The Soviet and Russian psychotherapist Anatoly Kashpirovsky died on Saturday, 3 October, aged 87. His director, Sergei Rudykh, confirmed his death and stated that it occurred at 06:45. Kashpirovsky became widely known in the late 1980s thanks to his televised «health sessions», whilst his claims about remote healing were criticised by doctors and scientists.
Briefly about the main points
- The psychotherapist’s death was confirmed by his director, Serhiy Rudykh.
- According to the director, Kashpirovsky died at 6.45 am.
- The official cause of death has not yet been announced.
- Further details regarding the date and venue of the funeral will be announced in due course.
- Kashpirovsky’s television programmes attracted an audience of a million in the late 1980s.
The cause of death has not been officially announced
Serhiy Rudykh said in a comment to the Russian media that Kashpirovsky He had passed away that morning. The first to publicly announce his death was a Russian TV presenter Andriy Malakhov, after which the information was reported by Russian and Ukrainian media.
Various explanations for the cause of death appeared in the initial reports. Some Russian media outlets, citing anonymous sources, reported that he had suffered acute heart failure. At the same time, Rudykh referred only to the psychotherapist’s advanced age, without specifying a medical diagnosis.
The date and venue of Kashpirovsky’s funeral will be announced separately.
Medical education and the popularity of Soviet television
Anatoliy Kashpirovsky was born on 11 August 1939 in the village of Stavnytsia, which is now located in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. In 1962, he graduated from the Vinnytsia Medical Institute, and then worked in a psychiatric hospital for around 25 years.
He achieved widespread fame in the late 1980s. Soviet television broadcast his mass psychotherapy sessions, during which he claimed that he could influence viewers’ well-being through suggestion. These programmes attracted an audience of millions and made Kashpirovsky one of the most prominent media figures of the final years of the USSR.
Claims regarding remote treatment have drawn criticism
Kashpirovsky described his performances as a form of psychotherapeutic intervention and spoke of their healing effects. However, his claims regarding the possibility of treating illnesses remotely lacked proper scientific evidence. Advocates of evidence-based medicine regularly criticised such claims.
As a result, the Ukrainian and international media referred to him not only as a psychotherapist, but also as a television «healer» or «psychic». In his later years, he periodically returned to public life and conducted «healing sessions» online.
