Trauma, beauty and the divided self: what Dostoevsky offers contemporary psychiatry
This commentary reflects on what Dostoevsky's work offers contemporary psychiatry, showing how his portrayals of fractured selves, dissociation, shame and the ambivalent force of beauty deepen our understanding of trauma's lived experience and highlight the psychological complexities that clinical language cannot always capture.
Authors
- H. Kerbage
- Philippe Courtet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6519-8586)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BJPsych Open
- Published
- 2026-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2026.11026
- Primary Topic
- Russian Literature and Bakhtin Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00