ABSTRACT
An extended illustrative example of how the medical humanities can critically address medical practice, and suggest alternatives, is offered. The focus is prescribing pharmaceuticals, historically a recurring weak spot in undergraduate medical education. In medicine, the go-to formularies describe pharmaceuticals for physical and psychological conditions completely free of context of individual patients, and uncritically. This baseline instrumental or functional approach is taken to task largely through drawing on a genre of literature where “everyday” pharmaceutical support (mainly mood stabilisers) is stitched into narrative but in an aesthetic manner. In other words, pharmaceuticals are investigated for qualities (without ethical judgement). Where metaphors can act as clinical interventions, here pharmaceuticals become metaphors. This advertises the translational power of a medical humanities approach. Where knowledge of pharmacology and pharmaceuticals is often pointed out as a weak link in undergraduate medicine curricula, this chapter suggests novel ways to engage medical students with the topic, with illustrative examples.
