After thirty-three years of exile in Mexico, Ernestina de Champourcin returned to Madrid in 1972, in time to witness the profound political changes in Spain prompted by the death of Franco and by the cultural revolution originating in the capital known as the "movida madrileña." Between 1979 and 1980, she responded to the explosion of…

Here, the author looks at four diaries, more specifically three conventional diaries and a blog: "The Diary of a Young Girl," by Anne Frank; "Zlata's Diary," by Zlata Filipovic; and "Last Night I Dreamed of Peace" by Dang Thuy Tram. "Baghdad Burning" is the transcript of a web log, a blog, by a young Iraqi woman who went by the pseudonym…

In "Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness," Rita Charon paints an original and humane portrait of what it can mean to be a doctor, to live a life immersed in sickness and dedicated to wellness. Charon drops the veil, inviting readers to look at the secret, subjective, emotional face of medicine, a zone of self-censored feelings and…

By talking with patients in specialized ways and by touching their bodies in specialized ways, doctors may come to some provisional conclusions about the patients' medical conditions and then make some preliminary decisions about what diagnostic tests to have them endure and what medical treatments to initiate. In this article, the author…

This article describes an intervention used by the author in her clinical practice. Some clients have a need to resolve relationship issues. "A Musical Chronology" has been a helpful resource for this work. Through the chronology, clients examine their life/love stories, share these stories with their therapist, and work through grief or other…

The relationship between empathy and forgiveness is explored through the painful experience of divorce and relationship loss. Authors propose a literary exercise, the Novel Approach, to help clients discover the power of empathy and find resolution to past pains. Included is a case study used to describe the Novel Approach and to highlight its…