Bekhterev's works on psychology. Bekhterev Vladimir Mikhailovich

In 2007, the 150th anniversary of the birth of V.M. Bekhterev - encyclopedist scientist: neuropathologist, psychiatrist, morphologist, physiologist, psychologist, founder of the national school of psychoneurologists.

Bekhterev Vladimir Mikhailovich was born on January 20 (February 1, new style) 1857, in the village of Sarali, Elabuga district, Vyatka province - now the village of Bekhterevo in the Republic of Tatarstan.

Bekhterev's father, Mikhail Pavlovich, was a police officer; mother, Maria Mikhailovna, the daughter of a titular councilor, was educated at a boarding school, where they taught both music and French. In addition to Vladimir, there were two more sons in the family: Nikolai and Alexander, 6 and 3 years older than him. In 1864 the family moved to Vyatka, and a year later the head of the family died of consumption. The family's financial situation was very difficult, nevertheless the brothers received higher education.

In 1873, at the age of 16.5 years, V.M. Bekhterev entered the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg. Soon after admission, he suffered a mental disorder - “severe neurasthenia” (diagnosed by V.M. Bekhterev himself) - possibly caused by the new living conditions of a provincial youth in the capital, but 28 days of treatment in the clinic for mental and nervous diseases of the academy restored his health. Perhaps that is why, as a 4th year student, he chose the specialty “nervous and mental illnesses,” but in his autobiography he himself explained the choice by saying that it gave him the opportunity to be closer to public life. As a final year student, Bekhterev took part in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878. as part of the “flying sanitary detachment of the Ryzhov brothers.” One of the brothers was a student at the Medical-Surgical Academy. The squad of 12 people included 7 medical students from the Moscow Art Academy. Under the pseudonym "Orphan" Bekhterev wrote notes for the newspaper "Severny Vestnik". In 1878, Bekhterev passed his final exams ahead of schedule and very successfully and was left for further improvement at the Professorial Institute at the Academy.

On September 9, 1879, Bekhterev married Natalya Petrovna Bazilevskaya, whom he had known from the gymnasium bench back in Vyatka. They had six children: Eugene, born in 1880, soon died, Olga was born in 1883, Vladimir in 1887, Peter in 1888, Ekaterina in 1890, beloved daughter Maria in 1904 .

In 1881, Bekhterev defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic: “Experience in clinical research of body temperature in some forms of mental illness,” and on November 20 of the same year he received the academic title of privat-docent. In 1883, the Italian Society of Psychiatrists elected V.M. Bekhterev became a full member, and the Society of Russian Doctors awarded him a silver medal for his study “On forced and violent movements during the destruction of certain parts of the central nervous system.”

As a candidate for an internship, V.M. Bekhterev submitted 58 works to the competition commission on various issues of experimental research and the clinic of nervous and mental illnesses, and on June 1, 1984, by decision of the Academy Conference, he was sent on his first scientific trip abroad to Germany. V.M. Bekhterev attended lectures by Westphal, Mendel, Dubois-Raymond and other famous German scientists who studied the nervous system. Then in Leipzig he worked with the leading neurologist and morphologist of that time, P. Flexig, to whom he soon dedicated his first fundamental monograph, “The Conducting Paths of the Spinal Cord and Brain.” Here he began to study psychology in the laboratory of the famous W. Wund. In December 1884 V.M. Bekhterev received an official invitation from the Minister of Public Education Delyanov to occupy the department of psychiatry at Kazan University. He accepted this invitation with certain conditions, one of which included completing a full scientific mission program. After Leipzig, Bekhterev visited Paris, where he became acquainted with the work of the great J. Charcot, and then Munich (prof. Gudden’s clinic) and completed his business trip in the summer of 1885 in Vienna at the clinic of prof. Meynert.

In the fall of 1885 V.M. Bekhterev began working at Kazan University. He reorganized the Department of Psychiatry, at which he soon organized the first psychophysiological laboratory in Russia, where V.M. Bekhterev began to study the morphology of the nervous system. During the Kazan period of V.M.’s life. Bekhterev enriched science with discoveries in the field of anatomy and physiology of various structures of the brain and spinal cord. These studies were summarized in the first monograph, “The Conducting Pathways of the Spinal Cord and Brain” (1893); three years later, in 1896, a second, thoroughly revised edition was published, three times larger in volume and supplemented by 302 drawings made from brain preparations. This is an enormously valuable collection of empirical material obtained both by the author himself and by other researchers. German professor F. Kopsch (1868–1955) argued that “only two people know the anatomy of the brain perfectly - God and Bekhterev.” In 1892 V.M. Bekhterev was the initiator of the creation of the Kazan Neurological Society, and in 1893 he created the journal “Neurological Bulletin”, of which he was the editor for many subsequent years.

September 26, 1893 V.M. Bekhterev, instead of his teacher I.P., who retired due to length of service. Merzheevsky (1838–1908), headed the department of mental and nervous diseases of the Military Medical Academy and became director of the clinic of mental illnesses of the Clinical Military Hospital, on the basis of which the department was located. Here, research continued that began in Kazan and ended with the publication in 1903–1907 of the monograph “Fundamentals of the Study of Brain Functions,” in 7 parts. This 2,500-page work contains an analysis of the functions of various parts of the nervous system. In 1909 the work was translated into German. During his service in the Military Medical Academy (1893–1913), the family of V.M. Bekhtereva occupied a government-owned apartment at the psychiatric clinic of the Military Medical Academy (Botkinskaya St., 9).

In St. Petersburg in 1896 V.M. Bekhterev created the journal “Review of Psychiatry, Neurology and Experimental Psychology”, and in 1897 a newly built clinic for nervous diseases of the Military Medical Academy (Lesnoy Ave., 2) was opened, in which a special operating room was organized for the surgical treatment of certain nervous and mental disorders. diseases.

In 1899 V.M. Bekhterev was elected academician of the Military Medical Academy and awarded the gold medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A year later (in 1900) for the monograph “Conducting Pathways of the Spinal Cord and Brain” V.M. Bekhterev was awarded the Baer Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the same year, he was elected chairman of the Russian Society of Normal and Pathological Psychology and professor of the Women's Medical Institute in the department of nervous and mental illnesses.

During the winter of 1905/1906 V.M. Bekhterev served as head of the Military Medical Academy. In his autobiography, he wrote about this time: “I was required to lead the academy, as an institution of the military department, “safely” through the storm and stress of the revolution. I can say that this was done with honor, but it would be unnecessary to convey here the details of all the incidents that happened at the academy during this time.” The Minister of War invited V.M. Bekhterev to take this post “finally..., retaining my department and directorship of the clinic,” but V.M. Bekhterev refused: during these years his scientific interests were aimed at studying psychology - in 1903 he first proposed the creation of a Psychoneurological Institute. These plans were successfully realized in 1907. In the same year V.M. Bekhterev received the title of Honored Ordinary Professor.

Over the next four years, filled with efforts to create the institute, V.M. Bekhterev completed the three-volume monograph “Objective Psychology”. In 1911, the Institute’s first own buildings appeared in the so-called Tsar’s Town behind the Nevskaya Zastava, built by the famous specialist in the construction of medical institutions, court architect R. F. Meltzer (1860–1943). In the same 1911 V.M. Bekhterev published a monograph “Hypnosis, suggestion and hypnotherapy and their therapeutic value.”

In 1912, an Experimental Clinical Institute for the Study of Alcoholism was opened within the structure of the Psychoneurological Institute. A year later, the international scientific community decided to transform it into an international scientific center. On January 19, 1913, the Council of the Psychoneurological Institute unanimously elected V.M. Bekhterev as President of the Institute for the next five years; On January 24, the relevant documents were sent for approval to the Ministry of Public Education.

In September-October V.M. Bekhterev took part in the Beilis Case, which was widely discussed in Russia: he conducted a second psychiatric examination and proved the innocence of Mendel Beilis (he was charged with the ritual murder of the Orthodox 13-year-old boy Andrei Yushchinsky, and according to the results of the first examination conducted by Professor I.A. Sikorsky, this possibility was not excluded). After the speech by V.M. Bekhterev's trial M. Beilis was acquitted by the jury. The examination of the Beilis case went down in the history of science as the first forensic psychological and psychiatric examination.

Immediately after V.M.’s speech. Bekhterev on the “Beilis Case”, on October 5, the answer came from the Minister of Public Education L.A. Casso (1865–1914) on the presentation of the Psychoneurological Institute: he did not find it “possible to approve Academician Privy Councilor Bekhterev for the new five-year period with the rank of President of the Institute.” At the same time V.M. Bekhterev was dismissed from the Military Medical Academy and from the Women's Medical Institute.

In 1913, the Bekhterev family settled in their own house, built according to the design of the architect R.F. Meltzer on Kamenny Island. In those days, on the plot of the mansion there were auxiliary buildings: a stable, a garage for the scientist’s car, etc. (only the main building has survived). In addition, the family had a dacha “Quiet Coast” on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (the area of ​​​​the current village of Smolyachkovo), where they spent Sundays, holidays and the whole summer. Not far from Bekhterev’s dacha, about thirty versts, there was “Penates” - the estate of the Russian artist I.E. Repin (1844–1930), who was often visited by Bekhterev. According to the recollections of the scientist’s daughter Maria, they went to Repin along the bay on horseback across the shifting sands twice a summer, and always on Ilya’s Day. In the summer of 1913 I.E. Repin painted the famous portrait of V.M. Bekhterev, stored in the Russian Museum, and its author's copy is in the memorial museum of V.M. Bekhterev at the Psychoneurological Institute. The same museum also houses the work of sculptor E.A. Flea - bust of a scientist. While posing V.M. Bekhterev himself sculpted the head of a suffering boy from a piece of clay, and the sculptor Bloch added this work of the scientist to his bust of Bekhterev. The meaning of the amazing composition can be expressed as follows: the suffering of the patient is the essence of Bekhterev the doctor.

During the First World War, V.M. Bekhterev contributed to the re-equipment of the Psychoneurological Institute into a Military Hospital, which housed a first-class neurosurgical department, which was later transformed into the first Neurosurgical Institute in Russia. In 1916, the educational units at the Psychoneurological Institute were transformed into the Private Petrograd University.

Revolution of 1917 V.M. Bekhterev accepted and from December 1917 began working in the scientific and medical department of the People's Commissariat for Education. Since 1918, he was already a member of the Academic Council under the People's Commissariat for Education, and in the same year he managed to organize the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity (Brain Institute), for which the government allocated the building of the palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr. (Petrovskaya embankment, 2 ). At the Institute, research began in full swing within the framework of a new scientific direction, called V.M. Bekhterev reflexology. In the same year, his monograph “General Fundamentals of Reflexology” was published.

In 1918, the Private Petrograd University at the Psychoneurological Institute received the official status of the Second Petrograd University. But in 1919, a reorganization of higher education took place in Petrograd, as a result of which the law and pedagogical faculties were transferred to the First Petrograd University, the medical faculty was transformed into the State Institute of Medical Knowledge (GIMZ), the chemical-pharmaceutical department - into the Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute , Zooveterinary Faculty - at the Veterinary and Zootechnical Institute. Thus, the training system created at the university at the Psychoneurological Institute turned out to be so perfect that, if the need arose, individual faculties and even departments were turned into independent higher education institutions without any particular difficulties.

January 1, 1920 V.M. Bekhterev appealed in print to doctors around the world to protest against the food blockade of Russia, which was organized by the Entente countries. This speech in print was broadcast on the same day abroad. The speech of the world-famous scientist had a certain impact on the public of foreign countries, and after some time a message appeared in the newspapers that the blockade was being lifted.

From 1920 until the end of V.M.’s life. Bekhterev was a deputy of the Petrograd Soviet, taking an active part in the work of the permanent commission on public education.

In 1921 V.M. Bekhterev achieved the reorganization of the system of research institutions of the Psychoneurological Institute into the Psychoneurological Academy and was elected its President. In the same year V.M. Bekhterev published the monograph “Collective Reflexology”. During this period, the scientist paid a lot of attention to studying the physiology of labor processes in various professions and issues of scientific organization of labor.

In the memoirs of employees V.M. Bekhterev and his relatives note his distinctive feature - incredible ability to work. In between lectures, he did not rest, but conducted hypnosis sessions in the next classroom. I was constantly writing something, even on the road. I slept no more than 5–6 hours a day, usually falling asleep at 3 am. After waking up, often without getting up, V.M. Bekhterev began working on the manuscripts. He was modest and undemanding. External living conditions did not play any role for him and his work. Three times a week V.M. Bekhterev conducted visits to patients at home from eight o'clock in the evening and often until late at night (up to 40 patients per evening).

In the summer at V.M.’s dacha Bekhterev slept and worked on the balcony with a huge open window overlooking the bay. There was a small table and a comfortable straw chair in which he sometimes wrote poetry to relax, and over time he accumulated quite a lot of them. Valuing time, he almost never walked. He ate little, mainly vegetarian and dairy foods. For breakfast I preferred steep oatmeal jelly with milk. At lunch he was served a fresh salad separately, without seasoning, with whole leaves. Didn't drink alcohol or smoke at all. I systematically swam in the bay until late autumn.

Brilliant abilities, an inquisitive mind, unwavering perseverance in achieving the goal and the incomparable ability of V.M. Ankylosing spondylitis were aimed at consistently solving the most difficult problems of medical theory and practice in the study, treatment and prevention of neuropsychiatric diseases.

After the revolution, Bekhterev’s wife Natalya Petrovna lived at the “Quiet Coast” dacha, which ended up abroad, in Finland. During the period of post-revolutionary devastation in the life of V.M. Bekhterev another woman appeared - Berta Yakovlevna Gurzhi (nee Are). B.Ya. Gurzhi, an office employee at the Commission for the Improvement of the Living Life of Scientists (KUBU), provided V.M. Bekhterev had his own apartment, located in the city center, to receive patients. After the death of Natalya Petrovna in 1926, Bekhterev formalized his relationship with Berta Yakovlevna, and she began to bear his last name.

In 1927 V.M. Bekhterev received the title of Honored Scientist. On December 24, 1927, during the First All-Union Congress of Neuropathologists and Psychiatrists in Moscow, at which V.M. Bekhterev made a report; he died suddenly. The circumstances of the disease - its development within 24 hours, the unprofessionalism of the treatment - as well as the peculiarities of the pathological autopsy (only the brain was removed and examined), the hasty cremation of the body in Moscow and the subsequent oblivion of the scientist for 30 years - all this suggests a violent nature of death. Berta Yakovlevna, who accompanied Bekhterev to Moscow, was present at his death. In 1937 she was repressed and a month after her arrest she was shot. Urn with the ashes of V.M. Bekhterev, kept for many years in the memorial museum of V.M. Bekhterev, only in 1970 was buried on the Literary Bridge. The author of the tombstone is M.K. Anikushin (1917–1997).

“Systematic index of works and speeches by V.M. Bekhterev, printed in Russian,” compiled by O.B. Kazanskaya and T.Ya. Khvilivitsky in 1954, contains about a thousand titles. These works reflect: the discoveries of V.M. Bekhterev in the morphology and physiology of the nervous system, description of 19 new forms of diseases in psychoneurology, invention of many new methods of diagnosis and treatment, etc. It is known that V.M. Bekhterev conducted approximately a thousand forensic psychiatric examinations. The journal “Bulletin of Knowledge” in 1926 published a list of institutions and journals that arose on the initiative and with the direct participation of Vladimir Mikhailovich: institutions - 33, journals - 10. Subsequently, studies of the scientist’s work made it possible to add another 17 institutions and 2 journals to this list. Work on the bibliography of works by V.M. Ankylosing spondylitis continues, and currently there are 1,350 works published in various journals and individual publications in Russian and about 500 in other languages, mainly in German and French. However, the complete collection of works has not yet been published.

In 1957, for the 100th anniversary of the scientist, the street on which the Psychoneurological Institute is located was named Bekhterev Street, in 1960 a monument was erected to him in front of the main building of the institute (sculptor M.K. Anikushin), a memorial plaque was placed on the building: “Founder Psychoneurological Institute, academician V. M. Bekhterev worked here from 1908 to 1927.” Since 1925, the Psychoneurological Institute bears his name.

(1857-1927) - Soviet neurologist, psychiatrist and psychologist, morphologist and physiologist of the nervous system. After graduating from the Medical-Surgical Academy (St. Petersburg) in 1878, he remained at the Department of Psychiatry of I. P. Mergeevsky. In 1881 he defended his doctorate and dissertation. In 1884 he was sent abroad, where he worked for E. Dubois-Reymond, W. Wundt, T. Meinert. Since 1885, he headed the department of psychiatry in Kazan, where he founded a clinic and laboratory, the Kazan Society of Neuropathologists and Psychiatrists and the journal Neurological Bulletin. Since 1893, he headed the department of neuropathology and psychiatry at the Military Medical Academy. By organizing the neurosurgical department, V. M. Bekhterev laid the foundation for this section of surgery. In 1908 he organized the Psychoneurological Institute. For his progressive public speeches, V. M. Bekhterev was persecuted by the tsarist authorities. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, he took the side of Soviet power and did a lot of work in the field of health care, education and the organization of science. In 1918 he founded the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity.

V. M. Bekhterev owns over 600 scientific works. Research in the field of studying the structure of the brain has yielded completely new facts of global significance. He discovered the nuclei and pathways in the brain, created the doctrine of the pathways of the spinal cord and the functional anatomy of the brain; the anatomical and physiological basis of balance and orientation in space and the function of the thalamus have been established; the centers of movement and secretion of internal organs are open in the cerebral cortex; It has been proven that the motor fields of the cerebral cortex are the basis of individually acquired, learned movements. Together with his colleagues, he developed methods of combination motor reflexes in animals and humans; discovered a number of normal and pathological reflexes; he described painful symptoms and syndromes (see Ankylosing spondylitis reflexes, symptoms), and designed many devices.

V. M. Bekhterev developed objective methods for studying the neuropsychic development of children. He made the first attempt to objectively study the influence of the team on the psyche and behavior of a person. He identified diseases such as painful stiffness of the spine (see Ankylosing spondylitis), choreic epilepsy, post-apoplectic hemitonia, syphilitic multiple sclerosis, acute cerebellar ataxia of alcoholics, etc.

In the field of psychiatry, V. M. Bekhterev was one of the first to study the issue of psychopathy and circular psychosis, the relationship between nervous and mental illnesses, psychopathology, the clinic and pathogenesis of hallucinations; described a number of forms of obsessive states; various manifestations of mental automatism; identified somatophrenia as an independent disease. In the treatment of neuropsychic diseases, he introduced combination-reflex therapy of neuroses, alcoholism, psychotherapy using the method of distraction and re-education, and collective psychotherapy.

V. M. Bekhterev took part in the preparation of the 1st edition. BME and was editor of articles on reflexology.

Essays: Experience in clinical research of body temperature in some forms of mental illness, dissertation, St. Petersburg, 1881; Conducting pathways of the spinal cord and brain, parts 1-2, St. Petersburg, 1896-1898; Neuropathological and psychiatric observations, vol. 1-2, St. Petersburg, 1900-1910; Fundamentals of the doctrine of brain functions, vol. 1-7, St. Petersburg, 1903-1907; Psyche and life, St. Petersburg, 1904; Objective psychology, in. 1-3, St. Petersburg, 1907-1912; Suggestion and its role in public life, St. Petersburg, 1908; Hypnosis, suggestion and psychotherapy, St. Petersburg, 1911; General diagnosis of diseases of the nervous system, parts 1-2, St. Petersburg, 1911-1915; General principles of human reflexology, 1st ed., Pg., 1918, 4th ed., M.-L., 1928; Collective reflexology, Pg., 1921; The brain and its activity, M.-L., 1928.

Bibliography: Astvatsaturov M.I., V.M. Bekhterev as a neurologist, Sat., dedicated. To Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, to the 40th anniversary of his professorial activity (1885-1925), L., 1926; V. M. Bekhterev and modern psychoneurology (All-Union scientific conference, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. M. Bekhterev), JI., 1957; MunipovV. M., V. M. Bekhterev, M., 1969; Myasishchev V.N. Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, in the book: People of Russian Science, ed. I. V. Kuznetsova, p. 592, M., 1963; aka, V.M. Bekhterev, a wonderful scientist, doctor, teacher, public figure, L.-M., 1953; Osipov V.P. Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, M., 1947; Tekutyev F. S. Historical sketch of the department and clinic of mental and nervous diseases at the Military Medical Academy, p. 227, St. Petersburg, 1898, bibliogr.; Filimonov I. N. Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (1857-1957), Klin, medical, vol. 35, Ks 3, p. 3, 1957; X and zh n i -k about in V.V., V.M. Bekhterev (1857-1927), bibliographic index with annotations, M., 1946; Yudin T. Essays on the history of Russian psychiatry, p. 122 and others, M., 1951.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, world-famous neuropathologist, psychiatrist, physiologist, founder of the national school of psychoneurologists, was born on February 1, 1857 in the village of Sorali, Vyatka province.

The choice of specialty was influenced by Bekhterev's illness and mental disorder. Therefore, at the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy, in his senior years, he chose nervous and mental illnesses as a direction. Subsequently, he participated in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

In 1881, Vladimir Mikhailovich defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic “Experience in clinical research of body temperature in some forms of mental illness,” and also received the academic title of privat-docent.

After a number of years heading the department of psychiatry at Kazan University, in 1893 Bekhterev headed the department of mental and nervous diseases of the Imperial Military Medical Academy, and

He also became the director of the mental illness clinic at the Clinical Military Hospital.

IN 1899 Bekhterev was elected academician of the Military Medical Academy and awarded the gold medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For a short time, Vladimir Mikhailovich acted as head of the academy.

Vladi The world Mikhailovich Bekhterev took the initiative to create the Psychoneurological Institute, and thanks to his efforts, in 1911 the first buildings of the institute appeared behind the Nevskaya Zastava. Soon he becomes president of the institute.

Bekhterev also actively participated in public life. In 1913, he took part in the famous politically charged “Beilis case”. After Bekhterev’s speech, the main accused was acquitted, and the examination in his case went down in the history of science as the first forensic psychological and psychiatric examination.

This behavior displeased the authorities, and soon Bekhterev was dismissed from the academy, the Women's Medical Institute and was not approved for a new term as president of the Psychoneurological Institute.

V.M. Bekhterev studied a significant part of psychiatric, neurological, physiological and psychological problems, while in his approach he invariably focused on a comprehensive study of problems of the brain and man. He studied the problems of hypnosis and suggestion for many years.

The support of the Soviet government ensured him a relatively decent existence and activity in the new Russia. He works at the People's Commissariat for Education and creates the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity. However, the alliance with the authorities was short-lived. As a great scientist and independent person, he was burdened by the totalitarian system that was emerging in the country. In December 1927, Vladimir Mikhailovich died suddenly. There is a lot of evidence that the death was violent.

The urn with the ashes of Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev was kept for many years in the memorial museum of the scientist, and in 1971 it was buried on the “Literary Bridge” of the Volkovsky Cemetery. Famous Russian sculptor M.K. Anikushin became the author of the tombstone.

The Psychoneurological Institute is named after Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, and the street on which it is located is also named after the great scientist. There is also a monument to Bekhterev.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (1857 – 1927) - an outstanding Russian neuropathologist, psychiatrist and psychologist, morphologist and physiologist of the nervous system.

V. M. Bekhterev was born in the village. Sorali, Vyatka province, in the family of a collegiate secretary. At the age of 16, after graduating from high school, he entered the Medical-Surgical Academy, which was later renamed the Military Medical Academy. Due to severe overwork while preparing for the entrance exams and nervous stress associated with passing the exams, in September he was treated at the clinic for nervous diseases of Professor N. N. Sikorsky. Meeting and talking with the professor made such a great impression on the young man that this determined his choice of specialization and active position in mastering his future profession.

The incentive for the self-realization of Vladimir Bekhterev’s creative potential was the opportunity, starting from the third year, to actively engage in research work.

In 1878, upon graduating from the Academy, he was left at the Department of Nervous Diseases by Professor I. P. Merzheevsky to prepare for the professorship.

The following fact testifies to the active self-realization of V. M. Bekhterev’s creative potential. At the age of 24, he successfully defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic “Experience in a clinical study of body temperature in certain forms of mental illness.”

His scientific work was greatly influenced by the work of I. M. Sechenov “Reflexes of the Brain.”

The physiological works of V. M. Bekhterev, which are of particular importance, are devoted to elucidating the role of various parts of the nervous system in the activity of organs and systems of higher animals and humans. Beginning in 1883, he carefully studied issues related to irritation of various parts of the nervous system, especially its higher parts. In particular, the physiological studies of V. M. Bekhterev (together with N. A. Mislavsky) are of great importance, showing that in the diencephalon (thalamic region) there are centers that control the activity of the heart, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, and bladder , eyes and other organs and systems. Based on these data, V. M. Bekhterev argued that in this part of the central nervous system there are higher vegetative (in particular, sympathetic) centers. Thus, the doctrine that higher sympathetic centers are located in the thalamic region of the brain, put forward in 1909 - 1912. by the Austrian neurologists Karplus and Kreidl, it was substantiated and developed in detail by V. M. Bekhterev long before them. In particular, he showed the importance of thalamic nerve centers in the emergence of emotions.

During a business trip abroad, undertaken to familiarize himself with foreign achievements in the field of psychiatry and psychology, V. M. Bekhterev received a notification that he had been elected as an ordinary professor at the Department of Psychiatry at Kazan University. This happened in 1885, when he was 28 years old. Here his creative potential as an organizer of science was fully revealed. V.M. Bekhterev became the founder of the first Russian journal on neurology - “Neurological Bulletin” and the first B of Russia, the Kazan Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists. In 1895 in Kazan he created an experimental psychological laboratory. In 1888 he published the monograph “Consciousness and Its Boundaries.” Here, in Kazan, his research in the field of morphology and physiology of the nervous system developed in full.

The works of V. M. Bekhterev also covered key issues of psychology, clinical neuropathology and psychiatry. The morphological works of V. M. Bekhterev are devoted to the structure of all parts of the central nervous system: the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, diencephalon, and cerebral hemispheres. He significantly expanded information about the conduction pathways and the structure of nerve centers; was the first to describe a number of previously unknown bundles (conducting pathways) and cellular formations (nuclei). Thus, a cellular accumulation located outside the angle of the fourth ventricle was described, which was called “Bechterew’s nucleus.”

Bekhterev summarized the results of his numerous studies in the fundamental work “Conducting Pathways of the Spinal Cord and Brain” (1893). The second two-volume edition was published when he was already working in St. Petersburg (1896 - 1898).

At the age of 37, V. M. Bekhterev became a professor at the Military Medical Academy, and in 1897, a professor at the Women’s Medical Institute. Here he created the second (after Kazan) psychological laboratory. Studying the influence of the cerebral cortex on the activity of various organs and functional systems, V. M. Bekhterev showed that the organs of circulation, digestion, respiration, urination, etc. are represented in the cerebral cortex by corresponding centers. He also established the localization of other centers in the cerebral cortex.

In 1895, V. M. Bekhterev proved that irritation of certain brain centers leads to simultaneous inhibition of the corresponding antagonistic centers. This principle was essential in the activity of the nervous system.

V. M. Bekhterev summarized the results of his twenty years of research in the field of physiology of the nervous system in the major work “Fundamentals of the Study of Brain Functions,” published in seven issues (1903 - 1907).

Clinical works of V. M. Bekhterev are devoted to various issues of neuropathology and psychiatry. He was the first to identify a number of characteristics of reflexes and symptoms that are important for the diagnosis of nervous diseases. In addition, he was the first to raise the question of the need to study bone reflexes. V. M. Bekhterev described independent forms of diseases that had not previously been identified by neuropathology, for example, stiffness of the spine, called “Bekhterev’s disease.”

More than 150 of his published works are devoted to clinical research; some of them were reflected in the monographs “Nervous diseases in individual observations” (vol. 1 – 2, 1894 – 1899) and “General diagnosis of diseases of the nervous system” (parts 1 – 2, 1911 – 1915).

In his works on psychiatry, V. M. Bekhterev considered disorders of mental processes in connection with impaired bodily functions. He opposed the restraint of mental patients, widely used methods of occupational therapy, physical education, hydrotherapy, etc., and proposed his own methods of treating a number of diseases (in particular, the treatment of alcoholism with hypnosis). A special mixture that has wide medicinal use in the clinic of nervous diseases is known as “bekhterevskaya”.

In the psychological laboratory at the Military Medical Academy, a large number of experimental studies of various types of sensitivity (skin, pain, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, vibration) were carried out. For these studies, valuable instruments were designed: trichoesthesiometer, bolemeter, baroesthesiometer, myoesthesiometer, axtometer, seismometer, etc. The materials were published in the special journal “Review of Psychiatry, Neurology and Experimental Psychology,” which was founded by V. M. Bekhterev in 1896 .

While engaged in practical treatment of children and adults, V. M. Bekhterev summarized his observations of the mental characteristics of adults and the causes of their illnesses. These generalizations essentially lay the foundations of modern acmeology.

Contemporaries in Russia and abroad spoke of V. M. Bekhterev as a scientist who knew more and better than others about the structure and functions of the brain. Thanks to his works, it was established that the brain is an organ of the psyche. In this regard, all discussions about mental phenomena without connection with the brain, the function of which they are, became fruitless mysticism. Anatomo-physiological studies of the brain were an important condition for the transfer of speculative psychology to natural science.

V. M. Bekhterev rejected the methods and theories of prevailing subjective psychology and put forward the theory of studying objectively observable reactions of the body instead of the internal content of mental processes. He advocated objective psychology (1907), calling it the “science of behavior.” At one time, this had a positive significance in the fight against idealism in psychology.

Evidence of the exceptional organizational talent of V. M. Bekhterev is the creation in 1908 of the Psychoneurological Institute, built with donations from royal lands specially allocated for these purposes. Money had to be obtained, and construction had to be organized. And V.M. Bekhterev managed to do all this.

The uniqueness of this scientific and educational complex was that it housed a university, which accepted students regardless of class origin, and research institutions. On its basis, a whole network of scientific, clinical and research institutes was created, including the first Pedagogical Institute in Russia. This allowed V. M. Bekhterev to connect theoretical and practical research in the field of both psychiatry and neurology, and psychology.

The teachers of the Psychoneurological Institute included such advanced scientists as M. M. Kovalevsky, N. E. Vvedensky, V. L. Komarov. His student later became the most famous sociologist of the 20th century. Pitirim Sorokin.

A huge range of objects of experimental research - from newborns to the elderly, from deep brain structures to human behavior in different social environments - allowed V. M. Bekhterev to make a generalization concerning the structure of the personality of a mature person and human immortality.

Having analyzed various definitions of personality given by psychologists of that time, V. M. Bekhterev established that it is not only and not so much the synthesis of memory, character, mind, emotions, abilities and other facets that create personality. The main thing is its focus, aspiration and focus, i.e. that organizing core around which all other human characteristics are gathered into a unique ensemble.

At the end of February 1916, on the anniversary of the opening of courses at the Psychoneurological Institute, V. M. Bekhterev gave a speech on the immortality of the human personality and man in general.

In 1918, V. M. Bekhterev became the founder of a new research institution - the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity. He considered reflexology as an independent field of knowledge. An integral part of reflexology is the teaching of V. M. Bekhterev about “combinative” reflexes acquired by animals and humans in individual life as a result of the coincidence, “combination” of various phenomena of the external world with certain innate reactions of the body. Together with M.V. Lange and V.M. Myasishchev, V.M. Bekhterev conducted his experiments in groups of students from the Medical, Pedological and Psychoneurological Institutes. In the experiments, the indicators of each student were first determined (they were recorded on one sheet); then the results were discussed and voted on. The subjects were asked to make additions and changes to their previous indicators (they were recorded on another sheet).

As a result of research, V. M. Bekhterev established: the team increases the amount of knowledge of its members, corrects their mistakes, softens the attitude towards the action, and gives general changes in the formulated indicators. Gender, age, educational and congenital differences were identified in relation to shifts in mental processes in conditions of collective activity.

The results of experimental socio-psychological studies were summarized by V. M. Bekhterev in his works: “Consciousness and its boundaries” (Kazan, 1888), “On the localization of conscious activity in animals and humans” (St. Petersburg, 1896), “Neuropathological and psychiatric observations” (St. Petersburg, 1900), “Psyche and life” (St. Petersburg, 1904), “Fundamentals of the study of brain functions,” vol. 1 – 7 (St. Petersburg, 1903 – 1907), “Hypnosis, suggestion and psychotherapy” (St. Petersburg, 1911), “Collective reflexology (Petrograd, 1921), “The brain and its activity” (M. ; L., 1928).

V. M. Bekhterev is the founder of a holistic approach to the study of man, which has become the methodological principle of modern acmeology.

After the mysterious death of V. M. Bekhterev in 1927 - when he was healthy, cheerful, energetic, full of new ideas and projects - criticism of his scientific heritage began, his consistent opposition to I. P. Pavlov, and the suppression of his merits. His psychological work was especially harshly criticized.

In 1948, in connection with the fight against genetics, the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity was closed. Under these conditions, the preservation and development of the psychological direction of research laid down by V. M. Bekhterev required great courage, dedication and manifestation of organizational talent in new conditions from his followers. One of the talented successors of the ideas of V. M. Bekhterev, the founder of the Leningrad school of psychologists, was B. G. Ananyev.

Test questions and assignments

1.What conditions influence the manifestation of creative potential?

2. How do you understand the meaning of the concepts “microacme” and “macroacme”?

3. What factor played a decisive role in the early self-determination of N. I. Pirogov?

4. At what age did he have meaningful acme-target programs and how were they implemented in practice?

5. Tell us about the diverse acme-target programs of N. I. Pirogov. What life credo were they united by?

6. What is your attitude to the individual thoughts of N. I. Pirogov expressed in the article “Questions of Life”?

7. Name the main directions for realizing the creative potential of P. F. Lesgaft.

8. The development of what theories by P. F. Lesgaft served as the basis for the scientific substantiation of physics education?

9. What works of P. F. Lesgaft do you know?

10. Tell us in what directions V. M. Bekhterev’s diverse scientific interests manifested themselves.

11. How did new theories and concepts of V. M. Bekhterev find development in the organization of creative scientific teams?

12. Describe the main peaks of V. M. Bekhterev’s creativity.

1.Bekhterev V. M. Psyche and life. – St. Petersburg, 1904.

2. Guberman I. Bekhterev: pages of life. – M., 1977.

3. Krasnovsky A. A. Pedagogical ideas of N. I. Pirogov. – M., 1949.

4. Konstantinov N. A., Medynsky E. N., Shabaeva M. F. History of pedagogy. – M., 1982.

5. Pirogov N. I. Selected pedagogical works. – M, 1985.

6. P. F. Lesgaft’s teaching on physical education and his pedagogical activities // Stolbov V. V. History of physical culture: Textbook for teachers. Inst. – M., 1989.

BEKHTEREV Vladimir Mikhailovich(1857-1927) - Russian physiologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, psychologist. He founded the first experimental psychological laboratory in Russia (1885), and then the Psychoneurological Institute (1908) - the world's first center for the comprehensive study of man. Based on the reflex concept of mental activity put forward by Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov, he developed a natural science theory of behavior. Arose in opposition to traditional introspective psychology of consciousness, the theory of V.M. Bekhterev initially received the name objective psychology (1904), then psychoreflexology (1910) and, finally, reflexology (1917). V.M. Bekhterev made a major contribution to the development of domestic experimental psychology (“General Fundamentals of Human Reflexology”, 1917).

Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, famous Russian neurologist, neuropathologist, psychologist, psychiatrist, morphologist and physiologist of the nervous system, was born on January 20, 1857. in the village of Sorali, Elabuga district, Vyatka province, in the family of a minor civil servant. In August 1867 he began classes at the Vyatka gymnasium, and since Bekhterev decided in his youth to devote his life to neuropathology and psychiatry, after graduating from seven classes of the gymnasium in 1873. he entered the Medical-Surgical Academy.

In 1878 He graduated from the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg and was retained for further studies at the Department of Psychiatry under I. P. Merzheevsky. In 1879 Bekhterev was accepted as a full member of the St. Petersburg Society of Psychiatrists.

April 4, 1881 Bekhterev successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in medicine on the topic “Experience in clinical research of body temperature in some forms of mental illness” and received the academic title of privat-docent. In 1884 Bekhterev went on a business trip abroad, where he studied with such famous European psychologists as Dubois-Reymond, Wundt, Fleksig and Charcot.

After returning from a business trip, Bekhterev began giving a course of lectures on the diagnosis of nervous diseases to fifth-year students at Kazan University. Having been since 1884 a professor at the Kazan University in the Department of Mental Diseases, Bekhterev ensured the teaching of this subject by setting up a clinical department in the Kazan district hospital and a psychophysiological laboratory at the university; founded the Society of Neuropathologists and Psychiatrists, founded the journal “Neurological Bulletin” and published a number of his works, as well as the works of his students in various departments of neuropathology and anatomy of the nervous system.

In 1883 Bekhterev was awarded a silver medal by the Society of Russian Doctors for his article “On forced and violent movements during the destruction of certain parts of the central nervous system.” In this article, Bekhterev drew attention to the fact that nervous diseases can often be accompanied by mental disorders, and with mental illness there may also be signs of organic damage to the central nervous system. In the same year he was elected a member of the Italian Society of Psychiatrists.

His most famous article, “Stiffness of the spine with its curvature as a special form of the disease,” was published in the capital’s magazine “Doctor” in 1892. Bekhterev described “stiffness of the spine with its curvature as a special form of the disease” (now better known as ankylosing spondylitis, ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid spondylitis), that is, a systemic inflammatory disease of connective tissue with damage to the articular-ligamentous apparatus of the spine, as well as peripheral joints, sacroiliac articulations, hip and shoulder joints and the involvement of internal organs in the process. Bekhterev also identified diseases such as choreic epilepsy, syphilitic multiple sclerosis, and acute cerebellar ataxia of alcoholics. These, as well as other neurological symptoms first identified by the scientist and a number of original clinical observations were reflected in the two-volume book “Nervous Diseases in Individual Observations”, published in Kazan.

Since 1893 The Kazan Neurological Society began to regularly publish its printed organ - the journal “Neurological Bulletin”, which was published until 1918. edited by Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev. In the spring of 1893 Bekhterev received an invitation from the head of the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy to occupy the department of mental and nervous diseases. Bekhterev arrived in St. Petersburg and began to create the first neurosurgical operating room in Russia.

In the laboratories of the clinic, Bekhterev, together with his employees and students, continued numerous studies on the morphology and physiology of the nervous system. This allowed him to replenish materials on neuromorphology and begin work on the fundamental seven-volume work “Fundamentals of the Study of Brain Functions.”

In 1894 Bekhterev was appointed a member of the medical council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in 1895. he became a member of the Military Medical Academic Council under the Minister of War and at the same time a member of the board of a nursing home for the mentally ill.

In November 1900 The two-volume book “Conducting Pathways of the Spinal Cord and Brain” was nominated by the Russian Academy of Sciences for the Academician K. M. Baer Prize. In 1902 He published the book “Psyche and Life”. By that time, Bekhterev had prepared for publication the first volume of the work “Fundamentals of the Study of Brain Functions,” which became his main work on neurophysiology. Here general principles about brain activity were collected and systematized. Thus, Bekhterev presented the energy theory of inhibition, according to which nervous energy in the brain rushes to the center in an active state. According to Bekhterev, this energy seems to flock to him along the pathways connecting individual territories of the brain, primarily from nearby brain territories, in which, as Bekhterev believed, “a decrease in excitability, and therefore depression,” occurs.

In general, Bekhterev’s work on the study of brain morphology made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian psychology. He, in particular, was interested in the course of individual bundles in the central nervous system, the composition of the white matter of the spinal cord and the course of fibers in the gray matter, and at the same time, on the basis of his experiments, he It was possible to clarify the physiological significance of individual parts of the central nervous system (visual thalamus, vestibular branch of the auditory nerve, inferior and superior olives, quadrigeminal).

Working directly on the functions of the brain, Bekhterev discovered the nuclei and pathways in the brain; created the doctrine of the spinal cord pathways and functional anatomy of the brain; established the anatomical and physiological basis of balance and spatial orientation, discovered centers of movement and secretion of internal organs in the cerebral cortex, etc.

After completing work on the seven volumes of “Fundamentals of the Study of Brain Functions,” Bekhterev began to attract special attention to problems of psychology. Bekhterev spoke about the equal existence of two psychologies: he distinguished subjective psychology, the main method of which should be introspection, and objective psychology. Bekhterev called himself a representative of objective psychology, but he considered it possible to objectively study only what is externally observable, i.e. behavior (in the behaviorist sense), and physiological activity of the nervous system.

Based on the fact that mental activity arises as a result of the work of the brain, he considered it possible to rely mainly on the achievements of physiology, and above all on the doctrine of conditioned reflexes. Thus, Bekhterev creates a whole doctrine, which he called reflexology, which actually continued the work of Bekhterev’s objective psychology.

In 1907-1910, Bekhterev published three volumes of the book “Objective Psychology”. The scientist argued that all mental processes are accompanied by reflex motor and autonomic reactions, which are accessible to observation and registration.

To describe complex forms of reflex activity, Bekhterev proposed the term “combination-motor reflex.” He also described a number of physiological and pathological reflexes, symptoms and syndromes. The physiological reflexes discovered by Bekhterev (scapulohumeral, large spindle reflex, expiratory, etc.) make it possible to determine the state of the corresponding reflex arcs, and pathological ones (Mendel-Bekhterev dorsalfoot reflex, carpal-digital reflex, Bekhterev-Jacobson reflex) reflect damage to the pyramidal tracts. Bekhterev's symptoms are observed in various pathological conditions: tabes dorsalis, sciatic neuralgia, massive cerebral strokes, angiotrophoneurosis, pathological processes in the membranes of the base of the brain, etc.

To assess symptoms, Bekhterev created special devices (algesimeter, which allows you to accurately measure pain sensitivity; baresthesiometer, which measures sensitivity to pressure; myoesthesiometer - a device for measuring sensitivity, etc.).

Bekhterev also developed objective methods for studying the neuropsychic development of children, the connection between nervous and mental illnesses, psychopathy and circular psychosis, the clinic and pathogenesis of hallucinations, described a number of forms of obsessive states, various manifestations of mental automatism. For the treatment of neuropsychic diseases, he introduced combination-reflex therapy for neuroses and alcoholism, psychotherapy using the method of distraction, collective psychotherapy. Ankylosing spondylitis was widely used as a sedative.

In 1908 Bekhterev created the Psychoneurological Institute in St. Petersburg and became its director. After the revolution in 1918 Bekhterev appealed to the Council of People's Commissars with a petition to organize an Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity. When the institute was created, Bekhterev took the position of its director and remained so until his death. The Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity was subsequently named the State Reflexological Institute for the Study of the Brain named after. V. M. Bekhtereva.

In 1921 Academician V.M. Bekhterev, together with the famous animal trainer V.L. Durov, conducted experiments in mentally instilling pre-planned actions in trained dogs. Similar experiments were carried out in the practical laboratory of zoopsychology, which was led by V.L. Durov with the participation of one of the pioneers of mental suggestion in the USSR, engineer B.B. Kazhinsky.

Already by the beginning of 1921. in the laboratory of V.L. Over the course of 20 months of research, Durov conducted 1,278 experiments with mental suggestion (on dogs), including 696 successful and 582 unsuccessful. Experiments with dogs showed that mental suggestion does not necessarily have to be carried out by a trainer; it could be an experienced inductor. It was only necessary that he knew and applied the transfer method established by the trainer. Suggestion was carried out both with direct visual contact with the animal and at a distance, when the dogs did not see or hear the trainer, and he did not hear them. It should be emphasized that the experiments were carried out with dogs that had certain changes in the psyche that arose after special training.

In 1927, Bekhterev was awarded the title of Honored Scientist of the RSFSR. The great scientist died on December 24, 1927.