Home › Books › The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Myste…
The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness
by
75/99
Critics' Rating Index
36/99
Readers' Rating Index
86/99
Scholars' Citation Index
84/99
Volume of Reviews
70/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
A riveting exploration of the phenomenon of psychosomatic disorders, mass hysteria, and other culture-bound syndromes occurring around the world. In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children fall asleep for months and years at a time. In upstate New York, teenage girls develop involuntary twitches and seizures that spread like a contagion. In the US Embassy in Cuba, employees experience headaches and memory loss after hearing strange noises in the night. There are more than 200 officially listed culture-bound syndromes--specific sets of symptoms that exist in a particular culture--affecting people around the world. In The Sleeping Beauties, Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan--a prize winning British neurologist--investigates psychosomatic disorders and mass hysteria, traveling the world to visit communities suffering from these so-called mystery illnesses. From a derelict post-Soviet mining town in Kazakhstan, to the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua, to the heart of the Maria Mountains in Colombia, O'Sullivan records the remarkable stories of culture-bound syndromes related by an array of people from all walks of life. She presents these curious and often distressing case studies of seeming mass hysteria with compassion and humanity, persuasively arguing that psychological suffering demands much greater respect and discussion than it's given at present. In attempting to understand the complexity of psychogenic illness, O'Sullivan has given us a book of both fascination and serious concern as these syndromes continue to proliferate around the globe.
Reviews
"Not because it is alluringly freakish, but because it is so compassionate, and so driven by deep curiosity about the human psyche."
"She provides a powerful perspective of functional neurological disorders ..."
"As O'Sullivan masterfully narrates the cases, she movingly allows the subjects to tell their own stories, too."
"O'Sullivan wades into this conflict with extraordinary tact."
"O'Sullivan keenly explains illness templates that are coded in our brains by our sociocultural environment ..."
"Perhaps this eloquent and convincing book will be the start of making people in authority listen, make change and help."
"Her reports from the field are generally not encouraging."
"O'Sullivan's fair and detailed analysis of Havana Syndrome is itself worth the price of this book ..."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!