title: Portraits of an illness.
abstract: Access to patients' inner lives can be expanded and enriched by incorporating the arts and humanities into the clinical encounter. A series of self-portraits created by an artist undergoing induction chemotherapy for leukemia afforded a unique opportunity to concentrate one's gaze upon the patient as a stimulus for reflection on suffering and isolation of patients. Poetry and theater were also invaluable in expanding the physician's awareness of the shared experience of illness. The process highlights the central role of the "New Humanities" in modern medicine, where science informs the arts and the arts inform science and medicine.
authors.affiliation: Yale University, PO Box 208021, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. Thomas.duffy@yale.edu
authors.forename: Thomas P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Duffy
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001154:Art; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D055809:Illness Behavior; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000523:psychology; D012074:Remission Induction; D012649:Self Concept; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents