Doctors saw ‘systematic abuses’ of dissidents

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 6

Doctors saw ‘systematic abuses’ of dissidents

NZPA-Reuter London; | A defecting Soviet psychiatrist has given detailed] examples of corruption of] psychiatry for political pur-! poses which he said he wit-1 nessed in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Giving his first press conference in the West in London, Dr Avtandil Papiashvili from Georgia appealed to the world congress of psychiatry now taking place in Honolulu to condemn “the systematic abuses” he had witnessed. Dr Papiashvili, who is 30, worked in Tbilisi, Georgia, for a year and in Czechoslovakia for two years be-1 fore defecting with his Czechoslovak wife, Eva, to! Austria last May. He drew special attention

!on Wednesday to the theo-i fries of the head psychiatrist; ]of the Soviet Union, Professor Andrei Snezhnevsky. j “These theories expand ! with little justification the) I boundaries of schizophrenia) and make possible a ‘scientific’ basis for diagnosing schizophrenia in mentally healthy people,” he said. Dr Papiashvili cited three cases at the Tbilisi Psychiatric Research Unit where i he saw patients who were ; not mentally ill diagnosed as schizophrenics because of certain criticisms of the internal political system of • the Soviet Union. | j “The diagnosis was clearly] fabricated and I actively op-] iposed this decision,” he said.! I One of the three patients' who wanted to be dis-

i charged, was forcibly detained and beaten up, he added. “When I spoke up I was I] told I must learn to adapt to i the Soviet methods of psyJchiatry otherwise I would ruin my whole career.” The doctor said that during political events, such as ; elections or visits by foreign leaders and State holidays, ; the secret police (K.G.8.) asked for lists of former patients and forced into hos- : pital those who might voice public criticism. Other abuses included heavy doses of neuroleptic drugs, used for severe forms] >of schizophrenia, insulin] shock treatment and! • sometimes an injection of) 1 suiphazine, a drug which! causes acute pain in the! • body.