The Age of Diagnosis

How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker

By: Suzanne O'Sullivan

Narrated by: Suzanne O'Sullivan

From a neurologist and the award-winning author of The Sleeping Beauties, a meticulous and compassionate exploration of how our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help, patients.

We live in an age of diagnosis. Conditions like ADHD and autism are on the rapid rise, while new categories like long Covid are being created. Medical terms are increasingly used to describe ordinary human experiences, and the advance of sophisticated genetic sequencing techniques means that even the healthiest of us may soon be screened for potential abnormalities. More people are labeled "sick" than ever before—but are these diagnoses improving their lives?

With scientific authority and compassionate storytelling, neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan argues that our obsession with diagnosis is harming more than helping. It is natural when we are suffering to want a clear label, understanding, and, of course, treatment. But our current approach to diagnosis too often pathologizes difference, increases our anxiety, and changes our experience of our bodies for the worse.

Through the moving stories of real people, O'Sullivan compares the impact of a medical label to the pain of not knowing. She explains the way the boundaries of a diagnosis can blur over time. Most importantly, she calls for us to find new and better vocabularies for suffering and to find ways to support people without medicalizing them.

Critic reviews

“With grace, elegance, and compassion, The Age of Diagnosis slices through the confusion and the contradictions that have tied me in knots—both as a parent and as a clinician. Dr. O’Sullivan’s previous books made a big impression on me and influenced my clinical practice. This will do the same and more.” —Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People

“O’Sullivan explodes conventional wisdom about medical diagnoses. 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.” —Elizabeth Loftus, distinguished professor, University of California, Irvine

“A brave and deeply empathetic book with a very important message.” —Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm

“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.” —Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being

empathy masterclass

It could have been too easy to write this book with an unintentionally dismissive tone, but she instead did it with such empathy that her prescriptions show a much deeper respect and care for human suffering than the status quo.

The book we need right now

Well researched, persuasive, and nuanced book that calls out major issues with our current model of medicine. The author does a great job demonstrating where diagnosis can create more harms than solutions. She persuasively describes the incentives both personally and in the medical community to seek and/or quickly provide a diagnosis. But also the trend and incentives for both increasingly sensitive diagnostic testing and diagnosis creep, medicalizing milder symptoms so that they qualify as a diagnosis they did not before. Identifying with a diagnosis then can lead to a "nocebo" effect where are person takes on more typical symptoms and attribute more bodily or mental issues to the condition that they are often told is genetic and permanent, rather than potentially psychosomatic and temporary.

Clear commentary on the problems

This book told me a lot of things I already know—as an American position, most of it is not surprising, but O’Sullivan helps illuminate and crystallize the concerns that many of us have in the medical community. She also identifies issues that I had not considered, such as how overdiagnosis of autism could dilute the research and divert resources away from patients with more severe disease. She also offers an appropriately balanced view of the pros and cons and, I think accurately, comments that our current society has been swinging too far to one end of the diagnostic issue.

I learned a lot

This book really speaks to the issue of over diagnosis and diagnosis as identity. I feel much more informed for having read it

Life Changing Book

As someone who owns a practice that diagnoses people with some of the "conditions" described in the book, this book was truly life changing for me and for all those my group cares for. It addresses concerns and questions I've had both as a patient personally and as a health & wellness provider. I cannot recommend this book enough. I immediately ordered copies to send to my doctors and every year I give out at Christmas a book of the year with a write up and this will be my book for this year. Thank you to Dr. O'Sullivan for a life changing work. I'm grateful I stumbled on this book and decided to give it a listen.