Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: socioeconomics

  • The white-collar antisocial personality

    Richard Zhang Farmington, Connecticut, United States   Man in a Hat. Painting by Josef Capek, 1915–16. Via Wikimedia. Public domain. A frequently overlooked topic in psychiatry is “antisocial personality disorder” (ASPD) or “sociopathy,” specifically as it manifests in higher socioeconomic backgrounds and thus evades recognition. I once cared for a well-spoken, charming patient who practiced…

  • Allowing my death—a delusory end-of-life decision

    Wolfgang Lederer Innsbruck, Austria   Photo by Chen Mizrach on Unsplash.  Together with the gift of life, I have received its finiteness, its perishability. As death is inescapable, when might I allow my life to end? Certainly, my life expectancy has to be longer than average, and I demand good physical and mental health right…

  • Spinoza and medical practice: Can the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza enrich the thinking of doctors?

    Norelle LickissHobart, Tasmania, Australia As doctors we seek to assuage the distress of our patients by relieving symptoms, guarding personal dignity, and remaining present even as they are dying. Yet despite these lofty goals, there remain facts suggesting profound disquiet among physicians, albeit well disguised: high rates of substance abuse, burnout, suicide . . .…