University of Nottingham - Arts for psychiatry's sake

Reading novels and poetry should form part of the education of mental-health doctors and nurses in order to improve their empathy with patients. That is the view of Victoria Tischler, lecturer in the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Nottingham, who has edited a book titled Mental Health Psychiatry and the Arts. The book, launched at Nottingham's International Health Humanities conference, argues that non-literary arts such as painting and music can help medical students improve their understanding of mentally ill patients, as well as assist them in coping with the stress of working in the field.