Classical and modern literature is full of patients with interesting neurological cognitive
or psychiatric diseases often including detailed and accurate descriptions which suggests the
authors were inspired by observations of real people. In many cases these literary portrayals
of diseases even predate their formal identification by medical science. Fictional literature
encompasses nearly all kinds of disorders affecting the nervous system with certain favorites
such as memory loss and behavioral syndromes. There are even unique observations that cannot be
found in scientific and clinical literature because of the lack of appropriate studies. Not
only does literature offer a creative and humane look at disorders of the brain and mind but
just as authors have been inspired by medicine and real disorders clinicians have also gained
knowledge from literary depictions of the disorders they encounter in their daily practice.
This book provides an amazing and fascinating look at neurological conditions patients and
doctors in literature and film in a way which is both nostalgic and novel.
