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Beneath the Dura Mater

2021 | New Work, Our First Year Heard Exhibition | 4 comments

Beneath the Dura Mater
Lizzie Wood
Visual

Mar 5, 2021 | 4 comments

As medical students, we all have our own emotional ‘dura mater’ – a layer beneath which we often hide all the stress and hard emotions that can come with learning to be a doctor. When you are in contact with patients this is especially important; you may be feeling tired or sad from something happening in your own life, but while you see that patient, they are all that matter and you sometimes have to just put on a brave face for them. It’s often hard to not get emotional yourself when a patient gets a bad diagnosis, or at a care home when a resident passes away. I felt this way when someone who I was close to at a local care home died; it was a shock, but other residents needed a cheerful chat, so I filled the role I needed to at the time, and let myself process it after I had left that day. It takes practice to be able to control how you react, to learn how to create that emotional ‘dura mater’* for when it’s needed, but to not use it permanently.

Burnout is something we often hide – feelings of stress, self-doubt, inadequacy… The work intensity can really get to you, especially in the current climate of uncertainty. The underlayer of this piece is to symbolise that – inside is a stressed out burning brain, while on the outside of the ‘dura mater’ things look all calm and okay. It’s really important to look out for yourself and your peers as you will also be in a better place to look after your patients. ‘Caring for carers’ enables them to perform better, and keep this up.

Sometimes it’s needed to be brave for a patient’s sake, but on the whole, we must remember it’s okay to let out how we feel.
The medical course is a marathon not a sprint, so pacing yourself and practicing good self-care routines is just as important as studying itself.
Put out the flames of burnout with a nice bubble bath and a chat over a cup of tea.
Ten minutes for yourself every day for a bit of reflection is something we all need to do more often, and the value of this should not be understated.

*dura mater is the thick membrane made of connective tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

Part of a collaborative artwork presented by Group 22 for the Art of Medicine student conference
Foundations of Medicine, Year One, 2020

4 Comments

  1. Shirin Massroor
    Shirin Massroor on 2022 at 11:44 am

    Wholly encompasses how I view the stigma around healthcare providers needing to be superhuman. Powerful metaphor on many levels.

    Reply
  2. Zaid Muna
    Zaid Muna on 2022 at 9:34 am

    Very interesting and insightful into the emotional struggles of medical students and doctors. An especially significant metaphor for first year medical students – who may be experiencing these clinical situations and stresses for the first time.

    Reply
  3. Alfie Senior
    Alfie Senior on 2023 at 12:56 pm

    A great metaphor brilliantly crafted. The idea of an ’emotional’ dura mater is something that I think resonates strongly with medical students, and the artwork perfectly encapsulates this.

    Reply
  4. Rijul Dhopate
    Rijul Dhopate on 2023 at 12:44 am

    This art piece is very insightful into the mental and psychological struggles of a medical student (and a doctor). As a medical student and as a doctor you should be brave for your patients but also need to be able to look after your own needs, because you cannot care for your patient to the best of your ability if you cannot care for yourself. The metaphor is very perceptive to how medical students and doctors act and feel, as they may act “tough” for their patients like the dura mater but hiding all their personal stressors beneath it.

    Reply

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