Interview with John T. Monahan

Scope and content:

Dr. Monahan talks about his professional training and the highlights of his career, his memories from the 1989 American visit to the Soviet Union, including the goals of the visit, its organizational aspects, and its media coverage. Dr. Monahan then focuses on the forensic evaluation methods and results, the rights of psychiatric patients in the Soviet Union, conditions of their hospitalization, treatment, and hospital staffing. Dr. Monahan concludes by describing his general impressions of Moscow and Leningrad and the conclusions the American team made as a result of the visit.

Olena Protsenko, a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Psychiatry and Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, conducted this interview remotely over the Zoom application.

Biographical / historical:

John T. Monahan is the John S. Shannon Distinguished Professor of Law, Professor of Psychology, Hunton Andrews Kurth Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. He was the only forensic psychologist on the 1989 U.S. State Department investigative psychiatric mission to the Soviet Union.

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