Soviet TV psychotherapist Anatoly Kashpirovsky dies at 87
In short
Anatoly Kashpirovsky, the Soviet and Russian psychotherapist known for televised healing sessions in the late 1980s, has died at the age of 87. Vedomosti reported, citing TASS, that he died on 3 October at 06:45 Moscow time in a hospital and that his director Sergei Rudykh said the cause was cardiac arrest. Television host Andrei Malakhov first reported the death, which Kashpirovsky's director confirmed.
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Anatoly Kashpirovsky, a Soviet and Russian psychotherapist who became widely known in the USSR in the late 1980s through televised healing sessions, has died at the age of 87. Television host Andrei Malakhov reported the death, and Kashpirovsky's director confirmed it, Kommersant and Meduza reported. Vedomosti, citing TASS, said he died on 3 October at 06:45 Moscow time in a hospital, and that his director Sergei Rudykh gave cardiac arrest as the cause of death; Meduza also cited TASS for the same cause. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
Kashpirovsky was born on 11 August 1939 and graduated from the Vinnitsa Medical Institute, Vedomosti reported. He worked as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist for about 25 years before gaining all-Union fame in the late 1980s, when his “healing sessions” were broadcast on television, according to Meduza. He described his appearances as “an act of specific psychotherapeutic influence”, Meduza reported, saying the “healing effect” begins “from the first second of communication”. He also toured Russia and other countries, filling concert halls and football stadiums, Meduza wrote. Vedomosti cited Natalia Konradova's book “The Archaeology of the Russian Internet” to describe the period as a time of mass enthusiasm for parapsychology. [ 2 , 3 ]
In the 1990s Kashpirovsky was a State Duma deputy of the first convocation for the LDPR, Meduza and Vedomosti reported. On 16 February 2012 the Central Election Commission registered him as a trusted person of the LDPR's presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky; he was ninth on the list of 15 and his main place of work was listed as “pensioner”, according to Vedomosti. Meduza reported that a criminal case over the illegal practice of folk medicine was opened against him in the mid-2010s and that a court acquitted him, and that in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, he started a video blog on YouTube. He was married three times, and a daughter was born in his third marriage in 2025, Meduza reported. [ 2 , 3 ]
Why it matters
Kashpirovsky was one of the most recognisable public figures of the late Soviet period, when his televised sessions drew mass audiences and became a marker of the era's fascination with parapsychology. His death closes the public life of a figure who moved from medicine to television, then to the State Duma and later to a video blog. Coverage is limited to Russian outlets and treats the death as a routine obituary.
Key facts
- Anatoly Kashpirovsky died at the age of 87. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- Television host Andrei Malakhov reported the death, and Kashpirovsky's director confirmed it. [ 1 , 2 ]
- He died on 3 October at 06:45 Moscow time in a hospital, his director Sergei Rudykh said, according to Vedomosti. [ 3 ]
- The cause of death was cardiac arrest, his director said, according to Meduza and Vedomosti. [ 2 , 3 ]
- He was born on 11 August 1939, graduated from the Vinnitsa Medical Institute and worked as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist for about 25 years. [ 3 ]
- He became known across the USSR in the late 1980s through televised sessions. [ 2 , 3 ]
- He was a State Duma deputy of the first convocation for the LDPR. [ 2 , 3 ]
- A criminal case over illegal practice of folk medicine was opened against him in the mid-2010s and a court acquitted him. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Anatoly Kashpirovsky died at 87. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- His director confirmed the death to a news agency. [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]
- The cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to his director. [ 2 , 3 ]
- Television host Andrei Malakhov reported the death. [ 1 , 2 ]
- He was a Soviet and Russian psychotherapist who became widely known in the late 1980s through televised sessions. [ 2 , 3 ]
- He was a State Duma deputy for the LDPR. [ 2 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- Which news agency first confirmed the death with the director. Kommersant says RIA Novosti confirmed the information with Kashpirovsky's director, while Vedomosti and a second Kommersant item attribute the confirmation to TASS.
- The city and the hospital where he died. Vedomosti gives the time of death and says it happened in a hospital, but no document names the city or the hospital.
- The exact timing of the first report of the death. Only publication times of the obituaries are given, not when Malakhov or the director first spoke.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Kashpirovsky dies in a hospital, according to his director Sergei Rudykh. [ 3 ]
- Kommersant publishes its obituary. [ 1 ]
- Meduza publishes its obituary, citing Malakhov and the director via TASS. [ 2 ]
- Vedomosti publishes its obituary with the time, place and cause of death. [ 3 ]
- Kommersant publishes a second item saying TASS reported the death with reference to his director Sergei Rudykh. [ 4 ]