Psychiatrists could improve their clinical skills by putting their feet up with a good novel, rather than burying their noses in academic journals, delegates at the annual conference of The Royal College of Psychiatrists were told today.
Dr Allan (correct) Beveridge, a consultant psychiatrist at Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, said reading literature could help doctors better understand the "narratives" of their patients. The creation of an Arts and Medicine faculty at Durham University, the publication of a new academic journal Medical Humanities and the proposal to set up an Arts and Psychiatry special interest group at the College, all sprung from the belief that it was beneficial for doctors to be exposed to the arts, said Dr Beveridge.
In the eighteenth century, it was held that a doctor should be a man of culture, well versed in the arts, which would confer wisdom on his clinical practice. Nowadays, doctors prefer to see themselves as scientists and biotechnicians, said Dr Beveridge, and many saw a knowledge of the arts as irrelevant.
However, there were six good reasons in favour of psychiatrists reading literature, Dr Beveridge told delegates. The first was that literature allowed doctors to engage with many more people and "inner worlds" than they could ever hope to do as individuals. Secondly, doctors need a deeper understanding of their patients that took account of their emotional lives; a purely bioscientific model offered a limited view of human beings. Literature offered a richer perspective, said Dr Beveridge.
He cited a study in 1995 which showed that medical students who had a background in humanities and science, rather than science alone, went on to perform better in all areas of practice.
Secondly, reading literature, also helped to develop empathy. "One can see the world from another person's viewpoint," said Dr Beveridge. "This is especially applicable to literary accounts of illness and suffering."