Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Review of Health Humanities in Postgraduate Medical Education: A Handbook to the Heart of Medicine

  • Thomas Szasz

    JMS PearceHull, England “[Mental illness] is a myth, whose function it is to disguise and thus render more palatable the bitter pill of moral conflicts in human relations.”—TS Szasz (1920–2012), “The myth of mental illness”1 In a discipline as diverse as medicine, it should occasion… Read more

  • The new pandemic

    Maite LosarcosNavarra, Spain It is just another day. The traffic light is red as pedestrians cross the street before you, always in a hurry. At last, the light turns green, but just as you prepare to start the car, the world goes white. People shout,… Read more

  • What is the point?

    Aariya SrinivasanChennai, India I am yet another young doctor struggling to find a place and purpose in this world. When I was in medical school, all I could ever think about was how to get through the next exam. Most of us do. We sit… Read more

  • Fraudulent medical research and “zombie articles”

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Ninety percent of everything is crap.”– Sturgeon’s law1“Garbage in, garbage out.” – Early computer-speak for “nonsense input produces nonsense output” The publishing of studies in medical journals is based on trust. When journal editors receive a manuscript, they first look at the… Read more

  • Book review: The Guru, the Bagman and the Sceptic: A story of science, sex and psychoanalysis

    Robert KaplanSydney, Australia As a cultural icon of the twentieth century, psychoanalysis has loomed large in the public imagination. What makes it unique is the focus on the central figure, who set up a movement to promote it while constantly proclaiming it a science. Sigmund… Read more

  • A history of military medical services

    George PorterNewcastle, UK Hippocrates once said that “war is the only proper school of the surgeon.” War is an undeniable driver of medical innovation, and the structure, procurement and philosophy of military medical services often reflect the societies which commissioned them. This essay will discuss… Read more

  • The disease called poverty

    Olufolakayomi Christiana ThomasLagos State, Nigeria It is a hot Friday afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria. Everyone is gearing up for the weekend and already starting to leave work. The clinic staff does this each week under the guise of attending Friday Jumat prayers, even though the… Read more

  • François Magendie

    JMS PearceHull, England François Magendie (1783–1855) (Fig 1) was a pioneering French physiologist, pharmacologist, and clinician who carried out a surprisingly wide variety of investigations. His best-remembered works are on the fourth ventricular foramen and the function of spinal nerves. He was born in Bordeaux,… Read more

  • Auguste Renoir and his arthritis

    Renowned for his colorful portraits and landscapes, Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was one of the greatest French Impressionists. He painted some 4,000 compositions, many still admired all over the world. But during his last twenty years, he suffered from a debilitating illness that greatly impacted his… Read more

  • Vincenzo Chiarugi, who freed the insane from their chains

    Vincenzo Chiarugi was one of the pioneers of a more humane treatment of the mentally ill, along with William Tuke (1732–1822) in York and Philippe Pinel (1745–1826) and Étienne-Jean Georget (1795–1828) in Paris. They all lived at a time when those with mental illness were… Read more

  • Henri Parinaud—French physician, composer, and humanitarian

    Jason JoNew York, New York Henri Parinaud (c. 1844–1905), a pioneer in the fields of neurology and ophthalmology, is best remembered for his two eponymous syndromes: the Parinaud oculoglandular syndrome and Parinaud’s syndrome (dorsal midbrain syndrome).1 However, Parinaud himself, given his humility and unassuming personality,… Read more

  • The climate cure: Treating tuberculosis in the nineteenth century

    Brendan PulsiferAtlanta, Georgia Tuberculosis pervaded nineteenth-century American life like no other disease. More commonly known as consumption at the time, it was responsible for one in five deaths, making it the deadliest pathogen for people across ages, genders, and classes. Doctors often described tuberculosis as… Read more