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Dark side of the moon: a course in mental health and the arts
- Author:
- ADAMS Bob
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatric Bulletin, 32(6), June 2008, pp.227-229.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
Studying mental illness through art certainly aids understanding of both symptoms and treatment, and it is a valid subject for medical students to study. Students went away with a better understanding of mental illness and hopefully some resistance to the stigmatising influences they will encounter in their later experiences in medicine. When I made the decision to apply for psychiatry training my supervisor, a physician, was not slow to point out that I was wasting my career. Psychiatrists who will not remove a difficult patient from a medical ward may face anger from other staff. All these influences take their toll with the inevitable result in future choice of specialty. One of the potential problems with this type of course is how to evaluate the students. Since the medical school requires a mark, I chose to use an essay as well as assessing the student’s performance in the tutorials. The aim was to teach the students to critically evaluate information not directly related to a science subject and formulate their own opinion. Marks were given for the ability to produce a readable and interesting piece of work. However, not all students find this easy and some may have been put off applying for the course for this reason.