Call for Papers Pain Medicine is planning an interdisciplinary Special Issue on meaning in the context of pain. Guest editors are Dr Simon van Rysewyk, Dr John Quintner and Prof Milton Cohen. Special Issue Themes and Sub-Themes Including, but not restricted to, the following: Common experiential meanings of pain in different contexts Chronic non-cancer pain […]
Latest articles
What’s in it for the Animals? Symbiotically Considering ‘Therapeutic’ Human-Animal Relations within Spaces and Practices of Care Farming
Article Summary by Richard Gorman Care farming is an emerging form of healthcare that aims to deploy farming practices as a type of therapeutic intervention, with human-animal relations framed as providing important opportunities for human health. The growing body of academic work on care farming links participation in a care farming scheme as having the […]
Essential(ist) Medicine Promoting Social Explanations for Racial Variation in Biomedical Research
Article Summary by Iliya Gutin When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail—and when all you have is a definition of race rooted in biology and genetics, every racial disparity in health outcomes is attributed to these intrinsic differences. Fortunately, this narrative applies far less to contemporary biomedicine than the […]
How “The Fault In Our Stars” Illuminates Four Themes of the Adolescent End of Life Narrative
Article Summary by Anna Obergfell Kirkman This paper suggests the creation of a new category of end of life (EOL) narrative, focused specifically on adolescents, in recognition of their distinct developmental features and their strong preferences about the dying process. Adult EOL narrative has long been showcased, and pediatric EOL narrative is often restricted by […]
A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman’s “Severall Chirurgicall Treatises”
Article Summary by Adam S. Komorowski Tuberculosis is a disease that comes in many forms: prior to the advent of modern medicine, one of the more common forms of tuberculosis was found in the lymph nodes in the neck. This form, especially within England and France, was known as “the King’s-Evil”. Thought to only be […]
Parroting Patriots
Article Summary by Brad Bolman My article sets out to analyze the new ways of being together that exist when military veterans suffering from PTSD begin relational therapy programs involving care for abandoned parrots. I wanted to explore not only the idea of interspecies trauma, but the possibility that such a thing might be shared […]
Nurturing Artistic Talent in Children with Autism: The Autism Project
Interview with Hanna Makki and Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent In this podcast, filmmaker Hana Makki revisits her memories of making the documentary film ‘As One: The Autism Project,’ working with ten children with Autism and their families. The film project was supported by Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in an […]
Review of Long Cases in General Medicine: A 1983 Aid to the MRCP Exam
Review by Jolyon Bending Roy Pounder. Long Cases in General Medicine (second edition). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. 1983. I like old medical text books. They give a sense of the wishes of the author, and inform us of what was instilled in its readers. The ones that come most readily to mind are the grand […]
Healing by Art: Almodovar Champions Arts for Health and Well-Being
‘Pain and Glory’ ‘Dolor y gloria’, directed by Pedro Almodovar, Spain 2019 In general release in UK cinemas on 23rd August 2019 Review by Dr Khalid Ali, film and Media Correspondent In his 21st feature film ‘Pain and glory’, auteur film maker Almodovar reflects on three significant relationships and people; his mother, a former lover […]
Material Medicine: Objects, and Bodies, AMH 2019, Plymouth, UK
Conference Report by Desmond O’Neill After a gap of some years I was delighted to catch a meeting of the UK Association of Medical Humanities, even if only for one day. It was my first encounter with Plymouth, where standing at the lush green of Plymouth Hoe offers disconcertingly different views: either looking to sea […]