Vadim Rudnev – Doctor of Philology, philologist, philosopher and psychologist. Author of 15 books, including “Encyclopedic Dictionary of 20th Century Culture” (reprinted three times), “Away from Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of Text” (2000), “Character and Personality Disorders” (2002), “The Divine Ludwig. Wittgenstein: Forms of Life" (2002), "A Dictionary of Madness" (2005), "Dialogue with Madness" (2005). This book is a monograph on psychosemiotics - an interdisciplinary science that includes psychoanalysis, analytical philosophy, theoretical poetics, semiotics, motive analysis - which has been developed by V. Rudnev over the last decade. The essence of the author's approach is a philosophical analysis of such mental disorders as depression, obsessive-compulsive neurosis, paranoia, schizophrenia and their components: pedantry and magic, delusions of persecution and grandeur, hallucinations. Its originality lies in the fact that in each mental disorder the author sees a certain creative force that allows a person who has fallen outside the everyday norm to create perfect works of art and make brilliant discoveries. In particular, the book analyzes works of art written under the influence of one or another mental illness. With his characteristic provocativeness, the author declares that it is not the person who is sick, but the text. The book will be of interest to psychologists, philosophers, cultural experts, philologists - anyone interested in the mysteries of human consciousness.