Institute for Medical Humanities Durham University

The Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University coordinates and supports research on the lived experience of health and illness, with a focus on what we call ‘hidden experience’. These experiences may be hidden for various reasons – perhaps they have no external symptoms or cannot be measured by conventional scientific methods, perhaps they are considered shameful or stigmatised by society, perhaps they cannot be easily described, or they relate to marginalised groups of people. These experiences are easy to hide, but difficult to comprehend, explain or get help for. We believe a medical humanities approach can shed new light on these hidden experiences to improve health policy and practice and benefit the lives of communities and inpiduals. Through interdisciplinary investigations spanning all three university faculties and drawing in colleagues from English Studies, Theology, History, Geography, Anthropology, Sociology, Sport and Exercise Science and Psychology, among others, we are developing and expanding research projects on topics including trauma, post-natal depression, addiction, deafness, dreams, hallucinations, touch, memory, weather, menopause, and anxiety. We are generously supported by Wellcome as a centre for excellence in the study of health through the humanities and social sciences.