The Age of Diagnosis

How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker

Suzanne O'Sullivan

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Hardback

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English

Penguin Young Readers
18 March 2025

Social & cultural anthropology; Psychology; Physiological & neuro-psychology, biopsychology; Cognition & cognitive psychology; Medical diagnosis

From a neurologist and the award-winning author of The Sleeping Beauties, a meticulous and compassionate exploration of how our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help, patients.

We live in an age of diagnosis. Conditions like ADHD and autism are on the rapid rise, while new categories like long Covid are being created. Medical terms are increasingly used to describe ordinary human experiences, and the advance of sophisticated genetic sequencing techniques means that even the healthiest of us may soon be screened for potential abnormalities. More people are labeled ""sick"" than ever before—but are these diagnoses improving their lives?

With scientific authority and compassionate storytelling, neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan argues that our obsession with diagnosis is harming more than helping. It is natural when we are suffering to want a clear label, understanding, and, of course, treatment. But our current approach to diagnosis too often pathologizes difference, increases our anxiety, and changes our experience of our bodies for the worse.

Through the moving stories of real people, O'Sullivan compares the impact of a medical label to the pain of not knowing. She explains the way the boundaries of a diagnosis can blur over time. Most importantly, she calls for us to find new and better vocabularies for suffering and to find ways to support people without medicalizing them.

By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
Imprint: Penguin Young Readers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 158mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 459g
ISBN: 9780593852910
ISBN 10: 0593852915
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 18 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist since 2004, specializing in complex epilepsy and functional neurological disorders. She is the author of three books: It’s All in Your Head, which won the 2016 Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology general book prize, Brainstorm, and The Sleeping Beauties, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society book prize and for the Next Big Ideas club.

Reviews for The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker

“With grace, elegance, and compassion, The Age of Diagnosis slices through the confusion and the contradictions that have tied me in knots—both as a parent and as a clinician. Dr. O’Sullivan’s previous books made a big impression on me and influenced my clinical practice. This will do the same and more.” —Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People “O’Sullivan explodes conventional wisdom about medical diagnoses. With clarity of prose and reasoning, The Age of Diagnosis should make all of us think about whether we are more or less healthy when we receive a diagnostic label.” —Elizabeth Loftus, distinguished professor, University of California, Irvine “A brave and deeply empathetic book with a very important message.” —Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm “A book of great wisdom as well as compassion—the result of decades working along the frontiers of brain, mind, and body. Modern medicine is powerful; with care, and with stories from her clinic, Dr. O’Sullivan shows just how harmful it can be too.” —Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being