Vision and Expression: The Humanities Come to APA

What do Shakespeare, tattoos, and photography have in common? They’ll all be topics in the Humanities track at APA’s Annual Meeting.

“While the Humanities track is relatively small, one key thing is that it’s a break from the tech and sciences, and a chance to learn something new,” track chair Josepha A. Cheong, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Florida, told Psychiatric News. “Psychiatrists might be interested in the humanities because the humanities are about people. Humanities are an expression of how individuals interact with and react to the world around them, and an expression of human behavior, thought, and emotions.

“The more we can understand the experience of ‘being’ for someone else, the better we are as psychiatrists,” Cheong said. “Psychiatry is not just about the neurotransmitters.”

Art Walaszek, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and medicine at the University of Wisconsin, will discuss Shakespeare’s play “King Lear,” which tells the story of an elderly, arrogant king who becomes destitute and mad after bequeathing his kingdom to two daughters who don’t love him and banishing the one daughter who does. Walaszek will make the case that Lear had dementia, resulting partly from biological, psychological, and interpersonal factors.

“If you like things with drama and suspense, and you like learning that doesn’t feel like learning, this could be for you,” Cheong said.

Rachel Hammer, M.D., associate program director of Tulane Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Tulane University, will highlight tattoo work in the treatment of trauma and explore how the painful process of etching images into one’s skin may aid trauma recovery. “We have seen tattoos go from a forbidden subculture to mainstream,” Cheong said. “But they always carry personal significance. Each one has a meaning.”

Cheong, who is a photographer as well as a psychiatrist, will co-chair a session on the impact of the photographic arts on psychiatric practice along with Carlyle H. Chan, M.D., vice chair of professional development and educational outreach at the Medical College of Wisconsin. They will be joined by Walaszek and Joan Anzia, M.D., professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University.

“Each [presenter] has a different perspective on the art of photography as a psychiatrist as well as an individual, and on how photography can help us from the perspective of physician wellness and self-reflection,” Cheong said.

Other planned sessions will introduce attendees to poetic medicine as a way of cultivating resilience and meaning in psychiatric practice, discuss how art therapy can transform trauma in military and veteran populations, and delve into the lives and art of Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, and Giorgio Dechirico.

Cheong reflected on how these topics are particularly relevant today, given current events in the nation and throughout the world. “It’s during times of war, hardship, and tragedy that the humanities matter the most, because they reflect the human soul. There is nothing in the human soul that wants despair, so the practice, delivery, and participation in the humanities is a way of growing and feeding hope,” she said. “No matter where you are, you are still a human being and feel the same things, aspire to the same things. The arts connect us to each other as citizens of the world.”

For dates, times, and locations of these and other sessions, check the APA Meetings App. ■