On Pseudo-hallucinations

“On Pseudohallucinations” is the major work from the brief creative life of V. Kh. Kandinsky, the founder of Russian psychiatry. As one of the classic works of psychiatric thought, this book not only discusses its main subject—the phenomenon of pseudohallucinations—but also provides clinical descriptions of various psychopathological conditions, many of which were based on the author’s observations of his own illness. These descriptions remain relevant to this day. Unfortunately, the book met with a fate as difficult as that of its author. In 1885, the work was awarded the prize of the St. Petersburg Psychiatric Society, named after Dr. Filippov, and was intended to be published using the society’s funds, which, “due to their absence,” never happened. Nevertheless, it was published in German in Berlin. Only after Kandinsky’s death, thanks to the efforts of his wife, was the monograph published in his homeland. Sixty years later, in 1952, a second edition of the book was released, but its text had been altered by a Soviet editor who removed passages in which the author expressed his adherence to the views of Western philosophers and psychiatrists. It took another 50 years for the work to be published in its original form, which finally occurred in 2001. This edition is published in accordance with the 1890 book.