Royal ambitions: Creative writing and the Secret Rules of Courtship in the Medical Humanities

Abstract

Recent years have the seen the call for a melding of the humanities with biomedicine in the quasi-discipline of the medical humanities. The forging of such partnerships offers authority, status and utility for disciplines like creative writing. We will argue, however, for caution. We identify two different strands within the medical humanities: the critical and the paramedical. The first strand requires disciplinary autonomy to carry out its task effectively. The second strand, however, often becomes subservient to biomedicine, asset-stripped for what is useful. We describe two case studies in the paramedical humanities where this process has occurred: the ‘Creative Writing and General Practitioner Wellbeing’ project, which used reflective writing to augment professional medical training and practice, with a view to enhancing GP wellbeing; and a description of a literature workshop facilitated by a medical practitioner for a medical humanities retreat in the United Kingdom. We argue that the problems identified are inherent to the paramedical humanities, a product, no less, of the history of biomedicine. Finally, we conclude that biomedicine needs the humanities, but not the medical humanities. Creative writing and other humanities disciplines should maintain their autonomy and, therefore, their integrity.