Learning from Shakespeare’s deep understanding of mind-body connection
Kenneth Heaton, a medical doctor and researcher, gathered information from all of Shakespeare’s works to demonstrate that he “was an exceptionally body-conscious writer,” and posited that Shakespeare had a deep understanding of how physical symptoms can have psychological causes.
According to Heaton’s research, Shakespeare was a master at portraying profound emotional upset in the physical symptoms of his characters, and many modern-day doctors would do well to study the Bard to better understand the mind-body connection, concludes an analysis of Dr. Heaton’s works, published in Medical Humanities.
Shakespeare focused on portraying psychosomatic symptoms in characters expressing profound emotions significantly more common than in works by other authors of the time.
For instance, fatigue brought about by emotional distress was exhibited by numerous characters, most notably in “Hamlet”, “The Merchant of Venice”, “As You Like It”, “Richard II” and “Henry IV” part 2.
“Shakespeare’s perception that numbness and enhanced sensation can have a psychological origin seems not to have been shared by his contemporaries, none of whom included such phenomena in the works examined,” writes Dr. Heaton.
“Many doctors are reluctant to attribute physical symptoms to emotional disturbance, and this results in delayed diagnosis, overinvestigation, and inappropriate treatment,” he writes.
