Boris Dmitrievich Karvasarsky (; 3 February 1931 – 24 September 2013) was a Russian

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

, a disciple of V. N. Myasishchev.

Biography

Education

Karvasarsky was born in Derazhnia,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, on 3 February 1931. In 1954 he graduated from

S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy The S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy () is a higher education institution of military medicine in Saint Petersburg and the Russian Federation. Senior medical staff are trained for the Russian Armed Forces and conduct research in military me ...

. Then he completed postgraduate courses in the Bekhterev Psychoneurological Institute and was awarded the Degree of Candidate of Science in 1961. He attained his M. D. degree at the age of 37 (in 1968).

Scientific work

Karvasarsky headed the Department of Neuroses and Psychotherapy in the Bekhterev Research Institute from 1961 until his death. During the period of 1982 until 1993 he also held the chair of Child-Adolescent Psychotherapy in Leningrad Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education. In 1986, he became Head of the Republican Center for Scientific and Methodic Coordination in Psychotherapy.

The objectives of the center include annual analysis of the state of psychotherapeutic services in Russia and ongoing education of the specialists rendering psychotherapeutic treatment to the population.

He worked as

editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

member of several journals including ''

The Bekhterev Review of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology The ''Bekhterev Review of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology'' () is a Russian peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed medical journal containing original research, systematic reviews, etc. relating to the areas of psychiatry, medical psychology and p ...

'' and the ''Bulletin of Psychotherapy''. He was president of the Russian Psychotherapeutic Association until his death. He has also been chief

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

of the

Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (, in short ) is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for health care and public health. The Ministry of Health oversees the legal regulation and state policies of health in Russia, ...

for about 20 years. Proceeding from V. Myasishchev's ideas and his conception of pathogenetic psychotherapy, Karvasarsky elaborated personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy. After making a special study of this psychotherapeutic approach, some research workers concluded it to be nothing but "Soviet

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

." Its proponents, however, challenge such a characterisation. When treating

neuroses Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...

, associates of the Bekhterev Psychoneurological Institute mainly make use of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy. The method has not been extensively used in other regions of today's Russia, but has been shown capable of yielding satisfactory results in patients with different mental disorders related to borderline psychiatry.

Awards

Karvasarsky has been the recipient of numerous awards including the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

and the title of .

Publications

He has published over 200 scientific works, among them books ''Psychotherapy'' (Leningrad, 1985) and ''Neuroses: Textbook for Doctors'' (

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, 1980, 2nd ed., 1990). Papers in English * Karvasarski B. D. Psychotherapy. – Soviet neurology a. psychiatry. 1988–1989 / Vol. XXI, N. 4. – New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1989, pp. 6–85. * Karvasarski B. D. Personality-oriented psychotherapy. American psychiatric association 142nd Annual Meeting May 6–11, 1989, San Francisco, California, p. 280.

References

External links

*
Boris Karvasarsky's profile
at the Bekhterev Institute website *

– a website dedicated to Boris Karvasarsky's school in psychotherapy *
Boris Karvasarsky's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karvasarsky, Boris 1931 births 2013 deaths Russian psychiatrists Honoured Scientists of the Russian Federation Academic journal editors S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy alumni