Narrative Medicine: Form, Function, and Ethics

Medical Writings2 January 2001Narrative Medicine: Form, Function, and EthicsRita Charon, MD, PhDRita Charon, MD, PhDCollege of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University; New York, NY 10032 (Charon)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-134-1-200101020-00024 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Sickness and healing are, in part, narrative acts. Patients write about their illnesses with increasing frequency, which suggests that finding the words to contain the chaos of illness enables the sufferer to endure it better (1-3). We physicians, too, write more and more frequently about ourselves and our practices (4, 5). In many forms of narrative writing, doctors are endorsing the hypothesis that writing about oneself and one's patients confers on medical practice a kind of understanding that is otherwise unobtainable (6).What Is Narrative Medicine?The growth in publication of patients' and physicians' stories is joined by other signs ...References1. Anderson CM, MacCurdy MM, eds. Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English; 2000. Google Scholar2. Hawkins AH. Reconstructing Illness: Studies in Pathography. 2nd ed. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue Univ Pr; 1999. Google Scholar3. Smyth JM, Stone AA, Hurewitz A, Kaell A. Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized trial. JAMA. 1999;281:1304-9. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Remen R. Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal. New York: Riverhead Books; 1996. Google Scholar5. Verghese A. 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Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Rita Charon, MD, PhDAffiliations: College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University; New York, NY 10032 (Charon)Corresponding Author: Rita Charon, MD, PhD, Division of General Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, PH 9-East, Room 105, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032; e-mail, [email protected]edu. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoNarrative Medicine Roy M. 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