Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan is an Irish neurologist who wrote the
prize-winning book 'It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary
Illness.' This book follows in the same vein, discussing illnesses that
seem to have no somatic cause.
Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan
*****
The
placebo effect occurs when a sick person receives a 'fake treatment'
(like a sugar pill) and feels better anyway. It seems the mind can
convince the body a fake treatment is the real thing. 
The
opposite is true as well. A person can exhibit ailments caused by their
mind. Symptoms might include paralysis, blindness, headache, dizziness,
coma, tremor, skin rashes, breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations,
bladder problems, diarrhea, stomach cramps, or any other symptoms or
disability one can imagine. This type of illness has been given many
names over the years, including hysteria, conversion disorder,
psychosomatic disorder, and functional neurological disorder (FND). 
O'Sullivan
observes that many people wrongly consider psychosomatic symptoms 'less
real' than other medical problems She writes, "I struggle to see where
this underestimation comes from....That the body is the mouthpiece of
the mind seems self-evident to me, but I have the sense that not
everybody feels the connection between bodily changes and the contents
of their thoughts. So when a child becomes catatonic in the context of
stresses....people are amazed and perplexed."
O'Sullivan became
interested in childhood catatonia when she read a 2017 article about a
9-year-old girl in Sweden called Sophie. Sophie can't move, communicate,
eat, or even open her eyes.....though medical tests show nothing wrong.
Moreover, Sophie isn't unique. Other young girls in Sweden have fallen
into similar catatonic states, suffering from a condition called
'resignation syndrome.' 
A girl with resignation syndrome
The
common factor among the resignation syndrome victims seems to be the
fact that their families are asylum seekers. Sophie's family escaped
persecution in Russia, and other catatonic girls belong to ethnic
minorities like the Yazidi or the Uyghurs, who are oppressed in their
home countries. If asylum isn't granted, the families will be deported.
Asylum
seeking is a years-long process, and the families can feel like they're
on trial....like they're being interrogated rather than listened to.
O'Sullivan writes, "The asylum system seeks to find the mistakes that
disprove an applicant's case, rather than looking for the evidence to
prove it." O'Sullivan believes the children faced with possible
deportation are under strain, and this induces the symptoms of
resignation syndrome. Moreover, when granted residency the children
usually wake up, albeit very very slowly.
Unfortunately many
people look at psychosomatic symptoms as being 'fake' and untreatable. A
physician called Dr. Olssen took O'Sullivan to visit two Yazidi sisters
in Sweden - Nola (10) and Helan (11) - both of whom suffer from
resignation syndrome. 
Nola and Helan have resignation syndrome
O'Sullivan
writes, "Dr. Olssen welcomed me because I was a neurologist. She hoped
that I could find a [brain-related] explanation....that I would
interpret the clinical signs and legitimize the girls' suffering and
convince someone to help them. That Nola had been lying in bed for a
year and a half without eating or moving had not been deemed impressive
enough to get her the help she needed."
Oddly enough, though
asylum seekers are found all over the world, resignation syndrome seems
confined to Sweden, and affects only certain ethnic groups. O'Sullivan
speculates the syndrome is not a biological or psychological illness in
the Western sense, but rather a sociocultural phenomenon.
O'Sullivan
goes on to write about additional sociocultural/psychosomatic
illnesses, which manifest differently in diverse places and varying
ethnic groups.
*****
The Miskito people indigenous to
Nicaragua have outbreaks of a condition called grisi siknis, which
appears as irrational behavior and hallucinations. Victims have been
seen to have convulsions, foam at the mouth, rip off their clothes, run
manically, hyperventilate, and break and eat glass. Miskito people don't
believe grisi siknis is psychosomatic, but say it's caused by a spirit
or demon that (usually) appears as a man. 
Girl showing symptoms of grisi siknis
Boy showing symptoms of grisi siknis
*****
In
the Kazakhstani cities of Krasnogorsk and Kalachi, many residents
experienced a mystery illness that drove them from their homes. One
victim, named Tamara, got sick at a community party. She tells
O'Sullivan that she started to feel strange, light-headed and sleepy and
had to leave the party early. Tamara then went home, went to bed, and
didn't get up for a few days. Tamara recovered, but never went back to
feeling as healthy as she had been before she fell asleep. Tamara was
not an isolated case, and many people in the region experienced similar
symptoms.
Kazakhstani woman with mystery sleeping sickness
*****
In
2016, an illness called Havana syndrome originated among Western
diplomats in Cuba. American and Canadian State Department employees
developed symptoms such as headache, earache, hearing impairment,
dizziness, tinnitus, unsteadiness, visual disturbance, memory problems,
difficulty concentrating and fatigue. 
A woman with Havana Syndrome being examined by medical personnel
Most
of the victims reported hearing a strange noise before their symptoms
started, and speculation began that they had been subjected to a sound
energy or sonic attack. The FBI and CIA looked high and low for traces
of a sound weapon, but found none. Later, new victims appeared in China,
and more recently in Serbia and India. Physicians aren't able to
explain the sickness, and it appears to be a functional neurological
disorder. 
No sonic weapons were found
*****
In
La Cansona, a region of Colombia, schoolgirls got caught up in a health
crisis that began in 2014. The phenomenon began in a high school, when a
group of girls - all in the same class - collapsed. Some just fell to
the floor in a faint and some had convulsions. The condition spread
quickly, and within a day, girls in several other classes got sick.
High school class in Colombia
By
2019, it was estimated that, out of 120,000 people in the area, as many
as 1,000 girls had fallen ill. The villagers attributed the illness to
an HPV vaccine administered years before, but doctors dismissed this as a
cause.
*****
High school girls in Le Roy, a town in
upstate New York, developed neurological symptoms in 2011. The
manifestation began with a teenager name Katie Krautwurst, who woke from
a nap to find she had developed involuntary movements and verbal
outbursts reminiscent of Tourette's syndrome. Katie twitched and writhed
and let out involuntary shouts. Katie's best friend Thera got sick
next, and the disorder soon spread to other teenagers. Some victims had
convulsions, others couldn't walk. Katie and Thera ultimately needed
wheelchairs when the muscle jerks became so violent that they caused
them to fall. Doctors could find no somatic cause and the girls were
diagnosed with conversion disorder.
Katie Krautwurst was one of the first girls to develop neurological symptoms
A
similar phenomenon occurred in Guyana in 2013, where the local people
attributed the illness to 'Granny', the spirit of an old woman who lives
in a cave.
*****
O'Sullivan discusses all these illnesses
in detail, emphasizing that medical tests NEVER demonstrate a somatic
cause and patients ALWAYS resist the idea they have a psychosomatic
disorder.
O'Sullivan also goes on to discuss Western medicine
vs. native remedies; attitudes of doctors to functional neurological
disorders; the social stigma associated with having a 'fake' illness;
the fact that psychosomatic disorders are attributed more often to
females than males; her belief that people with psychosomatic disorders
would improve with the correct treatment; the effect of the media on
conversion disorders; the effect of culture and tradition on
psychosomatic disorders; patients she's treated; and more.
The
book is interesting and I liked the parts about O'Sullivan's travels;
her interactions with people she met; victims she saw; foods she tried
(like Colombian buñuelos (cheese donuts) and Kazakhstani mayonnaise
soup); and more. 
Buñuelos
Mayonnaise soup
On
the downside, the narrative is somewhat repetitive and disjointed.
Still, this is a fascinating subject and the book would probably appeal
to readers interested in functional neurological disorders.
Thanks to Netgalley, Suzanne O'Sullivan, and Pantheon Books for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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