Comment on Rezo Korinteli's ‘On the psycho-social conditions of psychotherapy in post-Soviet Georgia’

The article presents four case vignettes to illustrate the specific problems that characterize psychotherapeutic work in post-Soviet Georgia and gives a description of the political and social context that contributed to these problems.

When writing about the specific qualities of a Soviet and post-Soviet mentality I would rather focus on the differences between them that can be traced in our psychotherapeutic practice. There is no doubt that a Soviet mentality is characterized by an inherited and cultivated subservient attitude to the parental, authoritarian figure of the Leader. We only have to turn to the last few centuries of Russian history to see how this figure has become imprinted on the collective unconscious of the Russians and of the other nationalities which were part of the state of Russia. So it is quite evident that if this tyrannical figure is internalized, it can give rise to a rigid and destructive superego and even to an internal totalitarian persecutor. In our psychoanalytical practice in present day Russia, we often encounter this figure in the form of what I prefer to call moral masochistic tendencies, but perhaps this might be the subject for another article.

Dr. Korintelli is absolutely right when he states that a Soviet mentality is also characterized by its materialism and rejection of all that is spiritual and psychological. Many people, particularly of the older generation, are not ready to search for or accept psychological help. Sometimes they are inclined to identify it with psychiatric assistance which is seen as very frightening because it was used as means of persecution for all those who dared to think differently. The article's case vignette 3 is a vivid reflection of the difficulties the psychotherapist experiences in the creation of a working alliance and I was happy to read that this patient reacted so positively. In my work with such cases I too believe it is very important to trust and respect the healthy unconscious part of th