Hemodialysis treatment for schizophrenia?
Nicolas Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Jean-Baptiste Denys (1643–1704). Via Wikimedia Public Domain. “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did, and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” Mary W. Shelley, Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) […]
Enlightenment from Sherlock Holmes on COVID-19 associated perilous boredom
Daniel Gelfman Indianapolis, Indiana, United States Evening silhouette of Sherlock Holmes’s statue at Baker street, the real place where he never lived. Photo by dynamosquito. Taken January 11, 2010. Via Wikimedia Boredom can useful. It can motivate people to do great things. It can also be dangerous by increasing the risk of depression and […]
Dr. Sabina Spielrein: consequences of feminism and love
Irving Rosen Toronto, Ontario, Canada Sabina Spielrein (1885-1942) as a young woman. She had a hectic existence and can be considered an early contributor to the psychoanalytic literature. Image via Wikimedia While all our lives are eventful, some people tend to experience situations that set them apart. Born in 1885 in Rostov, Czarist Russia, […]
Thriving in the face of uncertainty
Sally Mather Chris Millard Ian Sabroe Sheffield, England The experience of uncertainty has appeared as a frequent narrative in articles, autobiographies, and memoirs written by doctors over the last century. A persistent belief that better training, tests, evidence, and pathways will reduce uncertainty has not been borne out in the experience of contemporary clinicians. […]
Snapped by Snapchat: social media and adolescents
Ganga Prasanth Austin, Texas, United States Photo by Maxim Ilyahov on Unsplash When was the last time you checked in with social media? An hour ago? Thirty minutes? Maybe ten? Social media plays a large role in modern society. Humans have an innate drive to belong to groups and take part in social interactions; and a sense […]
Ahab’s gift: Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and the meaning of pain
Xi Chen Rochester, New York, United States A whale being speared with harpoons by fishermen in the arctic sea. Engraving by A. M. Fournier after E. Traviès. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) In the summer months before my first year of medical school, I unfurled the pages of Moby Dick. Immersed […]
Tracing wisps of hair
Miriam Rosen Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Child’s Play by Miriam Rosen My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was fourteen. For the next nine years, she lived her life with elegance and seemed to do it with ease. She continued her psychiatry practice, only gradually reducing the number of patients she saw. She […]
Dr. Fanny Halpern, a psychiatric go-between of 1930s Shanghai
Richard Zhang Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States “Dr. F.G. Halpern” in an advertisement for the Puci Sanatorium in the Shen Bao, September 20, 1935. source On September 20, 1935, a lengthy advertisement in one of Shanghai’s most popular newspapers, the Shen Bao, celebrated the recent opening of the Shanghai Puci Sanatorium (上海普濨療養院).1 The sanatorium would […]
Hölderlin’s madness
Nicolas Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain The only representation on which Hölderlin looks people directly in the face – a pastel picture by Franz Karl Hiemerthat that the poet gave to his sister Rieke in 1792. According to his mother and sister, it does not resemble him. German Literature Archive, Marbach, Germany. Accessed via Wikimedia. […]
The big sheepdog
Gregory Rose Lexington, Kentucky, United States The Dog’s Watch. Charles Francois Daubigny. 1857. The Art Institute of Chicago. “How ya doin’, Wayne?” It had been some ten years, back in high school, since I had seen Wayne. I had returned to general practice in my small home town and I was not sure what […]