The psychiatrization of politics and the politicization of mental disorders: The introduction of Aminazin to the Soviet Union in the 1950s
Dufaud, Grégory
The psychiatrization of politics and the politicization of mental disorders: The introduction of Aminazin to the Soviet Union in the 1950s - 2022.
54
In 1954, a Soviet laboratory synthesized Aminazin, the Soviet equivalent of Largactil, the commercial name for chlorpromazine. This article analyzes the conditions for the production of Aminazin and the multiple uses of neuroleptics: its prescription in hospitals in order to allow patients to return to society, the introduction of “supportive therapies” outside the hospital to limit relapse, and the implementation of “forced care” to silence “protesters.” This recourse to neuroleptics certainly echoed the regime’s ideological orientations, between valuing individuals’ social utility and sanctioning political dissent. By making possible the advent of a new regime of control over the body, these drugs gave psychiatrists the possibility of playing a new political and social role, which they had long been claiming.
The psychiatrization of politics and the politicization of mental disorders: The introduction of Aminazin to the Soviet Union in the 1950s - 2022.
54
In 1954, a Soviet laboratory synthesized Aminazin, the Soviet equivalent of Largactil, the commercial name for chlorpromazine. This article analyzes the conditions for the production of Aminazin and the multiple uses of neuroleptics: its prescription in hospitals in order to allow patients to return to society, the introduction of “supportive therapies” outside the hospital to limit relapse, and the implementation of “forced care” to silence “protesters.” This recourse to neuroleptics certainly echoed the regime’s ideological orientations, between valuing individuals’ social utility and sanctioning political dissent. By making possible the advent of a new regime of control over the body, these drugs gave psychiatrists the possibility of playing a new political and social role, which they had long been claiming.
Réseaux sociaux