Patient Tales

Download or read book Patient Tales written by Carol Berkenkotter and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2022-10-10 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look into communicating psychiatric patient histories, from the asylum years to the clinics of today In this engrossing study of tales of mental illness, Carol Berkenkotter examines the evolving role of case history narratives in the growth of psychiatry as a medical profession. Patient Tales follows the development of psychiatric case histories from their origins at Edinburgh Medical School and the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary in the mid-eighteenth century to the medical records of contemporary American mental health clinics. Spanning two centuries and several disciplines, Berkenkotter's investigation illustrates how discursive changes in this genre mirrored evolving assumptions and epistemological commitments among those who cared for the mentally ill. During the asylum era, case histories were a means by which practitioners organized and disseminated local knowledge through professional societies, affiliations, and journals. The way in which these histories were recorded was subsequently codified, giving rise to a genre. In her thorough reading of Sigmund Freud's Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria, Berkenkotter shows how this account of Freud's famous patient "Dora" led to technical innovation in the genre through the incorporation of literary devices. In the volume's final section, Berkenkotter carries the discussion forward to the present in her examination of the turn from psychoanalysis to a research-based and medically oriented classification system now utilized by the American Psychiatric Association. Throughout her work Berkenkotter stresses the value of reading case histories as an interdisciplinary bridge between the humanities and sciences.

Download or read book Every Patient Tells a Story written by Lisa Sanders and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2010-09-21 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis," the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D. "The experience of being ill can be like waking up in a foreign country. Life, as you formerly knew it, is on hold while you travel through this other world as unknown as it is unexpected. When I see patients in the hospital or in my office who are suddenly, surprisingly ill, what they really want to know is, ‘What is wrong with me?’ They want a road map that will help them manage their new surroundings. The ability to give this unnerving and unfamiliar place a name, to know it—on some level—restores a measure of control, independent of whether or not that diagnosis comes attached to a cure. Because, even today, a diagnosis is frequently all a good doctor has to offer." A healthy young man suddenly loses his memory—making him unable to remember the events of each passing hour. Two patients diagnosed with Lyme disease improve after antibiotic treatment—only to have their symptoms mysteriously return. A young woman lies dying in the ICU—bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent—and none of her doctors know what is killing her. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis. Never in human history have doctors had the knowledge, the tools, and the skills that they have today to diagnose illness and disease. And yet mistakes are made, diagnoses missed, symptoms or tests misunderstood. In this high-tech world of modern medicine, Sanders shows us that knowledge, while essential, is not sufficient to unravel the complexities of illness. She presents an unflinching look inside the detective story that marks nearly every illness—the diagnosis—revealing the combination of uncertainty and intrigue that doctors face when confronting patients who are sick or dying. Through dramatic stories of patients with baffling symptoms, Sanders portrays the absolute necessity and surprising difficulties of getting the patient’s story, the challenges of the physical exam, the pitfalls of doctor-to-doctor communication, the vagaries of tests, and the near calamity of diagnostic errors. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Sanders chronicles the real-life drama of doctors solving these difficult medical mysteries that not only illustrate the art and science of diagnosis, but often save the patients’ lives.

Download or read book All My Patients Have Tales written by Jeff Wells and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2009-04-14 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All My Patients Have Tales is a heartwarming and funny collection of stories by a dedicated veterinarian featuring wild horses, porcupine-quill-covered dogs, male cats in labor, an extremely ornery pygmy donkey, an enormous hog, as well as many other domestic, and not so "domestic" animals. Wells begins his work as an inexperienced recent college grad and emerges a caring and beloved veterinarian. Affording the reader an inside glimpse into his daily life, he narrates many uplifting, life-altering, lifethreatening, and hilarious episodes.

Download or read book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales written by Oliver Sacks and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1998 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores neurological disorders and their effects upon the minds and lives of those affected with an entertaining voice.

Download or read book Patients and Doctors written by Jeffrey M. Borkan and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How patients heal doctors In Patients and Doctors, physicians from around the world share stories of the patients they'll never forget, patients who have changed the way they practice medicine. Their thoughtful reflections on a variety of themes--from suffering to humor to death--help us to understand the experience of doctoring, in all its ordinary and extraordinary aspects. In settings as diverse as Slovenia and Sweden, Cambodia and New Jersey, we learn what makes the healer feel graced with insight or scarred with misadventure. In Washington State, we anguish with patient and doctor alike when a young resident removes a screw from a little boy's foot; on the Israeli-Jordanian border, a woman goes into labor just as the air-raid sirens signal the beginning of the Gulf War. These compelling accounts remind us what is at stake in doctoring, reinforcing the value of stories in the teaching and practice of medicine: to calm, to validate, and to illuminate the human experience. "These stories illustrate humane physicians at their best."--Sharon Kaufman, author of The Healer's Tale

Download or read book The Power of Patient Stories written by Paul F. Griner and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These reflections from the career of a prominent physician help students and the public better understand patient care through insights gained from his stories. Medical knowledge and technology are advancing faster than we can learn to apply them wisely. The pace of change threatens the humanistic aspects of patient care. The arts of listening, observing and examining, and the values of professionalism, ethics, and humor are threatened; both patient and physician are dissatisfied. It is time to restore balance in the care of patients by reinforcing the importance of these skills-and this groundbreaking book does just that. By sharing remarkable patient stories accumulated over almost six decades, Dr. Paul Griner shows how the somewhat elusive concepts intrinsic to "the art" of medicine can be better understood and applied in the day to day care of patients. Provocative questions at the end of each story challenge the reader to avoid a premature response, reflect more deeply on the question and learn how much of medicine is not black and white. Included are such compelling questions as: How do you respond to a parent who insists that her twenty-two year old daughter not be told she has leukemia?, What do you say to the mother of a nineteen year -old son who begs to let him die so that he can be relieved of the agonizing complications of his aplastic anemia?, How do you advise the pregnant wife of a medical resident who wishes to defer treatment for Hodgkin's Disease, for months, until after the baby is born?, How do you account for a patient whose leukemia disappears without treatment?, How do you respond to the death of a patient from an intern's careless act? These and almost fifty other stories provide a rich learning experience for both patients and health care professionals alike. A clarion call to balance humanism and technology for the benefits of a system that is breaking apart, Dr. Griner's collection of stories is a revelation. Exploring the variety of patient problems to delineate points of learning and personal growth, The Power of Patient Stories, Learning Moments in Medicine is a must read for patients and health professions students.

Download or read book Tales from the Couch written by Bob Wendorf and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tales from the Couch is collection of actual case studies and a primer on psychopathology, as well as a captivating reflection on the human condition. Drawn from Dr. Bob Wendorf’s thirty-six-year career years as a clinical psychologist, the book examines the lives of some of his most troubled patients, in a project that aims to both educate and fascinate the reader. Clinical syndromes are described and dramatized by real-life case examples (altered only as necessary to protect patient confidentiality). Each of the sixteen chapters focuses on a particular psychiatric diagnosis, including Multiple Personality Disorder, Asperger’s, and ADD. The clinical picture and symptoms are described and explained, then brought to life by case examples taken from the author’s practice. Dr. Wendorf presents the cases as a series of narratives—some dramatic, some humorous, most quite poignant. Along the way, the author offers his own reactions to the people and events described here and application to the general human condition as well. Tales from the Couch offers compelling stories of extraordinary people, clinical conditions, and events—both in and out of the therapy hour—while providing insights into the nature of human beings, mental illness, and the psychotherapeutic enterprise.