I work full time as a neurologist in clinical practice and have become very concerned about the number of very young people referred to me who have a long list of medical diagnoses of chronic conditions, quite a few of which cannot be cured. I have been a doctor for nearly thirty-five years, and this is a new phenomenon. I am particularly concerned that most of these diagnoses do not lead to a cure or treatment or to any real-life improvements. I worry people are being unnecessarily weighted down by diagnostic labels that are often anything but certain and lead nowhere constructive. Perhaps not all these new diagnoses are entirely what they seem. They could indicate that ordinary life experiences, bodily imperfections, sadness, social anxiety are being subsumed into the category of medical disorder. It could be that borderline medical problems are becoming ironclad diagnoses and that normal experiences are being pathologized. We are not getting sicker, we are attributing more to sickness. Overdiagnosis hurts everybody which is why we, both the medical community and patients, need to start talking about it. In writing this book I set out to explore how modern medicine is redrawing the boundaries between sickness and health and what impact it is having on our lives. - Suzanne O'Sullivan
The Age of Diagnosis covers so many topics that have been troubling me but which I hadn't been able to resolve myself. It slices through the confusion and the contradictions that have tied me in knots - both as a parent and as a clinician - with grace, elegance and compassion. It is scholarly and human, but an absolutely absorbing read from start to finish. There are very few people who could write this so straightforwardly and yet with endless compassion. I really cannot say good enough things about it.
- Chris Van Tulleken author of Ultra-Processed People
These are incredibly difficult areas to explore…O'Sullivan is brave to take this subject on, and she hits the target… O'Sullivan is an excellent, fluid writer, and an eloquent speaker… In a world where medical misinformation and disinformation flourish, and people die as a result, it takes courage to counter them without pandering to stereotypes. But that is what The Age of Diagnosis does so well... Its overall message is clear: diagnosis is a tool to be wielded with the utmost caution, and tolerance for difference and for imperfection can go a long way in keeping us healthy.
- Adam Rutherford author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
A brave and deeply compassionate book with a very important message.
- Henry Marsh