Amy Bennett’s Hypochondriac as a Narrative Painting That Teaches About Care

TEXT

The Cover of the Textbook Medical Humanities

An Introduction displays an intriguing painting: Hypochondriac(2010) by Amy Bennett (Fig. 1).¹ On her website (amybennett.com), Bennett explains that she is interested in the fragility of relationships and people’s awkwardness in trying to coexist and relate to one another. She constructs 3D fictional scale models with cardboard, foam, wood, paint, glue, and model railroad miniatures from which she develops her paintings. Her series “Sore spots” includes scenes in a doctor’s office. Hypochondriac is one of those paintings and gives us a look into a consulting room in which a woman, dressed in blue, is sitting on an examination table. She is alone, has her back to us as viewers, and appears to be looking at a painting on the wall she is facing. Bennett characterizes her paintings as narrative paintings. As a fly-on-the-wall she records moments through which a story seems to be told. Bennett’s still lives provide a glimpse of a drama that unfolds, of situations that are generally speaking not publicly considered. The aim of this contribution is to elaborate on Hypochondriac as a narrative painting that teaches about key ethical elements of care.

Figure 1.

Hypochondriac by Amy Bennett (2010), used by permission of the artist.

CONTEXT

Humans are born storytellers and live their stories before telling them.¹ Several philosophers consider human beings as “homo interpres” (Gadamer, Ricoeur) and characterize them as “story-telling” (MacIntyre) or “self-interpreting” (Taylor) animals. Three features make narrative forms specifically appropriate for addressing experiences of illness.² Narratives (1) are event-centered and focus on human interaction, (2) are experience-centered and allow us to infer something about what it feels like to be in that story world, and (3) create an experience for their audience and seduce the perceiver into the world they portray. Rita Charon brings forward several cardinal features that are elementary in the narrative expression of lived experience: time, space, voice, and metaphor.³ Discussing these four narrative features enables us to better understand what makes Hypochondriac a narrative painting.

Time

Narrative is considered a time-bound linear form that can be heard, watched, or read.⁴ Hypochondriac, however, lacks such an explicit sequence of events that structures most stories. It is literally a still life, a moment frozen in time. But somehow the painting evokes the feeling that something is about to happen or has just happened. The posture of the woman on the table gives us the idea that she anticipates how the scene will develop. As an audience, we—as “homo interpres”—seem to automatically imagine the sequence of events of which this particular moment gives us a snapshot in time.

Space

The scene is set in an examination room. The woman’s body is at the center of the painting. The title of the painting suggests she’s a “hypochondriac.” In 2013, the label hypochondriasis was renamed as “illness anxiety disorder”: excessive preoccupancy or worry about having a serious illness in the absence of an actual medical condition.⁵ Individuals suffering from such anxiety are easily alarmed about their personal health status. The woman is obviously seeking medical help. But as suspicious viewers we wonder: is she really physically ill? What is she concerned about?

Voice

Who tells the narrative of Hypochondriac? Although Bennett created and painted the scene, as viewing subjects we are invited to consider the moments before and after the situation in the doctor’s office. There is a distinction between a “recording” and a “perceiving” gaze in healthcare.⁶ A recording look is reductionistic, objectifying, and disinterested. Such an examining or classifying gaze removes living characteristics from the observed persons. A perceiving look, on the other hand, lets the observer emotionally engage him or her with the other person and be touched. Viewing Hypochondriac somehow creates a commitment between us as observers and the woman on the examination table. Our look or gaze brings possible narratives alive and thus gives a voice to the person that is central to the painting.

Metaphor

The perceiving gaze puts us in an engaging relationship regarding the person in the scene. Metaphorically, Hypochondriac functions as if it is a testimony.⁷ As spectators we are a witness of the scene as it is constructed by Bennett. And as a witness of this narrative painting, it might be our moral responsibility as an audience to tell what happened and what will (or should) happen next. It is our responsibility to give voice to the non-medical story, beyond medical examination and classification.

Our response to illness narratives such as Hypochondriac should be a response of care. Caregiving entails one of the foundational moral meanings and practices in human experience and is central to what it means to be human.⁸ The crucial importance of caregiving is connected with a general feature of all human beings: vulnerability.⁹ Vulnerability teaches us that as embodied humans we are time and again exposed to forces beyond our control: disease, disaster, or ill luck. It is this kind of human fragility that makes the need for relationships and social institutions a necessary part of our existence. The fact that we are all vulnerable generates ethical responsibilities to care for each other.

It is through stories that we learn what good care is.¹⁰ Stories teach what actions and inactions count as good or bad, in which situations. New situations require imagining what it is to be ethical, both for those who suffer and for those who provide professional care. Hypochondriac raises countless reflective questions about loneliness, fragility, psychiatric classification, stigma, existential issues, interdependence, and the good life. Looking at Bennett’s painting, it is our responsibility to use our moral imagination to critically discuss these issues with regard to what is ethically at stake in human life in general and healthcare in particular.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Hypochondriac is a narrative painting that can be considered a snapshot in time. Use your imagination and expand on this patient’s narrative in the moments (e.g., minutes, hours, days) before and after this particular snapshot.

• Also, use your imagination and recount this patient’s physician’s experiences during the consultation.

• How does vulnerability occur in your own work? Consider both the vulnerability of the patient and the healthcare professional.

Declarations

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that he does not have a conflict of interest.