Evidence-Based Medicine and Narrative Medicine: A Harmonic Couple

Abstract

The battled and passionate relationship between William Shakespeare’s characters Petrucho and Catharina in the Taming of The Shrew is perhaps the most fitting analogy to portray Narrative medicine in today’s era of evidence medicine. The story of two lovers, so different and determined in keeping their own identity, and who, despite the odds, achieve a state of harmony, which acts as an elevating force—for both as they become husband and wife—and irradiates onto everything surrounding them. As the plot develops, we see an intense love affair between the impulsive and defiant Catharina and the bold Petrucho, who seeks to conquer the object of his desire by acting as a mad man—living above social conventions and protocols, yet never being brutal towards her. Likewise, Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) might resemble the social duty of marriage (a value that at the beginning of the plot may be embodied by Petrucho); Narrative Medicine (Catharina), with its bizarre and lateral paradigm of thought and behaviour, is able to look outside the box. It will be the marriage of these two characters after a story of oddness, fights, and peace which will give rise to the “perfect couple”, in a form of conciliation of two paradigms of thoughts which at first sight appeared so different.

Come, come, you forward and unable worms!

My mind hath been as big as one of yours,

My heart as great, my reason haply more,

To bandy word for word and frown for frown;

But now I see our lances are but straws,

Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,

That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.

The taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare