Dear Readers,

This archive holds a collection of essays written by students in the Narrative Medicine & Writing course at the University of New England. Narrative Medicine, as described by Dr. Rita Charon of Columbia University, is medicine practiced with the ability to recognize, absorb, interpret, and be moved by stories of illness. In her article, “Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust,” Charon explains that “…in all of medical practice the narrating of the patient’s story is a therapeutically central act, because to find the words to contain the disorder and its attendant worries gives shape to and control over the chaos of illness” (1898). Yet, the practice of Narrative Medicine is not just reserved for the patient. It can be used by  families, caregivers, students, and healthcare practitioners across every field of medicine.

Over the course of the semester, students wrote their own illness narratives and the illness narratives of others. Each student chose one essay to revise and publish on Finding Words. As you read their work, I leave you with a quote from medical sociologist Arthur Frank’s  book, The Wounded Storyteller: “‘I will tell you not what you want to hear but what I know to be true because I have lived it. This truth will trouble you, but in the end, you cannot be free without it…'” (63).

Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Amy Amoroso

For more information, please see our Narrative Medicine & Writing course website.

 

Works Cited

Charon, Rita. Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Charon, Rita. “Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust.” Journal of the American Medicine Association, vol. 286, no. 15, Oct. 2001, pp.1897-1902.

Frank, Arthur W. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. The University of Chicago Press, 1995.