Psychology as a Practice: Literary Explorations Across Civilizations

Psychology, as both a discipline and a mode of understanding the human experience, has evolved significantly across time and cultures. Literature has been a crucial medium in reflecting and shaping psychological thought, offering profound insights into the human mind, social behaviours, and mental health. By analysing a classical, modern, and postmodern novel – Madame Bovary (1856) by Gustave Flaubert, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf, and American Psycho (1991) by Bret Easton Ellis – one can trace the evolution of psychological practice as depicted in literature and understand its intersections with societal transformations.