How do people conceptualize and write about their mental trauma and psychological distress? The seminar interrogates personal narratives of depression, aphasia, head injury, and other forms of neurological damage and emotional affliction using a variety of perspectives, including literary and scientific viewpoints. The works will be considered for their contribution to clinical science, rehabilitative services, and popular understanding of limits to human experience.
Sample texts:
Jamison, Kay Redfield, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods
and Madness; Murphy,Robert F. The Body Silent; Sacks,
Oliver. A Leg to Stand On; Styron, William. Darkness
Visible: A Memoir of Madness.