The purpose of this book is to systematically apply a theatrical model of social relations to certain well-known mental and physical illnesses. As I hope to show, a theatrical model raises important questions about these disorders that would not otherwise be asked. It illustrates certain important aspects of human nature and consciousness, and it puts illness behaviors in their larger, cultural context. As the reader will see, some of the most influential twentieth-century theories regarding the human mind grew out of the study of illnesses discussed in later chapters. When viewed as dramatic enactments, these same illnesses show the way to new views of mental life. Although they may seem strange, these new views are consistent with modernday experimental findings from the field of social psychology and with observational studies conducted on small groups.
Book by Brant Wenegrat; Oxford University Press, 2001. 292 pgs.
