Suzanne O' Sullivan is an Irish neurologist who traveled the world to investigate mystery illnesses and mass hysteria. In her book, The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness, she tells fascinating stories and redefines what it means to have a psychosomatic illness. She explains how it is possible for voiceless people to make themselves heard.
The Sleeping Beauty.
There is a strange epidemic of "resignation syndrome" in Sweden. Refugee girls from the Yazidi ethnic minority in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey have been denied refugee status multiple times in Sweden. They become immobile, limp, and unresponsive. They are not comatose, malingering, or asleep. There have been no physical or physiologic anomalies found in the medical evaluations. They are kept alive by tube-feeding. They may recover after being granted asylum. This doesn't fit the traditional picture of a psychosomatic illness, it requires consideration of the whole picture. The children are playing a sick role in the folklore of their small community.
There is a Grisi siknes.
This Swedish illness is not unique. It is similar to mass hysteria in other places. The symptoms of "grisi siknes" are a way of expressing conflict and asking for help in the Miskito community. The symptoms are plastic and can spread like wildfire. It can start with one child and quickly affect the whole school. They may attribute it to demons and prefer treatment by shamans to doctors, and the shamans are more likely to cure it. Illness is a metaphor.
Functional neurological disorders, predictive coding, dissociation, physical processes in the brain that we have no control over, and the way the brain is primed by past learning and experience are some of the topics discussed by O' Sullivan. Her explanations are understandable.
There is an epidemic of tics in schoolgirls.
A high school senior who was a cheerleader and straight A student woke up from a nap to discover she had developed a syndrome similar to that of Tourette's. The symptoms spread to her social group and made her unable to walk, she had to use a wheelchair, and she had non-epileptic convulsions that required her to use a wheelchair. The victims were diagnosed with conversion disorder after the diagnosis of tHerer's became unreliable. The parents refused to accept the evidence and demanded that the authorities find a more acceptable cause. A media frenzy occurred. Brockovich got involved. She didn't like psychological explanations. The toxins from the train crash were not known to cause tics, and the plume from the spill had been directed away from the school. The public trusted unqualified observers more than experts. The outbreak subsided when the girls were removed from the spotlight.
Havana syndrome.
Several people at the American embassy in Cuba developed a number of symptoms in August of last year. Doctors who evaluated them thought they had found a new syndrome that was consistent with a traumatic brain injury. The patients reported hearing a noise at the beginning. There was a rumour that the Cubans had attacked the embassy with a sonic weapon. Cubans were known to have spied on American embassies, so the speculation was easy to believe. There were political and diplomatic consequences.
The story was told by Dr. O' Sullivan. Hers is the best account I have read so far. Knowledgeable medical experts were quick to realize Havana syndrome was a mass psychogenic illness, but many doctors were caught up in the controversy and willingly denied the evidence. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) was one of the journals where articles were published. It was all about the socio political environment in which the story unfolded, and it had benefits for the doctors who created it and for others who had a vested interest in Cuba-US relations. Tensions within the embassy were exteriorized. Even if they felt well, staff were told to scrutinize themselves. There were anomalies in the scans. Havana syndrome was thought to be caused by a sonic attack and experts were consulted. O' Sullivan says something.
The academic papers and public statements from the medical teams all toed an awkward line between admitting that they had found no proof of brain disease, while still implying that an attack was a safe bet and that proof of it would come with time.
The FBI found no evidence for the attack, but Marco Rubio called it a documented fact. Havana syndrome was reported in China with a different constellation of symptoms, not just in a patient but in her mother when she flew to China to support her daughter. They were evacuated from China. Both thought their brain injuries were permanent. The embassy staff reported symptoms that were related to Havana syndrome.
There are a number of mysterious illnesses reported in the book. The author says something.
A mass-hysteria outbreak is more about the society in which it occurs than it is about the individuals who are affected.
I highly recommend this book.
The author is a good storyteller and this book is well written. It is educational and entertaining. It will give readers new information on psychosomatic illnesses.
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