Did you know that several medical terms find their etymological origins in classic literature? Let this list inspire your next read!
First up, we have Pickwickian syndrome, which gets its name from Charles Dickens’ novel The Pickwick Papers. Officially called “obesity hypoventilation syndrome,” Pickwickian syndrome is defined as the combination of a high body mass index, high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood, and disordered breathing during sleep (Masa et al., 2019). Despite its name, Pickwickian syndrome refers not to main character Samuel Pickwick, but rather to the supporting character Joe, whose main personality traits are eating a lot of food and falling asleep constantly. The term Pickwickian syndrome originated in a 1956 case report in the American Journal of Medicine.
Next, there are several psychological conditions that bring to mind the experiences of literary characters. You might have heard of Alice in Wonderland syndrome, in which the patient has distorted perceptions of the size and shape of their body (Blom, 2016). The term was first coined by John Todd in 1955 in reference to the growing and shrinking Alice experiences when she consumes magical treats in Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Another term taken from children’s literature is Peter Pan syndrome. This is an unofficial diagnosis, not recognized in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). It refers to adults who are socially immature and have trouble facing adult responsibilities. They wish that they would never have to grow up, like the eternally young Peter Pan from J. M. Barrie’s stories. Dan Kiley coined the term in his bestselling 1983 book The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up.
Of course, the great playwright William Shakespeare makes an appearance on this list. Othello syndrome describes a paranoid delusional jealousy in which the patient becomes certain that their partner is cheating on them (Kataoka & Sugie, 2018). In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the antagonist Iago uses trickery to convince Othello of his wife Desdemona’s infidelity, leading to tragic consequences.
Our last entry is a bit different, but interesting enough to merit inclusion on this list. Doctors might complain about a patient by calling them a gomer. A gomer is someone who is frequently admitted to the emergency room but does not actually require medical care, or more broadly, as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it, “a difficult or disagreeable patient, esp. an elderly one.” Although the definitive origin is unclear, Samuel Shem popularized the term in his 1978 novel The House of God, in which he states that the word is an acronym of “Get Out of My Emergency Room.” Shem was a practicing psychiatrist, and his novel is about the disturbing experiences of a group of interns at a fictionalized version of Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital.
So what will you be reading next?
References
- Bickelmann, A. G., Burwell, C. S., Robin, E. D., & Whaley, R. D. (1956). Extreme obesity associated with alveolar hypoventilation; a Pickwickian syndrome. The American journal of medicine, 21(5), 811–818. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9343(56)90094-8
- Blom J. D. (2016). Alice in Wonderland syndrome: A systematic review. Neurology clinical practice, 6(3), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000251
- “Gomer, N. (3).” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9986910637
- Kataoka, H., & Sugie, K. (2018). Delusional Jealousy (Othello Syndrome) in 67 Patients with Parkinson's Disease. Frontiers in neurology, 9, 129. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00129
- Masa, J. F., Pépin, J. L., Borel, J. C., Mokhlesi, B., Murphy, P. B., & Sánchez-Quiroga, M. Á. (2019). Obesity hypoventilation syndrome. European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society, 28(151), 180097. https://doi.org/10.1183/16000617.0097-2018
- Todd J. (1955). The syndrome of Alice in Wonderland. Canadian Medical Association journal, 73(9), 701–704.
