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 • , 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, • by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2025). • " Associations of Depression, Anxiety, Worry, Perceived Stress, and Loneliness Prior to Infection With Risk of Post-COVID-19 Conditions, • " 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. • " 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, • " 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, • by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2021). Brainstorm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology, • by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2018). • " The Trauma of Facing Deportation, • " by Rachel Aviv (The New Yorker, • 2017). It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness, • by Suzanne O'Sullivan (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, • by Bessel van der Kolk (2014). • " Explaining the Rise in Youth Suicide, • " by David Cutler, Edward Glaeser,

• and Karen Norberg (National Bureau of Economic Research, • 2001).

EXTRAS:Counted Out, • documentary • (2024). • " Bringing Data to Life, • " by People I (Mostly) Admire • (2023). • " Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life, • " by People I (Mostly) Admire • (2023). • " America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up, • " by Freakonomics Radio • (2019). Race to Nowhere, • documentary (2010). Data Science for Everyone • .