Ivan Dmitrievich Ermakov - Russian and Soviet psychologist and psychiatrist, literary critic, artist, participant in many exhibitions. He is one of the founders of psychoanalysis in the Soviet Union. The practicing psychiatrist and analyst became the organizer and head of the State Psychoanalytic Institute, the Russian Psychoanalytic Society.
So far, the contribution of Ivan Dmitrievich to Russian psychoanalysis has not been appreciated. Much of his legacy is unknown to this day. However, from the documents stored in the archives, it is clear that Yermakov was a very interesting person.
Formation time
The biography of the famous figure began in 1875. He was born in Constantinople (Istanbul) on October 6. The family had three children. Ivan was the oldest child. The entire childhood of the future figure is permeated with creativity. He drew excellently, wrote poetry, essays. Later he liked to play the guitar, piano.
In 1888 Ermakov entered the first classical gymnasium in Tiflis. Pupils were taught not only general disciplines, but also dance, music, fencing, gymnastics. The school had its own orchestra, where high school students played. In 1896 Ivan Dmitrievich finished his studies and went to Moscow.
The next year, the young man entered the capital's university at the Faculty of Medicine. There, the student became interested in psychopathology. The future doctor took up research and scientific activities.
Professor Roth, who became his mentor, drew attention to the promising young specialist. In 1902, education was successfully completed. During his training, Ermakov kept a diary. It contains reflections, short everyday sketches under the general title "From the stories of my friend."
The graduate began work at the Nervous Clinic at the University. Since 1904, Ermakov was drafted into the army as a psychiatrist. The young doctor was collecting clinical materials. He summarized his experience in his report "Mental Illness in the Russo-Japanese War from Personal Observations."
Scientific activity
The work was carried out from admission to the hospital and during the evacuation to the rear. Ermakov reviewed the literature in his speech and gave brief comments on the prevalence of the forms of mental disorders he observed. The articles "Epilepsy in the Russo-Japanese War" and "Traumatic psychosis" provide anamnesis data.
The doctor compared his own conclusions with the observations of other scientists. He concluded that the development of the disease is provoked not by the war itself, but by hereditary factors. In 1907, Ivan Dmitrievich began working as an assistant at the Psychiatric Clinic with Professor Serbian, then was promoted to senior assistant. He worked in this position until 1921. He successfully established his personal life, got married. There is practically no information about his wife. Only her diminutive name Niusia is known.
The young doctor did not give up painting. He painted portraits of his colleagues and leaders. During his work, Ermakov went abroad on scientific trips five times. In Berlin, Ivan Dmitrievich trained with Professor Tsigel, studied melancholy and mental disorders in children.
During his stay in Zurich in 1913, Ermakov communicated with Professor Blair, and his acquaintance with psychoanalysis began. After returning to Russia, Ivan Dmitrievich presented the results of the work. He perceived psychoanalysis as a method that provides an approach to the foundations of mental life.
In "Pathology of respiratory emotiveness", "Synesthesia", "On the mental origin of catalepsy" there is a statement of the problem and the possibility of improving research with the help of psychoanalysis.
Author's development
Ermakov considered the problem of synesthesia as a whole, as a result of the activity of the mental apparatus. Subsequently, the scientist focused on using a new direction in the field of art. He developed the psychology of children's drawing, games, organic cognition of the child.
In 1910-1920 an organic approach to the psyche was formed. The method has become the main focus of research. It has been used in various topics, especially in articles on the field of art. Works have survived where the approach was used in the analysis of the ornaments of Greek vases.
The essence of the approach in child psychology lies in conducting research based on the naturalness of children. The main criterion was gender. The scientist concluded that a child perceives a significant part of the world, activity, that is, what the child himself ascribes to the external environment.
Understanding children's activity explains the self-movement of the world. Ivan Dmitrievich introduced tactility as a characteristic of gender differentiation. According to this principle, the psychic is built as a self-unfolding process.
At the beginning of the last century, psychoanalysis was also used for applied problems. It was widely used in literary works and in the analysis of the works of the classics. Russian psychoanalytic literary criticism was founded.
When analyzing, the scientist uses his own approach, organic understanding. The literary critic tried to carry out a structural analysis of the author's language, applied a holistic approach to the study of the writer's work.
Art history and literature
Ermakov was also engaged in art criticism. He was in charge of the excursion department of the Tretyakov Gallery. In the early twenties, the scientist created theoretical works "The right and left sides of a painting", "On the principles of expressiveness in the visual arts", "The meaning of angular tilts in a painting", "On three plans in a painting" on the psychology of artistic and compositional perception, offered an analysis of the work of outstanding painters. The art critic has formulated a number of provisions for revealing the psychological meaning of the techniques used by the artist. The examples show the orientation of the compositional solution of the picture by the method of free associations.
In 1920, the scientist became a professor at the Moscow State Psychoneurological Institute, the current Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry. At the educational institution, the scientist organized a Circle for the study of artistic creativity by the method of psychoanalysis. On its basis, the Russian Psychoanalytic Society was created in 1922. In 1921 the Children's Home-Laboratory was founded. It was led by Vera Fyodorovna Schmidt. In 1925 the Institute and the Children's Home ceased to exist. Ermakov took up private practice, painting and literary creativity.
After the death of his first wife, Ermakov again married Tatyana Evgenievna Karpovtseva. In 1930, a child appeared in the family, the daughter of Militris. During this period, the works "Accountant", "The Book of Love", "Before the Lens of a Photographer", "Printing and Printing", "Shoe Museum", "Reader, Writer and Publisher" were created. In them, the author, with the help of a refined style and psychological remarks, builds original theories, shows his own phenomenology of being.
Ivan Dmitrievich passed away in 1942. Many of the professor's works have not yet been deciphered and studied. However, in the history of Russian psychiatry, Ermakov rightfully occupies a worthy place.
