Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Ophelia

  • Syndrome de Lasthénie de Ferjol

    Krishna BadamiChristchurch, New Zealand Several years ago we saw a young woman who had an iron deficiency anemia, caused not by blood loss from menstruation (a common cause of iron deficiency anemia in females), but by repeatedly drawing her own blood by venipuncture and discarding it. This type of anemia caused by a specific self-harm…

  • A picture of ill-health: The illness of Elizabeth Siddal

    Emily BoyleDublin, Ireland It is difficult to think of Ophelia, one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters, without bringing to mind the famous depiction of her by John Everett Millais. In Hamlet, the sensitive and fragile Ophelia is driven mad by grief after her lover Hamlet rejects her and kills her father Polonius. After very poetically…

  • Emptiness Melancholia: depression sweet depression

    Camila MachadoMinas Gerais, Brazil The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality.1—Andrew Solomon Vitality had seemed to seep away from me through the years, stopping me from feeling joy, sadness, affection, and love. I felt empty but somehow managed to continue living, insisting on existence. Everything seemed too much work. Instead of being thrilled…