Download or read book Scenes of Madness written by Derek Russell Davis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-09-11 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Derek Russell Davis argues that mental health professionals working in a hospital or clinic setting can learn much from playwrights about the psychological processes in mental illness. Looking at such diverse characters as Orestes, Hamlet, Lear, Ophelia, Peer Gynt, Oswald Alving and Blanche Dubois, Dr Davis shows how madness in plays is put into the context of the crucial experiences in an individual's history and current relationships, and demonstrates that these stories can be a new and exciting source of insight into mental illness.