ABSTRACT
There were more than a few instances of depression, suicide, and other upper-class forms of mental leave-taking among Sergei Pankeev's relatives. Sergei turned to psychiatrist Vladimir Bekhterev on his father's recommendation and complained to him of "depression." The impression that Freud made on Sergei Pankeev was strong enough to remain vivid even some forty years later when he described his first meeting with the famous psychotherapist. Russian culture has always been full of nannies and grannies, at least since Pushkin's famous nanny, Arina Rodionovna. Her absurd image as the great poet's true muse, his inspiration and tutor, deeply infiltrated the mass consciousness of generations of Russian and Soviet schoolchildren. The "wolf-man" became a celebrity. More and more psychoanalysts of the Old and New Worlds sought to meet with him, as he was one of the few patients of Sigmund Freud's who were accessible to the public.
