What can psychiatry learn from literature? For psychiatrists, literary texts can be valuable tools for furthering our understanding of patients and their conditions. This book explores the fruitful relationships between the written word and central aspects of psychiatric practice. It includes newly commissioned chapters plus articles originally published in the journal Advances in Psychiatric Treatment that have been reworked and updated. The contributors examine such topics as: why doctors should read fiction and the place of literature in medical education; the varied genres of autobiography, fiction, poetry and letters; and a range of topics, including addictions, ageing and dementia, intellectual disability and autism. The authors explore the description and representation of mental states, the lived experience of distress, the character of psychiatry as a system and the institutional practices of psychiatry. Although written by psychiatrists primarily for psychiatrists, this collection offers a fascinating and accessible insight into mental illness through the pages of novels, poetry and autobiographies to be found in any bookshop.

This book explores the fruitful relationships between the written word and central aspects of psychiatric practice.

About the Author

About the Editor:
Femi Oyebode is Professor and Head of Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham. He has published widely on the relationship between literature and psychiatry. His research interests include descriptive psychopathology and delusional misidentification syndromes. He is also a poet and literary critic.

Book Information
ISBN 9781904671602
Author Femi Oyebode
Format Paperback
Page Count 142
Imprint RCPsych Publications
Publisher RCPsych Publications
Weight(grams) 280g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 157mm * 10mm