112 years overdue response to the program of scientific development of psychiatry proposed by V.M. Bekhterev

Abstract

In January 1912, in V.M. Bekhterev's speech at the ceremonial meeting of the St. Petersburg Society of Psychiatrists, an important place was taken by the support of scientific evidence for the formation of structural and functional changes in the brain in various diseases. Their study has opened up new directions for objectively researching mental disorders, comparative anatomy, physiology and pathology of the brain. The development of the reflex theory of neuropsychic activity proposed by V.M. Bekhterev showed that it cannot explain many clinical and biological observations. In recent decades, comprehensive studies of the interaction of social, biological and psychological factors have taken a solid place in clinical psychiatry. Modern psychiatry is awaiting both significant new scientific solutions and opportunities to use the existing developments in a wide range of medical practice, including those implemented under the program of V.M. Bekhterev.