We are seeking high quality blog posts on a broad range of issues related to health humanities. We especially look for submissions on themes related to social justice, global outreach, and inclusivity. We believe that the work of medical humanities is deeply entrenched in ethics, so we encourage reflections on our moral obligations toward beings enmeshed […]
Latest articles
Scenario Planning, Healthcare, and the Humanities
Podcast with Matt Finch and Matthew Molineux In this podcast, Brandy Schillace (EIC) and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch (Blog and Associate Editor) talk to Matt Finch and Matthew Molineux about how scenario planning can help inform decisions about healthcare and the role of narrative in building scenarios that teach and humanize the health professions. You can also […]
Narrative Medicine Theory and Practice: The Double Helix Model
Article Summary by Liam Butchart and Shabnam Parsa In the medical humanities, narrative medicine—the academic field that uses the study of patient and provider stories to better understand illness experiences and to heal—has become a dominant school of thought. “Narrative Medicine Theory and Practice: The Double Helix Model” critically examines this approach. Whereas the current […]
Illness and (Hyper)Masculinity in ‘HIMM’ Ccomics from the USA
Article Summary by Paul Mitchell In “Illness and (Hyper)Masculinity in HIMM Comics from the USA”, I explore how three cartoonists graphically depict their personal experiences of illness. The texts that I analyse, My Degeneration (Peter Dunlap-Shohl), Relatively Indolent but Relentless (Matt Freedman) and The Hospital Suite (John Porcellino) deal with diverse health problems, from Parkinson’s […]
The Paradox of Memory
Film Review of Memory (Michel Franco, USA, 2023) by Dr Khalid Ali, film, and media correspondent Film is on UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 23.2.2024, https://memoryfilm.uk/ Michel Franco, award-winning Mexican film director (figure 1), is a keen observer of the nature and dynamics of relationships between ailing patients and their paid carers. In ‘Chronic’ […]
Physicians and Patients Should Be Steering the Healthcare Ship
Book Review by Janina Levin Drew Remignanti, The Healing Connection: A Partnership for Your Health (Something or Other Publishing, 2023. ISBN-13: 978-1954102156). Analyses of healthcare of systems in the US (and the UK) have laid bare alarming asymmetries of power. Hypocrisy is the hidden message in medical education. Insurance companies and hospital administrators influence doctors’ […]
The Doctor Will Not See You Now
Blog by Drew Remignanti, MD, MPH “The boundaries between health and disease, between well and sick, are far from clear and never will be clear, for they are diffused by cultural, social, and psychological considerations.” So wrote Dr. George L. Engel in 1977, when he proposed his biopsychosocial model of illness. The bolding of never […]
In Dementia, Does Truth Matter?
Review of ‘I’m Not From Here (Yo No Soy de Aquί)’ Directed by Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zickte, Chile, 2016 Film Review by Robert Abrams, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York I’m Not From Here is an arresting short film directed by the Chilean team of Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zicte. […]
How Chance Occurrences Can Affect Your Health
Anupam B. Jena and Christopher Worsham. Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients And Shape Our Health (Doubleday, 2023. ISBN-13: 978-0385548816). Book Review by Dr. Isabella Watts Random Acts of Medicine opens with the line “chance occurrences change the course of our lives all the time.” We can all think […]
December 2023 Special Issue: Transitions & Transformations: Medical Humanities in Times of COVID-19
Medical Humanities in Transition Monika Pietrzak-Franger, Anna M Elsner Postdigital health practices: new directions in medical humanities Monika Pietrzak-Franger Solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from a nine-country interview study in Europe [read the article summary] Katharina Kieslich, Amelia Fiske, Marie Gaille, Ilaria Galasso, Susi Geiger, Nora Hangel, Ruth Horn, Marjolein Lanzing, Sébastien Libert, Elisa […]