Inaugural Meeting of the Caucus on Medical Humanities in Psychiatry at the APA Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, USA, May 24, 2022. Co-Founders and Appointed Co-Chairs: Vincenzo Di Nicola - University of Montreal & Andrei Novac - University of California-Irvine Special Founding Members: Joël Des Rosiers - University of Montreal James Lamont Griffith - The George Washington University Special Inaugural Lecture by Dennis Palumbo, M.A., MFT Hollywood scriptwriter, successful novelist & psychotherapist Founding members attending the Inaugural Meeting came from Benin, Brazil, Canada, and the USA.

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INAUGURAL CAUCUS MEETING
Medical Humanities in Psychiatry:
A New Caucus for the APA –
A New Perspective for Psychiatry
Vincenzo Di Nicola, MPhil, MD, PhD, DFAPA, FCAHS
University of Montreal

2. © 2022 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
2
DISCLOSURES
No financial conflicts of interest to declare

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MEETING PLAN
• 9:00 am Welcome to our Founding Members Vincenzo Di Nicola & Andrei Novac, Caucus Co-Chairs
• 9:05 Presentation of Caucus Mission Statement Vincenzo Di Nicola
Medical Humanities in Psychiatry:
A New Caucus for the APA –
A New Perspective for Psychiatry
• 9:20 Townhall Presentation & Discussion Founding Members
• 10:00 Special Inaugural Lecture Dennis Palumbo, M.A., MFT
Writers' Block is GOOD News for a Writer
• 10:20 Q & A with Dennis Palumbo
• 10:30 Townhall Discussion (continued) Founding Members

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INTRODUCING THE NEW CAUCUS
• Vincenzo Di Nicola – University of Montreal
• Andrei Novac – University of California-Irvine
Co-Founders and Appointed Co-Chairs
Maine Association of Psychiatric Medicine DB
Quebec & Eastern Canada DB
Vermont Psychiatric Association DB
• Area 1 Assembly Council
• Council on Medical Education and Lifelong Learning
• JRC
Support

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INTRODUCING THE NEW CAUCUS
Special Founding Member
• Joël Des Rosiers, MD
University of Montreal
Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst,
Prize-winning Poet

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INTRODUCING THE NEW CAUCUS
Special Founding Member
• James Griffith, MD
• The George Washington
University
President, Society for the Study
of Culture & Society

7. CAUCUS MISSION STATEMENT

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CAUCUS MISSION STATEMENT
Medical Humanities in Psychiatry
• Vincenzo Di Nicola, MPhil, MD, PhD, DFAPA, FCAHS
• University of Montreal & GWU
A New Caucus for the APA –
A New Perspective for Psychiatry

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CAUCUS MISSION STATEMENT
• We proposed a new APA Caucus on Medical Humanities in Psychiatry, under the aegis of the
APA Council on Medical Education and Lifelong Learning.
• We believe that the medical humanities in psychiatry are an important complement to
psychiatry’s basic sciences and clinical mission, yet they do not have a clear voice at the APA.
• We favour transdisciplinary thinking and believe it is important to reach out to psychiatrists to
include them in this overarching approach.
• Rather than an exclusive focus on philosophy, we recommend that we focus on the broader
field of medical humanities, including philosophy.

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CAUCUS MISSION STATEMENT
• Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine including:
– the humanities (literature, philosophy, ethic, history and religion)
– social sciences (anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, sociology
and health geography)
– the arts (literature, theatre, dance, music, film and visual arts)
• In the service of medical education and practice
• Medical humanities is mainly concerned with training medical
practitioners
• Source: Wikipedia
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_humanities

11. Medical Humanities in Psychiatry
The Arts
Social
Sciences
Humanities

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CAUCUS MISSION STATEMENT
• Tentative definition:
• Medical humanities can be defined as an interdisciplinary and increasingly
international endeavor that draws on the creative and intellectual
strengths of diverse disciplines, including literature, art, creative writing,
drama, film, music, philosophy, ethical decision making, anthropology,
and history, in pursuit of medical educational goals. The humanistic
sciences are relevant when multiple people’s perspectives on issues are
compiled together to answer questions or even create questions. The arts
can provide additional perspective to the sciences.
• Source: Wikipedia
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_humanities

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CAUCUS MISSION STATEMENT
Links with APA Caucuses
• Global Mental Health & Psychiatry (2013)
• Psychotherapy
• Religion
Other organizations
• Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (AAPP)
• Medical humanities prominent in schools of medicine
– Centre for Medical Humanities, Royal Free & University College Medical
School, London, UK
– The George Washington University
– University of Montreal – Postgraduate course on “Psychiatry and the
Humanities”
– University of Toronto

14. “Psychiatry and the Humanities”
Postgraduate course in
Biomedical Sciences
University of Montreal
Faculty of Medicine
Di Nicola, Vincenzo “Psychiatry and the
Humanities”: Postgraduate Course in the Faculty
of Medicine, University of Montreal. Blog of the
American Philosophical Association, March 23,
2017.raduate-course

15. children
Photo: María del Pilar García Ayensa /
Studio Olafur Eliasson © 2010 Olafur Eliasson

16. 16
trauma
Image courtesy of V Di Nicola

17. culture
Image: Vintage Central Anatolian Tribal Rug.JPG,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

18. V Di Nicola,
Two trauma communities:
A philosophical archaeology
of cultural and clinical trauma
communities
In P Capretto & E Boynton (eds),
Trauma & Transcendence
NY: Fordham University Press
(2018, pp. 17-52).
Image courtesy of publisher

19. Childhood is a knife
planted in your throat.
You don’t remove it
easily.
– Wajdi Mouawad
Play & film, Scorched
Image courtesy of publisher

21. 21
healing

22. 22
“There is a
crack in everything
– that’s how the
light gets in”
– Leonard Cohen
“Anthem”

23. © 2022 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
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MEETING PLAN
• 9:00 am Welcome to our Founding Members Vincenzo Di Nicola & Andrei Novac, Caucus Co-Chairs
• 9:05 Presentation of Caucus Mission Statement Vincenzo Di Nicola
Medical Humanities in Psychiatry:
A New Caucus for the APA –
A New Perspective for Psychiatry
• 9:20 Townhall Presentation & Discussion Founding Members
• 10:00 Special Inaugural Lecture Dennis Palumbo, M.A., MFT
Writers' Block is GOOD News for a Writer
• 10:20 Q & A with Dennis Palumbo
• 10:30 Townhall Discussion (continued) Founding Members

24. TOWNHALL MEETING

25. 25 Image courtesy of Jaswant Guzder

26. INAUGURAL LECTURE

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INAUGURAL CAUCUS MEETING
Special Inaugural Lecture
• Dennis Palumbo, MA, MFT
• Private Practice, Sherman Oaks,
CA
“Writers’ Block is GOOD News
for a Writer”

32. TOWNHALL MEETING (CONTINUED)

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INAUGURAL MEETING FOUNDERS GROUP – MAY 24, 2022

34. 34
Image courtesy of
Jaswant Guzder

35. © 2022 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
35
REFERENCES
• Ahlzen, Rolf (2007). Medical humanities – arts and humanistic science. Medicine,
Health Care and Philosophy. 10 (4): 385–393. doi:10.1007/s11019-007-9081-3.
PMID 17624812.
• Canadian Association for Health Humanities (CAHH). https://www.cahh.ca/
• Chiapperino, Luca; Boniolo, Giovanni (2014). Rethinking Medical Humanities.
Journal of Medical Humanities. 35 (4): 377–387. doi:10.1007/s10912-014-9269-
5. PMID 24477428.
• Di Nicola, Vincenzo “Psychiatry and the Humanities”: Postgraduate Course in the
Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal. Blog of the American Philosophical
Association, March 23, 2017. https://blog.apaonline.org/2017/03/23/psychiatry-
and-the-humanities-postgraduate-course-in-the-faculty-of-medicine-university-
of-montreal/

36. © 2022 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
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REFERENCES
• George Washington University. The Office of Medical Humanities.
https://smhs.gwu.edu/medicalhumanities/
• Kirklin, Deborah 2003). The Centre for Medical Humanities, Royal Free and
University College Medical School, London, England, Academic Medicine, 78 (10):
1048-1053.
https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2003/10000/The_Centre_fo
r_Medical_Humanities,_Royal_Free_and.23.aspx
• University of Toronto. Health, Arts, & Humanities Program. http://health-
humanities.com/