Graphic medicine

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Ian Williams · 2007

What it is

Graphic medicine is not a therapy and not a manualised method. It is an interdisciplinary field and movement covering the use of comics in health care, medical education and patient care. Ian Williams, a Brighton physician and comics artist, coined the name in 2007 when he set up…

Format

• The phases below adapt those two formats to individual and group psychotherapy. No published clinical phase scheme exists, so the phases, session counts and move-on criteria are the writer's synthesis.
• Phase A. Assessment and fit (part of 1 session). Goal: decide whether comics suit this client and this problem. Check reading ability, vision, attention, interest in comics, attitudes (some clients see comics as childish; the field itself notes comics were long stigmatised as low-brow), current…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• There are no published phases, session counts or progression criteria for graphic medicine as a psychotherapy. Two structured formats are published. (1) Educational: the Penn State fourth-year elective "Graphic Storytelling and Medical Narratives" is a month-long seminar in which students read book-length graphic narratives (true and fictional) about patients and families living with illness, discuss them, do…
• Professional frame: graphic medicine has no regulated profession, credential or registration of its own; it is practised by clinicians, educators, comics artists, librarians and scholars. A psychotherapist can use it within their existing registration and competence. If the work becomes art therapy (art-making used as the main therapeutic medium with interpretation of process and image), that requires art therapy…
• Graphic medicine is not a therapy and not a manualised method. It is an interdisciplinary field and movement covering the use of comics in health care, medical education and patient care. Ian Williams, a Brighton physician and comics artist, coined the name in 2007 when he set up GraphicMedicine.org, and describes the field as the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. Its working…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• ward rules on pens and sharps; latex or fragrance sensitivities with some materials.
• leaving with unfinished, high-distress material and no plan. Working: the client leaves settled and knows where the work is.
• stereotyped depictions of patients or staff; images that frighten rather than inform. Working: users can explain back the key points.
• non-reading (see 5.4); a carer using the book to tell the client how they should feel. Working: marked pages and a conversation that starts from them.
• any detail that would let a client recognise themselves; using it in place of supervision. Working: new perspective on the experience, less rumination.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.