INFANT MENTAL-HEALTH ISSUES IN THE USSR

The authors trace the development of Soviet research on infant mental health issues between 1917 and IM, showing the negative effect of the history of the country. Approaches in Soviet psychology and psychiatry are viewed separately, and major empirical findings are described. The authors pay special attention to Vygotsky's ideas on child psychopathology because of his extraordinary posthumous influence. Contemporary research is still in its empirical phase, and many of the studies are descriptive with an emphasis on the role of biological factors in the genesis of the psychopathology in infancy. Recent collaborative psychological and psychiatric studies provide the opportunity for change of this emphasis and highlight the importance of considering the social environment as a risk factor for the development of psychopathology.