The mention of Kashpirovsky in the context of 1993 is no accident — it was precisely during this period that his popularity began to fade rapidly, and he himself became a deputy of the first State Duma, representing the LDPR party.
Anatoly Mikhailovich Kashpirovsky (b. August 11, 1939) was a Soviet and Russian psychotherapist who achieved all-Union fame in the late 1980s through televised "healing sessions." His phenomenon became one of the vivid symbols of the Perestroika era, when the old ideological foundations were collapsing and society's interest in mysticism and the paranormal was reawakening.
The road to fame
Kashpirovsky was born in Ukraine, graduated from the Vinnytsia Medical Institute in 1962, and spent 28 years working at a psychiatric hospital. He first gained attention in 1988, but true fame came to him in October 1989, after a televised "healing" broadcast during a Kyiv–Tbilisi space bridge (a live satellite TV link).
The most famous episode was an abdominal surgery performed on patient Lesya Yurshova at a Tbilisi hospital, which Kashpirovsky supposedly hypnotized her for remotely from Kyiv, replacing anesthesia. The woman refused conventional anesthetic and allowed the operation to be carried out under "television hypnosis." Yurshova later told journalists she had felt "monstrous pain" but endured it "so as not to let Kashpirovsky down."
The television sessions
Starting in October 1989, Central Television's First Channel broadcast "Health Sessions with Psychotherapist Anatoly Kashpirovsky." The programs aired every other Sunday and drew millions of viewers to their screens. Kashpirovsky, dressed in black, addressed the television audience in a monotone voice, promising healing from all manner of ailments.
His recognizable image as a "healer" — black clothing, short black hair with a small fringe, a hypnotic gaze, and a monotone delivery — became part of popular culture in the late 1980s. Videocassettes of his broadcasts were passed from hand to hand, and video salons held "Kashpirovsky evenings."
The dark side of his popularity
By the early 1990s, however, troubling reports were emerging about the negative effects of his mass sessions. Psychiatrists reported that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people needed psychiatric care after watching Kashpirovsky's broadcasts. Mikhail Nenashev, chairman of Soviet State Television and Radio, later admitted the sessions had to be dropped because they were "pure charlatanism."
Kashpirovsky boasted of unprecedented medical successes, claiming he could cure impotence, blindness, baldness, tuberculosis, diabetes, and even AIDS. Mainstream medicine categorically rejected such claims, pointing to the lack of any documented proof of "miracle cures."
A political career
In 1993, Kashpirovsky was elected as a deputy of the first State Duma, representing the LDPR party from the Yaroslavl constituency. Interestingly, he did not join the party's faction right away — he was in the United States and failed to submit his application in time. That same March, he even announced (by fax from America) his withdrawal from the faction, accusing Zhirinovsky of racism, but later remained with the party until 1995 after all.
Kashpirovsky's political activities were rather eccentric. In 1995, he took part in negotiations with terrorists during the hostage crisis at a hospital in Budyonnovsk, attempting, unsuccessfully, to hypnotize Shamil Basayev.
A symbol of the era
By 1993, Kashpirovsky's popularity was already on the decline. Society was beginning to sober up after the euphoria of Perestroika's early years, and many of his "miracles" received rational explanations. Kashpirovsky moved to the United States, where he continued holding sessions for Russian-speaking emigres.
The mention of his name in the context of 1993 in the novel is symbolic — a time when old idols were losing their hold, and the new reality demanded a more pragmatic approach to life. Comparing the gloomy Zhorik to "Doctor Kashpirovsky" hints at a certain theatricality, a staged quality, in the situation — a person taking on the role of a "guru" or "healer," dispensing life lessons to others.
The Kashpirovsky phenomenon remains one of the most vivid chapters in the history of Soviet and Russian television, reflecting the complexity of a transitional period when society searched for new bearings amid the collapse of its old ideals.