Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2009) 15: 32-39. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.108.005496
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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‘Is everyone mad?’ The depiction of mental disturbance in the work of Dostoyevsky

Allan Beveridge

Allan Beveridge is Consultant Psychiatrist at Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline. He is an Assistant Editor of both the British Journal of Psychiatry and the History of Psychiatry

Correspondence: Correspondence Allan Beveridge, Queen Margaret Hospital, Whitefield, Road, Dunfermline, Fife KY12 OSU, UK. Email: allan.beveridge{at}faht.scot.nhs.uk

This article examines how madness is depicted in the work of Dostoyevsky. It gives a brief account of Dostoyevsky’s life before looking at the many ways in which he portrayed insanity. It suggests that he provided a sophisticated and complex picture of mental illness which has relevance for how contemporary clinicians conceive of psychiatric illness.