Type of Course: Undergraduate

Siete voces que cuentan cómo superaron sus adicciones

This article provides seven different stories from recovering drug addicts with the intention of reducing the stigma behind drug addiction. Each story provides a glimpse into the life of each person, past their addiction. They discuss how their addictions started, as well as how they have been recovering from their addictions and beginning to reclaim their lives. Intermediate level, 4 pages.

“Una puerta se abre” por Adolfo Bioy Caseras

Almeyda considers suicide through internal dialogue that evokes the struggle to weigh life-sustaining alternatives against death. His contemplation turns surreal in an encounter with the idea that "time heals everything" and the possibility to sleep for 100 years. Theme throughout the story is that even in the darkest moments, there are options and opportunities to overcome life's challenges. The final twist, with the reappearance of a key character, emphasizes that love and human connection can overcome even the most desperate times, making clear that suicide is not reasonable or desirable. 10 pages, upper intermediate readers; Argentinian dialect. Useful for a Latin American literature course.

“El sur” por Jorge Luis Borges

"El Sur" follows Juan Dahlmann's journey from a sanatorium on the brink of death due to a head injury. He experiences eight days of intense suffering and pain before his transfer to the sanatorium. Inside, he feels imprisoned and faces the risk of sepsis. His doctor promises a recovery and return to his southern estate. The narrative highlights the impact of physical injury on mental health. Short story appropriate for a Latin American literature course for advanced students; focus on illness and healing brings a different lens to Borges that health-oriented students could appreciate. Available online for free.

Tuve Depresión Postparto Dos Veces y Nunca Me La Diagnosticaron

Describes a woman’s experience with two bouts of undiagnosed postpartum depression. She explains her thoughts and experiences of feeling unable to take care of her children and how these were largely ignored by health professionals. Story is framed with Q&A about postpartum depression: symptoms, frequency, treatment, etc. Acessible, magazine-style 10 minute read, intermediate and native speakers; good discussion starter for a community group.

El misterio del duelo, aprenda cómo estar presente

This story describes the pain of a mother who gave up a foster daughter, Coco. A year later, she adopted a baby boy, and described this grief to the social worker, noticing that having language to describe the specific loss - "duelo por falta de derechos," - 'grief because you have no rights (to keep the child)' - helped the family move on. 10 minute read, upper intermediate level.

LitMed: Literature Arts Medicine Database

Scholars, educators, patients, students, and anyone interested in medical humanities can search this site for annotated entries that describe works of literature, fine art, visual art and performing art related to medicine. Housed at the NYU School of Medicine, the annotations are written by an editoral board of medical humanities scholars from across North America. Users of the site can search by words or phrases of their own, peruse an alphabetical index of titles, or use the extensive system of tags. It is possible to narrow a search to a particular kind of work (e.g., "All visual arts" or just photography, painting/drawing, or sculpture) or to medical humanities topics (e.g., history of medicine, medical anthropology, science and medicine). Stories by "physician" or "nurse" can also be searched. The site has over 3000 items at the time of this submission. An entry includes a summary description of the work as well as a commentary.

The ones we sent away

The author found out at age 12 that her mother had a sister who was institutionalized before age 2 with intellectual disabilities that left her unable to speak. She traces her aunt's life through various institutions, most of them deplorable, and hears her mother's grief over the separation from her only sibling. She contrasts the attitudes and treatment of such disabilities in the 1950's through the 1980's with much more open acceptance and inclusion of nonverbal persons in the 2020's, based on a photo that went viral on Twitter. Detailed memoir of three generations' relationships with the sister: the author's grandmother, her mother, and herself. Traces the evolution of attitudes toward intellectual disabilities in the 20th and 21st centuries from close relationship to the issue, noting that children born today with her aunt's condition are able to live much fuller lives because of greater inclusion in educational, social and family contexts. Includes many links to relevant sources, from memoir to scientific works. About 15 pages; also has audio version.

List of resources on Grief

In February 2024, the following request was posted to the Health Humanities listserv: "I'm in the process of compiling a reading list for people (of all ages) who are grieving /working through loss. I'd like to include: poetry anthologies, graphic or traditional memoirs, novels/short story collections, children's picture books/youth fiction, and story-based films." The request came from Allan Peterkin at the University of Toronto, who is compiling a list. Not surprisingly, recommendations also included works on death and dying. The attached document provides a list I compiled from this thread of the listserv.

Bibliography of poetry collections

In this blog post, poet Celeste Lipkes recommends poems she characterizes as "confronting difficult-to-discuss medical diagnoses." Her list includes a variety of conditions and the poems are written from a variety of perspectives, including health care providers, family members, and patients. She provides a brief synopsis of each collection, including examples.

She reviews (and provides links to purchase) the following poetry collections:

Radium Girl by Celeste Lipkes: A physician writes about her experience as a young woman with Crohn’s disease
Black Aperture by Matt Rasmussen: A man writes about his brother’s suicide
Big–Eyed Afraid by Erica Dawson: A black woman writes about her experiences of bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder
Blue Sonoma by Jane Munro: A wife writes about the progression of her husband’s Alzheimers
We Mad Climb Shaky Ladders by Pamela Spiro Wagner: A woman writes about her experience of schizophrenia
The Hemophiliac’s Motorcycle by Tom Andrews: A motocross racer writes about having hemophilia
Deluge by Leila Chatti addresses medical care for women’s reproductive health, including her treatment for heavy uterine bleeding
The Tradition by Jericho Brown: A black man writes about, among other things, his HIV diagnosis
Impossible Bottle by Claudia Emerson: poems published posthumously by a woman who died from cancer
Still Life by Jay Hopler: poems published posthumously by a man who died from prostate cancer

Depression Quest

This is a choose-your-own adventure game that aims to illustrate what having depression is like, specifically for those who have not experienced or have not been diagnosed with depression. The creators stress on the opening page that the game is not representative of everyone’s experience with depression, but is an amalgamation of different or shared experiences from people with depression. Each “level” has a different description of what the character, you, do or can do throughout the day. You then have the opportunity to choose between a few options that lead to different results or storylines. Some of the options are portrayed as beneficial while others are harmful. Some levels, specifically when the character’s depression is particularly extreme, show answers that are red-lined and unavailable to us, although we can read them. There are many different endings that appear depending on what choices you make throughout the game, meaning that everyone in the class who plays could have a different outcome or experience, which can lead to an opportunity for discussion. The creators end the game with this message : “Instead of a tidy ending, we want to just provide a series of outlooks to take moving forward. After all, that's all we can really do with depression - just keep moving forward. And at the end of the day it's our outlook, and support from people just like you, that makes all the difference in the world.” This narrative experience could be used to discuss themes such as immersive and experiential learning, including controversial learning models such as disability simulations It can also be used to discuss what we value in narratives: does the ability to act as the character immerse us more? Do we feel distanced without an author to connect with? The game play could be supplemented with other reading materials to compare and contrast different uses of narrative. When the game was released, it was also caught up in the “gamer-gate controversy” (described in a New Yorker feature article: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/zoe-quinns-depression-quest). This larger context for the game could prompt discussion about stigma associated with depression, and the appropriateness of using a “game” to educate in this way. Users have the option to "play for free" or "pay what you want."