Author Description

This engaging and provocative collection of classical and contemporary works contains poetry, plays, fiction, and autobiography. The works are excellent descriptions and examples of different forms of mental illness and serve as fascinating alternatives to case studies. The work consists of eight chapters and each chapter is a selected DSM-IV-TR category. For example, chapter 3 deals with substance-related disorders and the three works in chapter 3 all provide insight into how a substance abuse problem can affect an individual. Every selected work demonstrates a mental disorder. William Shakespeare's Hamlet illustrates the many behaviors associated with schizophrenia, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar illustrates the severe loss of interest associated with major depressive disorder, and Graham Greene's The End of the Party illustrates one person's phobia, fear of the dark. Mental Health in Literature: Literary Lunacy and Lucidity provides a vivid and human portrait of the symptoms, realities, and dark recesses of mental illness.