The Hypnotic Screen: The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

The Hypnotic Screen : The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy. / Toropova, Anna.

In: Social History of Medicine, Vol. 35, No. 3, 2022, p. 946-971.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Toropova, A 2022, 'The Hypnotic Screen: The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy', Social History of Medicine, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 946-971. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkac031

APA

Toropova, A. (2022). The Hypnotic Screen: The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy. Social History of Medicine, 35(3), 946-971. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkac031

Vancouver

Toropova A. The Hypnotic Screen: The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy. Social History of Medicine. 2022;35(3):946-971. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkac031

Author

Toropova, Anna. / The Hypnotic Screen : The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy. In: Social History of Medicine. 2022 ; Vol. 35, No. 3. pp. 946-971.

Bibtex

@article{e908d79f3d314f549ae4e524be54f315,
title = "The Hypnotic Screen: The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy",
abstract = "The early Soviet period witnessed a number of experiments in {\textquoteleft}film psychotherapy{\textquoteright}—the attempt to deploy the cinematic medium in hypnotherapeutic treatment. Exploring this pivotal, yet virtually unknown, moment in the history of cinema{\textquoteright}s intertwinement with medicine, the article seeks to understand Soviet film psychotherapy as a response to transnational anxieties over cinema{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}powers of influence{\textquoteright}, as well as a distinctively {\textquoteleft}Soviet{\textquoteright} experiment. An exploration of the project{\textquoteright}s origins in Soviet psychophysiological studies of spectators and experiments in group hypnotherapeutic treatment is used to demonstrate the unique context that shaped Soviet doctors{\textquoteright} emergence as film therapy pioneers. After examining the medical and political hopes pinned on the project, the article tries to understand the reasons why film psychotherapy{\textquoteright}s considerable potential remained largely unrealised. The project that promised to be a major boon to Soviet social medicine, it is argued, also brought the scientific premises of Soviet psychotherapy into question.",
author = "Anna Toropova",
year = "2022",
doi = "10.1093/shm/hkac031",
language = "English",
volume = "35",
pages = "946--971",
journal = "Social History of Medicine",
issn = "0951-631X",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Hypnotic Screen

T2 - The Early Soviet Experiment with Film Psychotherapy

AU - Toropova, Anna

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The early Soviet period witnessed a number of experiments in ‘film psychotherapy’—the attempt to deploy the cinematic medium in hypnotherapeutic treatment. Exploring this pivotal, yet virtually unknown, moment in the history of cinema’s intertwinement with medicine, the article seeks to understand Soviet film psychotherapy as a response to transnational anxieties over cinema’s ‘powers of influence’, as well as a distinctively ‘Soviet’ experiment. An exploration of the project’s origins in Soviet psychophysiological studies of spectators and experiments in group hypnotherapeutic treatment is used to demonstrate the unique context that shaped Soviet doctors’ emergence as film therapy pioneers. After examining the medical and political hopes pinned on the project, the article tries to understand the reasons why film psychotherapy’s considerable potential remained largely unrealised. The project that promised to be a major boon to Soviet social medicine, it is argued, also brought the scientific premises of Soviet psychotherapy into question.

AB - The early Soviet period witnessed a number of experiments in ‘film psychotherapy’—the attempt to deploy the cinematic medium in hypnotherapeutic treatment. Exploring this pivotal, yet virtually unknown, moment in the history of cinema’s intertwinement with medicine, the article seeks to understand Soviet film psychotherapy as a response to transnational anxieties over cinema’s ‘powers of influence’, as well as a distinctively ‘Soviet’ experiment. An exploration of the project’s origins in Soviet psychophysiological studies of spectators and experiments in group hypnotherapeutic treatment is used to demonstrate the unique context that shaped Soviet doctors’ emergence as film therapy pioneers. After examining the medical and political hopes pinned on the project, the article tries to understand the reasons why film psychotherapy’s considerable potential remained largely unrealised. The project that promised to be a major boon to Soviet social medicine, it is argued, also brought the scientific premises of Soviet psychotherapy into question.

U2 - 10.1093/shm/hkac031

DO - 10.1093/shm/hkac031

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36051847

VL - 35

SP - 946

EP - 971

JO - Social History of Medicine

JF - Social History of Medicine

SN - 0951-631X

IS - 3

ER -

ID: 362553834