Femi Oyebode: Poetry in medicine

A would-be writer, he was cajoled into medicine by his father and has successfully combined poetry and psychiatry: he is author of Sims' Symptoms in the Mind (5th edition) and seven books of poetry, including Master of the Leopard Hunt (1996). None of this should be surprising, since psychiatry...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2017-05, Vol.357, p.j2452-j2452
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artificial intelligence
Careers
Medical imaging
Medicine
Poetry
Psychiatrists
Psychiatry
Writers
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Summary:A would-be writer, he was cajoled into medicine by his father and has successfully combined poetry and psychiatry: he is author of Sims' Symptoms in the Mind (5th edition) and seven books of poetry, including Master of the Leopard Hunt (1996). None of this should be surprising, since psychiatry deals with the most human attributes of brain function-the capacity to form intentions, model the world, predict events, establish and sustain relationships, and regulate powerful emotions while putting them to fruitful use. Given the complexities involved in psychiatry, it seems to me that non-human, artificial intelligence capable of making calculations and analysis, beyond what we're normally capable of, will be required in diagnostic decision making.
ISSN:0959-8138
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.j2452