Dr Maria Grazia Turri, DPhil, PhD, MRCPsych

Teaching

I teach on critical mental health, psychoanalysis, and the intersection between mental health and the arts. I have also taught theatre history and theories, and theatre practice-based modules. I supervise MSc dissertations and I am co-supervisor for PhD dissertation projects at the intersection between theatre and mental health. If you want a glimpse of the work we do on the MSc Creative Arts and Mental Health, please listen to the audio-piece Futuring Mental Health, created in collaboration with previous students, or explore our online repository with work from previous students and alumni profiles.

Futuring Mental Health https://soundcloud.com/user-856724759

Arts in Mental Health online repository https://www.artsinmentalhealth.co.uk

 

 

Research

Research Interests:

My current project is an investigation of emotional labour from a psychoanalytic lens, particularly focusing on the work of the actor, but also considering this as a metaphor for any form of emotional labour in the caring professions.

My last project was an empirical audience research study conducted at Shakespeare’s Globe in collaboration with Prof Bridget Escolme. The analysis of the data collected on spectators’ intuitive responses to comic characters from early modern comedy, led me to develop a new theory of humour and to study its implications for the consumption of humour in jokes and comedy.

I also conduct research in collaboration with arts organisations. My latest project, in collaboration with Prof Francesca Cornaglia, investigates the “key ingredients” of creative health activities from the perspective of artists-facilitators working in this field.

Publications

An updated and complete list of publications can be found here:

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0441-8231

 

THEATRE STUDIES HIGHLIGHTS

Books:

Turri, M.G. and Escolme, B. (2025) Laughter, Power, and the Unconscious Researching Emotional Responses in a Contemporary Audience Spectating Early Modern Comedy at Shakespeare's Globe. London: Routledge.

https://www.routledge.com/Laughter-Power-and-the-Unconscious-Researching-Emotional-Responses-in-a-Contemporary-Audience-Spectating-Early-Modern-Comedy-at-Shakespeares-Globe/GraziaTurri-Escolme/p/book/9780367633172

Turri, M.G. (2017) Acting, Spectating and the Unconscious. A psychoanalytic perspective on unconscious processes of identification in the theatre. London: Routledge.

https://www.routledge.com/Acting-Spectating-and-the-Unconscious-A-psychoanalytic-perspective-on-unconscious-processes-of-identification-in-the-theatre/Turri/p/book/9780367736651

 

Articles and essays:

Turri, M.G. (2023) “Theatre as Intersubjective Space for the Mediation of Collective Identity: Outline of a Psychoanalytic Perspective”, In: 
Theater(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society, Volume 1, Riccioni, I. Ed, Leiden: Brill, pp.110-121.

Turri, M.G. (2021) “Psychoanalysis and theatre revisited: the function of character in mediating unconscious processing in spectatorship”, Sinestesieonline, 32

http://sinestesieonline.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/maggio2021-09.pdf

Turri, M.G. (2015) “Transference and katharsis, Freud to Aristotle”, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 96(2), pp.369-387.

 

CREATIVE HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS:

Articles:

Turri, M.G., Vigliotti, V., Wang, Y., Cook, J., Chamberlain, W. and Cornaglia, F. (2025) Troubleshooting Social Prescribing and the Arts in East London: Qualitative Findings from Community Arts Organisations and Link Workers, Health & Social Care in the Community, 2025, 4318767, https://doi.org/10.1155/hsc/4318767

Chatterjee, P. and Turri, M.G. (2023) “Humanising care in a forensic mental health ward through creative writing workshops for staff and residents: a case study”, The Mental Health Review Journal, 28 (2), 192–202, https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-03-2022-0014

Turri, M.G. and Hilton, G. (2021) “Art objects in conversation with psychiatrists at the Ashmolean Museum”, Journal of Holistic Healthcare, 18(1), pp.15-19, download for free at: https://bhma.org/product/flourishing-in-medical-education/

Allan, C.L., Turri, M.G., Stein, K., Da Silva, F.N. and Harris, J. (2016) “Exploring psychiatry through images and objects”, Medical Humanities, 42 (3), 205-206, https://mh.bmj.com/content/42/3/205

 

MENTAL HEALTH AND CRITICAL PSYCHIATRY HIGHLIGHTS:

Articles:

Turri, M.G., Merson, S., McNab, S. and Cooper, R.E. (2021) “The Systemic Assessment Clinic, a Novel Method for Assessing Patients in General Adult Psychiatry: Presentation and Preliminary Service Evaluation”, Community Mental Health Journal, 57(4), pp.753-763, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10597-020-00694-5

Turri, M.G. (2019) “The best kept secret in psychiatry”, Asylum Magazine, 26 (2), 5-6, https://asylummagazine.org/2019/06/the-best-kept-secret-in-psychiatry-by-maria-grazia-turri/

Turri, M.G. and Andreatta, L. (2014) “Does psychoanalytic psychotherapy offset use of mental health services and related costs in severe Borderline Personality Disorder? – A case study”, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 28(2), pp.139-158, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02668734.2014.882390

Supervision

I am currently first supervisor for:

Tommy Maltby - Accessing arts-based intervention through social prescribing, for whom does it work and why?

I am second supervisor for:

Aisling Murray - Using embodied inquiry to explore resilience during childhood with families from underserved communities in London, UK

Debora Minà – Her voice is heard. Collaborative theatre making as a healing journey in the context of the refugee experience

Dewi Evans - Can Current Autobiographical Performances of Patient Narratives, Testimonies, and Accounts of Madness Challenge Dominant Psychiatric Discourse?

 

Public Engagement

I believe that the dominant epistemology in mental health and the resulting mainstream practice are in urgent need of reform and I promote artistic projects which contribute to rethinking mental health through research, education and advocacy.

I am the co-convener of the annual conference ‘Mad Hearts: the Arts and Mental Health’, in collaboration with Prof Bridget Escolme and Rupert Dannreuther. The conference explores productive, radical, contemporary encounters between the arts and mental health, bringing together clinical, artistic and research perspectives that offer a re-interpretation of contemporary mental health science and practice.

I collaborate with Dr Francesca Cornaglia and East London local arts organisations to improve practice in arts-based social prescribing, so that the value of the arts for mental health and wellbeing can be better understood and appropriate frameworks for referral pathways and outcome evaluations established.

You can listen to my interview for InterAct Stroke Support on the role of the arts for mental health and wellbeing, for their arts and health podcast series Right Side of the Brain and for the Expression Impressions Podcast.

My Letter to a Mental Health Patient from a Psychiatrist turned humble, written as a response to the play Life in Boxes, by Isabel Dixon, has been published online.