Victor Skumin

The Russia's international news agency RIA Novosti, operating under the purview of the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, wrote about this problem (2014),

Professor Verhorubova and professor Lobanova from Tomsk State Pedagogical University argued (2012) that in accordance with the concept of a culture of health, proposed by Skumin, the culture – spiritual, mental, and physical – determines the status of human health. And health – spiritual, mental, physical – is a prerequisite for achieving a higher level of culture.

The essence of the teachings of the culture of health, reveals professor of University of Luhansk N. Gribok. He wrote at 2009,

The relationship between the Skumin's doctrine and Roerichism is also confirmed by some scientists, such as Goraschuk V. P., Professor of H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. In 2004, he wrote in his thesis for a Doctor's degree on speciality "general pedagogics and history of pedagogics",

In 1995, Skumin became the first editor-in-chief (EIC) of "The Journal To Health Via Culture". This journal of the World Organisation of Culture of Health (″World Health Culture Organization″) received an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) 0204-3440. The main topics of the magazine are the dissemination of ideas of Culture of Health, holistic medicine, and Roerichism. The Organization also has its own publishing house ("To Health via Culture").

From 1990 to 1994, Skumin held positions as chaired professor of psychology and pedagogy, and of physical education and Health life at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. In 1994, he was elected to the post of the President-founder of the World Organisation of Culture of Health (Moscow). In 1995, Skumin became the first editor-in-chief of the journal To Health via Culture. He is known for inventing a popular term "Culture of Health" (1968).

From 1990 to 1994, Skumin held positions as Professor by the Chair of Psychology and Pedagogy, and Professor by the Chair of Physical Education and Health life at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. Skumin completed research of theoretical and practical issues of culture of health, which he developed throughout his scientific and pedagogical activity. These methods, he has introduced in the training course for the students of the Academy: The Foundations of a Culture of Health. His scientific and pedagogical work Skumin combine with a social activity. In 1994, he was elected to the post of the President-founder of the World Organisation of Culture of Health (WOCH) — International social movement "To Health via Culture" (Russian: Междунаро́дное обще́ственное Движе́ние «К Здоро́вью че́рез Культу́ру). Coat of arms of the WOCH contain a symbol of Roerichism.

He elaborated on the theosophical conceptions of spiritual evolution and proposed (1990) a classification of Homo spiritalis (Latin: spiritual man), the sixth root race, consisting of eight subraces: HS0 Anabiosis spiritalis, HS1 Scientella spiritalis, HS2 Aurora spiritalis, HS3 Ascensus spiritalis, HS4 Vocatus spiritalis, HS5 Illuminatio spiritalis, НS6 Creatio spiritalis, and HS7 Servitus spiritalis. According to Skumin:

Skumin defended his doctoral thesis in Moscow at the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry (1988). The Higher Attestation Commission awarded him for this research study the degree of Doktor Nauk in Medicine (Doctor of Medical Sciences – Dr.scient.med.). It is a higher doctoral degree which may be earned after the Candidate of Sciences (which is informally regarded in Russia and many other post-Soviet states as equivalent to PhD obtained in countries in which PhD is not the highest academic degree).

From 1980 to 1990, he was professor of psychotherapy at the Kharkiv Medical Academy of Post-graduate Education. The main result of his scientific activity was the discovery of the "syndrome of the neurotic phantom of somatic disease" and a "concept of the mental constituent of a chronic somatic disease".

Skumin's priority on the description of this syndrome and the establishment of effective methods of treatment and rehabilitation of cardiosurgical patients confirmed Nikolai Amosov and Yakov Bendet, Alain Carpentier, and many others. The Higher Attestation Commission under the USSR Council of Ministers awarded him for this research study the degree of Candidate of Sciences (1980). It is a first post-graduate scientific degree in some former Eastern Bloc countries.

From 1980 to 1990, he worked as professor of psychotherapy at the Kharkiv Medical Academy of Post-graduate Education. During this period Skumin investigated mental health disorder in chronic diseases of the digestive system in children and adolescents.

In 1979, Skumin created a special modification of mind control method for psychological rehabilitation of cardiosurgical patients. This method is based on autogenic training. Autogenic training is a relaxation technique developed by the psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz. He emphasized parallels to techniques in yoga and meditation. It is a method for influencing one's autonomic nervous system. The technique involves the daily practice of sessions that last around 15 minutes, usually in the morning, at lunch time, and in the evening. During each session, the practitioner will repeat a set of visualisations that induce a state of relaxation. Each session can be practiced in a position chosen amongst a set of recommended postures.

Skumin syndrome (Russian: Синдро́м Ску́мина) was described by Skumin in 1978 as a cardioprosthetic psychopathological syndrome, associated with mechanical heart valve implant and manifested by irrational fear, anxiety, depression and sleep disorder. This syndrome is often accompanied by asthenia. Alain Carpentier – a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the head the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou in Paris – believed in 2011 that Skumin syndrome develops in a quarter of the patients with an artificial heart valve. It is possible that a similar problem arises in the conduct of operations to implement an artificial heart.

Skumin researched from 1976 to 1980 psychological and psychiatric problems of cardiac surgery under the mentorship of Nikolai Amosov, who was the founder and first director of the Kiev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. This Institute was the first to conduct surgical treatment of heart diseases in the Ukrainian SSR (since 1955), the Institute began to conduct operations with extracorporeal circulation (1958), and mitral valve replacements (1963). In 1961, Amosov was awarded Lenin Prize for the work of surgery.

After graduating from the Kharkiv National Medical University in 1973, he became a psychotherapist in Kiev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. In 1978, he described a new disease, the Skumin syndrome. He introduced a method of psychotherapy and self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion for psychological rehabilitation of cardiosurgical patients (1979).

Skumin graduated the Medical University in 1973 with diploma with honours. In 1968, when he was still a medical student, he proposed the term Culture of Health (Russian: Культу́ра Здоро́вья), which has become widespread. The main task of a Culture of Health is to implement innovative health programs that support a holistic approach to physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Agni Yoga is a philosophical teaching which embraces all sides of being—from cosmological problems, down to daily human life. This teaching is based on the books written by Helena and Nicholas Roerich in the first half of the 20th century. The New Age movement is a spiritual movement that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. The movement is characterised by a holistic view of the cosmos, a belief in an emergent Age of Aquarius an emphasis on self-spirituality and the authority of the self, a focus on healing (particularly with alternative therapies).

Victor Andreevich Skumin (Russian: Ви́ктор Андре́евич Ску́мин, IPA: [ˈvʲiktər ɐnˈdrʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈskumʲɪn], born 30 August 1948) is a Russian and Soviet scientist, psychiatrist, philosopher and writer.

Victor Skumin was born on 30 August 1948 in Penza Oblast, RSFSR, where his father – Andrew Skumin (Russian: Андре́й Ску́мин, IPA: [ɐnˈdrʲej ˈskumʲɪn]) – was an officer of MGB of the USSR. After the birth of Victor, the family moved to the city of Kazan, where his father was appointed to the post of Chairman of the Military Tribunal of the Internal Troops of the Volga Military District.

Skumin studied medicine at the Kharkiv National Medical University. The history of the higher medical school in Kharkiv is more than 200 years long and closely connected with the history of Vasily Karazin Kharkiv National University, because it sprang from its Medical Faculty. The University – one of the oldest University of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union – was founded in 1804, a decree about its foundation was signed by the Emperor of Russia Alexander I, and the first Statutes of the University were approved at that time. In the Kharkiv University were laid high scientific standards. Its history is connected with the names of the Nobel Laureates – Lev Landau, Simon Kuznets, Élie Metchnikoff – and other distinguished scientists.