Here is one of the key works in the history of Russian psychiatry, first published in 1933 and still retaining scientific and practical significance. Petr Borisovich Gannushkin, an outstanding physician and researcher, offers a systematic description of psychopathic personalities, based on clinical observation, a typological approach and a clear distinction between stable character traits and their pathological development. The author introduces an original division into statics and dynamics of psychopathies: some traits persist throughout life, forming a stable personality structure, while others are prone to transformation under the influence of age, environment, physical and mental stress. The book presents types that remain recognizable in modern practice: cycloids, schizoids, paranoids, asthenics, hysteroids, epileptoids and others. These are those who do not feel guilty, do not know when to stop and often go beyond the bounds of moral and behavioral norms. In the final part, the author pays special attention to the phenomenon of the internal connection between religious feeling, sexuality and a tendency to cruelty. These three powerful forces, according to his observations, are capable of not only coexisting, but also flowing from one another, forming a single destructive vector that underlies many pathological conditions.
