Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: abuse

  • When daydreaming becomes a problem

    S.T GamageColombo, Sri Lanka “They say there’s no harm in daydreaming, but there is.”— Charlaine Harris An excessive amount of daydreaming can lead to a psychological condition called maladaptive daydreaming (MD). It is also known as daydreaming disorder. Professor Eliezer Somer from the University of Haifa, Israel, first identified this condition. It is a disorder…

  • Queen Juana: The mad or the betrayed?

    Juliana MenegakisLondon, United Kingdom Juana of Castile is known by her epithet “the Mad.” But was she truly insane? Infanta Juana of Castile and Aragon was born in 1479 to Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the famed Catholic Monarchs who united Spain. Juana had two older siblings, Isabella and John, and…

  • Munchausen by Proxy

    Charles HalstedDavis, California, United States My last patient of the morning was a teenage girl, just turned eighteen. She walked in slowly, her face in agony, apprehensive. Her mother said the pain had begun at age twelve, about when she started to menstruate, yet it never let up, periods or not. Refusing food, she began…

  • Intersection of mental illness, the supernatural, and gender in Pakistan

    Sualeha Siddiq ShekhaniKarachi, Pakistan Maria sits across from me in a pristine clinic room in a private hospital in Pakistan. At first reluctant to speak about her husband’s illness, her words suddenly flow as if a dam has burst. She wants me to know everything: her suffering and her worry at taking care of her…

  • History repeated: Child abuse in the United States

    Joseph deBettencourtChicago, Illinois, United States Q: Did you see any place for this child to sleep in?A: No, Sir, except in one corner. The child told me she slept up in one corner of the room under the window.Q: Did she show you where she slept?A: No, Sir.Q: Did she state what she slept on?A:…

  • When a movie ticket to the battered may help!

    Rema SundarTrivandrum, Kerala, India Domestic violence awareness through film When four-time Grammy Award winner Tracy Chapman crooned “Last night I heard the screaming,” she was reflecting on a global public health problem. Instances of abuse and violence do not discriminate based on wealth, race, or education. ‘The World’s Women 2015″ report from the United Nations …

  • NormalHang in ThereThe Monster and other work

    Monika Filipiak Peszek About two years after my daughter was born, I was depressed. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I could feel myself growing heavier and heavier, and angrier and angrier. I was mad at my husband all the time. I blamed him for the way I was feeling. I was…