The physician and the painter: An inter-professional dialogue

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2014.12.004

Patient Education and Counseling

Volume 98, Issue 4, April 2015, Pages 540-541

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2014.12.004 Get rights and content

Section snippets

Conflict of interest

No potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared.

References (0)

Cited by (2)

Painting epilepsy – The essence of disease by participants of the Latin American Summer School on Epilepsy (LASSE XIII)
2020, Epilepsy and Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
Feelings and thoughts of those having seizures have been appreciated and reviewed in several articles demonstrating how art could exhibit emotional, social, and cultural aspects that other methods were not able to [4,7–9]. Art can be and has been used as an expression of what cannot be said in words, as an instrument for healing, and as a strategy for better empathy between patients, physicians, and society [7,10]. Art methods have also been used as an educational strategy in a few medical schools sharpening diagnostic acuity and as a complementary treatment strategy for some diseases (mostly psychiatric ones) [9,11–14].
The purpose of this study was to present and analyze the way epilepsy researchers and specialists present epilepsy through visual art forms.
Students and epilepsy specialists, including clinicians and scientists, participating in the Latin American Summer School on Epilepsy (LASSE XIII) 2019 were asked to voluntarily portray epilepsy artistically by painting or drawing what they perceive that represents the feeling or challenges of persons with epilepsy. Resulting artwork was categorized according to several themes. The latter was analyzed in the clinical and social context of the disease.
Twenty-six paintings available for analysis have been reviewed. The three main interpretations of epilepsy were outlined as follows: epilepsy as an identity schism, epilepsy as a loss of control, and epilepsy as a complex condition. Five artworks best suited the first category as they presented people with faces split into healthy and diseased sides, representing the emotional and social burden of seizures. Three drawings defined epilepsy as a loss of control, visualizing that all the phases of seizure activity (ictal, postictal, and interictal) are able to imprison the patient by disrupting mental processes. The last theme included four artworks that defined epilepsy as being a multicomponent enigma: the intertwining of unresolved pathophysiologic processes and psychosocial burden accompanying the disease was emphasized. In addition, the challenges to care for the patients in order to improve not only seizures but also their quality of life were noticed as an idea complementing the visual definition of epilepsy.
Participants of LASSE XIII demonstrated an ability to empathize with their patients in retrospect by portraying the inner feelings of division and imprisonment of those having seizures. Epilepsy specialists visualize the disease as a composite phenomenon both in terms of its neural origin and of multidisciplinary requirements to implement its care.
Evaluating the Perceptions of Children with Epilepsy About Their Diseases Using Drawing Analysis Method
2022, SSRN

^☆: For more information on the Reflective Practice section please see: Hatem D, Rider EA. Sharing stories: narrative medicine in an evidence-based world. Patient Education and Counseling 2004;54:251–253.

View full text

Patient Education and Counseling

Reflective PracticeThe physician and the painter: An inter-professional dialogue☆

Section snippets

Conflict of interest

Painting epilepsy – The essence of disease by participants of the Latin American Summer School on Epilepsy (LASSE XIII)

Evaluating the Perceptions of Children with Epilepsy About Their Diseases Using Drawing Analysis Method

Reflective Practice
The physician and the painter: An inter-professional dialogue☆