The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness

In this medical investigation, Suzanne O'Sullivan examines psychosomatic disorders through the lens of sociogenic illness. She reports on specific regional phenomena, such as the Resignation Syndrome affecting refugee children in Sweden who fall into years-long comas, and collective fainting spells in Nicaraguan villages. O’Sullivan argues that these conditions are not fraudulent or biological malfunctions, but physical embodiments of psychological distress shaped by cultural narratives. She demonstrates how the "sick role" and environmental stressors interact with the nervous system to produce neurological symptoms that lack a visible physical cause.

Students of psychology and sociology will find this book useful for its analysis of the mind-body connection. It serves readers who want to understand how community beliefs and social displacement manifest as tangible physical disability. The text provides a framework for recognizing that psychiatric distress often bypasses language and utilizes the body to communicate trauma. Readers walk away with a functional understanding of functional neurological disorders and the impact that cultural expectations have on the presentation of human illness.