Skip to main content
Customer Review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 8 February 2017
Suzanne O'Sullivan is a neurologist consultant based in the UK. In It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness she details the case histories of various patients who present with neurological symptoms. However, these patients have normal neurological test results, no organic cause can be found for their illness, but they still suffer from e.g. dissociative seizures or have lost the ability to move a limb. They suffer from a psychosomatic disorder. The cause of this is attributed to the patients' subconscious, their emotional well-being relating to present or past emotional stress and/or trauma. As psychosomatic illness is still "a socially unacceptable disorder", many of O'Sullivan's patients react in a defensive, sceptical, or even furious manner when faced with the suggestion to consult a psychiatrist, "so I'm crazy (mad)/a psycho now?"
I was really interested in reading this book because the best and most useful internship I spent during my training were four months in a psychosomatic clinic. In the end, it took me forever to finish this book. That's not to say that it wasn't good, but Ms O'Sullivan isn't a natural storyteller. In addition, the structure of the book made it really difficult to stay with it. The case studies, which I was most interested in, are interrupted by long passages providing historical background covering Charcot, Freud etc.
By the time the author returned to talking about a particular patient again, I often had trouble remembering who that patient was. Ok, maybe my problem as well for having a rubbish memory, but I wish the book had been structured differently.
In general, this is an informative introduction to psychosomatic disorders, especially if you are also interested in gaining some insight into the history of medicine/psychology, but I was keen to find out more about how these patients fared once they were transferred to a psychiatrist and how they dealt with their diagnosis. But I guess that doesn't fall within Dr O'Sullivan's remit, so I appreciate that some information was missing.
Some chapters, as shown by some reviews of this book, are controversial depending on your opinion regarding psychosomatic illness. Overall, I found O'Sullivan's stance respectful and empathetic. She comes across as a compassionate and honest medical professional. The title of the book isn't particularly helpful because the point is that these are not "imaginary" illnesses, as O'Sullivan points out herself, but very real for the tormented patients.
Recommended if you're interested in finding out about the power of the mind over the body and you like a solid introduction to psychosomatic disorders.
I was really interested in reading this book because the best and most useful internship I spent during my training were four months in a psychosomatic clinic. In the end, it took me forever to finish this book. That's not to say that it wasn't good, but Ms O'Sullivan isn't a natural storyteller. In addition, the structure of the book made it really difficult to stay with it. The case studies, which I was most interested in, are interrupted by long passages providing historical background covering Charcot, Freud etc.
By the time the author returned to talking about a particular patient again, I often had trouble remembering who that patient was. Ok, maybe my problem as well for having a rubbish memory, but I wish the book had been structured differently.
In general, this is an informative introduction to psychosomatic disorders, especially if you are also interested in gaining some insight into the history of medicine/psychology, but I was keen to find out more about how these patients fared once they were transferred to a psychiatrist and how they dealt with their diagnosis. But I guess that doesn't fall within Dr O'Sullivan's remit, so I appreciate that some information was missing.
Some chapters, as shown by some reviews of this book, are controversial depending on your opinion regarding psychosomatic illness. Overall, I found O'Sullivan's stance respectful and empathetic. She comes across as a compassionate and honest medical professional. The title of the book isn't particularly helpful because the point is that these are not "imaginary" illnesses, as O'Sullivan points out herself, but very real for the tormented patients.
Recommended if you're interested in finding out about the power of the mind over the body and you like a solid introduction to psychosomatic disorders.
