Sergei Korsakov

KORSAKOV, Sergei Sergeyevich (1854–1900), a prominent psychiatrist; one of the creators of modern Russian psychiatry. Upon graduating in 1875 from the medical faculty of Moscow University, he entered as a staff resident at the Moscow Preobrazhenskaya Hospital and soon became a resident in the clinic of A. Ya. Kozhevnikov. In 1887, he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine ("On Alcoholic Paralysis," diss., Moscow, 1887). In 1888, Kozhevnikov transferred to Korsakov the reading of lectures and the conducting of practical classes on psychiatry in the then newly built psychiatric clinic. The significance of Korsakov in Russian psychiatry is enormous. With him, the scientific-clinical development of psychiatry begins in Moscow, and the Moscow, so-called "Korsakov" school of psychiatrists is created. The works of Korsakov on polyneuritic psychosis, or cerebropathia psychica toxaemica (see Korsakov's psychosis), created an epoch in psychiatry, having provoked a series of works and studies on this disorder, which is extremely interesting from both psychopathological and nosological points of view. To this day, Korsakov's subtle analysis of this phenomenon from the psychopathological side remains an inexhaustible source for researchers of this question. Around Korsakov, a circle of doctors interested in neuropsychiatry was formed; subsequently, this circle was transformed into the Scientific Society of Neuropathologists and Psychiatrists at Moscow University, of which Korsakov remained the deputy chairman until his death. Korsakov worked very hard on the organization in Moscow of the XII International Medical Congress, at which Professor Jolly proposed calling the disease described by Korsakov "Korsakov's disease." The merits of Korsakov in the matter of introducing the system of non-restraint in the care of the mentally ill are especially great; he is one of those who removed the straitjacket from use and closed isolation cells. The authority of Korsakov among Zemstvo psychiatrists was so great that not a single undertaking, not a single reform, or the construction of new hospitals took place without the participation of Korsakov. Among the 30 printed scientific works of Korsakov, the aforementioned works on "Korsakov's psychosis," the study of the psyche of microcephalics, and the textbook on psychiatry attract special attention. Korsakov was one of the initiators of the "Journal of Neuropathology and Psychiatry," published in Moscow since 1901, which bears his name.