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. A 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 evaluated. Most of his legacy is unknown to this day. However, from the documents stored in the archives it is clear that Ermakov was an interesting person.
Formation time
The biography of the famous figure began in 1875. He was born in Constantinople (Istanbul) on October 6. Three children grew up in the family. Ivan was the eldest child. All the childhood of the future leader is imbued with creativity. He painted well, wrote poems, essays. Later, he liked to play the guitar, piano.
In 1888 Ermakov entered the first classical gymnasium in Tiflis. Students were taught not only general educational disciplines, but also dances, music, fencing, gymnastics. The school had its own orchestra, where high-school students played. In 1896, Ivan Dmitrievich completed his studies and went to Moscow.
The following year, the young man entered the capital's university at the medical faculty. 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 a promising young specialist. In 1902, education was successfully completed. Throughout his studies, Ermakov kept a diary. It contains reflections, short everyday sketches under the general name "From the stories of my friend."
A graduate began work at the Nervous Clinic at the University. Since 1904, Ermakov was drafted into the army by a psychiatrist. The young doctor was collecting clinical materials. He summarized the experience in his report "Mental Illness in the Russo-Japanese War by Personal Observation."
Scientific activity
The work was carried out with admission to the hospital and during the evacuation to the rear. Ermakov did a literature review 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.
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 in the Psychiatric Clinic with Professor Serbsky, and then was promoted to senior assistant. In this position, he worked until 1921. He successfully established personal life, got married. Data about his wife is practically not preserved. Only her diminutive name Nyusya is known.
The young doctor did not leave painting classes. He painted portraits of his colleagues and leaders. During his work, Ermakov traveled abroad five times on scientific trips. In Berlin, Ivan Dmitrievich interned with Professor Ziegel, studied melancholy and mental disorders in children.
While in Zurich in 1913, Ermakov talked with Professor Blair, acquaintance with psychoanalysis began. After returning to Russia, Ivan Dmitrievich presented the results of the work. He took psychoanalysis as a method that provides an approach to the foundations of mental life.
In "Pathology of Respiratory Emotivity", "Synesthesia", "On the Psychological Origin of Catalepsy" there is a statement of the problem and the possibility of improving research using psychoanalysis.
Author's development
Ermakov holistically considered the problem of synesthesia as a result of the activity of the mental apparatus. Subsequently, the scientist focused on the use of a new direction in the field of art. He developed the psychology of children's drawing, games, organic knowledge of the child.
In 1910-1920 an organic approach to the psyche was formed. The method has become the main focus in research. It has been used in various topics, especially in articles on the field of art. There are works where the approach is used in the analysis of ornaments of Greek vases.
The essence of the approach in child psychology lies in conducting research based on the nature of children. The main criterion was gender. The scientist concluded that the child perceives an essential part of the world, activity, that is, what the baby 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 sex differentiation. According to that principle, the psychic is built up as a self-unfolding process.
At the beginning of the last century, psychoanalysis was also used for applied tasks. It was widely used in literary works and analysis of the works of classics. Russian psychoanalytic literary criticism was founded.
In the analysis, the scientist uses his own approach, organic understanding. The literary critic tried to perform a structural analysis of the author's language, applied a holistic approach to the study of the writer's work.
