The aesthetics of chronic illness

Medically unexplained symptoms in the age of social media

In the kitchen of a suburban house in North America, a woman vacuums her floor. Suddenly, a dog enters the room, interrupting her and - standing on its hind legs - appears to encourage the woman to sit down. “Something isn’t right, you need to listen. It’s not safe,” he appears to say, as performed by the AI voiceover. The dog then fetches a bottle of pills from a nearby countertop bringing it back to the woman, now sitting on the ground. Realising she also needs water, he retrieves a bottle from the fridge which he brings over and plays with a little before the woman picks it up and takes a gulp with some pills. She has barely swallowed before the dog claws his way up her chest pushing her into a supine position. “Mom, you’re not getting better. You need to lay flat, I’m pushing you down to protect your head,” the tremulous voiceover says. He lies in her lap, with his paws on her torso, the voiceover stating “I am here mom, and will be here when you wake up. I promise. You’re safe. I will protect you.”

“I will take care of you, you’re not alone.”

In medical school, I was fortunate enough to spend some time in a department devoted to parent-infant reunification. Staffed by mental health clinicians including paediatric psychiatrists, this unit assessed the readiness of some biological parents in becoming caregivers again for children who had once been removed from their care. These removals had often been due child abuse through various forms of neglect and substance misuse within the household.

I remember one mother, who was being assessed for their readiness to gain full custody of her toddler again. In response to one question, she stated that she felt their relationship was improving because when she felt sad or upset, the toddler would look up at her in a way that she believed meant, ‘He knows I’m not in a good place. He knows that I NEED him. It’s like he’s saying - it’s all going to be OK, Mum’. During the interview, the 15 month old crawled on the clinic playmat bashing vibrant coloured wooden blocks together and exploring the seductive shapes and textures of the carpet.

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What are we to make of the scenario of the collapsed woman and her dog? 

The video was posted on Instagram and TikTok in October this year, in this short time attracting over 320,000 likes and over 30,000 shares. I saw it in passing, in an algorithm-driven string of clips documenting the everyday struggles of those living with chronic illness.