Stricken by sleep
The Sleeping Beauties
and Other Stories of Mystery Illness
Suzanne O’Sullivan
Picador 2021
Hb, 336pp, £16.99, ISBN 9781529010558
Forteans are fascinated by culture-bound syndromes, outbreaks of functional neurological disorder (previously called mass hysteria) and exotic, emerging and enigmatic diseases. Many of these “mystery” ailments are psychosomatic: real symptoms with roots in psychology or behaviour, rather than physical changes.
Indeed, up to a third of patients
