Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, working first at The Royal London Hospital and currently as a consultant in clinical neurophysiology and neurology at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, as well as for a specialist unit based at the Epilepsy Society. She has developed an expertise in working with patients with psychogenic disorders, alongside her work with those suffering with physical diseases, such as epilepsy. This is her first book.
Winner of the 2016 Wellcome Book Prize
“…thoughtful and stimulating … The whole-life stories that Dr.
O’Sullivan tells are compelling, but they are also carefully
chosen. The range of diagnoses allows her to explicate much of the
history and contemporary understanding of psychosomatic disorders
and symptoms…a wise book.” –WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Each chapter of this book presents a case study, lending vivid
life to patients with psychosomatic disorders, along with extensive
context for everything including the bygone diagnosis of 'hysteria'
and the dawn of neurology as a medical profession....If empathy is
bolstered by understanding, then this book will bring such
sentiments to a rarely understood condition. It will engage
readers' heads, but also quite possibly enter their
hearts.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“An intriguing look at how mental processes affect and alter our
views—and feelings—of health and illness.” –KIRKUS
“…an illuminating account of psychosomatic disease by Suzanne
O’Sullivan, a neurologist. Psychosomatic illness is not fully
understood, but stress and traumatic events, such as rape and
domestic violence, are suspected to be a cause. That may be why it
is more common in women than men. Ms. O’Sullivan unravels her
patients’ past to explain how memories lodged in the
subconscious—from a child’s death to a broken bone—can command
debilitating physical illness, in some cases many years later.
Psychosomatic diseases are ubiquitous and cost health systems a
fortune (twice the cost of treating diabetes in America in 2002,
for example), yet medical textbooks relegate them to footnotes.
Patients reject the diagnosis as laden with stigma. Ms.
O’Sullivan’s book is a plea for change. Huge suffering could be
averted if patients, doctors and everyone else stopped viewing them
as diseases that are not ‘real’.” –THE ECONOMIST
“O’Sullivan illuminates one of medicine’s most fraught moments,
when a physician reaches the conclusion that there is no physical
(or “organic”) disease…[She] cleverly invokes a universal
experience…Our mind can forcefully speak through our body not only
in distress, but in joy.” —NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
“This fascinating casebook with historical insights--compiled by a
seasoned neurologist who is now a consultant at the National
Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery in London--offers a thorough
examination of the significant yet complicated role emotions play
in physical illness and the stigmas attached to psychosomatic
disorders…the stories in Is It All in Your Head? are
intellectually and factually diverse…the delivery and impact of a
psychosomatic diagnosis and subsequent patient response further tug
emotionally at readers. O'Sullivan never trivializes the patient or
what he or she is experiencing. Rather, she respects the strength
of her patients and encourages them to find ways to address
underlying psychological problems in order to overcome some
incredible--some might even call them mind boggling--challenges in
life.” – SHELF AWARENESS
“O’Sullivan earns the trust of the reader, and her storytelling is
captivating…this book is highly readable, and demystifies the ways
in which the body is tied inextricably to the mind.” –BUST
MAGAZINE
“Is It All in Your Head? consists of a series of stories...all very
finely crafted, and all following the same essential pattern…This
is an important book. O’Sullivan makes the powerful argument for
taking psychosomatic illnesses seriously and treating the people
who suffer from them with respect. This last point is especially
critical: Psychosomatic diagnosis carry with them a stigma that can
make treatment much harder for patient and physician alike.
O’Sullivan wants us to understand that these conditions are
real—just as real as laughing or crying or any other ways our
bodies ‘somatize’ emotions.” –BOOKFORUM
“In this important book, O’Sullivan lays out her case for
a new approach and treatment methods for psychosomatic illness. Her
argument is convincing. Taken from real life experiences, through
her work as a neurologist and neurophysiologist, she shares the
cases of some of her patients and ponders how come so many of them
complain about symptoms without any physical manifestation…
O’Sullivan seeks to establish a connection between mind and
body that goes beyond simple mood disorder treatment. She advocates
for new ways to look, understand and treat unexplainable symptoms,
paving the way for bringing relief to her patients. Some of the
cases will break your heart.” – HUFFINGTON POST
“Doctors’ tales of their patients’ weirder afflictions have been
popular since Oliver Sacks . . . Few of them, however, are as
bizarre or unsettling as those described in this extraordinary and
extraordinarily compassionate book.” —James McConnachie, Sunday
Times
“An important study of psychosomatic illness, which shows it to be
a serious disease of modern society: misunderstood, misdiagnosed,
and surrounded by fear.” —Louise Carpenter, The Telegraph
“Honest, fascinating, and necessary.” —David Aaronovitch, The Times
(UK)
“A fascinating glimpse into the human condition . . . a forceful
call for society to be more open about such suffering.” —Ian
Birrell, Daily Mail
“Is It All In Your Head? may challenge some of your most
deeply-held beliefs about illness and behavior.” – POPMATTERS
“English neurologist and epilepsy specialist Suzanne O’Sullivan
chronicles encounters with her many patients who display severe
physical impairments for which there appears to be no organic
foundation. Epileptic seizures, convulsions, blindness, paralysis,
panic attacks, cancer, hypochondriacal anxiety, and other
apparently psychosomatic complaints that severely compromise
existence are medically shown to be manifestations of the mind’s
influence over physical function. Frequently, the recourse
prescribed is psychiatric intervention in an attempt to expose
underlying mental conflicts that may have triggered the disability.
Earlier psychologists such as Charcot, Janet, Breuer, Munchhausen,
and of course Freud are threaded into the story along with
discussions of hysteria, conversion disorder, dissociation, and
more timely terms. . . The book reinforces the view that the mind
powerfully controls the body.” – SEATTLE BOOK REVIEW
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