The Age of Diagnosis
- Author Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrator Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
- Publish Date 18 March 2025
- Run Time 8 hours and 47 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biography and non-fiction prose, Cognitive and behavioural neuroscience, Neurology and clinical neurophysiology.
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What to expect
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
A BEST BOOK OF 2025 IN THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, LONDON STANDARD, NEW STATESMAN AND IRISH TIMES
'Covers so many topics that have been troubling me but I hadn't been able to resolve myself - as a parent and a clinician. An absolutely absorbing read' - CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN
'A brilliant study of the dangers of overdiagnosis' - GUARDIAN
'Compassionate and bracingly independent thinking' - THE TIMES
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn.
Mental health categories are shifting and expanding all the time, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'.
Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born.
And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients.
Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
*As heard on Good Morning Britain, Sky News, Radio 4 Today and more.*
A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
A BEST BOOK OF 2025 IN THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, LONDON STANDARD, NEW STATESMAN AND IRISH TIMES
'Covers so many topics that have been troubling me but I hadn't been able to resolve myself - as a parent and a clinician. An absolutely absorbing read' - CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN
'A brilliant study of the dangers of overdiagnosis' - GUARDIAN
'Compassionate and bracingly independent thinking' - THE TIMES
From autism to allergies, ADHD to long Covid, more people are being labelled with medical conditions than ever before. But can a diagnosis do us more harm than good?
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn.
Mental health categories are shifting and expanding all the time, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'.
Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born.
And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients.
Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
*As heard on Good Morning Britain, Sky News, Radio 4 Today and more.*
Critics Review
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.
O'Sullivan is brave to take this subject on, and she hits the target... she 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.
'Exceptional... Chapter by brilliant chapter, [The Age of Diagnosis] raises fundamental questions we should all be asking when thinking about illness, be it cancer or genetic disorders, never shying away from difficult truths.'
'The neurologist takes eloquent aim at a medical culture that, although well intentioned, is too quick to assign clinical labels to aspects of the human condition... A brave and compassionate book.'
How does she carry off that high wire act, being so technical and expert and grounded in data, while telling stories in a way that makes them utterly addictive? I love the way she listens to people talking. It's a really important, intelligent, compassionate and brave book, and it speaks very eloquently to things happening in our ideas about ourselves.
A humane and thoughtful observer of the oddities of the human mind... full of intriguing case studies and wise observations. Her new book ranges widely, taking in the drawbacks of mass screening for illnesses as well as the perils of overextending mental health categories... We make people sicker by by the simple act of diagnosing them with a medical problem. A fascinating book.
A brave and deeply compassionate book with a very important message.
The neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan has written insightful books about psychosomatic conditions. Here she turns her attention to the perils of over-diagnosis - including autism, allergies, ADHD and long Covid. Be prepared for compassionate and bracingly independent thinking.
In my view the best science writer around - a true descendant of Oliver Sacks.
Two elegant offerings from neurologists stand out for using patient stories to tell us something about ourselves. Suzanne O'Sullivan courageously questions medicine's well-intentioned enthusiasm for attaching labels - think ADHD, anxiety - to aspects of the human condition. This is sensitive political territory, given the public conversation about the 2.8m people who are economically inactive due to long-term illness, but it deserves a hearing.
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.
I loved this beautifully written and provocative book. The Age of Diagnosis asks brave and important questions, taking on the medical establishment as well as contemporary societal norms. O'Sullivan's primary motivation in her writing, her philosophy and her work as a doctor is extreme empathy and advocacy for her patients.
O'Sullivan explodes conventional wisdom about medical diagnoses. She knows that having a diagnosis like austism, or ADHD, or depression, or Lyme disease, can give her patients relief at having an explanation. But she also invites us to wonder where these diagnoses came from. Are we overdiagnosing? Is this really the best strategy for helping people get better? 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.
'O'Sullivan impressively marshals evidence of how drivers of 'overmedicalisation' have arisen, the minimal benefits conferred and the harms that can result. Most striking is her examination of the explosion in diagnoses of mental health conditions, such as autism and ADHD... O'Sullivan seeks out the 'reality' behind appearances, though her scepticism is tempered with sympathy and understanding... So entrenched has overmedicalisation become that there now seems no prospect of its being reversed. O'Sullivan's masterful diagnosis of how this has come about is immensely persuasive.'
User Reviews
03/04/2025
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