Larissa Ramirez | November 1st, 2024

The health humanities are an exciting intersection of literature, ethics, and medicine. This emerging field shines a light on the experiences of those dealing with illness and disability and encourages us to look at health in a more holistic way, moving beyond just the biomedical model. For instance, initiatives like Vanderbilt’s Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society explore the ethical and social aspects of medicine in hopes of enriching our understanding of patient experiences and the complexities of medical decision-making.

Sarah Hagaman, a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in English literature at Vanderbilt, is doing some fascinating research in this area. Her focus is on how mental illness is portrayed across different media and how these narratives shape our understanding of psychiatric conditions. Her dissertation, “The (Post)confessional Mode,” dives into feminist confessions in literature and media, looking at how these stories push back against traditional representations of mental illness. 

Hagaman’s research has garnered recognition from multiple sources: a portion of it was published in the journal Medical Humanities and received the Vanderbilt Department of English Aden Award for Best Graduate Student Essay. In an interview with The Vanguard, Hagaman discussed her work in health humanities and shared her perspective on its future in academia and research.

The Vanguard: Your research explores the portrayal of mental illness in literature and media. What drew you to this intersection, and how do you see it contributing to the broader field of health humanities?

Hagaman: When I was an undergraduate, my friends had mental illnesses, with some taking medication for anxiety even though everything looked great on the outside (they were white, upper middle class). I sensed there was something more to explore. Madness and mental illness are encoded in language — for example, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar — and language often fails to capture mental illness. It’s difficult to assign language to pain in our bodies. Mental illness is increasingly relevant in healthcare, and having robust, intersectional language around the mind will improve all aspects of healthcare. This is fundamental to patient experiences. Another consideration is that different cultures or languages have words that might better describe mental health and states of being, which can change doctor-patient relationships between countries.

The Vanguard: How do you think the arts, like literature and media, can help us understand complex medical conditions in ways other disciplines might not?

Hagaman: I’ve worked on post-confessional writing and feminist confessions, which have influenced my understanding of mental health representations. Mental illness in literary study after the 1950s was categorized under confession, a practice rooted in Christian rituals where individuals share burdens. People began to do this in a literary, public sphere, addressing ugly topics, like divorce and lust. Confessionals claim, “this is the real me,” but women utilized less direct strategies in post-confessionals. They employed parody and invasion, manipulating the public sphere. For example, Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar displays multiple personalities through Elly Higginbottom. Ironically, sometimes the truer expression may be to have these splits. Embracing multiplicity may be more truthful; masquerading through confessionals presents a singular identity when we actually have different ones. Sylvia Plath initiated this exploration of split identity.

The Vanguard: What do you think are the biggest challenges or gaps in health humanities right now?

Hagaman: There’s a need for institutional and structural support. People are starting to recognize the value that health humanities provide, but there’s a tendency for this field to be viewed as less serious. The term “health humanities” is capacious, which is beneficial in some ways since the humanities are broad, but it’s important to specify what these projects affect to avoid vague directives. I’m working to add more nuance to the term “health humanities.” My NIH grant has provided an amazing opportunity to see what this transdisciplinary cohort can achieve, and research indicates that people are recognizing the relevance of this work moving forward. Scientists in the basic sciences can be skeptical that humanistic methods are less rigorous, which won’t be easy to challenge — and I’m not sure that we should. Providing more opportunities for researchers to collaborate is important for removing stigma.

More broadly, we should continue to explore the relationship between mental health and AI, which is hairy. We should question whether someone can truly receive therapy from a chatbot, even though it does allow for more accessibility. We need to consider how human relationships and empathy are affected by AI.

The Vanguard: How do you see health humanities evolving on campuses like Vanderbilt and elsewhere?

Hagaman: For students trying to tackle these issues, there are many undergraduate programs like Medicine, Health, and Society (MHS) that are not exclusively about humanities. However, they offer a pathway for accessing clear health humanities ideas. Narrative medicine is closely related to my work and often engages with English literature. It can highlight ethical complexities effectively but isn’t necessarily a blunt instrument for fostering kindness. English departments can also find ways to incorporate health criticism. The MHS department isn’t that old, so there’s potential to expand initiatives further across campus. 

The impact of health humanities as a field

The health humanities provide an important lens for exploring the complexities of health and illness through storytelling. Scholars like Sarah Hagaman are leading the way in this field and are deepening our understanding of patient experiences while also pushing for more ethical practices in healthcare. By collaborating with initiatives at Vanderbilt’s Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, researchers can help create a more inclusive conversation about health issues. This approach encourages us to challenge traditional biomedical models and prioritize the real-life experiences of individuals. Hagaman believes that through interdisciplinary teamwork, we can more effectively tackle the ethical and societal challenges surrounding health and illness in our communities.

References

Garden R. Who speaks for whom? Health humanities and the ethics of representation. Med Humanit. 2015 Dec;41(2):77-80. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2014-010642. Epub 2015 Mar 20. PMID: 25795700.

Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University. (n.d.).  https://www.vumc.org/cbmes/center-biomedical-ethics-and-society-vanderbilt

Hagaman, S. (n.d.). Sarah Hagaman. https://as.vanderbilt.edu/english/bio/sarah-hagaman/

Photo courtesy of Sarah Hagaman