Zwischen Autonomie und Fürsorge - die Darstellung der Schizophrenie im autobiographischen Roman

Abstract

In the doctoral thesis presented here the main question is whether the three autobiographical novels of different historical and sociocultural context can be taken as a typical example of their time period. Schizophrenia was the main topic, an illness all three authors claim to have suffered of at a specific period of their life. As an examination method served a "qualitative analysis" by Mayering. The thesis elaborated that all three authors accurately serve as documenters of their time period and succeed in representing psychiatry in its diversity. Their autobiographic novels were effective, both Green's and Lauveng's novels were adapted as a play and still gain international recognition. The assumption that literature does not only represent public positions but also helps to shape public opinions was clearly displayed in this thesis. By choosing a personal approach of the historical development of schizophrenia and its cure, the female authors succeed in giving the reader a personal perspective of the clinical conditions and Psychiatry itself. Therefore, the distance between the "mentally ill" author and the "sane" reader is diminished. There are many indications that Lauvengs autobiographical novel is a typical representive of Europe's Psychiatry of the late twentieth century. Psychiatry and its ruling ideas of illness and cure need to looked upon as a reflector of the historical period. They can be reconstructed within political, historic and social developments. As a conclusion, it can be stated that one historical approach to mental illness turned into the next, and the development of new medical approaches changed psychiatry for good. All three authors contributed to safeguarding a part of medical history, reaching out to a broader audience to put aside prejudices.