STANISLAV KALINICHEV
	I AM CAPABLE OF GIVING THE COMMAND
	We have once more had the privilege to witness the limitless
abilities of man. Anatoly Michailovich Kashpirovsky, a physician
and psychotherapist has demonstrated them. From Kiev he
communicated with the participants of a T.V. show who were at
that time a thousand kilometers away, in Ostankino, by means of a
satellite T.V. transmission. He suggested various conditions to
them; his face, his voice commanded them from the T.V. screen not
to feel pain, and they pierced their palms and burnt their
fingers over an open flame, one even held in his hand a glass
with an electric heater dipped into it. The water boiled and
bubbled while the young man holding the glass with his five
fingers just looked at his hand in amazement. The main thing,
however, ignored by many, was that the people who Dr.
Kashpirovsky addressed from the T.V. screen did not sink into a
hypnotic sleep. Their eyes were open, they had an excellent
orientation amidst the surrounding objects, they acted
reasonably, one could converse with them normally.
	Anatoly Michailovich emphatically repeats that he is not a
hypnotizer, he does not obscure the consciousness of his patients
- he only limits it and concentrates it in the necessary
direction.
	A couple of patients of Anatoly Michailovich did not take
part in this T.V. show.They were, as they say, "left out of the
picture". One was with him in Kiev, while the other was in
Ostankino. One, obeying his suggestion, lost 50 kg in five
months, the other lost 54 kg. The latter, Valia Matienko, who in
addition to this was proud of having reduced her waistline by 70
cm in a short period of time, confessed:
	"Every now and then, while I was on my way from Vinitsa to
my place in Bershad I would see the eyes of Anatoly Michailovich
on the window of the electric train."
	The show was put on the air, but...one tree does not a
forest make. Dr. Kashpirovsky had to prove (he still has to, time
and again) the novelty, the uncommonness and most importantly -
the colossal, unperceived possibilities of his method.
	And it was at that time that he remembered a patient of his.
	During a check-up at the oncological clinic in Vinitsa Mrs.
L.V.Grabovskaya, a young and thriving woman, was found to have a
breast tumor. An operation was recommended. The patient, however,
refused in a horrible funk. Flatly! She happened to be so
allergic to anesthetics that she could die from the anaesthesia
before the operation had even begun.
	The problem remained unsolved while the tumour grew...
Lyubov Vassilevna came to Dr. Kashpirovsky. Some time ago he had
helped her, making her feel no pain when she had a tooth
extracted. This time she asked whether he could anaesthesise her
by means of his talent during the removal of the tumour.
	" It is not my talent that is needed here." He said. "It is
your own talent that is needed here. Upon my order your organism
itself will produce the necessary anaesthetic substance. I shall
only give the command."
	This was a couple of autumns ago. A surgeon was found in
Vinitsa who agreed to perform the operation without narcosis. But
on one condition - only with the authorities' permission. And the
authorities did not permit it.
	Meanwhile the tumour continued to grow. Anybody who is found
to have a tumour of an unidentified nature faces a drama. And
when, seeing this drama, some can not and others do not want to
help, and this situation continues for months on end while the
tumour increases, this becomes a tragedy. What it revealed was
not only the red tape against which Dr. Kashpirovsky had
unsuccessfully fought in the past, but something much more
serious with which he would come into confrontation not just
once.
	The problem is that the Soviet administrative system,
medical services included, accepts novelties very painfully. If
the person seated in the manager's chair is loath to act, then
"what cannot be cured must be endured". And even if someone dies
because of that, or another is left without help, even if
millions (I do not exaggerate, the reader will understand the
meaning of this later) are left without what they could have
received - there is no sanction in the instructions booklet for
the inactive! And if he can solve the problem with a certain
risk,and pave the way for the acceptance of something which
promises enormous benefits for the people and the state, but not
a penny for him personally... Why make the effort.
	Dr. Kashpirovsky needed, we can honestly admit, a stunning
success in order to win the support of the millions over the head
of authority. And he made an offer to Mrs. Grabovskaya:
	"Would you agree to be operated on in front of TV cameras?"
	"If you make me feel no pain, yes."
	"I shall give this command from the screen of the TV set
which will be placed in the operation theatre right in front of
your eyes."
	Liuba was operated on in the Kiev Oncological Center.
	I have played the videocassette recording of the operation
several times. It does impress. The patient flashing her bright
eyes answers the questions of Anatoly Michailovich who looks at
her from the screen while at that time the surgeon, at the word
"Three", resolutely slashes her breast. A cut gapes open.
	"Liuba, open your eyes, look at me!"
	She looks up and meets his worried, tense glance and ,
incredibly, in a desire to cheer him up she winks in a friendly
manner.
	We, for our part, are just watching the blood streaming down
her breast. Anatoly Michailovich remarks that the amount of blood
is quite little, less than during an operation with normal
anaesthesia (though in reality it is just the same). The patient
is talking with him. The skilful hands of the surgeon stick the
needle into the end of the cut and start stitching the wound...
	"Liuba, why are your eyes shining, are you crying?"
	"It's out of joy, Anatoly Michailovich."
	One should pay tribute to the courage of Lyubov Vassilevna
Grabovskaya. One can only marvel at her resolution to submit
herself to the surgeons knife, placing her faith only in a
fragile T.V. channel... It was good luck, as well, that the
tumour wasn't malignant. Nevertheless, it had to be removed.
	After such an operation the patient is supposed to remain in
the ward not less than five, or even ten days. Lyubov Vassilevna,
however, was discharged on the next day, took a stroll through
the Kiev shops, bought a bagful of food and left for Vinitsa.
	I arrived in the district psychiatric hospital "A.
Yushtchenko" at half past eight in the morning. There were lots
of people in one of the buildings, there were people on the
stairs, on the first floor, and of course in front of the
consulting room. The arrival of Kashpirovsky became known at
once. Passing through the expectant throng he repeated loudly:
	"Those of you who are from our town or district can all go.
I'm not seeing anybody. I warn you: I am not seeing anyone from
Vinitsa. You may come in a month or two when the question of the
premises has been solved."
	The crowd thinned out, but not very much... He enters his
tiny office, but there were people even in it. The telephone is
chattering. Nurse Paulina Stepanovna picks up the receiver and
asks who is ringing, and what his problem is...
	Dr. Kashpirovsky is having a talk with an elderly asthmatic
during that time. More people are gathering around. Future
patients are peering through the half-open door.
	"Have you had it for a long time?"
	"For a long time." The man replies and heavily moves his
shoulders up with each breath." A while ago I went for treatment,
and I was healthy for some six years. But in January, after a
nervous breakdown, it all started from the beginning."
	"I shall cure you. Paulina Stepanovna, please, make a
note..." And in an instant he loses interest in him, switching to
another patient.
	"What do you have?"
	"Epilepsy." The young man answers robustly.
	"I do not treat epilepsy."
	"But I flew from Tashkent specially to see you."
	"Unfortunately, it's drug treatment you need."
	A woman dragging a small girl bursts into the consulting
room crying:
	"She will not be able to stand another operation if you
don't help!
	... At eleven o'clock he entered the hypnotarium. This is an
ordinary two-window room. About thirty arm-chairs had been
squeezed with difficulty in it.You can be sure that all of them
were occupied. A chair was put for me at the entrance... Anatoly
Michailovich passed along the first row of seats and looked
around each one present.
	"Be seated comfortably, put your arms on the elbow-rests...
" I saw his smile for the first time.
	Suddenly a calm, it seemed to me even a homely environment,
and a communal atmosphere of the people gathered here was born.
	"Who shall we begin with? How do you feel, Igor?"
	A ten-year-old boy, hardly visible in the big arm-chair,
raised his big sad eyes and answered:
	"I feel well, Anatoly Michailovich, thank you."
	"Are you sure that you are not going to stutter?"
	"You can see that for yourself."
	" Well, have a rest... And you, Nina Ivanovna?"
	"What about me?"
	"How do you feel?"
	"Things are all right with me - a big, portly woman said
with a characteristically Ukrainian tone. "It is only the pain I
have in my head; I'll not be surprised if it rains."
	A sophisticated lady sitting opposite me explained with a
whistling whisper:
	"This Nina Ivanovna could not utter a word two weeks ago,
she only gurgled in her throat."
	"No talking, please... You are disturbing me." Anatoly
Michailovich said, coming to my lady and lightly touching her
forehead with his palm. The lady sat back in her arm-chair... And
in a second, as they say, she "switched off".
	After several minutes everybody calmed down in a somewhat
strange manner. They were not sleeping, but rather were far away
from everything. The aged asthmatic who had come in the morning
was sitting with his head thrown back and, thinking about
something, was moving his lips; a young man was examining his
hands with interest, while Dr. Kashpirovsky was walking about the
room, talking or touching patients here and there; he took the
hand of a young woman, lifted her arm high and forcefully threw
it down. It smashed down on the elbow-rest, but the woman showed
no reaction.
	My attention was drawn to a girl about fourteen years of
age, slender like a straw. Only a week ago she had been driven
here from Cheliabinsk... directly to the reanimation ward. She
was choking and losing consciousness. And here she was now,
attending her third session in this room. She was breathing
deeply, something was wheezing in her slim bird-like breast.
	"How do you feel?" Anatoly Michailovich stoped next to her.
	"Thank you." As if she had waited for just this question. "I
have slept well for two nights already."
	Turning to me, he explained that all thirty persons were now
estranged from the surrounding reality. They could hear
everything, but their consciousness was now concentrated on one
thing only - the thing which has brought them here.
	Usually the treatment for asthma, anuresis, stuttering,
various neuroses or obesity comprises a few sessions, about five
or six. Only a few cases require more than that. His work is
characterized by speed, resoluteness,and immediate reaction.
	And here we come to the main point, to the serious problem
which has called for all these satellite T.V. shows and almost
circus miracles. Let us have patience and ponder over the fact
that only in the USSR there are millions of kids suffering from
anuresis, i,e. irretention of urine. The disease itself is
trivial, but how much grief and psychical deformation is
accumulated when the child becomes a target for mockery in the
kindergarten, or when he cannot go to a summer camp. And what
barbarian methods of "treatment" exist - from disgracing to
deprivation of liquids during the second half of the day, which
by the way quite often causes the formation of stones in the
bladder.
	Anatoly Michailovich has proved that it is possible to
exercise suggestion at a distance. He proposes to record on a
videotape several sessions of his treatment of the disease and to
broadcast these recordings. Think of it! One man in five or six
hours of T.V. time can heal hundreds of thousands of people.
Without traumatizing them, without taking the patient out of his
home environment, saving the country... I am afraid to name even
approximately the value of the effectiveness which this physician
can bring forth.
	Precisely the same sort of sessions can be recorded for the
treatment of asthma (except in cases where irreversible changes
have taken place). This will give thousands of invalids a chance
not only to stop being a burden to their relatives and to the
state, but also to become fully-fledged members of the community.
	The recorded sessions could be duplicated on video-cassettes
which are easy to use both in medical centers and under home
conditions... And as we are already talking about it, let me tell
you confidentially: last autumn such treatment sessions were
recorded in Alma Ata (the problem of the quality of the recording
remains still open). A group of children suffering from anuresis
were seated in front of a T.V. set and Dr.Kashpirovsky had his
suggestive talks with them facing a T.V. camera in another room.
The treatment was successful. But the videorecording has never
been broadcast up to now.
	There is great hope that the video sessions of the obesity
treatment could prove quite effective. Anticipating the questions
of the skeptics, I shall point out that in addition
Dr.Kashpirovsky recommends a certain diet to his patient. But the
important thing is that after communicating with him, his
patients stick to their diet without difficulties, they do not
have to put their refrigerators under lock and key and suffer
pangs of hunger.
	How does Anatoly Michailovich explain the mechanism of his
influence over his patients? In short: we are searching for
remedies within plants,animals and the mineral world. But man is
more complicated than them. Inside him, there is everything
necessary for any treatment, it is just a matter of activating
the production of specific substances in his organism. What is
the shock of pain? It is just a protective reaction. A momentous
one, at that. The organism in answer to a strong irritant
produces some sort of morphine-like substances and blocks the
pain. Aren't there quite a few cases when in extreme situations a
man can jump over walls or several meter wide ditches, or lift
weights which he would never contemplate in usual circumstances?
This means that in certain situations the organism itself
produces the necessary drugs for its rescue, in this example
something similar to doping.
	Dr. Kashpirovsky says:
	"In the physician-patient link I do not consider myself the
most important entity. It is the organism of the patient which
releases its reserves. What I am capable of is giving the
command."
	... This happened in the tiny consulting room of Dr.
Kashpirovsky. People were jostling against each other, someone
was crying, someone was being sent away by the nurse, the
telephone was chattering... And there and then two fat women
holding their hands barged in like bulldozers. Recognizing one of
them Anatoly Michailovich said:
	"You are from Vinitsa - please go, I shall not be able to
attend to you."
	"This woman must have her ear operated on." The woman who
had been recognized did not even waver.
	"Is she allergic to narcosis?"
	The woman nodded affirmatively.
	"What kind of operation?"
	"An operation of the middle ear.The scull needs to be
opened."
	Anatoly Michailovich took the hand of the woman and led her
to the chair.
	"Be seated. You are in the forest. Look how many flowers...
Pick them up."
	The fat woman squatted easily and began to shovel some
invisible things from the floor. To me it seemed that she was
playing up on purpose, trying to gratify the doctor in order to
prevent him from expelling her. Dr. Kashpirovsky caught my
distrustful look, ordered her to stand up, took her arm and drove
a needle into it. The woman did not react. Making her sit down he
said:
	"That is all. You are already here. Well, come in, come in."
	The woman swung her torso for some time, taking in the
surroundings with difficulty. And all this went on for several
seconds with the telephone ringing,amidst the bustle of human
communication. A fantasy? He puts a man under his influence in an
instant.
	"I shall help you." He told that woman. "You have a talent
as a patient... I have just one question. Listen carefully. If
you were given the offer of having this operation performed with
my help not here but abroad, would you agree? Say in Tokyo, for
instance."
	"So what? I'll agree. All I want is not to become deaf."
	He noted down her name and telephone number and she left.
	As it turns out, recently representatives of a Japanese
telecompany had negotiated with him and asked his agreement to
organize a Moscow-Tokyo satellite T.V. transmission. The
condition was that he, sitting in the Moscow studio, would
demonstrate his abilities to suggest to people who were to be
teleanaesthesized in Tokyo. Anatoly Michailovich agreed but put
forth a condition: if it is going to be a show, it should be a
show. Not tricks with matches and needles, but the performance of
a serious operation without narcosis. He would ensure pain relief
through the TV channel. It is, he said, also possible to operate
a Japanese citizen. Knowledge of the language, according to
Anatoly Michailovich, is not obligatory.
	The Japanese are now considering his counter- proposal while
he, on his behalf, has started selecting the possible patients.
However, not so long ago I read in "Izvestia" comments from some
scientific giants who easily and with much condescension
dismissed all of Dr.Kashpirovsky's work, reducing it to a
farcical session of an ordinary hypnotiser without even having
seen him. Only an American spoke with some respect and admitted
that in the U.S.A. such a thing hasn't been practiced. "The Voice
of America" declared that the Russians appear to be the first
here, showing opportunities of the 21st century.
	In the meantime Dr.Kashpirovsky has not remained inactive.
At the beginning of the year a T.V. channel linking Kiev and
Tbilissi was organized. Surgeons in a Georgia clinic performed
two complicated cavity operations without narcosis or any other
painrelieving means whatever. The patients were fully conscious.
Dr.Kashpirovsky addressed them from the screen of the T.V.set
placed in the operation theatre. This event has been filmed and
is to be shown on TV this year.
	An Ukrainian T.V. studio organized several demonstrative
treatment sessions by Dr.Kashpirovsky. In the beginning they were
conceived as an attempt at the treatment of the irretention of
urine by children, but after the first transmission there came a
lot of letters by adults who had seen it and had felt	themselves
under the influence of the hypnosis. They wrote of a considerable
improvement in their general physical condition and some of them,
of getting rid of certain ailments. In a short period the T.V.
producers received 51 thousand letters and almost everyone, with
few exceptions, spoke of a tangible positive effect.
	The time has come when Dr.Kashpirovsky should appear in the
programs of the Central T.V. service. There is little doubt of
his success.
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