Prof. Chizh. The significance of political life in the etiology of mental illness. Review of psychiatry, and experimental psychology. No. I-3. 1908

The author does not see, contrary to generally accepted views, the relationship between political events and cases of insanity supposedly on this basis. In his opinion, “the higher the civilization, the fuller, therefore, freedom, the more the frail and wretched survive, including the nervously and mentally ill.” And vice versa, the restriction of this freedom, the cruel suppression of attempts to win it, does not lead to an increase in the number of mentally ill people: perhaps predisposed persons fall ill, and then by chance, outside the direct influence of events, giving those reasons for doubtful conclusions about a causal relationship between illness and historical moment; the leaders of the movement, on the other hand, usually have the most gifted and steadfast spiritual organization, without prejudice to the moral upheavals of the revolutionary period.