Main description:

This book, written by one of the leaders in the field of the neurosciences, will give an explanation of the symptoms and eventual untimely suicide of one of literatures greatest authors; Virginia Woolf. The sources used are letters and statements from Woolf herself, the literature she wrote and comments, letters and any other documentation that referred to her mental state and her medical status. The author will use current insight into depression, the mental consequences of child abuse and drug interactions/effects to illustrate this case study. The book should appeal to researchers in the neurosciences, psychology and psychiatry as well as to a broader audience, mainly individuals who are interested in the (external and internal) forces that drove Woolf to write her material.

Contents:

Preface

Note to the Reader

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION

1. Sexual Abuse, Literary Genius and a Mind gone Awry

2. The Development of Early 20th century Psychiatry and its Failure

3. Freud, the Subconscious and Virginia Woolf

4. Virginia Woolf's Suicide

SECTION II: NEUROPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE

5. Brain Networks, Hormones and Genes implicated in Depression

6. The Pathology of Synapses in Brain Networks implicated in Depression

7. On the Mechanism of Action of an Anti-Depressant

8. On the Identification of Drugs Modulating Epigenetic Mechanisms in Depression

9. Brain Networks in Psychosis

SECTION III: ON MENTAL ILLNESS

10. The Mind, Mental Illness and the Stream of Consciousness