153. We’re Not Getting Sicker — We’re Overdiagnosed

Suzanne O'Sullivan is a neurologist who sees many patients with psychosomatic disorders. Their symptoms may be psychological in origin, but their pain is real and physical — and the way we practice medicine, she argues, is making those and other health problems worse.

• SOURCES:• Suzanne O'Sullivan (uclh.nhs.uk/our-services/find-consultant/dr-su…), neurologist and author of The Age of Diagnosis How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker.

• RESOURCES:• The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker (amzn.to/3FxvIlO), by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2025).
• "Associations of Depression, Anxiety, Worry, Perceived Stress, and Loneliness Prior to Infection With Risk of Post-COVID-19 Conditions, (jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullar…)" by Siwen Wang, Luwei Quan, Jorge Chavarro, Natalie Slopen, Laura Kubzansky, Karestan Koenen, Jae Hee Kang, Marc G. Weisskopf, Westyn Branch-Elliman, and Andrea Roberts (JAMA Psychiatry, 2022).
• "How beliefs about coronavirus disease (COVID) influence COVID-like symptoms? – A longitudinal study. (psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fhea00…)" by Liron Rozenkrantz, Tobias Kube, Michael H Bernstein, and John D.E. Gabrieli (Health Psychology, 2022).
• "Risk factors for worsening of somatic symptom burden in a prospective cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic, (frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/1…)" by Petra Engelmann, Bernd Löwe, Thomas Theo Brehm, Angelika Weigel, Felix Ullrich, Marylyn Addo, Julian Schulze Zur Wiesch, Ansgar Lohse, and Anne Toussaint (Frontier Psychology, 2022).
• The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness, (amzn.to/3DUFuxH) by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2021).
• Brainstorm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology, (amzn.to/4isVJAR) by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2018).
• "The Trauma of Facing Deportation, (newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/03/the-trauma-o…)" by Rachel Aviv (The New Yorker, 2017).
• It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness (amzn.to/3FGPScU), by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2015).
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (amzn.to/4isWjP3), by Bessel van der Kolk (2014).
• "Explaining the Rise in Youth Suicide, (scholar.harvard.edu/files/glaeser/files/c10690…)" by David Cutler, Edward Glaeser,
and Karen Norberg (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2001).

• EXTRAS:• Counted Out (countedoutfilm.com/#about), documentary (2024).
• "Bringing Data to Life, (freakonomics.com/podcast/bringing-data-to-life)" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
• "Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life, (freakonomics.com/podcast/adding-ten-healthy-ye…)" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
• "America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up, (freakonomics.com/podcast/americas-math-curricu…)" by Freakonomics Radio (2019).
• Race to Nowhere, (imdb.com/title/tt1437364) documentary (2010).
• Data Science for Everyone (datascience4everyone.org/about).

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