This TED Intersections event brought together Dr. Amy Baxter, a physician focused on pain treatment, and Navied Mahdavian, a cartoonist. They explored the surprising connections between their fields, discussing how creativity, expression, and even humor can play a role in understanding and addressing pain and other complex human experiences. It was a unique look at how different ways of thinking can lead to new ideas.
The Art of Expression: Cartoons and Emotions
Navied Mahdavian believes cartooning is the highest art form because it can convey so much with so little. Just a few lines can show happiness, smugness, or sadness. He even finds himself making the same expressions as the characters he draws, constantly refining them until they are just right. This process of capturing emotion in simple lines is a powerful aspect of his work.
Dr. Baxter’s work on a nausea scale, called the BARF (Baxter Animated Retching Faces) scale, shows a similar idea. She and her team used cartoons to represent different levels of nausea, from a neutral face to a "blowing chunks" face. They even had nurses help gauge the intermediate stages. This scale has been translated into three languages and validated for kids with cancer, showing how visual representation can be a tool for medical assessment.
Key Takeaways:
- Cartoons can simplify complex emotions.
- Visuals can be effective tools in medical contexts.
- The process of creation often involves personal expression.
The Journey of Creation: From Short Gags to Long Projects
Navied discussed the difference between creating single-gag cartoons and working on a book. Single cartoons are quick; you find something funny, draw it, and move on. A book, however, is a much longer process. His book, "This Country: Searching for Home in Very Rural America," took about three years from start to finish. He noted that his drawing style improved over the course of the book, leading to a desire to go back and redraw earlier parts, a common frustration for artists on long projects.
Dr. Baxter shared a similar experience with her research. She tends to focus on a project, complete it, and then move on. Once the BARF scale was done, she wasn’t interested in researching nausea anymore, preferring to move on to new challenges, like pain research. This shows how both creative and scientific pursuits can involve intense focus on one area before shifting to the next.
Finding Home and Dealing with Change
Navied has moved many times, living in four different cities across two countries within his daughter’s first four years. He questions whether moving gets easier, noting that it can be destabilizing. His book explores the idea of "home" and how we constantly search for it, whether in our immediate surroundings or wider communities. He found that in some places, like rural Idaho, he couldn’t find the stabilizing outer circles of community, leading him to move again.
Dr. Baxter also touched on the idea of finding comfort in new environments. She found that shared values, rather than activities or education levels, were what truly made her feel comfortable in a new place. This highlights how personal connections and shared beliefs are important for feeling at home, no matter where you are.
Facing Challenges: Fear of Rejection and Dismissal
Both Navied and Dr. Baxter discussed the fear of not being taken seriously in their work. Navied mentioned how people might dismiss his deep, emotional cartoons as just "doodles." Dr. Baxter faces similar challenges with her vibration-based pain treatment, where people might see it as a distraction or not take it seriously because of the use of "vibrators." They both expressed how being dismissed or marginalized is a difficult part of their work.
This commonality shows that even in very different fields, creators and innovators often face similar struggles with acceptance and respect for their ideas. It’s a reminder that pushing boundaries can sometimes mean pushing against skepticism.
The Healing Power of Focus
Navied shared how cartooning helped him process grief, particularly when writing about his father’s dialysis and his grandmother’s hands. By focusing on specific details, he could explore complex emotions and relationships in a manageable way. This act of narrowing down a big experience into smaller, focused panels made it easier to handle.
Dr. Baxter noted that this focused approach is similar to how people deal with physical pain. Meditation, for example, teaches you to focus on one thing, like a breath or a rock, to let go of external pain. She found it interesting that Navied’s visual approach to grief mirrored techniques used for physical pain, suggesting that focusing on a controllable element can be healing for both mental and physical struggles. There’s no right or wrong way to deal with grief or pain, but finding what works for you is key. The conversation between a doctor and a cartoonist shows how different fields can offer insights into universal human experiences.
