Victor Kandinsky

Victor Khrisanfovich Kandinsky (, ; 6 April 1849 – 3 July 1889) was a psychiatrist from the Russian Empire and a second cousin to the renowned artist Wassily Kandinsky. Born in Siberia into a wealthy family of businessmen, Victor Kandinsky is regarded as a significant figure in Russian psychiatry, particularly for his contributions to the understanding of hallucinations.

Biography Kandinsky graduated from Moscow Imperial University Medical School in 1872 and began his career as a general practitioner in a hospital in Moscow.

In 1877, while serving as a military physician during the Russo-Turkish War, he began experiencing mood swings and hallucinations. He was medically discharged on 13 May 1877 and admitted to a naval hospital for treatment. but he self-identified his condition as primäre Verrücktheit (German for "primary paranoid psychosis"), which is anachronistically associated with modern concepts of schizophrenia-like disorders. Contemporary psychiatrists diagnose him with paranoid schizophrenia. By 1879, he returned to Moscow.

Kandinsky joined the St. Petersburg Psychiatric Association on 23 January 1882.

In 1885, he published a German-language book titled "Kritische und klinische Betrachtungen im Gebiete der Sinnestäuschungen" (Critical and Clinical Considerations in the Area of Hallucinations), detailing his personal experiences with pseudohallucinations. His last written words were: "1) I had about n grams of opium… 2) I'm reading 'The Cossacks' by Tolstoy… 3) It is becoming difficult for me to read…" . The syndrome, also referred to as the syndrome of mental automatism, remains a notable concept in the study of psychotic disorders, particularly paranoid schizophrenia.

Kandinsky experienced various types of pseudohallucinations—visual, tactile, auditory—in all sensory modalities except taste.

Works Books in Russian

Reprinted books

Philosophy

Psychiatry

Medical articles (in medical journals)

In German and Polish

Translated into Russian