King Lear: Shakespeare's Influence on Early Psychiatry

This is part two of our series on the intersection between Shakespeare's works and Mental Health and Disability. In this episode, we dive into how individuals at the forefront of the early field of psychiatry used Shakespeare's works, including King Lear, to develop treatments for their patients.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was using the stage name "Korey Leigh Smith".

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced:

Neely, Carol Thomas. “Chapter 6 Rethinking Confinement in Early Modern England: The Place of Bedlam in History and Drama.” Distracted Subjects: Madness and Gender in Shakespeare and Early Modern Culture, Cornell University Press, 2004, pp. 184–199. 

Neely, Carol Thomas. “‘Documents in Madness’: Reading Madness and Gender in Shakespeare’s Tragedies and Early Modern Culture.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 3, [Folger Shakespeare Library, The Shakespeare Association of America, Inc., Johns Hopkins University Press, George Washington University], 1991, pp. 332–336, https://doi.org/10.2307/2870846.

Reiss, Benjamin. “Introduction & Chapter Three Bardolatry in Bedlam: Shakespeare and Early Psychiatry.” Theaters of Madness: Insane Asylums & Nineteenth-Century American Culture, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2008, pp. 1–21 & 79-102.