Document Detail


Neurology and literature 2.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21546130     Owner:  NLM     Status:  Publisher    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
INTRODUCTION: Good literary fiction has the potential to move us, extend our sense of life, transform our prospective views and help us in the face of adversity. A neurological disorder is one (if not the) most challenging experience a human being may have to confront in a lifetime. In this sense, literary recreations of illnesses have a doubly powerful effect. OBJECTIVES: Study the synergies between neurology and fictional literature with particular reference to narrative based medicine (NBM). DEVELOPMENT: Doctors establish boundaries between normality and the abnormal. Taking a clinical history is an act of interpretation in which the doctor integrates the science of objective signs and measurable quantities with the art of subjective clinical judgment. The more discrepancy there is between the patient living though illness and the way in which disease is accounted for by the doctor, the less likely the doctor-patient interaction is to succeed. NBM contributes to a better discernment of the meanings, thus considering disease as a biographical event rather than just a natural fact. Drawing from their own experience with disease, writers of fiction provide universal insights through their narratives, whilst neuroscientists, like Cajal, have occasionally devoted their scientific knowledge to literary narratives. Furthermore, neurologists from Alzheimer to Oliver Sacks remind us of the essential value of NBM in the clinic. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating NBM (the narrative of patients), the classical holistic approach to patients with our current paradigm of evidence based medicine represents a challenge as relevant to neurologists as the technological and scientific advances.
Authors:
I Iniesta
Publication Detail:
Type:  JOURNAL ARTICLE     Date:  2011-5-3
Journal Detail:
Title:  Neurologia (Barcelona, Spain)     Volume:  -     ISSN:  0213-4853     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2011 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-5-6     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9005460     Medline TA:  Neurologia     Country:  -    
Other Details:
Languages:  ENG; SPA     Pagination:  -     Citation Subset:  -    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2011 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
Epilepsy Department, Division of Neurology, The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK.
Vernacular Title:
Neurología y Literatura 2.
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