Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature
BMJ 2001; 323 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7303.55 (Published 07 July 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:55
- Iain McClure, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist
- Vale of Leven Hospital, Alexandria
Daniel Nettle
Oxford University Press, £16.99, pp 235
ISBN 019 850706 2
Rating: 
What are brains for? Why does madness exist? Why is human culture obsessed with creativity? These striking questions punctuate this thought provoking book, as it explores the relation between madness and creativity.
The first half elegantly surveys affective illness and schizophrenia, with a fresh explanation of the biological, psychological, and social aspects of causation, and a helpful précis of the history of psychiatry (including the mistakes of the “antipsychiatry” movement). …
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