Professor A. V. Snezhnevsky
All-Union Society of Psychiatrists
Institute of Psychiatry
USSR Academy of Medical Sciences
Zagorodynoye Shesse 2
Moscow M.-152
U.S.S.R.
Dear Professor Snezhnevsky:
In 1971 the American Psychoanalytic Association adopted the following resolution:
The American Psychoanalytic Association, in keeping with its concerns for standards of ethical conduct, deplores the misuse of psychiatric hospitalization as a political device wherever and whenever this occurs. We encourage our members to inform themselves of such activities in order to be able to effectively express their concern.
At the time it was believed sufficient to condemn such action wherever it occurs, without specifying any nation. Before and since that time, however, there have been indications that psychiatry has been extensively and continuously abused for political purposes in the Soviet Union. While the documentary evidence of such misue of psychiatry is convincing, there is no court of redress to which it can be presented. Nevertheless, in the face of continuing reports, we would be derelict not to address this communication to you for whatever moral suasion it may have.
For individual psychiatrists or psychiatric institutions to diagnose political dissent as a symptom of schizophrenia or paranoia, to regard original opinions in the behavioral sciences or on the political scene as mental aberrations, and to incarcerate persons for the expression of such views without proper defense are actions contrary to the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights voted by the member nations of the United Nations twenty-five years ago.
In response to numerous appeals from Soviet dissenters, often men of great eminence in their fields, who have taken considerable risk in contacting colleagues outside the Soviet Union, the American Psychoanalytic Association joins other scientific organizations in officially expressing its concern about totalitarian assaults on human rights, including the unwarranted labeling of dissenters as mentally ill and their incarceration in hospitals as virtual prisoners. On December 15, 1973, the Meeting of Members of the American Psychoanalytic Association voted its emphatic condemnation of such abuse of psychiatry.
Only by keeping the science and profession of psychiatry completely free of political and ideological coercion will Soviet psychiatrists and institutions achieve the respect and confidence essential to a fruitful exchange with colleagues in other countries. At that time the Soviet Union will be able to realize its potential for contributing significantly to the understanding of human behavior.
Sincerely,
Burness E. Moore, M.D.
President