Gwen Watkins

Gordon Claridge

Ruth Pryor

Ten Psychotic Authors

Sounds from the Bell Jar

Oliver Mason

For several decades there has been an increasing move towards viewing the psychotic illnesses from a dimensional perspective, seeing them as continuous with healthy functioning. The idea, concentrating mostly on schizophrenia, has generated considerable theoretical debate as well as empirical research, conducted under the rubric of 'schizotypy'. This book offers a timely discussion of the most significant themes and developments in this research area. Divided into four key sections which represent current concerns in schizotypy research – Measurement, Brain and Biology; Development and Environment; Consequences and Outcomes; and Future Directions – chapters reflect a broad range of approaches and discuss varied theoretical perspectives on schizotypy. Topics include: cognitive and perceptual biases psychometric assessments creativity and schizotypy genetic associations. developmental perspectives Schizotypy: New dimensions will appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the area of psychotic illnesses, as well as professionals including psychiatrists and clinical psychologists who are concerned with the basis of serious mental disorder. The book will inform readers who are new to the topic and will update and expand the knowledge base of those more experienced in the field.

New dimensions

Schizotypy

This groundbreaking work is a unique collaboration between an Oxford psychologist and two literary critics. It explores the lives and works of 10 authors, among them Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath, who embody both serious mental illness and great originality of thought. The book draws upon personal diaries, historical archives, clinical records, and literary productions, and examines modes of thinking, such as divergent thought, over-inclusiveness, and autism, which psychosis and creativity might have in common. Using genetics, experimental abnormal and clinical psychology, personality research, descriptive psychiatry, and literary analysis, Claridge, Pryor, and Watkins present the revolutionary idea that normality and psychosis are continuous with each other. Healthy varieties and styles of thought and perception substantially overlap with the inclination to psychotic breakdown, and indeed might at times be identical. Psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, therapists, and general readers will gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between madness and creativity from this book.

Caroline Davis

In recent years, the assumption that there is a significant connection between normal psychological and biological differences and the development of psychological disorders has grown and research in this area has developed rapidly. This textbook, written by internationally known psychologists with expertise in both the areas of abnormal and differential psychology, aims to integrate evidence and idea from healthy personality and temperament on the one hand and psychological disorders on the other. This is achieved by viewing personality traits as predispositions to disorder, and by questioning how far the causes of various disorders can be seen as an extension or exaggeration of processes underlying normal personality or temperament. These main themes are discussed using a biological perspective, i.e., based on the theory that personality can be deconstructed into a number of basic dimensions (of biological origin) that also act as vulnerability factors for disorder. This is a second-level textbook for undergraduate students of psychology, but will also be recommended for health professionals and their trainees, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and nurses.

Personality and Psychological Disorders

Are madness and creativity related? Two literary scholars and a psychologist bring a blend of professional skills to bear on this question, first reviewing the contemporary scientific evidence and then examining the lives and works of ten authors, dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, who demonstrably suffered from a psychotic illness. For its material the book draws extensively on the subjects' own written words to illustrate the intimate connection that existed between the authors' creative expression and what they felt and perceived as psychotic persons.

Madness and creativity - are they related? Two literary scholars and a psychologist bring a unique blend of professional skills to bear on this question, first reviewing the contemporary scientific evidence and then examining in detail the lives and works of ten authors - dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century - who, as judged here by the latest diagnostic techniques, demonstrably suffered from a psychotic illness. For its material the book draws extensively on the subjects' own written words to illustrate the intimate connection that existed between the authors' creative expression and what they felt and perceived as psychotic persons.

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts present career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces ¿ extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, and their major practical theoretical contributions. In this fascinating collection, Professor Gordon Claridge charts the development of a model of mental health that blurs the line between madness and sanity, conditions such as schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis seen as dimensions of ¿normal¿ personality and temperament rather than separate abnormalities. Working with, and influenced by, the late Hans Eysenck, Claridge is celebrated for evolving research on personality and psychological disorders into a revised view of the spectrum of psychotic traits. The concept of schizotypy, re-evaluated by Claridge, sees mental illness not as a pathology suffered by a few, but as the end of a continuum experienced by us all. Psychopathology and Personality Dimensions brings together some of the author¿s most influential publications on the topics of schizotypy and psychoticism, personality disorders, and the use of drug techniques to investigate normal and abnormal individual differences. Interspersed throughout with specially-written retrospectives by Professor Claridge, looking back at his work and contextualising where it sits in the wider literature, the collection illustrates a radical and influential model of mental illness that continues to resonate today. This book is an essential resource for all those engaged or interested in the field of personality and psychological disorders.

Gordon Claridge

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