Stories from the Frontline of Psychosomatic Illness

It's All in Your Head

A neurologist explores the very real world of psychosomatic illness

Doctors' tales of their patients' weirder afflictions have been popular since Oliver Sacks... Few of them, however, are as bizarre or unsettling, as those described in this extraordinary and extraordinarily compassionate book

A fascinating glimpse into the human condition...  a forceful call for society to be more open about such suffering

An important study of psychosomatic illness, which shows it to be a serious disease of modern society: misunderstood, misdiagnosed and surrounded by fear

Remarkable Book… Offer[s] a remarkable insight into the suffering of these patients, as well as the power of the mind over the body… It should be on the reading list of every medical student.

A book to start a revolution in healthcare, to make use see what no one has seen so clearly before

An extraordinary book... an important one too

This vital, engaging book... holds its own with recent bestsellers Do No Harm, the memoir of a neurosurgeon, and The Examined Life, by psychiatrist Stephen Grosz

It's All in Your Head sits companionably beside Stephen Grosz's The Examined Life... it casts sympathetic light on debilitating conditions that are often medically and socially vilified

A doctor's intriguing look at the puzzling world of psychosomatic illness

I don't read much fiction but I made an exception for this... Stress and sadness are motors of the subconscious, the mind is writer of medical fictions

Like Oliver Sacks, Sullivan, a consultant neurologist, has a rich vein of experience to share

A revealing book on the subject [of psychosomatic illness]

She tackles more detailed medical and neurological aspects of the subject in an easily understandable, organic style, adding to the narrative rather than disrupting it

Using a series of fascinating case studies as  a framework, Dr O’Sullivan skillfully weaves the historical understanding, and misunderstanding, of functional illness into a series of narratives that are moving and thought provoking.

A sympathetic, insightful study of psychosomatic illness

An excellent study of psychosomatic disorders

Fascinating foray into the subject of how mental factors affect our health.

Her Book, shortlisted for the 2016 Wellcome prize, describes case histories…with precision and compassion.

It’s not only a beautifully written book…it’s also a book to start a revolution in healthcare.

Impressively vivid and sympathetic argument for the reality of the mind’s more harrowing inventions.

A compassionate, honest and compelling read.

She mixes an easily accessible vocabulary with complex medical terms, something which I found both enjoyable and informative… Ultimately I found this book quite fascinating… I would recommend this book, which contains some hard hitting and highly personal stories.

A great immersion in psychosomatic problems… If you want to get a head-on feeling for the clinical experience of psychosomatic patients, read this book.

[A] controversial but utterly compassionate memoir.

It is as addictive as a great box set makes you rethink some of your closest relationships and wonder about some of the people you know best; and above all, like all truly great book it is about love and compassion.

Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, first working at The Royal London Hospital and now as a consultant in clinical neurophysiology and neurology at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and for a specialist unit based at the Epilepsy Society. She specialises in the investigation of complex epilepsy and also has an active interest in psychogenic disorders. Suzanne’s book about psychosomatic illness, It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.

A neurologist explores the very real world of psychosomatic illness. 
 
 Pauline first became ill when she was fifteen. What seemed to be a urinary infection became joint pain, then life-threatening appendicitis. After a routine operation Pauline lost all the strength in her legs. Shortly afterwards, convulsions started. But Pauline’s tests are normal: her symptoms seem to have no physical cause whatsoever. 
 
 This may be an extreme case, but Pauline is not alone. As many as a third of people visiting their GP have symptoms that are medically unexplained. In most, an emotional root is suspected which is often the last thing a patient wants to hear and a doctor to say. 
 
 We accept our hearts can flutter with excitement and our brows can sweat with nerves, but on this journey into the very real world of psychosomatic illness, Suzanne O'Sullivan finds the secrets we are all capable of keeping from ourselves. 
 
‘A fascinating glimpse into the human condition... a forceful call for society to be more open about such suffering’ Daily Mail 
 
‘Honest, fascinating and necessary’ The Times

Suzanne O'Sullivan

Powerfully life-affirming... Brainstorm is testament to O'Sullivan's unshowy clarity of thought and her continued marvelling at the mysteries of the brain

A fascinating attempt to draw the lay reader into understanding more about the function and malfunction of the brain by using real-life stories... O'Sullivan is a good, clear writer, lacks pomposity and avoids cliché -- her first book, It's All in Your Head, won the Wellcome Prize

O'Sullivan writes beautifully and is full of wonder... a pleasure

A tremendously interesting work of medical humanity... The main effect of this fascinating collection of clinical stories, by the end, is to make any reader without brain dysfunction exceedingly grateful for the fragile miracle going in inside their own skull every second

I loved it. She is in my view the best science writer around - a true descendant of Oliver Sacks

Sathnam Sanghera, author of The Boy with the Topknot

Eye-opening...her case histories alert us to the endless variety of human experience

Engaging and diverse... Brainstorm isn't just a good read. It's full of interesting science, clearly described... In a literary scene now overrun with books by doctors, many of them bald exercises in self-aggrandisement, this one stands out. Brainstorm is an engrossing book written by a doctor whose primary interest is in her patients

Full of fascinating insights... As one would expect from a neurologist in the Oliver Sacks tradition, O'Sullivan is a sure guide to these maverick brains

Brainstorm is an engaging collection of neurological case stories interwoven with lucid scientific asides. It offers keen insights into the disturbing and fascinating condition of epilepsy, and thereby the ever-elusive workings of the brain. It will undoubtedly appeal to clinicians and students across a range of disciplines but deserves a much wider readership

Tender, moving and fascinating… This is a book about neurology, and how the function of our brains affects everything. But it is much more than that. Suzanne O’Sullivan’s real detective work is found in the gaps and spaces between doctor and patient, where she gets to the heart of who we are

Christie Watson, author of The Language of Kindness

[T]he story that unfolds is incredibly real and insightful, but also funny and clever.

O’Sullivan writes beautifully and is full of wonder

O’Sullivan’s humanity and humility whisper gently from every page...her patients are very lucky to have her

Thought-provoking… This book is more than just a narrative of doctor-patient meetings; it acts to highlight the disparity between our understanding of neurological disorders and diseases of other organs… Brainstorm provides an interesting personal insight from the view of a physician and is a must-read for anyone affected by epilepsy or with an interest in neurology and medicine

A beautifully humane account…[O’Sullvian’s] procedure is a mixture of medical detective work and literary analysis

An exploration into the most complex structure in the universe, the human brain. The stories, and the bafflement, were equally engaging... Like all the best forms of non-fiction, O’Sullivan is caring towards her subjects while tough upon herself and her fellow colleagues

[Brainstorm] reads as a story of the brain, and an introduction to the most daunting of organs. It is engaging and thoughtful… Dr O’Sullivan’s humane treatment of Epilepsy as a subject and of those affected by it or involved with it…was genuinely mind-broadening

Detective Stories From the World of Neurology

'I loved it. She is in my view the best science writer around - a true descendant of Oliver Sacks' Sathnam Sanghera, author of The Boy with the Topknot 
 
 
The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. 
 
In Brainstorm the Wellcome Prize-winning author of It’s All in Your Head uncovers the most eye-opening symptoms medicine has to offer. 
 
‘Powerfully life-affirming... Brainstorm is testament to O'Sullivan's unshowy clarity of thought and her continued marvelling at the mysteries of the brain’ Guardian 
 
 
Brainstorm examines the stories of people whose symptoms are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a teenager who one day arrives home with inexplicably torn clothes; a girl whose world turns all Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. 
 
 
The brain is the most complex structure in the universe, and neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues – it’s the ultimate in medical detective work. In this riveting book, one of the UK’s leading neurologists takes you with her as she follows the trail of her patients’ symptoms: feelings of déjà vu lead us to a damaged hippocampus; spitting and fidgeting to the right temporal lobe; fear of movement to a brain tumour; a missed heart beat to the limbic system. 
 
 
It’s a journey that will open your eyes to the unfathomable intricacies of the brain, and the infinite variety of human capacity and experience.

Suzanne O'Sullivan

Praise for Brainstorm

Powerfully life-affirming... Brainstorm is testament to O'Sullivan's unshowy clarity of thought and her continued marvelling at the mysteries of the brain

A fascinating attempt to draw the lay reader into understanding more about the function and malfunction of the brain by using real-life stories... O'Sullivan is a good, clear writer, lacks pomposity and avoids clich ...

O'Sullivan writes beautifully and is full of wonder... a pleasure

Powerfully life-affirming... Brainstorm is testament to O'Sullivan's unshowy clarity of thought and her continued marvelling at the mysteries of the brain

A fascinating attempt to draw the lay reader into understanding more about the function and malfunction of the brain by using real-life stories... O'Sullivan is a good, clear writer, lacks pomposity and avoids clich ...

O'Sullivan writes beautifully and is full of wonder... a pleasure

Powerfully life-affirming... Brainstorm is testament to O'Sullivan's unshowy clarity of thought and her continued marvelling at the mysteries of the brain

A fascinating attempt to draw the lay reader into understanding more about the function and malfunction of the brain by using real-life stories... O'Sullivan is a good, clear writer, lacks pomposity and avoids clich ...

O'Sullivan writes beautifully and is full of wonder... a pleasure

Books by Suzanne O'Sullivan

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