Mindreadings: Literature and Psychiatry

by Femi Oyebode

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 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.

Genres: Psychology, Psychiatry

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Femi Oyebode is a retired professor and head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham. He has investigated the relationships between literature and psychiatry. His research has considered descriptive psychopathology and delusional misidentification syndrome. He was awarded the 2016 Royal College of Psychiatrists lifetime achievement award.

Reviews

[Tope Salaudeen-Adégòkè · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly brilliant essays.

[Nasser Moeen]

فصل‌هایی از این کتاب به این موضوعات می‌پردازد: چرا پزشکان باید داستان بخوانند؛ جایگاه ادبیات در آموزش پزشکی؛ نقش روایت‌های خودزیست‌نامه‌ای و داستانی؛ شعر؛ نامه‌ها؛ مرگ و مردن؛ اعتیاد؛ سالخوردگی و زوال عقل؛ کم‌توانی‌های ذهنی و در خودماندگی (اوتیسم).
چیزی که به این فصل‌های جداگانه وحدت می‌بخشد تکیه‌ی آنها بر زبان با همه‌ی وجوهِ ارتباطی‌اش خصوصاً به صورتِ متنِ ادبی است که همچون منبع و ابزاری برای افزودنِ فهمِ ما از بیماران‌مان و وضعیتِ آنان عمل می‌کند.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute gold. Highly recommended for anyone in the medical profession. I love it.

[Burcu]

A good place to start for medical humanities people to see the field from the perspective of the medical doctors.