Suzanne O'Sullivan

Suzanne O'Sullivan is an Irish physician practising in Britain, specialising in neurology[1] and clinical neurophysiology.[2] In addition to academic publications in her field, O'Sullivan is an author of award-winning non-fiction books,[3][4] each focusing on medical casework related to her neurology specialty (cases that have been disguised/anonymised).[5][6]

Early life and education

O'Sullivan is from Dublin and studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin.[2] She qualified as a doctor in 1991.[1] She was the first in her family to attend college.[2] She initially wanted to be a writer, however her mother encouraged her to pursue studies with more postgrad job opportunities.[2]

O'Sullivan completed an M.A. in creative writing at Birkbeck College, University of London, in 2015.[7]

Career

O'Sullivan is a neurologist,[1] clinical neurophysiologist, and writer (see following). As of 2015, she was a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London.[1][5] The main focuses of her work in neurology are in the treatment of epilepsy patients, and on improving medical care for people with psychosomatic disorders.

Included in her scholarly publications is work on Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).[8]

As of 2025, O'Sullivan had authored four non-fiction books, concerned with psychosomatic illness, epilepsy, and over-medicalisation in particular.

Awards and recognition

O'Sullivan's 2016 book, It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness, was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards—a bookshop-curated, reader-selected award—for the year of its publication,[9] and in that year it won the £30,000 Wellcome Book Prize,[10][3] and the Royal Society of Biology's General Book Prize, for "for an accessible, engaging and informative life sciences book written for a non-specialist audience", as well.[4] An early work unrelated to her professional writing, the travel piece, "Going Off the Grid on Indonesia’s Forgotten Islands" (published in The Telegraph[11]) won the Travel Writer of the Year Award, for longer form writing, from a trade group in 2018.[12][13]

Her book, The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness, was shortlisted for the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize.[14][15][16] The book also featured repeatedly in recommendations of the Next Big Idea Club throughout 2021 and 2022,[17][18][19] and the organisation interviewed O'Sullivan regarding the book in its magazine in that period as well.[20]

Overview

The following are the four first hardcover English editions of O'Sullivan's books:

It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness (2015)

This, Sullivan's first book, was published by Chatto & Windus in 2015,[21] to positive reviews.[1][5] It has been recognised by multiple nominations and awards.[3][4][9]

It's All in Your Head discusses issues surrounding psychosomatic illness, with particular attention given to its neurological manifestations. Specifically, it explores the mind-body connection through stories of O’Sullivan's patients, looking compassionately at serious medical problems that arise through psychological mechanisms. As well, O'Sullivan considers the history of the hysteria from ancient to modern times, discusses diagnosis, causes, mechanisms and treatment of neurological psychosomatic disorders in the modern era. Among the characters it presents are:

  • Pauline, a woman experiencing since her mid-teens multiple unexplained and progressive medical issues, with symptoms including seizures and paralysis;
  • Matthew, a man convinced he has multiple sclerosis, who struggles to accept alternate explanations for his leg paralysis; and
  • Camilla, a lawyer, who experiences seizures, and cannot face their cause.

Brainstorm: The Detective Stories from the World of Neurology (2018)

This, O'Sullivan's second book,

Brainstorm published in 2018 by Chatto & Windus.[22]is an account of how the study of epilepsy changed scientists’ understanding of the human brain. It explores modern views and treatments for epilepsy, and looks at what each teaches about how the brain functions. Among the characters Brainstorm presents are:

  • Donal, who hallucinates cartoon dwarves;
  • Maya, who faces possible radical surgery to address her epilepsy;
  • Sharon, who experiences seizures who cause was other than diagnosed;

This, O'Sullivan's third book, was published in April 2021 by Picador in England,[23] and by Pantheon in the United States, and was lauded by The Royal Society and other organisations.[15][16][17]

Brandy Schillace, editor-in-chief of the journal Medical Humanities at the time her review, writes in The Wall Street Journal that O'Sullivan "uncovers... complex mechanisms while painting a picture of psychosomatic suffering that removes its associated stigma, and she asks us to think about illness in new ways." She concludes,

The Sleeping Beauties offers a brilliant, nuanced and thoughtful look at the lived experience of illness while asking important questions about the relationship between body and mind. Dr. O’Sullivan’s rich prose weaves a tapestry as hauntingly beautiful as it is scientifically valid.[24]

In this book, O’Sullivan travels to visit communities globally that are said to be affected by mass hysteria and culture bound syndromes—ways that specific cultures express distress, troubled thoughts, etc. Among the characters Brainstorm presents are:

  • schoolgirls in Colombia presenting with seizures, as an apparent contagious outbreak;
  • Kazakhstani townspeople presenting with apparent sleeping sickness, again apparently contagious;
  • the victims of sonic weapon attacks;
  • indigenousNicaraguans presenting with 'crazy sickness'; and
  • a New York high school presenting with a Tourette's-like syndrome that is spreading.

The Age of Diagnosis Sickness, Health and Why Medicine Has Gone Too Far (2025)

This, O'Sullivan's fourth book, was published in March 2025 by Thesis-Penguin Random House in England,[25] to positive early reviews.[6]

Personal life

O’Sullivan lives in London.

References

  1. ^ abcdeAdams, Tim (7 June 2015). "It's All in Your Head Review—Enduring Mystery of Psychosomatic Illness"(book review). The Guardian (TheGuardian.com). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  2. ^ abcdBoyce, Niall (5 April 2025). "Suzanne O'Sullivan: the unfolding story". The Lancet. 405 (10485): 1134. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00567-7. ISSN 0140-6736. Archived from the original on 15 May 2025.
  3. ^ abcWellcome Staff (25 April 2016). "'It's All in Your Head' by Suzanne O'Sullivan wins £30,000 Wellcome Book Prize". Wellcome Collection. London, England: Wellcome Trust. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  4. ^ abcRSB Staff (2016). "Book Awards Winners 2016". RSB.org.uk. London, England: Royal Society of Biology (RSB). The judges said: A sympathetic but scientific analysis by a consultant neurologist of medical conditions for which no physical cause can be found, extensively illustrated through the use of anonymised patient histories.
  5. ^ abcAaronovitch, David (6 June 2015). "It's All in Your Head, by Suzanne O'Sullivan"(book review). The Times (London) (TheTimes.com). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  6. ^ abRuntherford, Adam (12 March 2025). "The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan: Review—Do No Harm"(book review). The Guardian (TheGuardian.com). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  7. ^Bromwich, Kathryn (23 April 2017). "On my radar: Suzanne O'Sullivan's cultural highlights". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  8. ^McLoughlin C; Hoeritzauer I; Cabreira V; Aybek, S; Adams, C; Alty, J; Ball, HA; Baker, J; Bullock, K; Burness, C; Dworetzky, BA; Finkelstein, S; Garcin, B; Gelauff, J; Goldstein, LH; Jordbru, A; Huys, A-CML; Laffan, A; Lidstone, SC; Linden, SC; Ludwig, L; Maggio, J; Morgante, F; Mallam, E; Nicholson, C; O’Neal, M; O‘Sullivan, S; Pareés, I; Petrochilos, P; Pick, S; Phillips, W; Roelofs, K; Newby, R; Stanton, B; Gray, C; Joyce, EM; Tijssen, MAJ; Chalder, T; McCormick, M; Gardiner, P; Bègue, I; Tuttle, MC; Williams, I; McRae, S; Voon, V; Laura McWhirter (2023). "Functional Neurological Disorder is a Feminist Issue"(PDF). Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 94 (10): 855–862. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2022-330192. PMC 10511956. PMID 36977553. Retrieved 17 March 2025.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ abBA Staff (24 November 2016). "BAMB Readers Awards Presented". Booksellers.org.uk. London, England: Booksellers Association [BA] Ltd. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2025. Non-Fiction Award / Winner / Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig / Shortlist / SPQR by Mary Beard / Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane/ Reasons... / The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan / When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi / It's All in Your Head by Suzanne O'Sullivan.
  10. ^Farnetti, Thomas S.G. (14 March 2016). "Wellcome Book Prize 2016 Shortlist Revealed". BBC.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  11. ^O’Sullivan, Suzanne (February 2018). "Going Off Grid on Indonesia's Forgotten Islands". The Telegraph (Telegraph.com). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  12. ^Franklin, Jackie & Ockwell, Sue (February 2018). "AITO Announces Winners of the 2018 Travel Writer of the Year Awards". TravelPR.co.uk. Twickenham, England: The Specialist Travel Association (former Association of Independent Tour Operators, AITO). Retrieved 17 March 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) The press release from the AITO can be see here.
  13. ^The AITO Travel Writer of the Year Award [for works] Over 1,500 words was given over Adrian Phillips' "The Hothouse Heart of the Jungle" on Ecuador's Yasuni National Park (National Geographic Traveller, second place) and Michelle Jana Chan's "Primal Green" on the gorillas of Rwanda (Vanity Fair, third place), see Franklin & Ockwell, op. cit.
  14. ^This book prize appears variously with "Trivedi" and "Insight Investment" in its name, see other citations appearing.
  15. ^ abRoyal Society Staff (2021). "Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize: The Sleeping Beauties—Shortlist 2021". The Royal Society (RoyalSociety.org). Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2025. Note, the date of this announcement remains to be better sourced.
  16. ^ abSmith, Sir Adrian; Cox, Brian; and RS Book Prize shortlist authors (29 November 2021). Brian Cox presents the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize(video, author panel discussion). YouTube.com. London, England: The Royal Society. Retrieved 17 March 2025. The prize was won by Merlin Sheldrake for Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, see also Bayley, Sian (29 November 2021). "Sheldrake Wins Royal Society Science Book Prize with 'Illuminating' Fungi Book". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021..
  17. ^ abNBIC Staff (26 July 2021). "84 Books Coming Out in the Fall That We Can't Wait to Read". NextBigIdeaClub.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025. Here, NBIC Staff refers to the NBIC byline, "Editors".
  18. ^NBIC Staff (8 February 2022). "9 Books That Destigmatize Physical and Mental Illness". NextBigIdeaClub.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025. Here, NBIC Staff refers to the NBIC byline, "Editors".
  19. ^NBIC Staff (1 June 2022). "3 Must-Read Books About Scientists Racing Against the Clock". NextBigIdeaClub.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025. Here, NBIC Staff refers to the NBIC byline, "Editors".
  20. ^O'Sullivan, Suzanne & NBIC Staff (24 October 2021). "Book Bites—The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness". NextBigIdeaClub.com. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  21. ^O'Sullivan, Suzanne (5 October 2015). It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness. London, England: Chatto & Windus—Vintage—Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0701189266. Retrieved 18 March 2025. For the publication date, see this link.
  22. ^O'Sullivan, Suzanne (29 May 2018). Brainstorm: The Detective Stories from the World of Neurology. London, England: Chatto & Windus—Vintage—Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-1784741310. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  23. ^O'Sullivan, Suzanne (1 April 2021). The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness. London, England: Picador-Pan MacMillan. ISBN 978-1529010558. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  24. ^Schillace, Brandy (17 September 2021). "'The Sleeping Beauties' Review: Illness Beyond Medicine". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  25. ^O'Sullivan, Suzanne (18 March 2025). The Age of Diagnosis: Sickness, Health and Why Medicine Has Gone Too Far. London, England: Thesis-Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780593852910. Retrieved 17 March 2025.

Further reading

Scholarly works

  • McLoughlin C; Hoeritzauer I; Cabreira V; Aybek, S; Adams, C; Alty, J; Ball, HA; Baker, J; Bullock, K; Burness, C; Dworetzky, BA; Finkelstein, S; Garcin, B; Gelauff, J; Goldstein, LH; Jordbru, A; Huys, A-CML; Laffan, A; Lidstone, SC; Linden, SC; Ludwig, L; Maggio, J; Morgante, F; Mallam, E; Nicholson, C; O’Neal, M; O‘Sullivan, S; Pareés, I; Petrochilos, P; Pick, S; Phillips, W; Roelofs, K; Newby, R; Stanton, B; Gray, C; Joyce, EM; Tijssen, MAJ; Chalder, T; McCormick, M; Gardiner, P; Bègue, I; Tuttle, MC; Williams, I; McRae, S; Voon, V; Laura McWhirter (2023). "Functional Neurological Disorder is a Feminist Issue"(PDF). Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 94 (10): 855–862. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2022-330192. PMC 10511956. PMID 36977553. Retrieved 17 March 2025.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Book reviews

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suzanne_O%27Sullivan&oldid=1331227647"