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muriel_volestrangler

(107,020 posts)
25. Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union
Thu Sep 4, 2025, 05:17 PM
Sep 2025
There was systematic political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union,[1] based on the interpretation of political opposition or dissent as a psychiatric problem.[2] It was called "psychopathological mechanisms" of dissent.[3]

During the leadership of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, psychiatry was used to disable and remove from society political opponents (Soviet dissidents) who openly expressed beliefs that contradicted the official dogma.[4][5] The term "philosophical intoxication", for instance, was widely applied to the mental disorders diagnosed when people disagreed with the country's Communist leaders and, by referring to the writings of the Founding Fathers of Marxism–Leninism—Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin—made them the target of criticism.[6] Another common pseudo-diagnosis was "sluggish schizophrenia".

Article 58-10 of the Stalin-era Criminal Code, "Anti-Soviet agitation", was to a considerable degree preserved in the new 1958 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Criminal Code as Article 70 "Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda". In 1967, a weaker law, Article 190-1 "Dissemination of fabrications known to be false, which defame the Soviet political and social system", was added to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Criminal Code. These laws were frequently applied in conjunction with the system of diagnosis for mental illness, developed by academician Andrei Snezhnevsky. Together, they established a framework within which non-standard beliefs could easily be defined as a criminal offence and the basis, subsequently, for a psychiatric diagnosis.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_in_the_Soviet_Union

Recommendations

2 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

WTF Pachamama Sep 2025 #1
they want to blame mass shootings on trans folk, immigrants, etc Skittles Sep 2025 #10
It will be illegal to be a Trans or Gay person in this country very soon probably Eliot Rosewater Sep 2025 #2
If they can do this with trans people, they could do it with gays, blacks, liberals, whomever they want AZJonnie Sep 2025 #3
Name and gender changes are fairly easy to track on FBI background checks. The other stuff isn't. LeftInTX Sep 2025 #30
Maybe they should just ban MEN from owning them TexasBushwhacker Sep 2025 #4
How about banning Trump voters from owning weapons? C_U_L8R Sep 2025 #5
I would like to see stats on rampaging transgender people, Bayard Sep 2025 #6
Where's the 2A crowd? Trump is coming for your guns. /nt bucolic_frolic Sep 2025 #7
The solution is the absolute right of any citizen The Mouth Sep 2025 #27
And it's a short step to involuntary commitment. TommyT139 Sep 2025 #8
They are doing that now with homeless Nigrum Cattus Sep 2025 #17
Yep TommyT139 Sep 2025 #24
If that's hildegaard28 Sep 2025 #9
But not angry young Incel men... Chasstev365 Sep 2025 #11
Cuz they're real 'Mericans. Redleg Sep 2025 #15
The purpose is to allow easier mass arrests and detention. Oneironaut Sep 2025 #12
Yup orangecrush Sep 2025 #29
They will claim that it is a mental illness Redleg Sep 2025 #13
Yep. hamsterjill Sep 2025 #22
Which does nothing for all the other people who do mass shootings IronLionZion Sep 2025 #14
Per CNN, in the last decade, there have been 5000 mass shootings. Staph Sep 2025 #16
voting for trump is a mental disorder moonshinegnomie Sep 2025 #18
Dump better be careful. Any ban on gun ownership could be widened. Could be a path to real gun regulation. Martin68 Sep 2025 #19
How about if the transgender person indicates she'll return to being a full-time, dyed-in-the-wood male? Vinca Sep 2025 #20
Looking at a few cases TommyT139 Sep 2025 #26
This fascist obsession with less than 1% of the population is beyond neurotic. If they do this, it will set the Karasu Sep 2025 #21
This message was self-deleted by its author LongtimeAZDem Sep 2025 #23
Fantastic question gay texan Sep 2025 #28
Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union muriel_volestrangler Sep 2025 #25
Precedent...... First, they came for::: Norrrm Sep 2025 #31
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