INTEGRATION OF PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL THERAPY INTO SOVIET PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE

Demyanov Gleb Valerevich

Psychopharmacotherapy appeared in the USSR in 1954. In less than a decade it became the main method of treating mental illnesses in the Soviet Union. However, psychopharmacological treatment was disseminated under the conditions of dominance in Soviet psychiatry of I.P. Pavlov's neurobiological concept of higher nervous activity and against the background of wide and long-term application of alternative methods of active biological therapy in psychiatric practice. The literature review identifies key problematic moments in the transformation of Soviet psychiatric treatment from the 1930s to the 1980s. Based on an analysis of domestic and foreign scientific literature, a conclusion is made about the almost seamless integration of psychopharmacotherapy into the psychiatric practice of the Soviet Union, which was primarily due to the continuation of the tradition of biological therapy in Soviet psychiatry.

Keywords:psychopharmacotherapy; psychopharmacology; psychotropic drugs; mental illness; Soviet psychiatry; active biological therapy.