A reflection on the exercise of authoritarian power.

Soviet psychiatry is now reductively, if not falsely seen as a misguided medical specialty that was used to repress political opponents. This book provides a different perspective, showing how the treatment of madness in the Soviet Union has been an area of initiative and innovation, driven by psychiatrists concerned with the mental health of the population and careful not to cut their specialties off from medical practice. Exploring the variety of meanings and uses of Soviet psychiatry, this work sheds light on the complex relationship it maintained with political power, as well as the vision of scientific and social progress that structured it.