 "Psikhushka" is the Russian ironic diminutive for "mental hospital".One of the first "psikhushkas" was the Psychiatric Prison Hospital in the city of Kazan.In 1939 it was transferred to the control of the NKVD, the secret police and the precursor organization to the KGB, under the order of Lavrentiy Beria, who was the head of the NKVD.