Project leader: Dr Anna Toropova

Supported by a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award

Between 1917 and 1953, millions of Soviet citizens experienced the turmoil of revolution, war, displacement, famine and state repression. The psychological repercussions of such experiences are still not fully understood. This Wellcome Trust funded project examines Soviet medical and cultural approaches to psychological trauma to better understand the traditions and contexts that may still operate in post-Soviet societies dealing with trauma in the present.

It has often been assumed that Soviet authorities forced conformity to a Pavlovian model that severely neglected the mental realm and silenced the question of traumatised consciousness. ‘Traumatised Minds’ seeks to complicate this narrative by bringing to light a vibrant tradition of research on psychological trauma, neurosis and hysteria that persisted throughout this period. Examining a diverse body of research and practice across the Soviet republics, the project aims to reveal a unique tradition of understanding trauma which was neither ‘Freudian’ nor straightforwardly ‘Pavlovian’.

The wider cultural resonance of medical understandings of traumatic neurosis will be explored through attention to artistic, literary, and cinematic engagements with the topic of trauma. Uncovering the new meanings that mental distress acquired in popular culture and in first person accounts, the project will examine how ideas about trauma were translated into a popular vernacular.