The Vicissitudes of Psychoanalysis in Soviet Russia, 1930-1980

Abstract

This book considers the changing fortunes of psychoanalysis in Soviet Russia from 1930 to 1980.

Approaching social history in a psychoanalytic key, Lizaveta van Munsteren argues that the growing split between official and informal languages of the time produced multiple strategies to keep alive the conversation around prohibited subjects. Through original archival research on figures such as Bluma Zeigarnik, Alexander Luria, Filipp Bassin and Dmitry Uznadze, van Munsteren offers a more nuanced understanding of Soviet studies of the unconscious and the role of language in the formation of the mind and in mental disturbances. This book makes a significant contribution to the historiography of psychoanalysis and to the study of the cultural influence of psychoanalysis and its interdisciplinary engagements.

The Vicissitudes of Psychoanalysis in Soviet Russia, 1930-1980 will appeal to historians of psychoanalysis and psychology in Soviet Russia, psychosocial researchers and anyone interested in the critical history of psychoanalysis.