History

1995–2021: Department of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medical and Psychological Sciences; since 2021: Department of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychodiagnostics, Faculty of Medical and Psychological Sciences. The first staff of the department: E.G. Koroleva, V.A. Karpyuk, A.N. Melnikov. The current staff of the department: Lugovskaya A.A., Koroleva E.G., Savitsky I.S., Tomashchik T.E., Strelkov O.G., Yakubchik I.N., Tsidik L.I., Novik L.I., Dyurd O.V., Maksimova O.G., Zhirmont M.G., Soltan A.S., Byalaya E.M.. Main areas of scientific research: 1. Prediction and assessment of suicide risk in patients with depressive disorders.. 2. Methods for assessing characterological features of specific personality disorders in patients with depressive, neurotic, stress‑related, and somatoform disorders. 3. Sleep disorders in Parkinson’s disease: a clinical and polysomnographic study.. 4. Psychometric assessment of coping behavior in neurotic and depressive disorders. 5. Psychometric assessment of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. 6. The Rush metric system in clinical psychodiagnostics: methodological and applied aspects. 7. Psychodiagnostic assessment of clinical manifestations and the severity of somatoform disorders. 8. Comprehensive psychometric assessment of personality within the framework of the five‑factor model. 9. Family involvement in the treatment process for patients with schizophrenia. 10. Characteristics of treatment adherence and attachment types in patients with depressive, neurotic, stress‑related, and somatoform disorders. Brief history of the establishment In April 1993, at the Grodno State Medical Institute (later the university), under the leadership of Rector Dmitry Andreevich Maslakov and with the active participation of First Vice‑Rector Vladimir Semyonovich Vasiliev, a new specialty — “Medical and Psychological Work” — was opened for the first time in the Republic of Belarus. Later, in September 1998, the Medical and Psychological Faculty was established as an independent unit. The creation of the new specialty and faculty was driven by the need for highly specialized training of qualified specialists in the field of mental health protection. In connection with the opening of a new specialty, there naturally arose a need for innovations in the educational process and the creation of new disciplines in medical psychology and psychotherapy. As a logical continuation of the reorganization process, a course in general psychology was established at the Department of Psychiatry and Narcology; its staff then began developing innovative programs of psychological disciplines for the medical university. The first group of course instructors was small: I.A. Mikheev, T.Yu. Elizarova, and V.I. Elizarov. This small but hardworking, creative, and unconventional team managed to organize the study of psychological disciplines at the proper level and foster clinical psychological thinking in students. The growing number of students at the medical and psychological faculty with each intake made it possible to introduce new positions for the teaching staff and led to the establishment of the Department of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy as an independent structural unit of the university. In January 1995, the Department of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy was established as one of the specialized departments of the Faculty of Medical and Psychological Sciences. The first head of the department was Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences Elena Grigorievna Koroleva (photo 2); the first teachers were V.A. Karpyuk and A.N. Melnikov (photo 1); and the clinical base was the Grodno Regional Psychoneurological Dispensary. Photo 1. E.G. Koroleva was one of the initiators of the creation of the new specialty “Medical and Psychological Work,” which influenced not only the development of psychotherapy, psychiatry, and narcology in the Republic of Belarus but also played a significant role in the history of the Department of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychodiagnostics. The department’s start was not easy: it was necessary to substantiate the scientific and practical significance of psychotherapy and to develop educational programs.

Elena Grigorievna, together with her colleagues, developed new curricula and teaching materials for the medical and psychological faculty. She created, both independently and in collaboration with her colleagues, an extensive bank of psychodiagnostic tools for the educational process and scientific research. With the active support of the institute’s management, the staff of the young department had the opportunity to improve and enhance their qualifications at the European school of psychoanalysis founded by Jacques Lacan, hosted delegations at our university, and made visits to Paris. They also had the opportunity to undergo training in Ericksonian therapy in Moscow, completed an internship at the Department of Psychotherapy at the Jagiellonian University Medical School in Kraków, and received training in group psychotherapy at the Faculty of Psychology at Vilnius University. Elena Grigorievna also made a significant contribution to the opening of new departments in healthcare institutions: the first psychoneurological (psychosomatic) department for borderline conditions in Grodno, located at the State Educational and Clinical Center “Psychiatry‑Narcology” (with 30 beds), and the first psychoneurological department in the Republic of Belarus, located at the Grodno City Clinical Hospital No. 3 (with 60 beds). Elena Grigorievna continues to fruitfully realize her scientific and pedagogical potential to this day; she is the author of more than 200 published scientific works, more than 20 rationalization proposals, and two inventions. E. G. Koroleva has published 13 textbooks, both as a sole author and in co‑authorship. Photo 3. – Associate Professor Valentina Alekseevna Karpyuk In 2006, changes occurred in the department’s leadership. Associate Professor Valentina Alekseevna Karpyuk was appointed head of the Department of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy (photo 3). V. A. Karpyuk also took a direct part in organizing and establishing the Medical and Psychological Faculty of the Grodno State Medical University and the first Department of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy in the Republic of Belarus. Valentina Alekseevna was the lead developer of the first educational standard and the standard curriculum for the specialty “Medical and Psychological Work”. Valentina Alekseevna is the author of 281 scientific and scientific‑methodological publications. She introduced more than 60 new methods for diagnosing and treating mental and behavioral disorders into healthcare practice. V.A. Karpyuk headed a scientific and practical group responsible for monitoring the transition of the region’s psychiatric service to ICD‑10. In addition, Valentina Alekseevna, as the chief external specialist in psychotherapy at the main department of healthcare of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, made a significant contribution to the development of the psychotherapeutic service in the Grodno Region and in our country. When the State Service for Medical Examinations was established in the Republic of Belarus in 2002, the Grodno department did not have a specialist psychologist. Valentina Alekseevna, working part‑time as a forensic psychologist‑expert, established a forensic psychological and psychiatric service in Grodno.

From 2007 to 2022, the department was headed by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Assanovich Marat Aliyevich (photo 4). Marat Aliyevich is the author of 3 monographs, 4 textbooks, and more than 150 works of a scientific and educational‑methodological nature. He is a member of the European Rorschach Association. For the first time in the Republic of Belarus, Marat Alievich developed a methodology for constructing psychometric scales in clinical psychodiagnostics based on the Rasch metric system, and adapted a modern approach to the application of the Rorschach method. Under the scientific supervision of M.A. Assanovich, the department’s staff created new psychometric scales and questionnaires. At Marat Alievich’s initiative, in 2021 the department was renamed and became known as the Department of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychodiagnostics. Since 2022, the position of head of the department has been held by Associate Professor Alena Aleksandrovna Lugovskaya (photo 5). Photo 5. – Associate Professor Alena Aleksandrovna Lugovskaya Alena Aleksandrovna is a successful representative of the first graduating class of students of the Faculty of Medical and Psychological Sciences. A. A. Lugovskaya began her professional career at the university in 2008 as a trainee teacher, working her way up from assistant to head of the department. Alena Aleksandrovna is the author of 60 educational, methodological and scientific works. 4 instructions for use, approved by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus. Co‑author of 4 manuals. Under the leadership of A. A. Lugovskaya, the summer scientific and educational school with international participation “Psychotherapeutic Readings” was developed and is regularly held. Since 2022, A. A. Lugovskaya has been the chief external specialist in psychotherapy at the main department of healthcare of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee and provides therapeutic and organizational‑methodological assistance to healthcare institutions in the region. Since its founding, the staff of the Department of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychodiagnostics has actively participated in the university’s educational, research, and clinical activities. Currently, the Department of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychodiagnostics offers training in all specialties at the first level of higher education: it provides training for students of the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Pediatrics, the Faculty of Medical Diagnostics, and the Faculty of International Students. The department teaches 12 disciplines in the specialty “Medical and Psychological Work.” For this specialty, the department remains the designated issuing department. Since 2015, the department has been conducting advanced training courses for psychiatrists‑narcologists, psychotherapists, and educators in healthcare institutions on the topics “Methods of psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy for anxiety and depressive disorders,” as well as “Sexual disorders. Psychoprophylaxis and correction of sexual disorders.” The department’s faculty members are actively engaged in scientific research. Their research activities focus on clinical and psychological studies of various mental and psychosomatic diseases. The priority area of the staff’s scientific activity is the development of reliable and valid methods for diagnosing psychological constructs, as well as their standardization and validation. During the department’s existence, the staff have defended 7 candidate dissertations and one doctoral dissertation. The department has a postgraduate program in the specialty “Medical Psychology”. Clinical residency training in the specialty “Psychotherapy” has been organized. The department’s staff have published a number of textbooks, including: “An Integrative System of Psychodiagnostics Using the Rorschach Method,” “Clinical Psychodiagnostics,” “General Psychotherapy,” “Medical Psychology,” “Borderline Mental Disorders,” “Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry,” “Clinical Psychology in Somatic Medicine,” “Methodological Approaches to Scientific Measurement in Clinical Psychodiagnostics,” “Methodology and Applied Aspects of the Rasch Metric System in Clinical Psychodiagnostics,” “A Course of Lectures on Sexology and Sexopathology,” and others. The department’s faculty members collaborate with leading educational and research centers in the Russian Federation. In 2005, the department actively interacted with the laboratory of clinical psychology and psychodiagnostics at the V. M. Bekhterev St. Petersburg Psychoneurological Institute.

Since 2017, the department’s staff have been collaborating with the Russian Society of Psychiatrists and have taken part in the work of the school for young psychiatrists.. Since 2022, cooperation has been established with the Department of General and Clinical Psychology at Perm State National Research University. Currently, the Department of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychodiagnostics is located at two clinical bases: at the healthcare institution “Grodno Regional Clinical Center ‘Psychiatry‑Narcology’” and at the healthcare institution “City Clinical Hospital No. 3 in Grodno”. Over the years, the following have worked at the department: Assanovich M.A., Buzuk S.A., Demyanova L.V., Derman E.V., Dymovich N.V., Vasilets N.L., Karpyuk V.A. Kruk N.V., Melnikov A.N., Popenya I.S., Tolkach E.A., Khmelnitskaya E.G., Moiseenok E.N., Klimovich E.A. The current staff of the department: Lugovskaya A.A., Koroleva E.G., Savitsky I.S., Tomashchik T.E., Strelkov O.G., Yakubchik I.N., Tsidik L.I., Novik L.I., Dyurd O.V., Maksimova O.G., Zhirmont M.G., Soltan A.S., Byalaya E.M