Doctor medical sciences, Professor G.I. Grigoriev has been heading the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities (IHRCH) for about 20 years. With the spiritual mentoring of archpastors and pastors of the Russian Orthodox Church Grigory Igorevich directs the Society of Sobriety and Mercy of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, which operates at our church.
About teachers
- Grigory Igorevich, how do medicine, psychiatry, healing and church ministry intersect in your work?
All my adult life I have studied working with drug addicts, including from Dr. A.R. Dovzhenko. I was indeed one of his closest students, to whom he bequeathed to continue his work. And although Alexander Romanovich did not have the opportunity to bring people to church, he himself was a deeply religious Orthodox man, and his healing sessions were built by analogy, outwardly reminiscent of a church liturgical service. However, the atheistic time in which he lived was unfavorable for the revelation of his spiritual gift, therefore the content and design of A. R. Dovzhenko’s sessions were adapted to the everyday and medical level of understanding of his contemporaries.
Accumulating positive experience of treatment according to the method of A.R. Dovzhenko, indicating the removal of painful cravings in a significant number of patients with pathological addictions, I saw, however, how after a seemingly successful treatment the disease returned again, the person relapsed. Therefore, there was a need for further improvement and fundamental transformation of the methodology. Thus, the method of emotional-aesthetic stress psychotherapy (EESPT) was gradually formed, where the instillation of the patient’s fear of death was removed and replaced with an intelligible, scientifically-clinically based, detailed, but easily perceived figurative explanation of the causes and mechanisms of development of pathological dependence syndrome. Next significant stage in the activities of the MIHRCH was the formation of a method of spiritually oriented psychotherapy of pathological addictions in the form of a healing vow for Orthodox basis(DOP TsZ). Having the EESPT method as its predecessor, the DOP CZ method has outgrown it, becoming an independent method of treating patients with alcohol, drug and substance abuse disorders at the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities.
- Do you connect the reasons for the development of alcoholism and other addictions with the spiritual state of a person?
Yes. For some time now, I have begun to largely link the roots of these reasons with the spiritual state of a person, and interpret the dependence itself not only from a psychophysiological position, but also from the position of sinful passion and the consequences that are destructive for the body and soul resulting from it. At the same time, the role of the patient himself in overcoming the painful attraction was sharply actualized and instead of fear, only a friendly warning appeared not to tempt fate, not to commit sin as an act that inevitably brings spiritual, mental and physical destruction. My colleagues and I began to partially use the patristic experience of confronting sins back in 1988, when our institute was created. Even then, before the psychotherapeutic session, the Orthodox priest (and my spiritual father), the ever-memorable Archpriest Vasily Lesnyak, who had 44 years of experience in pastoral service and was revered by parishioners as an elder, delivered a short sermon and served a prayer service of the pre-revolutionary Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood of Sobriety and Mercy. It should be noted that Fr. Vasily Lesnyak, as well as all the spiritual fathers who subsequently collaborated with the institute, had the blessing to work together with our doctors from His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and his ruling bishop, Bishop of Mint John (Snychev) - at that time the Metropolitan of Leningrad and Ladoga. Currently, the institute operates with the blessing of Bishop Vladimir, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga.
About faith and parents
- How did you come to God yourself, Grigory Igorevich?
This was back in the Navy, when I served as a doctor on a submarine on Far East. During long-distance voyages, I was directly involved in the response to emergency situations on submarines three times. And that’s when we miraculously escaped the third accident and floated to the surface in Indian Ocean, I clearly remember how perfect and amazing the world seemed to me: the night, the starry sky above my head and such an order in the Universe that it took my breath away. And suddenly it became especially clear to me that such an order could not arise on its own, without a plan and a Creator. And this chilling fear passed after the accident, when I wanted to throw myself into the water and swim far away from this submarine. And such silence in my soul, such peace. Grace, in a word. After that I was baptized.
- Tell us about your parents, about your ancestors. Are they believers?
Yes, believers. And then heroic people. My grandfather - Nikolai Grigorievich - was a peasant poet and complete Knight of St. George, the favorite of General Brusilov. He began participating in the First World War with the rank of non-commissioned officer, and ended as commander of a sapper regiment.
Unfortunately, my father - Hero of the Soviet Union, partisan intelligence officer - is no longer with us, although I constantly feel his presence, support and help. He was a fairly famous poet, winner of two state prizes. On the back cover of one of his poetry collections " Steep road“It is written in his handwriting: “I am a believer, Russian, rural, happy, ready for anything that is not against my conscience! What else? And the signature is Igor Grigoriev. Back in 1984, in my letter to my father, published in the same collection, I wrote that the longer I live, the more I understand his poems. I re-read them often, many of them are like prayers for me. They contain the true pain and cry of the things of the Russian soul. His poems contain a fusion of times, their inextricable unity... Now I know: my father, before anyone else, alone, began the battle for our future, which we only learned about now. My mother, Daria Vasilievna, is also an absolutely amazing and unique woman. For many years now she has been heading the Pushkin Lyceum, where children from kindergarten to secondary education study according to programs from the times of Pushkin and Delvig. The main emphasis in this lyceum is on spiritual enlightenment and moral education, not excluding, of course, a good basic education for further successful admission to universities.
About the miracles of God
- Have real miracles happened in your life?
The main miracle of my life happened to me exactly 25 years ago, all in the same Far East, where I served as a senior psychoneurologist in the Pacific Fleet. At the end of July 1982, while reading my morning prayers, a text came to my mind, clear as a telegram: “In two weeks you will get married.” For me, this message was tantamount to a statement that tomorrow you will become president. I had neither a fiancée nor anyone who could even potentially become my wife, and in general, marriage was not at all part of my plans. But since such a message came, I began to wait, not knowing what or who. A week passed - nothing happened, and when the second was already coming to an end, I began to be inclined to think that everything just seemed to me.
And 15 minutes before the end of the last two week working day, when I was already starting to get ready to go home, an acquaintance came into my office and said: “Are you relieving pain?! Maybe you can help one of my friends with a spinal injury, the doctors didn’t help her well.” And I set off to meet my destiny. On the first day I successfully relieved Elena of pain, and on the second I proposed to her. Now we have three children, two grandchildren, a wonderful home, joint work and a very friendly big family. On October 15, we celebrated our silver wedding with the whole family. In all these years we have not said a single bad word to each other. The second obvious miracle happened to me when I, together with my spiritual father Vasily Lesnyak, came to Jerusalem for the first time in 1994 for Easter. I was told that if during the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, you ask God for everything hidden, then all your wishes will come true. I wrote a long list of wishes, and we spent 30 hours in the temple without food or water, suffering from heat during the day and cold at night. When the time for the descent of the Fire was approaching, my consciousness was already floating away, but the feeling of God’s grace that gripped me at that moment told me that there was no need to ask God for anything, He already knows everything. And for some reason I mentally shouted: “Lord, I ask only one thing: if I am alive and if Your will be done, I want to come here every year, to see the Holy Fire...” And for 14 years now the Lord has favored my trips. Since I have made friends there over the years, they help us get to church for Easter.
About the work of MIRHF
- Does anyone help you in your work to rid people of pathological addictions?
Of course, a wide range of specialists from various branches of medicine and related disciplines are involved in the work of our institute. An academic council has been created at the institute, and the publication of a peer-reviewed scientific and practical journal “Bulletin of Psychotherapy” of federal significance has been organized. Over the 18 years of its activity, about 300 doctors and scientists with the rank of academicians and corresponding members, professors, doctors and candidates of sciences worked and temporarily collaborated with it. I am a professor at the Department of Medical Psychology at the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education (MAPO) and conduct training for psychologists and doctors who improve their qualifications on the problems of psychotherapy of pathological addictions.
- How are your sessions going?
It all starts with information, with changing people's perceptions of a problem. Information - both scientific-medical and spiritual-religious - is given in a public conversation with a doctor in a clear, accessible form. Particular importance is attached to explaining the concept of repentance: what is its meaning and what is its place in the system of spiritual values. You cannot force a person to repent. But to explain and call him to repentance is simply necessary for his own good. At the same time, faith is never imposed on patients; precious knowledge of what is contained in the experience of Orthodoxy is generously transferred to them.
Repentance for everything that goes against the commandments of God should not be formal and ostentatious, but sincere, deep, coming from the soul, with contrition of heart and trust in the Lord, with the firm intention of never committing a repentant sin in the future. God looks not at the face, but at the heart of a person: what is in him - either raging passions and the desire to please them, or genuine pain about his unworthy deeds and a firm intention to improve. Repentance is the awakening of conscience, a great and significant event in a person’s life. Having sincerely repented from the heart, a person is cleansed, renewed, one might say, transformed. He turns away from sinful destructive passions and turns to the true values of life: love for one's neighbor, work, health, personal dignity... And maybe he will think about joining church life. A person who has deeply repented of drunkenness will not regret that he quit drinking or envy his drinking friends, but will appreciate and enjoy a sober life. Without repentance, such a result is doubtful.
About the results
Do you have statistics confirming that with the help of church repentance a person gets rid of his sinful addictions more easily, maintains sober convictions longer, and breaks down less often?
Yes, from the very beginning of the institute’s activities, we have been keeping strict statistics of all our clients. From January 1, 1988 to January 1, 2007, about 125 thousand people were treated for alcoholism, smoking and drug addiction. According to these statistics, approximately 92 percent of them profess Orthodox faith. However, about five percent of our patients call themselves atheists, the rest express involvement in other religious denominations. Therefore, the medical and spiritual parts of the DOP CZ method, with the blessing of the Church, are separated.
A public conversation is conducted by a doctor in the traditions of rational psychotherapy. However, it is more likely a conversation-sermon that illuminates both the medical and spiritual side of the problem. After such a conversation, the number of patients who want to come after medical treatment to an Orthodox church to take a vow of sobriety on the Cross and the Gospel increases sharply. Over the years of our practice, the number of such patients amounted to 45,677 people, or 36.8% of all those who came for treatment.
And if the majority of our patients called themselves believers, but did not regularly attend church, then after our treatment 4431 people began to attend Orthodox churches for performing church sacraments at least once a month. That is, the number of people who became church members after treatment was 10% of the number of all who came to the temple to make a church vow. But even unbaptized people sometimes change their attitude towards faith and God after our sessions.
According to statistics, over the entire period 13,220 patients who were not baptized in the Orthodox Church came to us for treatment, which amounted to 10.7% of all those who came to see a doctor. After medical treatment and a censorious conversation with the doctor, 4,786 people voluntarily accepted the Sacrament of Baptism, i.e. more than 36%.
The results of observation of patients showed that after medical treatment, 25% of patients did not drink alcohol during three years of observation. And among patients who, in addition to medical treatment, wished to come to church to take a vow of sobriety (church vow) on the Cross and the Gospel, 52% of patients have not taken alcoholic beverages for three years. This ratio clearly demonstrates the need collaboration doctors and clergy in healing people from alcoholism and drug addiction.
What else is included in the treatment program, besides the doctor’s clarification and the performance of church sacraments for those who wish?
- The last stage of the medical part of the treatment is an individual appointment with the attending physician, during which the clinical affiliation of the vow and its duration are specified, the vow is individually and psychotherapeutically consolidated.
As a result, physical and mental dependence is removed or significantly reduced (in the latter case, a second appointment with the attending physician is scheduled for a conversation and consolidation of the vow). Spiritual dependence is also relieved, or at least mitigated, if patients participate in Divine Liturgy, repent of the sin of their alcohol, drug or other addiction, with the testimony and permissive prayer of the priest. After confession, patients are allowed to receive the Holy Sacraments of Christ. In conclusion, a special prayer service of Alexander Nevsky is served temperance society.
This does not mean that such patients never break their healing vows. It is characteristic, however, that in the event of a breakdown they do not receive the same effect from taking alcohol-containing liquids. Moreover, they experience spiritual discomfort and remorse, which forces them to turn to the Institute for help after breaking their vow. I want to emphasize that the main factor of success is the voluntary desire to become a sober, drug-free person, therefore we are against any violence against the individual. It is no coincidence that in our method the medical and spiritual parts are separated organizationally and essentially, although to a certain extent a “bridge” is thrown between them thanks to the targeted spiritual orientation of the medical part of the method.
About the causes of our troubles
- Doctor, what is the scientific and practical novelty of your method?
For the first time in scientific and practical medicine, a spiritual factor has been identified and introduced as the most important pathogenetic factor in the formation of drug-related diseases, which gives grounds to interpret these addictions as diseases of a spiritual and moral nature. Unity, union (but not confusion of functions!) of medicine and the Church is natural, moreover, necessary, especially when we're talking about about alcoholism, drug addiction and other sinful passions. For only such a community can provide complete treatment and healing, deliver not only from mental and physical addictions, but also from spiritual addictions. Thanks to this unity of medical and spiritual approaches to treatment for addictions, the therapeutic and medical impact extends not only to the psychophysiological status of a person, but also to his spiritual and moral state, to the restoration of holistic and harmonious unity in a person - his physical, mental and spiritual essences. Built on a solid foundation of gospel truths, on the principles of Orthodox psychotherapy, the DOP CZ method opens the way to churching, to the spiritual formation of a person.
- Grigory Igorevich, why, in your opinion, do people themselves, sometimes very educated, drink without feeling for a long time the dangers of what is happening, why the instinct of self-preservation does not work in them, does not turn on common sense?
Over the years of my medical practice, it became clear to me why outwardly man of sense, constantly drunk, does not see where he is going, and he does not realize the disease itself, does not understand what is happening to him and how it all can end. Having many examples where others like him had a catastrophe in their lives, he still believes that nothing like this will happen to him personally, that he has “everything under control.” Typical misconception!
Who overshadows a person's mind? If we turn to medical science, it does not give an answer to this question, and in principle cannot give it. For, I repeat, not only the material and psychological factor is at work here, but also the spiritual factor. The crafty spirit, the invisible force of evil, overshadows a person’s mind, depriving him of self-criticism and understanding of the really threatening danger, in order to destroy not only his physical, bodily nature, but also his soul. Therefore, I am convinced that all pathological diseases are, first of all, diseases of a spiritual and moral nature, according to Orthodox teaching. A person voluntarily surrenders his will to the will of the spirits of evil in heaven and finds himself in the trap of dark forces.
The Apostle Paul spoke convincingly and simply about the consequences of such an extremely widespread eclipse of reason and a person’s loss of his own will: “For I do not understand what I am doing; For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Rom. 7:15). And again: “I do not do the good that I want, but I do the evil that I do not want” (Rom. 7:19). Having eclipsed a person’s mind and seized power over him, the dark evil force dulls his conscience, which is the Voice of God. And a person does not realize that, indulging in a vicious passion, he thereby creates evil and sin against himself, his health, as well as against the health and life of loved ones, plunging them into everyday disorder, mental confusion, depression and despair.
The same evil spirit cultivates in its victim selfishness, self-confidence, and a tendency toward self-justification, increasingly distancing the person from understanding what is happening to him. "Drink? Yes. And who cares, everyone drinks,” the patient boldly declares. However, the evil one is evil, but a person is not relieved of responsibility for the evil committed. After all, he himself voluntarily let the evil one into his heart.
About the evil spirit
How can one explain the fact that a person who is already leading a sober life after treatment is suddenly overwhelmed by thoughts of drinking with increasing importunity, and sometimes he starts drinking?
Being a psychiatrist with more than 30 years of experience and having such examples in practice, I will say that Clerambault is not a symptom of Kandinsky’s mental automatism here. What is it then? Is this not the action of the same evil spirit? In my opinion, there is no other way to explain this situation. “Demons first try to darken our minds, and then they instill what they want,” says Saint John Climacus. Essentially, spiritual dependence is dominant, holding and provoking mental and physical dependence. And until a person realizes that he is doing an evil sinful thing, does not understand that he is sick, he will not go to treatment, but will continue to drink, smoke, inject drugs, and indulge in gambling passion. Long-term clinical practice also shows that, when falling into spiritual dependence, a person changes in his qualities, his positive personality traits are replaced by the opposite, he becomes, as it were, an antipode to himself. This happens gradually, imperceptibly for the person himself, but steadily and inevitably...
- So, from spiritual dependence, along with others, it is absolutely necessary to free yourself. How?
The answer is simple and, as they say, unambiguous. The path is the only and absolutely reliable: this is repentance and turning to the Lord for help. It is possible to get rid of spiritual damage only by spiritual means, by the healing power of God’s grace. A person must do everything in his power to free himself from addiction, but this can only be achieved with God’s help. And to get it, you need to be willing to change your mind and lifestyle.
- How is communication between patients and specialists at your institute maintained in the future?
Patients who have undergone treatment are under the supervision of our doctors and can contact us for help at any time on all health-related issues. If necessary, we carry out rehabilitation of patients - either in the appropriate center of the institute, or in an Orthodox monastery with the blessing of a priest.
- What are the requirements for doctors at your institute?
In addition to high professional knowledge and experience, a specialist doctor conducting treatment based on Orthodox psychotherapy is required to: special requirements: first of all, he must love people, be a believer and a churchgoer, accumulate spiritual experience, have the blessing of a priest-spiritual father for treatment, have a sense of compassion, empathy for a suffering person, be patient, attentive and responsive. And, of course, lead a completely sober life.
- Grigory Igorevich, do you consider yourself happy man?
Yes, definitely. I have great family, a job I love, an opportunity to serve and help a lot of people. I love and know how to relax, enjoy life in all its manifestations and thank God for everything. I am able to feel the infinite God's grace. And with God’s help, I no longer need any techniques or techniques to remove myself from negative energy After communicating with seriously ill patients, there is no need to suffer from the problem of choice when making decisions. I simply gratefully present myself and my life to God and know that He will manage everything and lead me to the path of salvation.
The conversation was conducted by Svetlana TROITSKAYA
Priest Grigory Grigoriev
The experience of priest Alexy Moroz
Priest Alexy Moroz - candidate of pedagogical sciences, grand. doctor of psychology, professor of theology, board member of the Union of Writers of Russia, practicing Orthodox psychologist with 30 years of experience, confessor of the Orthodox School of Psychology and Medicine, as well as confessor International Association Orthodox psychologists.
O. Alexy is the author of the books: “Fundamentals of Orthodox Psychology”, “People and Demons”, “I Confess Sin Father”, “Overcoming Pathological Addictions”, “Orthodox Lifestyle” and many other works on psychology and pedagogy.
Psychosomatic problems (diseases associated with mental problems, false spiritual and mental attitudes)
Today, about 80% of diseases are psychosomatic in nature. First of all, the defeat occurs in the spiritual, then the psycho-emotional sphere, and then manifests itself in the form of various somatic (physical) diseases.
If you treat only the symptoms of diseases, their physical manifestations, then the diseases will never go away. For example, you can treat liver diseases pharmacologically (medically) as much as you like, but if a person is angry and irritable, then the disease will remain with the person. This means, first of all, it is necessary to eradicate the passion of anger and its psycho-emotional manifestations and only after that part with the acquired disease.
In my doctoral dissertation, I researched the connection between sinful passions, their psycho-emotional manifestations and somatic diseases. I have developed and tested in practice (in stationary and outpatient setting anti-drug center, Orthodox school of psychology and medicine) a treatment method based on an approach to a person as a microcosm (spirit, soul and body), taking into account the influence of light and demonic forces on him, as well as his environment. At the beginning of our course, we look for the spiritual causes of the disease, then we consider its psychophysical manifestations, and then the physical component. Therefore, the recommendations are of a spiritual nature; at the same time, modern effective (but harmless to the human person) psychotechnics are used, and the necessary bodily recommendations are also given.
The experience of priest Grigory Grigoriev
Priest Grigory Grigoriev - professor, doctor of medical sciences, doctor of theology, honored doctor Russian Federation, expert of the State Drug Control Service, director of the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities, co-chairman of the expert council at the Coordination Center for Combating Alcoholism and Promoting Sobriety of the Russian Orthodox Church, chairman of the All-Russian Alexander Nevsky Sobriety Society (has been engaged in treatment for three and a half decades, during which time his programs have been over 100 thousand people were treated).
Grigory Grigoriev was born in 1956. In 1979 he graduated from the Military Medical Academy and served in the Pacific Fleet. Participant in long-distance submarine voyages and the elimination of three emergency situations. Major of the medical service.
In 1984 he was demobilized. He worked in Leningrad at the Clinical Hospital of the Administration of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1988 he organized the All-Russian Alexander Nevsky Temperance Society.
In 1993, he defended his PhD thesis on the topic “Treatment of alcoholism using the method of mass emotional-aesthetic psychotherapy (development of the method and evaluation of its effectiveness).” In 2004 he defended his doctorate on the topic “Crisis and rehabilitation assistance for drug addiction based on stress (spiritually oriented psychotherapy on an Orthodox basis).”
In 2006, he was awarded the academic title of professor in the department of medical psychology of the St. Petersburg medical academy postgraduate education.
Defense of the doctoral dissertation of Priest Grigory Igorevich Grigoriev.
On September 8, 2015, the All-Church Doctoral Dissertation Council defended a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Theology “Sin as an addictive behavior: theological foundations and medical and psychological research experience” by Priest Grigory Igorevich Grigoriev.
Scientific consultants:
Rybnikov Viktor Yurievich, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor
Shmonin Dmitry Viktorovich, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of St. Petersburg PDA, Vice-Rector of the Russian Academy of Chemical Sciences, Head. department pedagogy and theology of education OTSAD
Opponents:
Archpriest Oleg Skomorokh, Doctor of Theology, Chairman of the Department of Prison Ministry of the St. Petersburg Metropolis, teacher of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy
Brun Evgeniy Alekseevich, professor, doctor of medical sciences, chief psychiatrist-narcologist of the Ministry of Health of Russia, director of the Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology of the Ministry of Health of Russia
Elena Alekseevna Petrova, Professor, Doctor of Psychology, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Russian State Social University
On-line translation
Alcoholism, smoking and drug addiction are very related concepts. It is worth noting that alcoholism is drug addiction characterized by a morbid addiction to drug use alcoholic drinks(mental and physical dependence) and alcohol impairment internal organs. An alcoholic is the same as a drug addict.
Modern treatment of alcoholism has long been different from the treatment of this disease several decades ago. The basis of correct treatment of alcoholism is general diagnostics the state of the person seeking help. It is very important to understand the stage of alcoholism and choose the right type of treatment, so diagnosis is necessary before treating alcoholism.
The eternal question of whether a certain amount of alcohol consumption is a sign of alcoholism is difficult to answer in the abstract. It is easier to determine the specific stages of disease development.
The first stage of alcoholism is the most common. This psychological dependence from alcohol. It is discovered simply - in anticipation of drinking, the mood improves, but in the process of drinking, communication is pleasant, and not the opportunity to drink a lot. At this stage, the dose of alcohol required for intoxication begins to increase, but there is still no hangover or binge drinking.
The second stage of alcoholism - control over the amount of alcohol consumed is lost - after drinking a little, a person can no longer stop. Physical dependence is formed. A person “gets to know” a hangover. Poor health during a hangover can be relieved with a small amount of alcohol. At this stage of alcoholism, binge drinking appears.
The third stage of alcoholism. The body weakens and collapses. Resistance to alcohol decreases - about 50 grams is enough to become intoxicated. Personal degradation becomes obvious.
Certainly than formerly man is aware of the problem with alcohol, the easier it is to cope with it. It should be understood that any method of treating alcoholism is based on complete refusal from alcohol.
Now in the field of medical services for the treatment of alcoholism, you can find more than 500 different drugs that will help in the initial stages of alcoholism.
Please note that a prerequisite for a positive result in the treatment of alcoholism is that the patient has confidence in the attending physician. It is necessary for the attending narcologist to have extensive experience in the treatment of alcoholism and to be proficient in psychotherapy methods.
Prevention of alcoholism is widely known. Prevention of alcoholism refers to psychological methods aimed at developing a negative attitude towards alcohol. The goal of the methods is to shape a person’s lifestyle without developing a craving for alcohol. There are three main stages in the prevention of alcoholism. Primary prevention of alcoholism includes measures aimed at preventing the causes of alcoholism. The optimal period from the point of view of the formation of anti-alcohol attitudes is below average age. Explanatory work should be aimed at rejecting alcohol consumption as a symbol of prestige. It is necessary to talk about the harmful properties of alcohol and possible consequences its consumption, to form in the mind an alternative to a lifestyle that includes alcohol consumption.
It has been proven that the most in an effective way prevention is a method aimed at developing such a semantic orientation of the individual for which alcohol cannot be a value in life.
At the moment, the leading place in the treatment of alcoholism is occupied by the psychotherapeutic method. The psychotherapeutic method is aimed at working with the patient’s personality. There are many different psychotherapeutic approaches and methods for treating alcoholism. Hypnosuggestive, cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic techniques are widely used. Psychotherapy for alcoholism is carried out both individually and in groups, with special attention paid to family psychotherapy.
Hypnosuggestive psychotherapy:
Hypnosuggestive therapy uses suggestion aimed at prohibiting the consumption of alcohol, with the reinforcement of fear of possible unpleasant and even serious consequences for the patient if this prohibition is violated.
Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy:
Therapy is aimed at helping a patient with alcoholism change their lifestyle, forming more adequate ideas about themselves and the surrounding reality. During the treatment process, the patient is taught rational thinking. The results of therapy most often depend on the patient’s determination to quit drinking. It is noteworthy that the greatest proportion of recoveries is observed among those who admit their illness.
Group psychotherapy:
Most methods of psychotherapy for patients with alcoholism are used in groups, which is believed to increase the effectiveness of treatment. There is an opinion that group sessions have advantages over individual ones, since the group is much better than one therapist at resisting the attempts of one of the group members to justify drunkenness. Examples of those who were able to overcome cravings for alcohol and lead a sober lifestyle give hope in their own recovery.
Family psychotherapy:
On modern stage Much attention in the treatment of alcoholism is given to family psychotherapy (psychotherapy married couples, in groups of wives whose husbands suffer from alcoholism, etc.) At the same time, the tasks of psychotherapy are to identify the main conflicts between spouses, reconstruct family relations, family adaptation to the sobriety regime, strengthening the patient’s attitudes towards sobriety. There are organizations of relatives of alcoholics (for example, “Children of Alcoholics”). Members of these organizations recognize that the patient’s relatives are powerless over his addiction and only trust in God can save him from this addiction. As for the relatives themselves, their task is to achieve independence from the patient (which, of course, does not mean either indifference or hostility).
The skillful use by doctors of the MIHRCH clinic of one or another psychotherapeutic method, and if necessary, a combination of various methods, depending on the clinical picture of the disease, the patient’s personality and his social situation, allows achieving maximum effectiveness of therapy alcohol addiction. For more than 20 years of work at MIRCH, under the leadership of the Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Grigory Igorevich Grigoriev, they created their own, fundamentally new direction of spiritually oriented psychotherapy in the form of a healing vow, which sets as its goal the complete healing of a person: his body, soul and spirit .
Treatment of alcoholism includes a thorough analysis of those situations in which a breakdown or relapse of alcoholism is possible. You can help a patient with alcoholism by building immunity to risk situations, teaching him to independently relieve cravings for alcohol, emotional tension, and feelings of discomfort. Treatment of alcoholism requires not only individual, but also group, and what is especially important, family help. The family must understand how to properly behave with a patient with alcoholism.
It has now become absolutely clear that treatment of alcoholism is impossible in one, two or even three meetings with a doctor. Treatment should take place in a clinic to combat alcoholism, and not in makeshift conditions, because curing alcoholism is not so easy.
Biochemical studies in recent years have shown that binge drinking can often be the result of a metabolic disorder that can be treated using dietary therapy.
Some scholars argue that none of those who adhere to the rules rational nutrition, never became an alcoholic. Experience of numerous health clubs, recreational running, rhythmic gymnastics and winter swimming, where “prohibition” is mandatory and almost everyone eats healthy food, confirms this. Doctors, of course, know that alcoholics often suffer from malnutrition, but malnutrition of brain cells has simply not been considered as one of the significant causes of alcoholism until now.
Spiritually oriented psychotherapy for pathological addictions / Ed. prof. G.I. Grigorieva. - St. Petersburg: IITs VMA, 2008. - 504 p.
IN textbook the origins are traced and the conceptual foundations of the method of spiritually oriented psychotherapy in the form of a healing vow (DOP CH) on an Orthodox basis, developed at the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities and the St. Alexander Nevsky Temperance Brotherhood, are outlined. This method is used today for medical and psychological assistance to patients with pathological addictions in Russia, Belarus and Lithuania. Conceptual framework described practical work Temperance schools in the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The manual is intended for psychotherapists, psychiatrists, addiction psychiatrists and medical psychologists, as well as for clergy and laity of the St. Petersburg diocese who work to sober up people in their parishes.
On December 31, 2015 at 20.00 on the Soyuz TV channel a program from the series “Conversations with Father” will be shown with the participation of the rector of our Temple, Archpriest Grigory Grigoriev. Theme of the program: "Holidays of God and man."
This year in Russia, after a long break, the national Day of Sobriety, which arose exactly 100 years ago, has been revived. The growing attention of the church to the issue of addiction prevention, cooperation with the state in the fight against alcohol and drug addictions allow thousands of Russians to get out of vicious circle. Priest Grigory Grigoriev, Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences, psychiatrist-narcologist, professor of the Department of Psychology of North-Western State Medical University named after V.I., talks about the medical and spiritual aspects of liberation from addictions. I.I. Mechnikov.
"Petersburg Diary": What is the church's point of view on addictions?
Grigory Grigoriev: The Savior said: seek first of all the Kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness, and everything else will be added to you. Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky deciphered it this way: there are three types of capital – monetary, official, spiritual. Over time, this has not changed, the basic values are the same — spirituality, money, power.
If the main thing for a person is spiritual capital, the highest moral and spiritual values, then neither money, nor ranks, nor anything else will ever harm him. Another story often occurs when moral values are replaced by others, false ones. Today, the international classification of addictions describes more than 400 types, and the number will undoubtedly increase. Church version of the description of addictions — Orthodox manual on sins — “Philokalia” in five volumes. We can say that for each of God's 10 commandments there are about 90 sins. In fact, any sin is an addiction, deviant behavior.
"Petersburg Diary": What are the mechanisms of addiction?
Grigory Grigoriev: From the Bible we know that the Lord creates the first man Adam and shows him the Garden of Eden. But why does it show? It was assumed that he would be a gardener there, communicate with God and gradually approach him. The snake suggested a shortcut - eat the fruit and shorten the road. Any person in addiction wants exactly this – a shortcut. The road to God is very difficult, you must live according to the commandments, work on yourself, and the Lord will always help you on this road.
When you stray from God’s path, an emergency sensor— conscience—turns on. She always reminds you that you are moving in the wrong direction. If a person begins to take drugs or alcohol at this time, then the conscience calms down and turns off.
Addictions appear where the highest moral and spiritual values disappear, where a person does not take the path of the commandments, but goes under the anesthesia of sin. This is an attempt to receive the grace of God from the back door — ate and order. Sophocles also said that all human properties will grow in accordance with what comes his way. If a person meets God, all his properties turn into talents, and if with a negative influence, into sins. So in fact, sin is a sick talent, just talent minus God, minus the property of love. Therefore, in healing from sin and addiction, the main component is the spiritual.
"Petersburg Diary": What are the steps to returning to a healthy life?
Grigory Grigoriev: The green serpent has three heads – physical, mental and spiritual. Therefore, the common efforts of the doctor and the priest are important, their collaboration is synergy, then we achieve results. Any addiction begins with a decrease in critical self-esteem. If we proceed from the fact that alcoholism and drug addiction are mental illnesses, then a person simply cannot realize his illness. The deeper he went into her, the less sick he would consider himself. And therefore he simply cannot have the desire to be treated.
Those who come to dispensaries, supposedly on their own, actually just want to quit their drinking bout, reduce the dose, and get temporary relief. There are only two forces that can heal a person - love and fear. Divine love that everyone can receive, and the love of loved ones. Methods based on Divine love — repentance and restoration of a person’s relationship with God. In order to cope with vice, you need to understand that you cannot cope on your own without Divine help. Help here comes not out of faith, but out of need.
If a person has not turned to Divine love, and the love of loved ones no longer helps, he is left with only the second path - fear. This is creating stress and directing it against cravings for a substance. For example, when a wife uses an ultimatum to force her husband to go to treatment, she creates severe stress. Let the husband come formally, just to leave him alone, but gradually this can turn into true treatment.
A lot depends on the doctor; he must conduct the conversation in such a way that the person, upon arriving “healthy,” feels his illness. I haven’t drunk for 34 years, and in conversations with patients I sometimes tell them how I drank before and sometimes couldn’t stop, how I didn’t consider myself an alcoholic - this realization came only after 10 years of sobriety. Sometimes such frankness of the doctor brings the patient into a confidential conversation. In overcoming addiction, it is important to “win time for sobriety.” When a person does not drink for a year or two, the chance of recognizing himself as sick is much greater.
"Petersburg Diary": In this regard, the question arises—what is the church’s point of view on methods such as coding and filing?
Grigory Grigoriev: The fear mechanism, of course, can be used physiologically to temporarily inhibit a person from drinking and taking drugs. All methods of modern medicine are based on fear. Coding, filing, spirals, chemical protection - one way or another, a person has a medical effect that inspires the formula “if you drink, you will die.” The patient, if he believes in this, of course, does not drink, because he is afraid of dying. But at the same time, he waits to see how much time remains when the “period” ends. And this time of sobriety must be used to restore relationships with God, lead to the spirit of love, “awaken” the conscience and take the right path. If we use the time of sobriety for this, medical methods are for the good, to help.
"Petersburg Diary": How to protect the younger generation? What are the basic principles of prevention?
Grigory Grigoriev:“God is not in power, but in truth,” as Alexander Nevsky said. Therefore, the main method of prevention is true. Before the revolution, all schools had a special subject - the science of sobriety. Now this falls on the shoulders of parents - to speak honestly with their children about addictions, set a personal example of sobriety, and contribute to the formation of spiritual immunity.
"Petersburg Diary": What will be the first step towards overcoming addictions among unchurched people?
Grigory Grigoriev: Of course, ask for help. If not spiritual, then at least medical to begin with. Nowadays, one way or another, people are trying to get to a doctor they trust. Even if they go to a regular city dispensary, it’s still on the advice of friends, on the recommendation. And that's probably right. We choose both a doctor and a priest so as not to be disappointed and together go along the right path.
Text: Elena KurshukPhoto: From the personal archive of G. Grigoriev
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor G. I. Grigoriev has been heading the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities (IHRCH) for about 20 years. With the spiritual mentoring of archpastors and pastors of the Russian Orthodox Church, Grigory Igorevich leads the Society of Sobriety and Mercy of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, which operates at our church.
About teachers
— Grigory Igorevich, how do medicine, psychiatry, healing and church ministry intersect in your work?
— All my adult life I have studied working with drug addicts, including from Dr. A.R. Dovzhenko. I was indeed one of his closest students, to whom he bequeathed to continue his work. And although Alexander Romanovich did not have the opportunity to bring people to church, he himself was a deeply religious Orthodox man, and his healing sessions were based on an analogy that outwardly resembled a church liturgical service. However, the atheistic time in which he lived was unfavorable for the revelation of his spiritual gift, therefore the content and design of A. R. Dovzhenko’s sessions were adapted to the everyday and medical level of understanding of his contemporaries.
Accumulating positive experience of treatment according to the method of A.R. Dovzhenko, indicating the removal of painful cravings in a significant number of patients with pathological addictions, I saw, however, how after a seemingly successful treatment the disease returned again, the person relapsed. Therefore, there was a need for further improvement and fundamental transformation of the methodology. Thus, the method of emotional-aesthetic stress psychotherapy (EESPT) was gradually formed, where the instillation of the patient’s fear of death was removed and replaced with an intelligible, scientifically-clinically based, detailed, but easily perceived figurative explanation of the causes and mechanisms of development of pathological dependence syndrome. The next significant stage in the activities of MIRCH was the formation of a method of spiritually oriented psychotherapy for pathological addictions in the form of a healing vow on an Orthodox basis (DOP CZ). Having the EESPT method as its predecessor, the DOP CZ method has outgrown it, becoming an independent method of treating patients with alcohol, drug and substance abuse disorders at the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities.
— Do you connect the reasons for the development of alcoholism and other addictions with the spiritual state of a person?
- Yes. For some time now, I have begun to largely link the roots of these reasons with the spiritual state of a person, and interpret the dependence itself not only from a psychophysiological position, but also from the position of sinful passion and the consequences that are destructive for the body and soul resulting from it. At the same time, the role of the patient himself in overcoming the painful attraction was sharply actualized and instead of fear, only a friendly warning appeared not to tempt fate, not to commit sin as an act that inevitably brings spiritual, mental and physical destruction. My colleagues and I began to partially use the patristic experience of confronting sins back in 1988, when our institute was created. Even then, before the psychotherapeutic session, the Orthodox priest (and my spiritual father), the ever-memorable Archpriest Vasily Lesnyak, who had 44 years of experience in pastoral service and was revered by parishioners as an elder, delivered a short sermon and served a prayer service of the pre-revolutionary Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood of Sobriety and Mercy. It should be noted that Fr. Vasily Lesnyak, as well as all the confessors who subsequently collaborated with the institute, had the blessing to work together with our doctors from His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and his ruling bishop, Bishop of Mint John (Snychev) - at that time the Metropolitan of Leningrad and Ladoga. Currently, the institute operates with the blessing of Vladyka Vladimir, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga.
About faith and parents
— How did you come to God yourself, Grigory Igorevich?
— It was back in the navy, when I served as a doctor on a submarine in the Far East. During long-distance voyages, I was directly involved in the response to emergency situations on submarines three times. And when we miraculously escaped the third accident and floated to the surface in the Indian Ocean, I clearly remember how perfect and amazing the world seemed to me: the night, the starry sky overhead and such an order in the Universe that it was breathtaking. And suddenly it became especially clear to me that such an order could not arise on its own, without a plan and a Creator. And this chilling fear passed after the accident, when I wanted to throw myself into the water and swim far away from this submarine. And such silence in my soul, such peace. Grace, in a word. After that I was baptized.
— Tell us about your parents, about your ancestors. Are they believers?
- Yes, believers. And also heroic people. My grandfather - Nikolai Grigorievich - was a peasant poet and a full Knight of St. George, a favorite of General Brusilov. He began participating in the First World War with the rank of non-commissioned officer, and ended as commander of a sapper regiment.
My father, Hero of the Soviet Union, partisan intelligence officer, is unfortunately no longer with us, although I constantly feel his presence, support and help. He was a fairly famous poet, winner of two state prizes. On the back cover of one of his poetry collections, “Steep Road,” it is written in his handwriting: “I am a believer, Russian, rural, happy, ready for anything that is not against my Conscience! What else? And the signature is Igor Grigoriev. Back in 1984, in my letter to my father, published in the same collection, I wrote that the longer I live, the more I understand his poems. I re-read them often, many of them are like prayers for me. They contain the true pain and cry of the things of the Russian soul. His poems contain a fusion of times, their inextricable unity... Now I know: my father, before anyone else, alone, began the battle for our future, which we only learned about now. My mother, Daria Vasilievna, is also an absolutely amazing and unique woman. For many years now she has been heading the Pushkin Lyceum, where children from kindergarten to secondary education study according to programs from the times of Pushkin and Delvig. The main emphasis in this lyceum is on spiritual enlightenment and moral education, not excluding, of course, a good basic education for further successful admission to universities.
About the miracles of God
— Have real miracles happened in your life?
— The main miracle of my life happened to me exactly 25 years ago, all in the same Far East, where I served as a senior psychoneurologist in the Pacific Fleet. At the end of July 1982, while reading my morning prayers, a text came to my mind, clear as a telegram: “In two weeks you will get married.” For me, this message was tantamount to a statement that tomorrow you will become president. I had neither a fiancée nor anyone who could even potentially become my wife, and in general, marriage was not at all part of my plans. But since such a message came, I began to wait, not knowing what or who. A week passed without anything happening, and when the second was already coming to an end, I began to think that everything was just my imagination.
And 15 minutes before the end of the last two week working day, when I was already starting to get ready to go home, an acquaintance came into my office and said: “Are you relieving pain?! Maybe you can help one of my friends with a spinal injury, the doctors didn’t help her well.” And I set off to meet my destiny. On the first day, I successfully relieved Elena of her pain, and on the second, I proposed to her. Now we have three children, two grandchildren, a wonderful home, joint work and a very friendly big family. On October 15, we celebrated our silver wedding with the whole family. In all these years we haven't said one thing to each other bad word. The second obvious miracle happened to me when I, together with my spiritual father Vasily Lesnyak, came to Jerusalem for the first time in 1994 for Easter. I was told that if during the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, you ask God for everything hidden, then all your wishes will come true. I wrote a long list of wishes, and we spent 30 hours in the temple without food or water, suffering from heat during the day and cold at night. When the time for the descent of the Fire was approaching, my consciousness was already floating away, but the feeling of God’s grace that gripped me at that moment told me that there was no need to ask God for anything, He already knows everything. And for some reason I mentally shouted: “Lord, I ask only one thing: if I am alive and if Your will be done, I want to come here every year, to see the Holy Fire...” And for 14 years now the Lord has favored my trips. Since I have made friends there over the years, they help us get to church for Easter.
About the work of MIRHF
— Does anyone help you in your work to rid people of pathological addictions?
— Of course, a wide range of specialists from various branches of medicine and related disciplines are involved in the work of our institute. An academic council has been created at the institute, and the publication of a peer-reviewed scientific and practical journal “Bulletin of Psychotherapy” of federal significance has been organized. Over the 18 years of its activity, about 300 doctors and scientists with the rank of academicians and corresponding members, professors, doctors and candidates of sciences worked and temporarily collaborated with it. I am a professor at the Department of Medical Psychology at the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education (MAPO) and conduct training for psychologists and doctors who improve their qualifications on the problems of psychotherapy of pathological addictions.
— How are your sessions going?
“It all starts with information, with changing people’s perceptions of the problem. Information - both scientific-medical and spiritual-religious - is given in a public conversation with a doctor in a clear, accessible form. Particular importance is attached to explaining the concept of repentance: what is its meaning and what is its place in the system of spiritual values. You cannot force a person to repent. But to explain and call him to repentance is simply necessary for his own good. At the same time, faith is never imposed on patients; precious knowledge of what is contained in the experience of Orthodoxy is generously transferred to them.
Repentance for everything that goes against the commandments of God should not be formal and ostentatious, but sincere, deep, coming from the soul, with contrition of heart and trust in the Lord, with the firm intention of never committing a repentant sin in the future. God looks not at the face, but at the heart of a person: what is in him - either raging passions and the desire to please them, or genuine pain about his unworthy deeds and a firm intention to improve. Repentance is the awakening of conscience, a great and significant event in a person’s life. Having sincerely repented from the heart, a person is cleansed, renewed, one might say, transformed. He turns away from sinful, destructive passions and turns to true life values: love for one’s neighbor, work, health, personal dignity... And maybe he will think about joining church life. A person who has deeply repented of drunkenness will not regret that he quit drinking or envy his drinking friends, but will appreciate and enjoy a sober life. Without repentance, such a result is doubtful.
About the results
— Do you have statistics confirming that with the help of church repentance, a person gets rid of his sinful addictions more easily, maintains sober convictions longer, and breaks down less often?
— Yes, from the very beginning of the institute’s activities, we have been keeping strict statistics of all our clients. From January 1, 1988 to January 1, 2007, about 125 thousand people were treated for alcoholism, smoking and drug addiction. According to these statistics, approximately 92 percent of them profess the Orthodox faith. However, about five percent of our patients call themselves atheists, the rest express involvement in other religious denominations. Therefore, the medical and spiritual parts of the DOP CZ method, with the blessing of the Church, are separated.
A public conversation is conducted by a doctor in the traditions of rational psychotherapy. However, it is more likely a conversation-sermon that illuminates both the medical and spiritual side of the problem. After such a conversation, the number of patients who want to come after medical treatment to an Orthodox church to take a vow of sobriety on the Cross and the Gospel increases sharply. Over the years of our practice, the number of such patients amounted to 45,677 people, or 36.8% of all those who came for treatment.
And if the majority of our patients called themselves believers, but did not regularly attend church, then after our treatment, 4431 people began to visit Orthodox churches to perform church sacraments at least once a month. That is, the number of people who became church members after treatment was 10% of the number of all who came to the temple to make a church vow. But even unbaptized people sometimes change their attitude towards faith and God after our sessions.
According to statistics, over the entire period 13,220 patients who were not baptized in the Orthodox Church came to us for treatment, which amounted to 10.7% of all those who came to see a doctor. After medical treatment and a censorious conversation with the doctor, 4,786 people voluntarily accepted the Sacrament of Baptism, i.e. more than 36%.
The results of observation of patients showed that after medical treatment, 25% of patients did not drink alcohol during three years of observation. And among patients who, in addition to medical treatment, wished to come to church to take a vow of sobriety (church vow) on the Cross and the Gospel, 52% of patients have not taken alcoholic beverages for three years. This ratio clearly demonstrates the need for doctors and clergy to work together in healing people from alcoholism and drug addiction.
— What else is included in the treatment program, besides the doctor’s censorious conversation and the performance of church Sacraments for those who wish?
— The last stage of the medical part of the treatment is an individual appointment with the attending physician, during which the clinical affiliation of the vow and its duration are specified, the vow is individually and psychotherapeutically consolidated.
As a result, physical and mental dependence is removed or significantly reduced (in the latter case, a second appointment with the attending physician is scheduled for a conversation and consolidation of the vow). Spiritual dependence is also removed, or at least mitigated, if patients participate in the Divine Liturgy, repent of the sin of their alcohol, drug or other addiction, with the testimony and permissive prayer of the priest. After confession, patients are allowed to receive the Holy Sacraments of Christ. In conclusion, a special prayer service of Alexander Nevsky is served temperance society.
This does not mean that such patients never break their healing vows. What is characteristic, however, is that when they have a breakdown, they do not get the same effect from taking alcohol-containing liquids. Moreover, they experience spiritual discomfort and remorse, which forces them to turn to the Institute for help after breaking their vow. I want to emphasize that the main factor of success is the voluntary desire to become a sober, drug-free person, therefore we are against any violence against the individual. It is no coincidence that in our method the medical and spiritual parts are separated organizationally and essentially, although to a certain extent a “bridge” is thrown between them thanks to the targeted spiritual orientation of the medical part of the method.
About the causes of our troubles
— Doctor, what is the scientific and practical novelty of your method?
— For the first time in scientific and practical medicine, a spiritual factor has been identified and introduced as the most important pathogenetic factor in the formation of drug-related diseases, which gives grounds to interpret these addictions as diseases of a spiritual and moral nature. Unity, union (but not confusion of functions!) of medicine and the Church is natural, moreover, necessary, especially when it comes to alcoholism, drug addiction and other sinful passions. For only such a community can provide complete treatment and healing, deliver not only from mental and physical addictions, but also from spiritual addictions. Thanks to this unity of medical and spiritual approaches to treatment for addictions, the therapeutic and medical impact extends not only to the psychophysiological status of a person, but also to his spiritual and moral state, to the restoration of holistic and harmonious unity in a person - his physical, mental and spiritual essences. Built on a solid foundation of gospel truths, on the principles of Orthodox psychotherapy, the DOP CZ method opens the way to churching, to the spiritual formation of a person.
- Grigory Igorevich, why, in your opinion, do people themselves, sometimes very educated, drink without feeling for a long time the danger of what is happening, why does the instinct of self-preservation not work in them, why does common sense not turn on?
“Over the years of my medical practice, it became clear to me why an outwardly reasonable person, constantly drinking, does not see where he is going, and does not even realize the disease itself, does not understand what is happening to him and how it all can end. Having many examples where others like him had a catastrophe in their lives, he still believes that nothing like this will happen to him personally, that he has “everything under control.” Typical misconception!
Who overshadows a person's mind? If we turn to medical science, it does not give an answer to this question, and in principle cannot give it. For, I repeat, not only the material and psychological factor is at work here, but also the spiritual factor. The crafty spirit, the invisible force of evil, overshadows a person’s mind, depriving him of self-criticism and understanding of the really threatening danger, in order to destroy not only his physical, bodily nature, but also his soul. Therefore, I am convinced that all pathological diseases are, first of all, diseases of a spiritual and moral nature, according to Orthodox teaching. A person voluntarily surrenders his will to the will of the spirits of evil in heaven and finds himself in the trap of dark forces.
The Apostle Paul spoke convincingly and simply about the consequences of such an extremely widespread eclipse of reason and a person’s loss of his own will: “For I do not understand what I am doing; For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Rom. 7:15). And again: “I do not do the good that I want, but I do the evil that I do not want” (Rom. 7:19). Having eclipsed a person’s mind and seized power over him, the dark evil force dulls his conscience, which is the Voice of God. And a person does not realize that, indulging in a vicious passion, he thereby creates evil and sin against himself, his health, as well as against the health and life of loved ones, plunging them into everyday disorder, mental confusion, depression and despair.
The same evil spirit cultivates in its victim selfishness, self-confidence, and a tendency toward self-justification, increasingly distancing the person from understanding what is happening to him. "Drink? Yes. And who cares, everyone drinks,” the patient boldly declares. However, the evil one is evil, but a person is not relieved of responsibility for the evil committed. After all, he himself voluntarily let the evil one into his heart.
About the evil spirit
— How can one explain the fact that a person who is already leading a sober life after treatment is suddenly overwhelmed by thoughts of drinking with increasing importunity, and sometimes he starts drinking?
— Being a psychiatrist with more than 30 years of experience and having such examples in practice, I will say that Clerambault is not a symptom of Kandinsky’s mental automatism here. What is it then? Is this not the action of the same evil spirit? In my opinion, there is no other way to explain this situation. “Demons first try to darken our minds, and then they suggest what they want,” says Saint John Climacus. Essentially, spiritual dependence is dominant, holding and provoking mental and physical dependence. And until a person realizes that he is doing an evil sinful thing, does not understand that he is sick, he will not go to treatment, but will continue to drink, smoke, inject drugs, and indulge in gambling passion. Long-term clinical practice also shows that, when falling into spiritual dependence, a person changes in his qualities, his positive personality traits are replaced by the opposite, he becomes, as it were, an antipode to himself. This happens gradually, imperceptibly for the person himself, but steadily and inevitably...
- So, from spiritual dependence, along with others, it is absolutely necessary to free yourself. How?
— The answer is simple and, as they say, unambiguous. The path is the only and absolutely reliable: this is repentance and turning to the Lord for help. It is possible to get rid of spiritual damage only by spiritual means, by the healing power of God’s grace. A person must do everything in his power to free himself from addiction, but this can only be achieved with God’s help. And to get it, you need to be willing to change your mind and lifestyle.
— How is communication between patients and specialists at your institute maintained in the future?
— Patients who have undergone treatment are under the supervision of our doctors and can contact us for help at any time on all health-related issues. If necessary, we carry out rehabilitation of patients - either in the appropriate center of the institute, or in an Orthodox monastery with the blessing of a priest.
— What are the requirements for doctors at your institute?
— In addition to high professional knowledge and experience, special requirements are imposed on a medical specialist who provides treatment based on Orthodox psychotherapy: first of all, he must love people, be a believer and a churchgoer, accumulate spiritual experience, have the blessing of a priest-confessor for treatment, have a sense of compassion, empathy for a suffering person, be patient, attentive and responsive. And, of course, lead a completely sober life.
— Grigory Igorevich, do you consider yourself a happy person?
- Yes, definitely. I have a wonderful family, a job I love, and the opportunity to serve and help many people. I love and know how to relax, enjoy life in all its manifestations and thank God for everything. I am able to feel God's endless grace on me. And with God’s help, I no longer need any techniques or techniques to remove negative energy from myself after communicating with serious patients, I don’t need to suffer from the problem of choice when making decisions. I simply gratefully present myself and my life to God and know that He will manage everything and lead me to the path of salvation.
The conversation was conducted by Svetlana TROITSKAYA
Priest Grigory Grigoriev
Grigoriev Grigory Igorevich was born on December 23, 1956 in Leningrad. In 1979 he graduated from the IV Naval Faculty of the Military Medical Academy named after. CM. Kirov. He served in the Red Banner Pacific Fleet (KTOF) in the Vladivostok garrison in the positions of: head of the medical service of a submarine, head of the office of psychoneurology, psychotherapy and narcology of the fleet clinic, senior psychoneurologist of the Pacific Fleet. Participant in long-distance voyages and direct participant in the liquidation of three emergency situations on submarines (1980).
Professional and scientific activity continued in Leningrad as a psychotherapist, psychiatrist-narcologist at the Clinical Hospital of the Administration of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He is a psychotherapist, a psychiatrist-narcologist, a psychiatrist of the highest qualification categories, and has certificates in these specialties.
Since 1988 he has been director of the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities. With his personal participation, over 130 thousand patients with alcoholism, nicotineism, drug addiction, gambling addiction and various forms neuroses.
Since 1991, Dr. Grigoriev has been the chairman of the All-Russian Society of Sobriety and Mercy of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Created on the basis of the International Institute of Human Reserve Capabilities with the blessing of the clergy, it continues the traditions of the pre-revolutionary All-Russian Brotherhood of Temperance (1897).
Archpriest Grigory Grigoriev is co-chairman of the Expert Council of the Coordination Center for Combating Alcoholism and Promoting Sobriety and a member of the board of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church, a member of the interdepartmental commission between the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the Russian Orthodox Church. He is a member of the board of the All-Russian John the Baptist Brotherhood “Sobriety” of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is the rector of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Yukki of the Vyborg diocese (ruling bishop His Eminence Ignatius (Punin), Bishop of Vyborg and Priozersk, chairman of the synodal department for youth affairs).
Graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Orthodox Theological Seminary and Academy. Since 2011, he has been a professor at the church-practical department of St. Petersburg PDA, where he teaches a special course on “Addictive Behavior.”
In 2014, he was elected by competition as dean of the faculty of psychology and human philosophy and head of the department of psychology of the Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy. He is a professor at the Department of Pedagogy and Theory of Education of the All-Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies named after Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.
In 2005, he was elected by competition to the position of Professor of the Department of Medical Psychology at the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, and in 2012 he was re-elected by competition to the position of Professor of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy at the North-Western State Medical University. I.I. Mechnikov, where he currently teaches the course “Psychotherapy of Addictions”.
In 1993 on the Academic Council of the Psychoneurological Institute named after. V.M. Bekhterev defended his Ph.D. thesis(specialty 14.00.45 - narcology) on the topic: “Treatment of alcoholism using the method of mass emotional-aesthetic psychotherapy (development of the method and evaluation of its effectiveness).”
In 2004 on the Academic Council of the All-Russian Center for Emergency and Radiation Medicine of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia defended his doctoral dissertation(specialty: 05.26.02 - security in emergency situations and 19.00.04 - medical psychology) on the topic: “Crisis and rehabilitation assistance for drug addiction based on stress (spiritually oriented on an Orthodox basis) psychotherapy.”
In 2005, the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education of Russia awarded him the academic degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences, and in 2006. federal Service of the Russian Federation for supervision in the field of education and science - the academic title of professor in the department of medical psychology of the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education.
In 2008, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Professor G.I. Grigoriev. was awarded the honorary title “Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation.” He was awarded many state, departmental, church and public awards: orders and medals of the President of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. In 2005, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Grigory Igorevich Grigoriev was awarded the honorary title “Honored Submariner of Russia.”
In 2015 in the All-Church graduate and doctoral studies named after Saints Cyril and Methodius defended his doctoral dissertation in theology
What is mental illness from a church point of view? Can a priest take on the functions of a healer of souls - not just as a shepherd, but also as a healer, called upon to give those tormented by illness rest from illness already here, in earthly world? We talked about this with a doctor of medical sciences, rector of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in the village of Yukki, Vyborg diocese, Archpriest Grigory Grigoriev.
Priest Lev Bagramyan at the opening of the Church of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt at Psychoneurological Boarding School No. 7. October 28, 2016
THERE ARE FEW POSSESSIVES, MOST ARE JUST SICK
-Father Gregory, previously it was customary to attribute all mental disorders to obsession...
I think that pure obsession is an extremely rare phenomenon. More often it is superimposed on and combined with mental illness. Having worked for 40 years in psychiatry, I have met truly possessed people no more than 10 times. For me, demonic possession is an incomprehensible Providence of God. Three moments in our life depend only on God: birth, death and the entry of the demon. As in the case of the Gadarene demoniac, the demons ask God for permission to enter the herd of pigs, so in all other cases: without the will of God, demons cannot enter a person. I think obsession is an extreme form of treatment allowed by the Lord, which heals, first of all, from atheism. Because anyone who has experienced demon possession will never be an atheist again. This is how one approaches God. Of course, subject to the person’s repentance.
-Let's then try to figure out what it is mental disorder.
The great Soviet psychiatrist Dmitry Evgenievich Melekhov, considered the founder of social psychiatry, was a deeply religious man. After his death, the book “Psychiatry and Problems of Spiritual Life” was published. Melekhov identified three types of mental illness. First: diseases associated with brain damage, visible or invisible - trauma, tumors, intoxication. For example, when taking alcohol and drugs, chemical damage occurs. In case of such diseases, medical assistance is needed. The second type is when there is no physiological substrate. Melekhov called these diseases spiritual disorders. And the third option is a mixed type of disorder. So, spiritual disorders are different in that the drug method is not particularly effective. They treat, but there is little use. And then, according to Melekhov, church Sacraments and prayer help. Therefore, he believes, there should always be both a psychiatrist and a priest at the bedside of a mentally ill person.
MEDICAL-CHURCH COLLABORATION
- What, then, is caring for the mentally ill?
This is when a doctor and a priest work together. The doctor carries out the medical part of the work. But drug treatment is just “applying electrical tape to sparking wires”, emergency shutdown of diseased areas. The priest carries out spiritual work, primarily by performing the Church Sacraments: Unction, Confession, Communion. Previously, hospital churches were built in all psychiatric hospitals in Russia. The priest and the doctor became co-workers. The Military Medical Academy alone has more than 50 clinics. And each had its own temple. Liturgies were celebrated every day.
- How do you understand where the spiritual component of the disease is, and where you need to wrap the “wires with electrical tape”?
Priests were invited to visit patients when long-term drug treatment did not produce results. And after the priest performed the Church Sacraments, they looked to see whether the patient’s condition had changed or not. Let me give you this example: my ever-memorable spiritual father, Archpriest Vasily Lesnyak, was the rector of the Shuvalov Church and also collaborated with psychiatrists. One day a woman came to him and said: “My son has been in the hospital named after I. I. Skvortsov-Stepanov for several months now. They cannot bring him out of his state of acute psychosis. Medicines don't work. The doctors advised me to contact you - what if.” Father prayed at the altar and said: here is a prosphora for you, mother; if your son takes it from you, then I will be able to help him, if not, I will not be able to. When the mother came to her son, he came out to meet her and demanded: give me what you brought there. He was discharged a few days later. And he himself came to the church to Father Vasily. He had a spiritual illness.
- So, it is possible to distinguish spiritual illness from mental illness only experimentally?
But here it is impossible to do otherwise. Even with drug treatment drugs are selected experimentally. One medicine is suitable for some, another for others. The criterion is the patient himself.
BORN IN 1956. IN 1979 HE GRADUATED THE MILITARY MEDICAL ACADEMY. SERVED IN THE PACIFIC FLEET, HONORED SUBMARINE OF RUSSIA, MAJOR OF MEDICAL SERVICE. IN 1988, HE INITIATED THE CREATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RESERVE CAPABILITIES (IRHC). SINCE 1991, CO-CHAIRMAN OF THE ALL-RUSSIAN SOCIETY OF SOBRABILITY AND CHARITY OF THE HOLY Blessed GREAT PRINCE ALEXANDER NEVSKY. DOCTOR OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, HONORED DOCTOR OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. PROFESSOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY Northwestern State Medical University NAMED AFTER I. I. MECHNIKOVA, WHERE HE TEACHES THE COURSE “SPIRITUALLY ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY OF PATHOLOGICAL DEPENDENCES.” DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY, TEACHES THE COURSE “ADDICTIVE (DEPENDENT) BEHAVIOR” AT SPbDA. DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN PHILOSOPHY RHGA, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSULTING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY RHGA. AUTHOR OF MORE THAN 400 SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. SINCE 2008 - CHAIRMAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE PARISH COUNCIL. SINCE 2010 - A STAFF DEACON, AND SINCE 2013 - AFTER ORDINATION TO THE SAN OF A PRIEST - THE RECENT OF THIS TEMPLE.NAVIGATOR AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
- What contributes to the occurrence of mental illness? Wednesday, bad childhood?
Every person from birth has genetically inherent weaknesses. Some have a stomach, some have a heart, some have joints, and some have a brain. Experience shows that real mental illnesses are more often genetically determined. An unfavorable childhood helps reveal these weaknesses. And the favorable one significantly slows down and inhibits their development. In this case, “sores”, as a rule, do not appear in younger age, but can manifest themselves during hormonal changes and in other stressful situations. In greenhouse conditions, a person may not experience any problems. But greenhouse conditions do not exist all your life. Breakdowns will come out sooner or later.
- Where is the border between illness and simple emotional imbalance?
The disease is uncontrollable. It always bothers a person by getting out of control. For example, when a person drinks, but at any moment can stop for a long time - this is a pre-disease. Binge drinking is already a disease, a psychophysiological pathological dependence. It’s the same here: when a patient cannot do anything about himself and the situation gets out of control, causing a threat to his life and those around him, this is a disease. Also, the most important sign of mental illness is a decrease in critical self-esteem. The patient, as a rule, does not consider himself as such. The deeper the mental illness, the lower the level of critical self-esteem.
- How does the disorder occur?
Decreases first psychological protection- our spiritual immunity. These are our positive memories. “A wonderful, holy memory preserved from childhood - perhaps better education and there is, if you take a lot of such memories with you into life, then a person is saved,” says Dostoevsky through the mouth of Alyosha Karamazov. If there are a lot of bright, light, positive points, then under stress a person hides in them, like a submarine escaping from a storm into the ocean depths, and thinks about good things. Spiritual grace will always guide the navigator of the soul to the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Is it possible to stop the development of a mental disorder?
Yes, sure. I know many cases when a person was on the verge of psychiatry and the disease, with God’s help, receded.
REMISSION IN THE CHURCH?
- What does this depend on?
From the person and the circumstances. The Orthodox, first of all, should be helped by faith. He must, above all else, rely completely on God. After all, what is faith? This is loyalty to God's commandments and trust in God. No matter how high the mountains grow before you, no matter what swamps appear, you need to believe. The main thing here is not to deviate from the chosen the hard way. If the main goal is the search for the Kingdom of Heaven and trust in God, difficulties will not be fatal. They will be harbingers of that joy that no one will take away from us. And there will be no end to this joy. But if a person does not have the highest moral and spiritual values, he breaks down. Faith is immunity from any mental illness. Mental disorders are very often an indicator of sick faith, its lack, lack of fidelity and trust in God.
- Is this confirmed by practice?
Yes, I have often encountered very complex cases of mental illness, when patients, in the process of churching, almost completely abandoned medications, switching to the minimum dosage. When I talk about positive results, I mean long-term remission - 10–15–20 years or more.
TABLETS AND STEERING WHEEL
- You said that mental illness is an indicator of a sick faith? It turns out that it is always a consequence of sin?
A breakdown in the central nervous system can become fertile ground for its development. The brain is a large endocrine gland. Modern science knows that it can produce more than one and a half thousand joy hormones and only five stress hormones. Everyone has the same grief, but everyone has their own joy. When a person finds himself in a stress zone, his suggestibility sharply increases - the ability to perceive any information (both bad and good) without criticism. It's like a double-edged sword: if you think about good things, good things will happen. About bad things - bad things will happen.
-How it works?
If you set the helm correctly during a storm, the ship will advance to the goal, but if you don’t, it will crash on the rocks. The stress zone is a stimulus. Stress turns on the mechanism of joy: the dog chased him, he jumped over the fence - he’s glad he ran away. If the joy zone does not turn on, mental exhaustion and asthenia will occur. Depression and other mental illnesses can develop when the joy zone is not activated for a long time during stress. “So now you also have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22), says the Lord. If we did not stray from the path of the laws of Divine love, we would be in constant joy given to us by God. As in the fairy tale about the fisherman and the fish: if the navigator of the old woman’s soul was tuned to the Kingdom of Heaven, she would always rejoice at everything.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
- You have extensive experience working with mentally ill people. What can a priest do besides standard instruction in the faith?
Carry out the Sacraments of Unction and Communion. Counseling in this case should exclude delving into sins. Such a person cannot be immersed in a state of repentance. Thus the fathers brought Gogol to death. He suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, and his confessor kept saying: repent, repent. Which led to the death of the writer. He should have taken medication and gained positive emotions, and everything could have gone differently. And, of course, take communion as often as possible.
- Perhaps your point of view will be very unpopular among ordinary priests...
What is confession in our modern Church? Just imagine, a patient comes to a psychiatrist and says: Doctor, I’m going crazy. And he hands him a psychiatry textbook - take it, figure out what’s going on in your head, and come back. The doctor will be removed from his position and put on trial, because the patient will most likely commit suicide. So it is here.
It is important for a priest to know that bringing mentally ill people to a state of repentance is not only madness, but also a crime. Unfortunately, the priest today bears no responsibility other than moral. He gives stupid advice, a person will commit a crime, take his own life or end up in psychiatry, and he will only throw up his hands: everything is God’s will, the Lord has ordered it this way. It was not the Lord who ruled, but human irresponsibility, stupidity and ignorance. From my point of view, the time has come when we need to pray for the restoration of the institution of clergy, so that not every cleric can conduct the Sacrament of Confession.
- Is it possible in principle to take Confession from mentally ill people? Still, this is a Sacrament.
Confession is possible and necessary for any illness, including mental illness. But only the priest must tell the penitent about the commandments in the spirit of love: “The first commandment of God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22, 37, 39). If you don’t love yourself, you won’t love your neighbor or God.” What does it mean to love yourself? Set up your soul navigator for the Kingdom of Heaven. The criterion for successful attunement: feeling like Christ in your bosom, that is, a feeling of complete security and trust in God. What is this if not happiness? In such a situation, a person wishes the same to everyone else. A lover wants everyone around him to be happy. Without trusting God, we cannot fulfill the first commandment by definition. And the rest of the commandments without love for God are meaningless, because they are only a test of the attitude towards God and man. When a person realizes this, he begins to confess - his lack of love for God, his neighbor, his condemnation. This is repentance in the spirit of love.
-It's clear. In simple terms, let the priest talk about the commandments, but don’t get into your soul.
Fathers, I say to the priests, you don’t understand: Soviet time, when there was super-psychiatry, when all the patients were in special institutions, even then, dozens of psychiatrists per year died at their hands in the USSR. If at Confession or just in a conversation you say something wrong to a patient with schizophrenia, and even fall into the structure of delusion, especially delusion of influence, when the patient is sure that it was you who harmed him, know that main goal his life will be your destruction. Moreover, he will commit such a crime in the most extraordinary form. Mentally ill people are very inventive in this matter. We must always remember this. This is where the dads start to think.
-Have you ever cared for patients in psychoneurological boarding schools? What are the specifics of such a ministry?
Yes, I had to. In this case, you should take an extremely tactful approach: “Toward people who are gentler, to problems that are broader.” Here one should show extreme economy - give communion without special preparation. Give communion to everyone. It is important that the priest’s visit comforts the patient and evokes positive emotions.
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