Hypochondria

Susannah B. Mintz's 'Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story' rethinks hypochondria across history, literature, medical discourse, and philosophy to argue that health anxiety can be generative rather than merely pathological.

The book traces the term's evolution from visceral explanations in early modern texts through 19th-century invalid culture to contemporary psychiatric diagnoses like Illness Anxiety Disorder.

Mintz proposes concepts such as 'hip time' and 'hip epistemology' to show how hypochondriacal attention reshapes experiences of time, knowledge, identity, aging, and community.

She explores how hypochondria can challenge medical authority, reveal social biases in healthcare, and offer alternative forms of communication and creativity.

The work aims to reduce stigma and invite more compassionate, nuanced responses to embodied uncertainty.