Forensic psychiatry in Russia – the links with Britain evolve further

Abstract

The perception of forensic psychiatry in Russia has been affected by the abuse of psychiatry for the detention of political dissidents during the later Soviet period (Smith & Oleszczuk, 1996). The Royal College of Psychiatrists played a key role in sanctioning the Soviet Society of Psychiatrists, but reintegration of Russian psychiatry into the international community of psychiatry now seems to be well underway.

Psychiatry in post-communist Ukraine: dismantling the past, paving the way for the future

“…As in other European countries, a new generation of Ukrainian psychiatrists is determined to ensure that the patients they treat receive the best standards of care. In Russia, the success of partnership projects involving UK and Russian mental health professionals has demonstrated the evolving benefits of exchanging experience on good clinical practice and models of service provision between these two countries in a range of specialties (Gordon & Meux, 2003;Bakanov et al, 2005). By promoting face-to-face discussion of alternative models of clinical practice and mental healthcare, initiatives such as these can offer Ukrainian and other former Soviet psychiatrists additional tools that may prove instrumental to the reforms that they are so eager to implement.…”