MEDICA REVIEW. International Medical Humanities Review / Revista Internacional de Humanidades Médicas

Brain Structures Involved in Human Narratives

Roberto García Sánchez — 2022-07-05

Human narratives constitute a phenomenon of growing interest due to their potential to structure the human psyche as well as all those physical processes that depend on it. Neuroscience has a lot to say about it and, for this reason, has invested decades of research to understand the brain structures involved. Our social brain has not developed to remain in the mere experience of experiences, but to use language, thought and emotions to share it with our peers.

Humanities, Medicine and Art: Ten Year of Experience and Next Challenges

Luciana Andrade — 2022-07-12

This article presents the ten-year work of the Humanidades, Medicina e Arte group, which used literature and other arts as instruments for reflection and writing carried out by undergraduate students. Subsequently, other practices of Narrative Medicine were included in the meetings and in some disciplines. To evaluate the impact of this work, we carried out a study on the perception of students after participating in these activities. The results revealed a positive impact on the participants. However, there are numerous challenges to expand the reach of the group in medical education.

Moscati: One Model for Narrative Medicine

Jorge Eduardo Abreu Ugarte — 2022-08-01

In the training of medical personnel, models that support educational work and promote values are needed. The presence of Cuban doctors in Italy to face the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic motivated the search for models in the historiography of the Mediterranean country. The objective is to present the work of Dr. Giuseppe Moscati as one example to promote ethical values and good practice. Moscati's work offers one integrating conception in care, teaching, and scientific work, as well as for using narrative medicine in the existential and spiritual. It is proposed as one interesting model for medical education.

Narrative Medicine: Principles, Benefits and Challenges

Kelly Simone Cunegundes — 2022-09-23

Narratives are a fundamental part of human lived experiences and disclose values, meanings, and purposes. Narrative Medicine emerged from the urgent call to react to the radicalization of biomedical model in healthcare, that promoted significant advances in medicine but, at the same time, moved away subjectivity from medical-patient relationship. Narrative competence is understood as the capability to listen, absorb, interpret, and take decisions based on patients’ accounts and that competence involves textual, creative, and affective abilities when listening or reading stories. The goal of this article is to discuss the history, principles, practice, and challenges of narrative medicine.

The Living-Body: Center of Orientation Self-World-Other

Maria Aparecida Viggiani Bicudo — 2022-10-24

The central question of this paper is: "How and why is the living body assumed as the guiding center of the I-world-other in in Husserl's phenomenology?" The carried out study to pursue the direction indicated by that question was based on chapters three and four of Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, volume II (Husserl, 2002, 2005), paragraphs 35 to 47. The study of that text enables the presentation of Husserl’s ideas regarding the living-body, that address issues concerning the physicality of the body, its psychophysical dimensions, the constitution of values, and intersubjectivity.

Editorial about Special Issue "Perspectives and Challenges of Narrative Medicine in the 21st Century"

Dante Marcello Claramonte Gallian — 2023-01-13

Local Anesthetic Therapy in a Patient with Primary Headache and Lipid Keratopathy

Andrea Catalina Nassar Tobón — 2022-07-05

A headache is characterized as a craniofacial pain that may derive from any involvement of the structure of the head, neck or cranial cavity. It may be associated with any pathology, negatively affecting the quality of life of the individuals afflicted by it. We present the case of a woman with bilateral lipid keratopathy associated with a headache of a moderate to severe intensity, refractory to treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, treated with lidocaine 1% injections in supraorbital and infraorbital nerves. A clear improvement was observed in visual symptoms and headache with a decrease in symptom frequency, duration and intensity. The improvement lasted over 6 months, which positively impacted the patient’s quality of life. The treatment was well tolerated and no adverse effects were observed. In this case, local injections of lidocaine showed a favorable outcome. Well-designed studies should be conducted to elucidate the role of LA for this condition.

Histology and Architecture: Parallel Worlds

Jose Peña-Amaro — 2022-12-14

In this article, the author raises the parallelism between two branches of knowledge: architecture and histology; from the consideration of the human body as a building. It tackles the use of architectural terms in the teaching of the microscopic structure of the human body, the equivalence between structures and constructive elements with cells, and the extracellular matrix. And finally, the similarities between the time-related stages of a building and those affecting the human body.

Interview with historian and writer Dante Marcello Claramonte Gallian

Dante Marcello Claramonte Gallian — 2022-10-21