (1989-04-12); Commission of the European Communities: "Observations on the State of Implementation of Programme of Psychiatrists Reform in Greece,: (1987-12-31); IAPUP Documents Special Issue: "The Political Abuse of Psychiatry in Rumania (June 1989); IAPUP Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry Nos. 22, 23, 24, 25 (June-July 1989)
Includes Summary of the WPA Executive Committee in Athens and Resolutions (1989-08-18); excerpts of anonymous document "Autumm 1988, Gerlovka" re abuse in the USSR ; printed articles, news clippings
Includes unofficial translation of Statement by the All-Union Scientific Society of Psychiatrists (1989-10-02); Remarks of Christian Barton Concerning Allegations of Psychiatric Abuse of Dissidents by the Cuban Government (1989-09-13); Sabshin, Melvin: Statement to the Subcommittee on Health and Environment of the US House of Representatives re APA position on Soviet psychiatric practices (undated); Testimony of Victor Davidoff, former victim of abuse in the Soviet Union (undated); Commentary on the Report "Assessment of Recent Changes in Soviet Psychiatry, prepared by the US Delegation on the Results of its visit to the USSR," (1989-09-15); IPA bulletins (1989 -08-07 and 1989-08-31); news clippings
Includes: Liaison Report (1989-10); Gluzman, Semyon: "Bureaucratic Ethics and Soviet Psychiatry," (1989-11) and Commentary on the Memorandum of G. Lukacher (1989-10-14) re All Union Scientific Society of Psychiatrists; translation of A.I. letter "To the World Congress of the WPA," (1989-10-16); translation of letter from Social Organizations in Leningrad To the Participants in the Congress of the WPA (Athens, Greece, October 1989); Schifter, Richard: "An Inventory of Soviet Human Rights Developments" (1989-10-04); IAPUP Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the USSR No. 29, 30
Some copies of documents related to the former Yugoslavia; lists of interments and releases in the Soviet Union (1989-12-21); draft translation of [Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya] A Detail report: Psychiatry Without Secrets (1989-10-31); Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the Soviet Union 31 (1989-12); WPA Minutes (1989-08-11-13)
Correspondence related to abuses in Cuba; Pena, Jose M. et al: "Abuse and Misuse of Psychiatry in the U.S.: The Need for an Institutional Ethics," (1990-02); list of human rights cases monitored by the APA in Argentina, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Malawi, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, Sudan, Turkey, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, Zaire (1990-02-06); Mercer, Ellen: USSR Trip Report/February 25-March 3, 1990
Includes: Second World Center Annual Report 1989 and APA Statement on Simón Bolívar Award and Lecture (1990-02-15)
Correspondence re Cuban psychiatrists (1990-04); Keston College Support Group: "Igor Rodionov Report" (1990-04); Yelena Izyumova Open Letter to the Members of the APA, Moscow May 20, 1990; anonymous essay re : Psychiatric Abuse in the USSR (Helsinki Watch), undated
Also: "Proposed New Policies for the APA in Regard to the Abuse of Psychiatry for Political and Other Non-Medical Purposes in the USSR," (undated)
Includes copy of Human Rights Survey Responses (1988-04-01) and reports of the Council on International Affairs, Committee on Human Rights and Committee on International Education
Includes reports of the Council on International Affairs, Committee on Human Rights and Committee on International Education; memoranda re IAPUP meetings in Germany (1990-09); letter from Dr. Jeffrey Heller to the Committee on Abuse of Psychiatry re Soviet Delegation at H and CP Institute (1990-10-10); Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the USSR No. 38 (1990-09)
Includes correspondence from Dr. Valerian Tuculesco re post-traumatic stress disorder after the Romanian revolution (1990-10); correspondence re Oleg Vitalyevich Kozlov re hijacked plane to Helsinki (1990-11); American Ambassadors People to People Trip to the USSR 14-27 August 1990 "Professional Diary" compiled by E. B. Brody (1990-09-05); "Psychiatric Issues Encountered on Recent Trip to USSR," memorandum from Holt Ruffin (World Without War) (1990-10-25); Hartmann, Lawrence M.D.: "Notes on Some Social Psychiatric Problems in Chile, South Africa and the Soviet Union," (1990-10); Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the USSR Nos. 39, 40, 41; documents relative to the Joint APA-Caribbean Psychiatric Association Meeting; Ellen Mercer: China Trip Report (1990-11)
Includes reports of the Committee on International Education; Final draft of the UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Case (1990-12-11); "Sugar, Jonathan M.D. et al: "Psychiatry's Global Challenge: Responsibilities of American Psychiatrists in International Health (undated)
Includes letter from Dr. Dainiys Pūras re abuse of psychiatry in Lithuania (1991-01-19); correspondence re abuse in Romania (1991-02-08); "Proposal for The Moscow Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (undated)
Includes correspondence and document re abuses in Romania; correspondence between Dr. Roth, Gennadi Milyokhin, Juan José López-Ibor, re Revaz Uturgaury (1991-03); correspondence re Soviet individuals
Includes CIOMS: Development of International, Ethical Guidelines for Epidemiological Research and Practice, Plenary III Issues related to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic. Proposed Guidelines for International Testing of Vaccines and Drugs against HIV Infection and Aids (1990-11); copies of correspondence between and V. Tuculescu re Romania; Reddaway, Peter: Psychiatric Developments in the USSR (1991-06) and " Problems of Reforming Soviet Psychiatry and Assuring Rights for the Mentally Ill," (undated); "The Heartbeat of Reform. Soviet Jurists and Political Scientists Discuss the Progress of Perestroika, Glasnot, Democracy, Socialism," Translated from the Russian by Vic Schneierson, Moscow, [1991]; Documents on the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the USSR No. 47, 48
Includes reports of the Council on International Affairs, Committee on Human Rights and Committee on International Education. Also includes several documents dated September 1991: Memo for the Record Briefing Meeting for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Human Rights Study Group (1991-09-24); USSR Draft Law (17 June 91) on Psychiatric Assistance; Ministry of Health, USSR, All-Union Society of Psychiatrists Governing Board Decision (1991-05-15-16); WPA Memorandum to the All-Union Society of Psychiatrists (1991-07-28); Dr. Stanislaw Golec: "Health Care in Poland 91"; "Instructional Recommendations on the Application of USSR Ministry of Health Order No. 555 (1989-09-19); WPA documents; International Committee of the Red Cross Report on "Second Working Group of Experts on Battlefield Laser Weapons," (1990-11-05-06)
Includes "copy of a part" of Japanese Mental Health Law with translation (1988); translation of "law on patient's rights" in Finland (1991-08); WHO Guidelines for the Clinical Investigation of Antidepressant Drugs (1984)
Includes LHR handwritten notes re Abuse Committee (1992-04); "Cuban Dissidents in Psychiatric Hospitals An Update of the Politics of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba,"; "Dimineata, 7th January 1992, The Mad People Were Dissidents," re Romania (undated); "The Plenary Session of the Board of Directors of the All-Union Scientific Society of Psychiatrists (1992-05) and Follow-Up of US Team's 1989 Patients list, Appendices 1 and 2 sent to Dr. Birley with names of patients (1992-02); Information about the Patient Bill of Rights Tally Sheet (1992-04); Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry [GPI]: Documents on the Abolition and Prevention of Political Abuse of Psychiatry (1992-03 and 1992-04)
Includes reports of the Council on International Affairs, Committee on Human Rights and Committee on International Education. Also: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Yugoslavia (1992-06-01); GPI: Documents on the Abolition and Prevention of Political Abuse of Psychiatry, April – June 1992; Mercer, Ellen: Exploring Hungarian Psychiatry (1992-05)
Includes reports of the Council on International Affairs, Committee on Human Rights. Also: International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions Proclamation of May 1992: Assuring the Mental Health of Children; APA Bilateral Exchange with Poland Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Summary of Responses and Recommendations of American Participants (1992-03-24 to 1992-04-12); copy of Act of the Russian Federation "On Psychiatric Care and Citizens' Rights With Regard to Such Care," (1992-01); Polubinskaya, Svetlana: "From the USSR to the Independent States: Where the Former Soviet Psychiatry Will Go," (1992-05); GIP Documents on the Abolition and Prevention of Political Abuse of Psychiatry 56, June 1992
Includes reports of the Council on International Affairs, Committee on Human Rights. Also correspondence re psychiatric abuse in the former GDR, with the Romanian Psychiatric Association and the Committee to End the Chinese Gulag. "Psychiatry Under Tyranny. An Assessment of the Political Abuse of Romanian Psychiatry During the Ceaucescu Years," Report of a consultative mission to Bucharest on behalf of the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry (1992-06); GIP Documents on the Abolition and Prevention of Political Abuse of Psychiatry 57, July – August 1992
The files in this sub-series are arranged in chronological order.
The sub-series consists of materials Loren Roth collected as part of his work with this committee. These include meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, reports, articles, clippings, memoranda, and other items.
Included: "Human Rights of Mental Patients in Japan," (1987 -04); Reich, Walter Report of Meeting with Gennadiy M. Yevstafiev (Soviet, member of the delegation to the Vienna Review Meeting) (1987-07-28); copy of letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy to Lawrence Hartmann, M.D. re human rights violations in Paraguay (1988-04-22); World Medical Association, INC. memorandum: "The Facts regarding health services in South Africa during 1987, and the role played by the Medical Association of South Africa," (1987-07- 08); Reddaway, Peter: Does Moscow's Purge of Corrupt Psychiatrists Threaten the Psychiatric Gulag?" (1987-07-13); "More Revelations about Stefanis' Negotiations with the Soviets (1987-09-11); Center for Victims of Torture pilot project (1987-08-28 and 1987-10); South Africa Briefing (1987-08-07); Minutes of Committee on Abuse of Psychiatry (1987-09-09 and 1987-12-02); "Victims of Torture in Afghanistan. Presentation for Cairo World Congress" by Mohammad Azam Dadfar (1987-10-18-22); Gralnick, Alexander M.D.: "Public Health and Psychiatric Care in Cuba, Personal Report" (November 1987);Political Imprisonment in Cuba. A Special Report from Amnesty International, The Cuban American Nation Foundation, 1987; US/Soviet Human Rights Seminar: Statement by Ellen Mercer for the APA (1987-12-03). Also Bloche, Maxwell Gregg: "Uruguay's Military Physicians: Cogs in a System of State Terror," (1987-03)
Miscellaneous documents: minutes, memoranda, correspondence. Included: [Argentina] Tribunal Etico de la Salud contra la Impunidad translation of statement: Medical Ethics Tribunal Against Impunity," (1988-01-11); Minutes of the APA Committee on Abuse of Psychiatry (1988-01-20, 1988-04-21; 1988-05-10); some documents related to South Africa, Pakistan, Argentina; Human Rights Survey Responses (1988-03-09); Amnesty International: "China. Detention Without Trial, Ill-Treatment of Detainees and Police Shooting of Civilians in Tibet," (1988-02); Bitsch Christensen, Svend: "Torture Related Documentation," (1987); International Commission of Jurists' Mission to Japan Preliminary Report and Recommendations (1988-04); "The Casualties of Conflict: Medical Care and Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," Report of a Medical Fact Finding Mission by Physicians for Human Rights, (1988-03); Amnesty International Commission Medicale: Medicine at Risks. The Doctor as Abuser or Victim," (1987-09)
Miscellaneous documents: minutes, memoranda, correspondence related to Soviet psychiatry; human rights abuses in Honduras, Czechoslovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Israel, Haiti, Cuba, Egypt, China, BahrainGudava, Eduard M.D.: "The events in Tbilisi, Georgia (1989-04-18); Vesti, Peter and Inge Kemp: "Chapter I: Treatment of Torture Survivors – theoretical views," "Chapter 2: Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors, " (1989-10); Collazo, Carlos R. M.D. and Martha Gerpe M.D.: "Missing Parents," Paper presented at The World Psychiatric Association, Athens, October 1989
File includes: RCT [Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims] 7th Annual Report (1990-01); APA Position Statement on Apartheid and Academic Boycotting of South Africa (1990-01); Human Rights Cases Monitored by the APA (1990-02-01); signed Petition by doctors to recommend the APA to condemn the government of Turkey (1990-08); LHR handwritten notes of September meeting; APA Council on International Affairs Joint Reference Committee (1990-10-12); Boyajian, Levon Z. M.D.: The Psychological Sequelae of the Armenian Genocide (1982); Leros Trip. Report on Visit to the Mental Institution on the Island of Leros, Greece (1989-12-3-5); "'Bloody Sunday Trauma in Tbilisi. The Eents of April 9, 1989 and their Aftermath," Report of a Medical Mission to Soviet Georgia by Physicians for Human Rights, February 1990; printed materials.
Files include documents re Armenian Genocide and from the Free Romanian Foundation; "Program for Administrators and Educators Specializing in Programs for People With Disabilities," with the Persian Gulf (1991-04); Martínez Lara, Samuel: "Psychiatry in Cuba: Perspectives of a Human Rights Activist" (1991-09-27); ); National Academy of Sciences: "Considerations Regarding Individual Scientific Visits to the People's Republic of China," (October 1991); also some documents about torture
Files include documents re torture in Egypt (1992-01); Dadfar, A. Azam M.D.: "The Deep Scars of a Forgotten War, " Psychiatry Centre for the Afghans; correspondence with Levon Z. Boyajian M.D. (1992-02); Croatian Medical Journal: "Medical Testimony of the Vukovar Tragedy"; memorandum re "Abuse and Misuse of Psychiatry in the United States" (1992-02); Committee to End the Chinese Gulag: "On behalf of Political Prisoners in China: How to Raise Human Rights Cases," (1992-04); memoranda and correspondence re abuse of Palestinian physician (1992-05); APA Position Statement on Homosexuality and Civil Rights (1992-07); Americas Watch, Vol.4, Issue 7: "Dangerous Dialogue, Attacks on Freedom of Expression in Miami's Cuban Exile Community," (1992-08); Amnesty International French Section, Medical Group: "Corporal Punishment. A study on legislation and enforcement in 18 countries," (1992); "Stop Torture in Korea (STIK)" (1998-08); APA Council on International Affairs: "International Inpatients Bill of Rights," (1992-08); APA Communications Plan 1992-1994; APA: "Human Rights and the American Psychiatric Association," (1992); memorandum and correspondence re abuse of psychiatry and psychiatrists in México (1992-100; US Department of State: "Renewing the U.S. Commitment to Human Rights," Special Report No. 164; printed materials
World Health Organization Assignment Report re "mentally infirm in Romania and possibilities for improvement," (1991-11); Rosenberg, David R. M.D. et al: "A Cross-Cultural Study of "Ceausescu's Orphans," (1992-03); Blom, G. et al: "Program Touch – A Volunteer Intervention Program to Orphaned Disabled Children in Romania," (1991-11); Roth's reappointment as APA Chairperson of the Committee on Human Rights under the Council of International Affairs, (1992-04-13); draft of A.P.A. Action Paper Rescinding the 1982 APA Position on the Insanity Defense (1992-05-01); Pierce, Chester M. M.D.: "Public Health and Human Rights: Racism, Torture and Terrorism," presented at American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting (1992-05-04)
Files include translation of Croatian pamphlet: "Protect Yourself and Help Others (1993-02); APA Office of International Affairs: Responses to Human Rights Questionnaire," (1993-08-18); Citizens Support Committee for the Psychiatric Farm Hospital Dr. Manuel Ramírez Moreno (1993-7-13)
correspondence and handwritten notes
evaluation forms and printed materials
Meetings between Ukrainian doctors Semyon F. Gluzman, Vladimir I. Poltavets, Valery N. Kutznetsov, Ada I. Korotenko, Oleg A, Nasinnik, Vladimir M. Cherniavsky and Juan Mezzich, American psychiatrist from the West Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh; also some case summaries (1994-02). Russian and English translation.
extensive correspondence, reports, handwritten notes. Savychyj, Jurij M.D.: "Psychiatry in Ukraine," [1992]
correspondence, Ukrainian fliers, and handwritten notes
extensive correspondence, reports, data analysis, forms, handwritten notes (1995-05), "Codebook"
correspondence, clinical assessment forms, and handwritten notes
Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry. Annual Reports 1992 and 1995; Documents on the Abolition and Prevention of Political Abuse of Psychiatry Nos. 65-67, 72, 74; "Concepts for Developing Mental Health Care in Ukraine (First Draft)," Developed by Experts of Ministry for Health Care, Kiev Research Institute of General and Forensic Psychiatry, Regional Chief Experts and Kiev Psychiatrists.
correspondence and forms
email correspondence, brochures, printed photographs
Joseph D. Bloom, Kyrill Borissow, William T. Carpenter, Robert W. Farrand, Robert M.A. Hirschfield, William H. Hopkins, Samuel Keith, Felix Kleyman, Andrei A. Kovalev, Ellen Mercer, John Monahan, Darrel A. Regier, Elmore F. Rigamer Jr, Carolyn Smith, Leon Stern
Includes: United States – Russia Health Committee 2000 – 2002, printed copies of photographs; The U.S.A. – Russia Health Committee: "Access to Quality Health Care" (draft), undated; "Additional Materials on Diagnosing and Treating Mild and Moderate Depressions," [document in Russian with English title]
Gershman, Carl: Psychiatric Abuse in the Soviet Union," Society, July/August 1984; Lapenna, Ivo: "The Medico-Legal Society. Use and Misuse of Psychiatry in the USSR," The Royal Society of Medicine, London 12th June 1986; McCready, John and Harold Merskey: "Compliance by physicians with the 1978 Ontario Mental Health Act," Reprint from the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol. 124, March 15, 1981; McCready, John and Harold Merskey: "On the Recoding of Mental Illness for Civil Commitment," Can. J. Psychiatry Vol. 27, March 1982; Slovenko, Ralph: Analysis. The Destiny of South Africa," The World and I, July 1991.
The interviews with the former Soviet patients and the original 1989 recording are restricted and special permissions apply.
In 2021, members of the 1989 American delegation, some Soviet patients, Soviet doctors and other professionals, were invited to participate in the "Retrospective Review of the 1989 U.S. State Department Psychiatric Mission to the USSR" oral history project. Nineteen interviews were recorded, sixteen of them with the surviving members of the U.S. delegation, one with Andrei Kovalev, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the U.S.S.R. at the time, and two with former "Soviet patients." There is also an original 1989 recording of one interview.
These interviews provide a comprehensive overview of the history of Soviet psychiatric abuse, the reasons why psychiatric diagnosis was used to suppress dissent, the methods, medical and legal procedures, and who were the major players in Soviet psychiatric abuse. Emphasis is also made on assessing the U.S.-Soviet relationship in the 1980s and the special place that the 1989 State Department psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. held in the détente. All stages of negotiations and preparations for the mission were discussed as well as the methodology of psychiatric evaluations and the findings of the American experts. An additional emphasis was also made on assessing the state of Soviet psychiatric care as of the late 1980s and all the significant changes it was going through at the time. The role of World Psychiatric Association (WPA), the All-Union Society of Psychiatrists and Narcologists, the American Psychiatric Association and other important organizations, is also given proper attention. The interviewees also discuss the long-term impact that the 1989 U.S. mission made on Soviet and post-Soviet psychiatry.
Interview with Joseph D. Bloom, M.D.
Dr. Joseph D. Bloom did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Dr. Joseph D. Bloom was one of the few forensic psychiatrists on the 1989 U.S. Department of State Delegation to the Soviet Union to investigate the abuse of psychiatry. Bloom is Dean Emeritus of the Oregon Health and Science University and Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Arizona Fenix College of Medicine.
In the interview Dr. Bloom discusses his career, his interest in the topic of abuse of psychiatry and his involvement in the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric delegation to the U.S.S.R. He talks about the U.S. and Soviet (both Soviet professionals and Soviet interviewees) understanding of the purpose of the visit and the Soviet's compliance with the terms negotiated for the visit. He also talks about psychiatric hospitalization, detention and commitment process in the U.S.S.R., conditions of hospitalization in Soviet psychiatric hospitals and the legal rights of persons with mental disorders in the U.S.S.R. Dr. Bloom's explains his impressions from the trip to the Soviet Union and the conclusions made by the American delegation.
The highlights of the interview pertain to Dr. Bloom's recollection of a Soviet person who allegedly had a mental disorder, and his opinion as to the way the American final report should have been approached.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Kyrill Borissow
Kyrill Borissow did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Mr. Borissow is an American of a Russian descend. He was a contract interpreter for the U.S. State Department for many years. During the 1989 trip, he was on the sub-team # 3 under the leadership of Dr. Hirschfeld, interpreting in Leningrad.
Mr. Borissow shares his life story and describes his career. He talks about getting involved in the 1989 State Department trip to the Soviet Union, his previous trips to the U.S.S.R., and the social and political context that surrounded the visit and made it possible in the first place. Mr. Borissow describes his experience of interpreting in one of the psychiatric hospitals in Moscow as a part of the 1989 American mission as well as the work that Mr. Borissow's sub-team #3 did in Leningrad. He shares very interesting anecdotes that happened during the trip and talks about the lessons he learned during this trip.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with William Carpenter, M.D.
Dr. William Carpenter did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Dr. William Carpenter was leader of team #2 of the 1989 American investigative scientific mission to the Soviet Union. He is Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and former Director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.
In the interview Dr. Carpenter discusses his career, his involvement in the 1989 US State Department psychiatric delegation to the USSR, the main goals of the mission, various aspects of the implementation in great detail, the diagnostic aspects of the study, interview instruments and methodology, the Soviet mental health care system and its shortcomings, the conclusions made by Dr. Carpenter's sub-team, the impact the American visit made to the interviewed individuals an mental health in the region.
Dr. Carpenter also discusses the United States - Great Britain cross-national study of schizophrenia conducted in the 1960s and 70s and its pertinency to the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric investigative mission to the U.S.S.R. He also talks about the broad diagnostic criteria for sluggish schizophrenia and how much contributed to the missuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Robert William (Bill) Farrand
Robert William Farrand did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Robert William Farrand retired in 1998 after 34 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu from 1990 until 1993.
In 1988-89 he led the U.S. delegation of medical and forensic professionals to investigate the Soviet Union's political weaponizing of psychiatry, for which he received a Superior Honor Award.
Farrand was concurrently Supervisor of the Bosnian city of Brčko and Deputy High Representative for the northern sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1997 to 2000).
Ambassador Farrand talks about his long successful career in the U.S. State Department, the importance of the Soviet psychiatric abuse to the U.S. government and the larger context of the U.S. - U.S.S.R. relationships. As a person who worked closely with Ambassador Richard Schifter for many years, Mr. Farrand describes Schifter's goals and vision of the 1989 psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R.
Mr. Farrand describes the process of negotiating the terms of the visit and shares insights about interacting with a superpower as the Soviet Union was at that time. He also talks about the the peculiarities of governance in the U.S.S.R., and power dynamics inside the country. Mr. Farrand describes the efforts to preserve transparency and independence of the mission as well as managing its financial aspects and its highlighting in media. Mr. Farrand also talks about glasnost, perestroika, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Robert M.A. Hirschfeld
Dr. Robert Hirschfeld did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Dr. Robert Hirschfeld is Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was the team leader of team # 3 during the 1989 psychiatric delegation to the U.S.S.R.
Dr. Hirschfeld shares memories about his education and career, the way he got involved in the 1989 State Department psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R., the methodological approach to the patient interviews, the range of findings of his sub-team # 3 in Leningrad, and his general impressions of the Soviet Union as of 1989.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with William Hopkins
William Hopkins did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Mr. William Hopkins is a retired U.S. State Department staff interpreter. During the 1989 U.S. psychiatric mission to the USSR, he interpreted for team # 2 under the leadership of Dr. William Carpenter.
Mr. Hopkins talks at length about the way he became immersed in the Russian studies, his education, and career. He well remembers the settings and arrangements of interviewing the Soviet citizens who allegedly had mental disorders, his expectations and apprehensions about the upcoming 1989 mission, the types of questions asked of the Soviet interviewees, and the peculiarities of his task as an interpreter during this unique venture. He also mentions the debrief that the entire American team had in Washington, D.C. after the visit was over.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview_With_Mr_I
Mr. I. did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022). However, due to the sensitive nature of the topics covered in the interview, the University of Virginia restricts access according to the guidelines for more sensitive materials outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Mr. I. is a Soviet/Ukrainian dissident who was repeatedly involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for political reasons. He was one of the people interviewed by the U.S. State Department investigative psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. in 1989.
Mr. I. talks about his early life, family, education, how his dissident views formed and evolved with time. He shares about his repeated contacts with psychiatric system; he also describes his social and political activity and the repercussions he faced as a result. Mr. I. then tells about his criminal case, his forensic psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis, "symptoms", finding of non-imputability, the legal procedure used to involuntarily commit him to the Dnepropetrovsk special psychiatric hospital, and the inhumane conditions there. Mr. I. then describes his transfer to Nikolayev ordinary psychiatric hospital and release; he talks about his dissident activity that brought him back to the same hospital. He also describes his contacts with Ukrainian dissident movement at the end of 1980s and how he got on the list of people to be assessed by the U.S. team. The details of his participation in 1989 U.S. State Department mission are discussed next. Mr. I. then shares about the long-term impact this mission made on his life, his subsequent legal rehabilitation, being taken off the psychiatric register, the removal of his psychiatric diagnosis, his life and activism after 1989. Mr. I. describes some of his most interesting campaigns. The interview ends with a brief discussion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it affected Mr. I.'s life.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Samuel J. Keith
Dr. Samuel Keith did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Dr. Keith is the Emeritus Milton Rosenbaum Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He was a Deputy Director and Associate Director for Schizophrenia Programs at the NIMH as of 1989. He was the team leader of team # 1 during the 1989 psychiatric delegation to the U.S.S.R.
Dr. Keith talks about the role and expertise of NIMH that was crucial to the success of the 1989 U.S. psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. He recapitulates the main points and stumbling blocks of the negotiations with the Soviets in November 1988, various organizational aspects of the mission, as well as the interview instruments and methodology used by the American team. Dr. Keith shares his opinion about the concept of sluggish schizophrenia, its diagnostic criteria, and other factors that made it possible to abuse psychiatry in the Soviet Union. He also emphasizes Soviet life, society, and governance as of 1989. Dr. Keith discusses the Soviets' admission of "hyperdiagnoses" and the validity of the excuse of "hyperdiagnoses" from the professional point of view. He also expresses his opinion about the tone of the final report and the general context that the American team had to keep in mind when drafting it. Dr. Keith describes Schizophrenia Bulletin and his role as its editor-in-chief. He also talks about the 1990 Soviet Reciprocal Visit to the U.S.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Felix Kleyman
Dr. Felix Kleyman did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Dr. Felix Kleyman is a psychiatrist practicing in New York City. At the time of the 1989 U.S. State Department mission to the Soviet Union to investigate abuse of psychiatry, Dr. Kleyman was an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College. Dr. Kleyman was one of the few Russian-speaking, U.S.S.R. and U.S.-trained psychiatrists on the American team. Dr. Kleyman was also a member of the 1991 W.P.A. mission to the Soviet Union once the All-Union Society of Psychiatrists and Narcologists was provisionally readmitted to the W.P.A.
Dr. Kleyman is a great source of knowledge about the ins and outs of the Soviet mental health care system as the person who had about 10 years of professional experience on the ground. He talked about the uniqueness of his role during the American psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. that resulted from him being a native Russian speaker and being well familiar with life in the Soviet Union. Dr. Kleyman discusses the social and political context that surrounded the 1989 U.S. State Department visit and made it possible in the first place; the doctor patient relationship in the U.S.S.R.; Soviet diagnostic approaches and the role of Soviet psychiatrists during the American visit. Dr. Kleyman recalls his unique trip to Moscow Psychiatric Hospital # 5 to briefly speak with the patient who was claimed by the Soviets to have refused examination. He also talks about his experience as a member of the 1991 W.P.A. mission to the U.S.S.R.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Andrey Kovalev
Andrey Kovalev did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
As of 1989, Mr. Kovalev was a Senior Advisor of the Department for International Humanitarian and Cultural Relations at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was charged with bringing Soviet legislation and practice in line with the international obligations of the U.S.S.R. Mr. Kovalev was responsible for the development and implementation of the psychiatric reform, including the organization of the visit of the American psychiatric delegation in 1989.
Mr. Kovalev tells about the role of various domestic and international actors in the process of democratization of the U.S.S.R. in the late 1980s and bringing human rights into the Soviet Union. He also assesses the political factors of the early 1980s that allowed Gorbachev come to power and retain it. Mr. Kovalev shares his insights about the Soviet foreign policy of the second half of 1980s-early 1990s and the U.S. - U.S.S.R. relationships. He shares his knowledge about the history of abuse of psychiatry and the reasons for resorting to it; the Soviet psychiatric register and the consequences of being on a register; the sealed instruction on involuntary commitment that existed but was not available to the public. Mr. Kovalev talks about the chain of decision making in ensuring that the American visit will actually happen and the key events on that road. He also comments on the internal tensions between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) as well as the resistance put up by the M.O.H. in organizing the American visit. He also shares his views about the "system dissidents" in the U.S.S.R.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
2021_07_30_Ellen_Mercer_Interview
Ellen Mercer did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
At the time of the 1989 U.S. psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. Ms. Mercer was the Director of the A.P.A. Office of International Affairs. She is believed to be one of the initiators of the visit and was deeply involved in its planning and preparation as the representative of the American Psychiatric Association (A.P.A.). During the visit itself, she was a member of the team inspecting psychiatric hospitals on the ground.
Ms. Mercer talks about her career at the APA and the role that the APA played in advocating for the rights of the persons committed to psychiatric hospitals for non-medical reasons in the USSR. She then discusses the historical context for the 1989 State Department psychiatric delegation to the Soviet Union, including the 1977 Declaration of Hawaii and the All-Union Society's walking out of the WPA in 1983 in the face of an almost certain expulsion. Being a part of the November 1988 negotiation team to the Soviet Union, Ms. Mercer shares her thoughts about the negotiation process and the Soviet's compliance with the terms agreed upon. Ms. Mercer describes the field visit to Soviet psychiatric hospitals and then talks about the Soviet's readmission to the WPA, the role the 1989 U.S. State Department played in this process, the APA's and Ms. Mercer's personal stance with regard to the readmission. Ms. Mercer concludes by discussing the difference the American visit made in the big picture.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with John T. Monahan
Dr. John T. Monahan did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
John T. Monahan is the John S. Shannon Distinguished Professor of Law, Professor of Psychology, Hunton Andrews Kurth Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. He was the only forensic psychologist on the 1989 U.S. State Department investigative psychiatric mission to the Soviet Union.
Dr. Monahan talks about his professional training and the highlights of his career, his memories from the 1989 American visit to the Soviet Union, including the goals of the visit, its organizational aspects, and its media coverage. Dr. Monahan then focuses on the forensic evaluation methods and results, the rights of psychiatric patients in the Soviet Union, conditions of their hospitalization, treatment, and hospital staffing. Dr. Monahan concludes by describing his general impressions of Moscow and Leningrad and the conclusions the American team made as a result of the visit.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Peter Reddaway
Peter Reddaway did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Mr. Reddaway is a renowned expert on Russian and Soviet politics, author of many books and publications. He is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University.
Mr. Reddaway talks about his education and career and the way he became interested and immersed in the issue of abuse of psychiatry in the U.S.S.R. He discusses the impact that his and Sidney Bloch's 1977 and 1983 books made in the Soviet Union. He also shares his knowledge about the evolution of punitive psychiatry with each new Soviet leader. Mr. Reddaway talks about Mr. Gorbachev's personality, the political factors in the early 1980s that allowed for such a leader to emerge and retain power; the reasons for perestroika; the peculiarities of perestroika in psychiatry versus other spheres. Mr. Reddaway gives a comprehensive overview of various internal processes in the Soviet Union at the end of 1980s that were important prerequisites for the 1989 U.S. psychiatric mission. He discusses at length the role of the WPA in the battle against the abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union. Mr. Reddaway also gives a detailed overview of the field inspections to Soviet psychiatric hospitals that he did as a member of the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview with Darrel Regier
Dr. Darrel Regier did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Dr. Darrel Regier was the Scientific Director of the 1989 State Department investigative mission to the U.S.S.R. and coordinated all aspects of the clinical assessment procedure. Dr. Regier completed twenty-five years at the National Institute of Mental Health (N.I.M.H.), during which time he directed three research divisions in the areas of epidemiology, prevention, clinical research, and health services research. Dr. Regier is currently a Senior Scientist at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, in the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University. He also serves as an independent senior scientific consultant to the American Psychiatric Association (A.P.A.) on DSM-5 and research related issues.
The interview with Dr. Regier is of critical importance for the comprehensive retrospective evaluation of the long-term impact of the 1989 State Department investigative mission to the U.S.S.R. Dr. Regier not only played a key role in the preparation and implementation of the mission, but also successfully continued to help develop the quality and accessibility of mental health services in Russia after the U.S.S.R. collapse. Dr. Regier also continued to tackle the issue of psychiatric abuse in China. In his interview, Dr. Regier gives a historical overview of the development of diagnostic criteria that was subsequently used during the U.S. State Department investigative mission to the U.S.S.R. relating to psychiatric abuse. This interview provides a great description of the methodology used during the interviews. Dr. Regier also describes the NIMH goals, unique role and contribution to the 1989 mission and shares his insights about the factors that made it possible to weaponize psychiatry against dissidents in the Soviet Union. Dr. Regier also tells about his role in the work of Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission in the area on mental health care in Russia post the Soviet Union breakup.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
2022_Loren_Roth_Interview
In addition to the restrictions on access that applies to all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022), Dr. Loren Roth requested that The University of Virginia only make his interview available to researchers on-site at the repository preserving the interview.
Dr. Roth was the psychiatric leader of the 1989 U.S. State Department investigative psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. Following 44 years of distinguished service to the Department of Psychiatry and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Loren H. Roth, M.D., M.P.H., was recognized and awarded Emeritus status at a special reception following the Department's Annual Research Day held June 7, 2018. Prior to his being an Emeritus Professor, for the previous five years Dr. Roth was the Associate Senior Vice Chancellor, Clinic Policy and Planning, Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh; Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Clinical and Translational Science; and Senior Advisor, Quality, UPMC Health Plan. In addition to his many academic positions, Dr. Roth has held multiple leadership roles at UPMC culminating in his being the first Chief Medical Officer of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (U.P.M.C.) (2003-2007).
Dr. Roth describes his training and the highlights of his career; he then tells how he became interested in the issue of abuse of psychiatry in the U.S.S.R. His two human rights trips to the U.S.S.R. in 1985 and 1986 are discussed next. Dr. Roth then gives an overview of the general political background to the visit and tensions between him and Ambassador Schifter about some critical aspect of the visit. Dr. Roth then describes in detail the negotiation process between the U.S. and Soviet side, the main stumbling blocks, how he managed to overcome them, and who were his allies. Dr. Roth describes the Soviet uncooperativeness and tensions between the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then talks about informed consents, interview procedures, and the visit dynamics. He shares some anecdotes and most memorable events; he also talks about the people who meaningfully contributed to making the mission successful.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Interview_With_Mr_S
Mr. S. did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022). However, due to the sensitive nature of the topics covered in the interview, the University of Virginia restricts access to both recordings according to the guidelines for more sensitive materials outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Mr. S. is a Soviet/Russian dissident who was repeatedly involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for political reasons. He was one of the people interviewed by the U.S. State Department investigative psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. in 1989.
Mr. S. describes his early years, how his dissident views formed, his first arrest under Article 70 of the Criminal Code, his expert psychiatric evaluation at the Serbsky Institute, and the judicial procedure that followed. He describes his subsequent commitment in an 'ordinary' psychiatric hospital and shares insights about the internal regulations, regime, and the release procedure. He also talks about his next arrest and the legal aspects of it. Mr. S. shares his views about whether Soviet psychiatrists seriously believed that 'failure to adapt to the society' was a sign of mental illness and whether they can be blamed for presumably following the orders from above. Mr. S. proceedes to describe his transfer to a special psychiatric hospital, the mass release of political prisoners in 1987, the reasons for such a drastic change of the political course in the Soviet Union, and gives an overview of the U.S. – U.S.S.R. relationship in the second half of the twentieth century. He then talks about how the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric mission to the U.S.S.R. fit into the broader human rights negotiations in the CSCE. Mr. S. tells how he taken off the psychiatric register and legally rehabilitated; he talks about the destiny of the Criminal Code 'political' articles 70 and 190-1 and current political articles in Russian Criminal Code used to suppress dissent. Mr. S. shares about his life and political activity after 1989, his subsequent arrests, and his assessment of the evolution of civil and political freedom in Russia after 1989. He then talks about the future of Russia, his own future as a dissident in Russia, and his views about the Russian war in Ukraine.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
In addition to the oral history given in 2022, this file contains a recording of an interview that Mr. S gave on March 2, 1989.
Interview with Carolyn Smith
Carolyn Smith did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Fluent in English and Russian, Ms. Smith was a contract interpreter for the U.S. State Department for many years. She interpreted for both the 1989 American delegation and the 1991 WPA delegation to the Soviet Union. During the 1989 trip, she was on the sub-team # 1 under the leadership of Dr. Samuel J. Keith, M.D. interpreting in Moscow.
Ms. Smith shares her memories about interpreting for both 1989 U.S. State Department delegation and the 1991 WPA delegation to the Soviet Union. She explains how this experience compares to the other interesting projects she has been involved in throughout her career. She describes her most prominent memories about this job as well as the Soviet Union as of 1989.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
2021_09_06_Leon_Stern_Interview
In addition to the restrictions on access that applies to all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022), Dr. Leon Stern requested that The University of Virginia only make his interview available to researchers on-site at the repository preserving the interview.
Dr. Leon Stern is a Russian-speaking psychiatrist who was a member of the field team that inspected four psychiatric hospitals across the Soviet Union. Dr. Stern is a psychiatrist in private practice.
Dr. Stern describes his career and his pathway from the Soviet Union to the U.S. He shares his insights about some aspects of Soviet history, the issue of psychiatric abuse, its roots and reasons the Soviet government resorted to psychiatry to oppress dissent. Dr. Stern talks about the major differences between special psychiatrist hospitals vs. ordinary psychiatrist hospitals and gives some excellent illustrations of "symptoms" that the Soviet school of psychiatry considered signs of mental disorder. Dr. Stern shares his opinion as to the reasons why Soviet psychiatrists engaged in unethical practices. Dr. Stern describes the field trip in great detail, including some anecdotes and specific instances. He concludes by identifying the most important changes needed in Soviet psychiatry at the time and assesses the overall success of the American mission to the Soviet Union.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
This file includes correspondence with Richard Schifter and Robert van Voren.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of persons from the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.
Mr. S. sent the interviews to Olena Protensko in 2022.
This file contain sensitive information about the health or treatment of persons from the Soviet Union. The restrictions on access to these materials are outlined in the Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level of this finding aid.