Semen Fisheliovych Hluzman (; born 10 September 1946,

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

) is a Ukrainian

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 ...

and human rights activist. He is also the president and founder of the ''Ukrainian Psychiatric Association'', founder of the ''American-Ukrainian Bureau for Human Rights'', director of the ''International Medical Rehabilitation Center for the Victims of War and Totalitarian Regimes'', a member of the Council of Experts under the Ukraine's Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. He also is co-chairperson of the ''Babi Yar Committee'' and former dissident and political prisoner. He holds M.D. qualification.

Biography

His father was doctor of medical sciences Fischel Hluzman (1904–1987). In 1968, he graduated from the Kyiv Medical Institute. After graduation, Hluzman started working in Ukrainian psychiatric hospitals and was offered a position at the

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Special Psychiatric Hospital in a city not far from the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. Semen Hluzman was the first psychiatrist in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to openly oppose Soviet abuse of psychiatry against dissenters. In 1971, Hluzman wrote an in-absentia psychiatric report on General Petro Hryhorenko who spoke against the human rights abuses in the Soviet Union. Hluzman came to the conclusion that Hryhorenko was mentally sane and had been taken to mental hospitals for political reasons. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hluzman was forced to serve seven years in labor camp and three years in Siberian exile for defending Hryhorenko against the charge of insanity. On 28 November 1977,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

added Hluzman to its list of 92 members of the medical profession who were imprisoned for their political beliefs. While in prison, Hluzman and fellow inmate

Vladimir Bukovsky Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (; 30 December 1942 – 27 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian Human rights activists, human rights activist and writer. From the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, he was a prominent figure in the Soviet dissid ...

jointly wrote ''A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissidents'' published in Russian, English, French, Italian, German, Danish. In the 1980s, Hluzman (who is a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

) turned down offers to migrate to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

by "people sent from American synagogues" and even Soviet officials. In 1991, Hluzman founded the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association (UPA) as an independent mouthpiece and created a commission to address grievances about civil rights violations by mental health administrators. In recognition of his courage and commitment to ethical psychiatry, Hluzman was given the title of a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatry Association and the title of an Honorary Member of the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental healt ...

in 1980. In 2008, Semen Hluzman was honored with the Geneva Prize for Human Rights in Psychiatry presented to him at the XIV Congress of the

World Psychiatric Association The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) is an international Umbrella organization, umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies. Objectives and goals Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

for exceptional courage and adherence to ideals of humanism, for renunciation of using psychiatry against political dissidents as well as for dissemination of ethical principles during the reform of mental health service in

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 ...

. Hluzman coauthored many research papers covering psychiatry in Ukraine, the health consequences of the Chornobyl accident, their risk perceptions,

suicide ideation Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

, heavy alcohol use,; nicotine dependence, intimate partner aggression.

References

Gluzman's publications

Books on Soviet psychiatry * * * The work in Russian was also published in: The work in English was published in: * * * * * * * Prose and poetry * * * Research papers in English without co-authors * * * * * Research papers in English with co-authors * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Research papers in Russian without co-authors * * * * * * * * The paper was also published in: * * * Research papers in Russian with co-authors * The paper was also published in * * Research papers in Ukrainian * Articles, reports, interviews, chapters in books * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gluzman, Semyon 1946 births Living people Physicians from Kyiv Soviet Jews Ukrainian Jews Ukrainian psychiatrists Psychiatry academics Fellows of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Soviet dissidents Ukrainian dissidents Soviet human rights activists Ukrainian human rights activists Writers from Kyiv Ukrainian writers in Russian Ukrainian non-fiction writers Ukrainian medical writers 20th-century Ukrainian writers 21st-century Ukrainian writers Soviet psychiatric abuse whistleblowers Soviet prisoners and detainees Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by the Soviet Union Ukrainian prisoners and detainees