2024-03-29T08:51:15Z
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/oai
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/1309
2022-09-12T07:55:28Z
annals:MH
driver
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/1309
2022-09-12T07:55:28Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 22 No. 2 (2016): AKEMU
Medicine and the Humanities: Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Black Monk’
Amir, M Faisal
Hashmi, Ali Madeeh
2016-05-25
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/1309
.
en_US
(Authors' Note: Anton Pavlovich Chekov (1860 – 1904) the Russian playwright and short story writer is considered one of the greatest fiction writers in history. He was a physician and practiced medicine his whole life before his death from tuberculosis at the young age of 44. “The Black Monkâ€, one of his most famous short stories was written in 1894.)     Andrei Vasslyich Kovrin, Master of Arts in Psychology, decides to go to a country house on account of his nerves being ‘weary from over work’. There, he feels rejuvenated at the sight of blossoming natural beauty. It seems to bring on intense joy and hope he hasn’t felt since childhood.     ‘The Black Monk’1 opens to the promise of an exhilarating summer.     Buoyed by preternatural energy, Kovrin adopts a feverish routine of continuous, vigorous work. His exertions intensify with a soaring of confidence and ambition. To his mind, his efforts begin to take on a cosmic significance. He becomes more cheerful, tal kative, and energetic. A piece of music, distantly played and faintly heard, evokes the idea of a sacred harmony. This suggests the legend of “the black monk.â€Â     The origin of the legend is not specified in the story. It appears to be an invention of Kovrin’s steadily slipping mind. It goes like this: A monk, dressed in black, gave rise to a mirage a thousand years ago. This mirage, through regeneration of images, flits throughout the universe. It would appear, a thousand years after the original monk walked the earth, to a specific person and reveal eternal truths.     Soon Kovrin becomes obsessed by the idea of the black monk and begins having hallucinations in which he converses with the apparition. He also falls prey to grandiose delusions. He begins treatment once his wife finally realizes, to her ‘amazement and horror’, the extent of his madness.     Other writers of the time utilized the artifice of testimonials purported to be written by ‘lunatics’ to portray the subjective experience of mental illness. A typical example would feature a madman protesting his innocence while descending into the absurdity and incoherence of lunacy. (Examples include Jack London’s ‘Told in the Drooling Ward’,2 Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘Tell – tale Heart’,3 Guy de Maupassant’s ‘Le Horla’4 and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans' ’The Yellow Wall – paper’).5 Chekhov eschews this approach. Here, we are not passive listeners, trying to decipher monologues. In The Black Monk, the mood of the story mirrors the mental state of the protagonist. As in the beginning, when Kovrin is feeling elated, the words used to describe the summer landscape are poetic and effusive (luxuriant, cheerful, animated, joyful etc.). These pages gush with scenes of lively joviality. We are lulled into confidence and exult in hope and beauty with Kovrin.     But subtle hints accumulate and make us uneasy (e.g. Kovrin’s insomnia, his nervous energy). Madness creeps on gently and insidiously upon Kovrin – and the readers. We see his attempts to explain away the madness, ‘People with ideas are nervous and marked by high sensitivity.’ We are party to Kovrin’s exultation, hopes and fears. Gradually the descriptions grow more sinister and strange. Initial hope burgeons into grandiose delusions and the music of early pages develops into phantoms.     The knowledge of intimate clinical details of the illness presented in this story is astonishing. It can only have been written by a doctor.     Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904) continued to practice as a physician until 1897. All the while he conti-nued to compose short stories and plays which would transform the theatre and help bring about the modern form of the short story. He himself described the relationship of his two occupations by saying, “Medicine is my wife while literature is my mistress.â€6     Lesser mortals might not even survive their co-existence but Chekhov seemed to thrive on it. Doctors are the primary characters in 25 of his plays. In addition he wrote numerous stories describing mental and physical illnesses. These are popularly known as his ‘clinical studies’ and include ‘The Dreary Story’, ‘About Love’, 'Black Monk’, and ‘Ward no 6’.     Chekhov’s best stories show compassion and sympathy for human failings. In ‘The Black Monk’ protagonists deal with their incomprehension, confusion and dread by failing or refusing to recognize the madness. Kovrin’s failure to accept the fact of his madness is presented with remarkable acuity and sensitivity.     In dealing with mental illness, the oft-reported and often forgotten mantra that ‘Our primary concern is the patient, not the disease,’ has even more significance than in other disciplines of medicine.     Chekhov’s tender treatment of his characters exemplifies this approach.     The story continues. Kovrin is treated and given “bromideâ€, a primitive psychotropic agent. As the elation disappears Kovrin discovers the painful fact of his mediocrity. His relationships fall apart, as does his mental tranquility. Here too readers share the dullness of his life. All the luster of life has disappeared. The dreariness of the landscape, for example, is masterfully contrasted (using descriptors like gnarled, monoto-nous) with its earlier descriptions. The boredom and rancor of Kovrin’s new life is on full display.     Physicians, of all people, cannot afford to harbor illusions. We must look life squarely in the eye.     ‘The Black Monk’, like life, shows us that agony and ecstasy, exhilaration and ennui, joy and despair exist together. One cannot hope for one and not expect the other. It is our task, as healers, to understand this and help others understand it as well.
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/1410
2022-09-12T07:55:33Z
annals:MH
driver
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/1410
2022-09-12T07:55:33Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 22 No. 3 (2016): AKEMU
In the Land of Pain
Latif, Asnia
Malik, M Faisal Amir
Hashmi, Ali Madeeh
2016-09-09
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/1410
en_US
(Authors' Note: Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was a nineteenth century French novelist. A contemporary of Gustave Flaubert, Edmond de Goncourt and Emile Zola, among others, he achieved much fame and renown in his life time. He contracted syphilis sometimes in his twenties. In the last ten years of his life, he suffered from the effects of neurosyphilis. “In the Land of Pain†is a personal account of his struggle with the illness which eventually took his life).     In the early nineteenth century, the tertiary form of syphilis began to be recognized. After lurking in the victim’s blood for several years, syphilis attacked the central nervous system. The resulting condition, called neurosyphilis, was invariably fatal. It usually manifested in two major forms: Locomotor ataxia (also called tabesdorsalis) or general paresis (also called general paresis of the insane).
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/3015
2019-09-27T11:38:32Z
annals:MH
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3015
2019-09-27T11:38:32Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 25 No. S (2019): AKEMU
The Bell Jar_ Shattered: Exploration of creativity through a psychiatric lens
2019-09-27
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3015
mental illness
depression
sylvia plath
bell jar
suicide
psychiatry
medical humanities
en_US
Aristotle’s theory of melancholia hypothesized for the first time that individuals who possess any form of genius are prone to depression more than the average person. The list of examples supplementing Aristotle’s theory is by no means exhaustive. Extensive medical research has also been done to establish this connection. We will briefly review our understanding of the relationship between creativity and mental illness. We will discuss the insights provided by the life and works of American poet, novelist and short story writer Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath extensively chronicled her struggle with lifelong depression in her semi-autobiographical novel 'The Bell Jar'.
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/3655
2020-07-13T08:27:36Z
annals:MH
driver
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3655
2020-07-13T08:27:36Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 26 No. Special Issue (2020): AKEMU; 294-296
Teacher, Scholar, Mentor, Friend: Prof. Dr. Faisal Masud
Naqi, Syed Asghar
2020-07-13
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3655
..
en_US
These are 'SAD' People; my eyes widened and I startedlistening carefully to that greatwizard of a teacher,Faisal sahib. He was teaching us “Aortic Stenosis” a condition where the heart is unable to pump blood to the body adequately, in our final year of medical college. He went on to explain what the acronym SAD meant: Syncope- Angina – Dyspnea, the main clinical features. He acted out each one of
them in front of us, explaining the pathophysiology behind them and how to diagnose and manage the condition. Never before had I experienced such a performance. Years later when I got to know him closely I found out that he had acted on stage in the UK during his
foundation years as a physician. He revealed this interesting piece of information about himself when we were discussing a Shakespearean drama. He told me how he learned to use his voice and other nonverbal ways to express what he meant during a
conversation or a class.
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/3656
2020-07-13T08:27:38Z
annals:MH
driver
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3656
2020-07-13T08:27:38Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 26 No. Special Issue (2020): AKEMU; 297-298
As is a Tale, so is Life: Not How Long it is, But How Good it is, is What Matters Seneca; A Tribute to Dr Faisal Masud
Najib, Ayesha
2020-07-13
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3656
...
en_US
January 1990, I was a newly minted house officer in North Medical Ward. I had a new case to present to Dr. Faisal Masud, for which I had practiced hard to prepare . Nervously, I started and finished my history in breathtaking speed and looked up, standing diagonal to me Dr Faisal was listening intently. He raised his head and gently nudged me and said, “Puttar, your chief complaint is never complete without pertinent negatives.” This simple, but profound lesson of skillful history taking being the bedrock of a good clinician, lasted me a lifetime.
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/3657
2020-07-13T08:27:40Z
annals:MH
driver
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3657
2020-07-13T08:27:40Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 26 No. Special Issue (2020): AKEMU; 299-303
In Memoriam – Dr Faisal Masud (1954-2019)
Hashmi, Ali Madeeh
2020-07-13
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3657
..
en_US
There is a story told about Allama Muhammad Iqbal: when he was offered a knighthood by Her Majesty's government, he insisted that he would only accept if his beloved teacher Maulvi Mir Hassan was awarded the title of 'Shamsul Ulema' (the 'Sun of Scholars'). When the government objected that Mir Hassan had not written a book (or books) worthy of that title, Iqbal famously replied 'I am his book'. It is said that Faiz Ahmed Faiz would answer the same way if people ever disparaged his teacher and mentor Ahmad Shah Bokhari 'Patras', teacher, diplomat, educationist and humorist.
oai:ojs2.localhost:article/3721
2020-07-25T06:24:19Z
annals:MH
driver
v2
https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3721
2020-07-25T06:24:19Z
King Edward Medical University
Vol. 1 No. 1 (1995): AKEMU (Inaugural); 5-6
The saga of the great flight of King Edward Medical College
2020-07-25
This is an open-access journal and all the published articles / items are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For comments publications@kemu.edu.pk
url:https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/3721
...
en_US
The saga of the great flight of King Edward Medical College starts with the establishment of a medical school in the Artillery Barracks in 1860 attached to a hospital located in a foreign stable about a mile away. Dr. J. B. Seriven was the first principal of the school, then named Lahore Medical School. This was second of its kind in the subcontinent. In 1864 the school and hospital shifted to Shah Alam Gate that was close to Civil Hospital. Introduction of western medicine in the subcontinent was not easy. School started two classes simultaneously Hindustani class to produce native doctors and English class to train Sub-Assistant Surgeons.