What can psychiatry learn from literature? Literature can clarify, examine and define emotions, behaviour and thoughts. 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: 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.Contents1. The benefits of reading literature 2. Roles for literature in medical education 3. Autobiographical narrative and psychiatry 4. Fictional narrative and psychiatry 5. Poetry and psychiatry 6. Letters and psychiatry: the case of Franz Kafka 7. Death and dying in literature 8. Literary and biographical perspectives on substance use 9. Dementia and literature 10. Portrayal of intellectual disability in fiction 11. Autism in fiction and autobiographyAlso available:Madness to Mental Illness: A History of the Royal College of Psychiatrists - ISBN 1904671357Spirituality and Psychiatry - ISBN 1904671713RCPsych Publications is the publishing arm of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (based in London, United Kingdom), which has been promoting excellence in mental health care since 1841. Produced by the same editorial team who publish The British Journal of Psychiatry, they sell books for both psychiatrists and other mental health professionals; and also many written for the general public. Their popular series include the College Seminars Series, the NICE mental health guidelines and the Books Beyond Words series for people with intellectual disabilities.    RCPsych publishes in all areas of psychiatry and mental health, including but not limited to:  Clinical psychiatric practice  Intellectual disability  Mental health services for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly  Psychopharmacology  Psychotherapy  Rehabilitation psychiatry  Family mental health  Service provision    RCPsych Publications books can help with the following disorders:   Addictions  Affective disorders   Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)   Bereavement  Borderline personality disorder  Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)   Dementia  Depression  Eating disorders  Perinatal psychiatric disorder  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)   Psychosis   Schizophrenia  Sleep problems

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