A Cultural History of Hypochondria

Published June 25, 2024 at 1:12 PM MDT

Writer Caroline Crampton survived cancer, but she still didn’t feel well. Instead, she was stuck with a persistent, anxious fear that the cancer would come back.

Caroline’s bout with cancer left her with hypochondria — that fear that something, anything, might make you terribly ill. Crampton has said that, at its heart, hypochondria is about seeking knowledge to beat back the fear of uncertainty. So perhaps it isn’t surprising that she wrote a book about the condition. It’s part memoir and part history, from her own struggles with hypochondria, to that of Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf, as well as ancient accounts of the Greek scholars.

GUEST —

Caroline Crampton | Writer and podcaster. Her latest book is “A Body Made of Glass: A Cultural History of Hypochondria.” [Amazon | Bookshop]

Airdate: Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.