Pathologizing Pop Culture Blog Posts

As healthcare professionals, particularly those who are able-bodied, we can inadvertently reinforce the “fix-it” mindset. The idea that disability is solely a medical problem to be solved rather than a state to be integrated as an aspect of identity.

Written between 2017 and 2020, the album captures the emotional chaos of the era, just before the world locked down. “Body Terror Song,” the album’s third track, wasn’t written in response to COVID-19, but it certainly resonates.

Postpartum PTSD isn’t always recognized by patients or providers because it doesn’t look like the script we expect. When sadness isn’t the dominant emotion, support may not be offered. When high functioning or irritability masks distress, the window for help can quietly close.

Gregor’s first and overriding concern is not his shocking transformation, but his inability to get out of bed and go to work. This culminates in his frantic attempts to convince his manager while locked in his bedroom that he is still fit for the job, all while trying to hide the fact that he has, well, become a gigantic bug. The scene would be absurdly comical if it did not so accurately capture the lengths to which people living with chronic illness often push themselves to meet society’s expectations of normality and productivity.

Kahlo’s work resonates with me for its unflinching portrayal of medical trauma and the emotional impact of traumatic injury and acquired disability. In describing her relationship with Dr. Farill, she captures the complex interplay of gratitude and grief that often defines post-injury recovery.

Widely remembered as a landmark horror film about demonic possession, The Exorcist is, in many ways, also a story about medical trauma. I point to one infamous scene in which Regan undergoes a cerebral angiography with disturbing realism.