大象传媒

Caroline Crampton explores the history of hypochondria, drawing together cultural history and moving personal memoir.

When she was 17, Caroline Crampton developed a blood cancer which was diagnosed when a tumour appeared on her neck. After several rounds of gruelling treatment, including chemotherapy and weeks in an isolation ward, the doctors announced that her cancer was cured. But 鈥� understandably 鈥� Caroline herself was not so sure. Ever alert to new symptoms, feeling anxiously for new tumours on her neck, she worries continually that the cancer has returned.

鈥楾he fear that there is something wrong with me, that I am sick, is always with me.鈥�

This personal experience becomes the starting point for an exploration of the history of hypochondria or health anxiety, from the ancient Greeks to the modern wellness industry. It is, she says, 鈥榓n ancient condition which makes itself anew for every age鈥�.

In this episode, Caroline explores how the internet feeds health anxiety, 鈥榓cting like a megaphone for a hypochondriac鈥�. She tells the story of how Tik Tok videos produced during lockdown sparked an epidemic of symptoms, around Tourette鈥檚 syndrome in particular. And she reflects on what she鈥檚 learned in the five years spent researching the history of hypochondria:

"There are no perfect neat endings, no matter how much our instincts tell us to seek them out. During an early discussion about the book, someone asked me whether I would be giving it a happy ending. 鈥淧erhaps you could talk about the cure for hypochondria?鈥� she said, hopefully. I think I made a joke, probably something about how it would make for a better story if I died from one of my imaginary ailments鈥�"

Caroline Crampton is a writer and critic whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Granta, the New Humanist, and the Spectator. Her previous book The Way to the Sea (2019) is a journey down the Thames from source to sea. She hosts the Shedunnit podcast about detective fiction.

The reader, Tuppence Middleton, is a British actress known for her stage and screen roles in Downton Abbey, The Imitation Game, His Dark Materials and The Motive and the Cue.

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Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke and Heather Dempsey
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree
A Loftus Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 4
This is an EcoAudio certified production.

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