Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Freudian Psychology

Freudian Psychology

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist born in 1856, significantly influenced psychology through his exploration of the unconscious mind. His interest in patients suffering from hysteria and neurosis — conditions without apparent physical causes — led him to theorize the existence of an unconscious mind, a repository for feelings and urges beyond our awareness. Freud's innovative approach included techniques such as dream analysis, free association, and attention to slips of the...

Sleepwalking and Sleep Talking

Sleepwalking and Sleep Talking

Somnambulism, commonly known as sleepwalking, involves individuals engaging in activities ranging from simple walking to more complex behaviors such as driving. Sleepwalking typically occurs during the slow-wave sleep stages 3 and 4 early in the night when the person is not dreaming, contradicting the myth that sleepwalkers are acting out their dreams.
Factors that increase the likelihood of sleepwalking include sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption. Contrary to common beliefs, it is safe...

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory revolutionized psychology by introducing the idea that unconscious forces significantly shape human behavior. According to Freud, every psychological event is driven by deep-seated internal forces, often formed during early childhood. His theory, built on the premises of psychic determinism, symbolic meaning, and unconscious motivation, offers a unique perspective on the complexities of human behavior.
Freud's concept of psychic determinism asserts...

Amnesia

Amnesia

Amnesia is a condition marked by long-term memory loss, which impairs the ability to recall past events or create new memories.
The severity and duration of memory loss vary depending on the type and underlying cause. Amnesia is classified into two main types: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia is marked by the loss of memories formed before the onset of the condition. Patients may recall distant past events but often forget those occurring shortly before the incident.
Anterograde...

Free-falling Bodies: Introduction

Free-falling Bodies: Introduction

All objects, neglecting air resistance, fall with the same acceleration towards the Earth's center due to the force exerted by the Earth's gravity. This experimentally determined fact is unexpected because we are so accustomed to the effects of air resistance and friction that we expect light objects to fall slower than heavier ones. People believed that a heavier object had a greater acceleration when falling until Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) proved otherwise. We now know this is...

Impression Management Techniques IV: Altercasting

Impression Management Techniques IV: Altercasting

Altercasting is a strategic communication technique in which an individual imposes a specific identity or social role onto another person to influence their behavior and shape the interaction. By presuming a role—such as “responsible leader” or “patient person”—altercasting encourages the target to conform to that identity, often aligning their behavior with the expectations associated with the role. The power of this tactic lies in its subtlety; once a role...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Impact of moral distress on burn-out: a cross-sectional survey of front-line family physicians during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

BMJ open·2025

Same author

Stories of Bereavement: Examining Medical Students' Reflections on Loss and Grief.

Omega·2024

Same author

Taking the next step: How student reflective essays about difficult clinical encounters demonstrate professional identity formation.

The clinical teacher·2024

Same author

Medical Student Interpretation of Visual Art: Who's Got Empathy?

MedEdPublish (2016)·2023

Same author

Clinical empathy as perceived by patients with chronic illness in Canada: a qualitative focus group study.

CMAJ open·2023

Same author

Views from the trenches: California family physicians' challenges and resilience factors while providing patient care during the initial wave of COVID-19.

Qualitative research in medicine & healthcare·2023

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 11, 2025

Fluorescence Molecular Tomography for In Vivo Imaging of Glioblastoma Xenografts

Fluorescence Molecular Tomography for In Vivo Imaging of Glioblastoma Xenografts

Published on: April 26, 2018

Speaking with Frankenstein.

Jayne Lewis¹, Johanna Shapiro²

¹Department of English, University of California, Irvine, 92697, USA. jelewis@uci.edu.

The Journal of Medical Humanities

|August 22, 2020

Summary

This study uses Frankenstein to explore unspoken elements in physician-patient relationships. It reveals how acknowledging the unsaid improves narrative medicine and patient care.

Keywords:

Affect theory Gothic fiction Medical aesthetics Medical ethics Narrative medicine

More Related Videos

Sampling for Estimating Frankliniella Species Flower Thrips and Orius Species Predators in Field Experiments

Sampling for Estimating Frankliniella Species Flower Thrips and Orius Species Predators in Field Experiments

Published on: July 17, 2019

Biolistic Transformation of a Fluorescent Tagged Gene into the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Biolistic Transformation of a Fluorescent Tagged Gene into the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Published on: March 19, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 11, 2025

Fluorescence Molecular Tomography for In Vivo Imaging of Glioblastoma Xenografts

Fluorescence Molecular Tomography for In Vivo Imaging of Glioblastoma Xenografts

Published on: April 26, 2018

Sampling for Estimating Frankliniella Species Flower Thrips and Orius Species Predators in Field Experiments

Sampling for Estimating Frankliniella Species Flower Thrips and Orius Species Predators in Field Experiments

Published on: July 17, 2019

Biolistic Transformation of a Fluorescent Tagged Gene into the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Biolistic Transformation of a Fluorescent Tagged Gene into the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Published on: March 19, 2015

Area of Science:

Medical Humanities
Clinical Communication
Literary Theory

Background:

Physician-patient interactions often involve unspoken ambivalence, disappointment, and failure.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein offers a parable for understanding these hidden dynamics.
Contemporary clinical practice struggles with elements that are unsaid, invisible, or unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

To apply insights from Frankenstein to contemporary clinical interactions.
To explore the role of the unspoken in physician-patient relationships.
To develop a more complete model of narrative medicine.

Main Methods:

Experimental application of literary theory to clinical scenarios.
Analysis of four unacknowledged dynamics: life/death binary, aesthetics, negative affect, care-denial.
Conceptualizing "speaking with Frankenstein" as making space for the unspeakable.

Main Results:

Frankenstein serves as a parable, not just a cautionary tale.
Unspoken elements significantly shape physician-patient dynamics.
Acknowledging the unsaid enriches narrative medicine.

Conclusions:

A more complete narrative medicine model must accommodate what cannot be explicitly stated.
Imagination and approximation are crucial for understanding the unknown in clinical settings.
"Speaking with Frankenstein" facilitates deeper communication and care.