Interview with Joseph D. Bloom, M.D., 2021-08-23
Scope and Contents
In the interview Dr. Bloom discusses his career, his interest in the topic of abuse of psychiatry and his involvement in the 1989 U.S. State Department psychiatric delegation to the U.S.S.R. He talks about the U.S. and Soviet (both Soviet professionals and Soviet interviewees) understanding of the purpose of the visit and the Soviet’s compliance with the terms negotiated for the visit. He also talks about psychiatric hospitalization, detention and commitment process in the U.S.S.R., conditions of hospitalization in Soviet psychiatric hospitals and the legal rights of persons with mental disorders in the U.S.S.R. Dr. Bloom’s explains his impressions from the trip to the Soviet Union and the conclusions made by the American delegation.
The highlights of the interview pertain to Dr. Bloom's recollection of a Soviet person who allegedly had a mental disorder, and his opinion as to the way the American final report should have been approached.
Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.
Dates
- Creation: 2021-08-23
Creator
- From the Collection: Roth, Loren H. (Person)
- From the Collection: Bloom, Joseph D. (Person)
- From the Collection: Borissow, Kyrill (Person)
- From the Collection: Carpenter, William T. (Person)
- From the Collection: Farrand, Robert William, 1934- (Person)
- From the Collection: Hirschfeld, Robert M. A. (Person)
- From the Collection: Hopkins, William H. (William Hugh), 1942- (Person)
- From the Collection: Keith, Samuel J. (Person)
- From the Collection: Kleyman, Felix, Dr. (Person)
- From the Collection: Kovalev, A. A. (Andreĭ Anatolʹevich) (Person)
- From the Collection: Mercer, Ellen Robertson (Person)
- From the Collection: Monahan, John (John Thomas), 1946- (Person)
- From the Collection: Reddaway, Peter (1939) (Person)
- From the Collection: Regier, Darrel A. (Person)
- From the Collection: Smith, Carolyn (Person)
- From the Collection: Stern, Leon (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Dr. Joseph D. Bloom did not request any additional restrictions on access to this interview beyond those that the University of Virginia has made for all the oral histories from the Soviet Psychiatry Oral History Project (2021-2022).
Biographical / Historical
Dr. Joseph D. Bloom was one of the few forensic psychiatrists on the 1989 U.S. Department of State Delegation to the Soviet Union to investigate the abuse of psychiatry. Bloom is Dean Emeritus of the Oregon Health and Science University and Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Arizona Fenix College of Medicine.
Extent
From the Series: 138.5775 Gigabytes
From the Series: .25 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections Repository
Arthur J. Morris Law Library
580 Massie Road
University of Virginia
Charlottesville Virginia 22903 United States
archives@law.virginia.edu