How Patients Think

At age twenty-one, Chloë Atkins began suffering from a mysterious illness, the symptoms of which rapidly worsened. Paralyzed for months at a time, she frequently required intubation and life support. She eventually became quadriplegic, dependent both on a wheelchair and on health professionals who refused to believe there was anything physically wrong with her. When test after test returned inconclusive results, Atkins's doctors pronounced her symptoms psychosomatic. Atkins was told not only that she was going to die but also that this was her own fault; they concluded she was so emotionally deranged that she was willing her own death.

My Imaginary Illnessis the compelling story of Atkins's decades-long battle with a disease deemed imaginary, her frustration with a succession of doctors and diagnoses, her immersion in the world of psychotherapy, and her excruciating physical and emotional journey back to wellness. As both a political theorist and patient, Atkins provides a narrative critique of contemporary medicine and its problematic handling of uncertainty and of symptoms that are not easily diagnosed or known. She convincingly illustrates that medicine's belief in evidence-based practice does not mean that individual doctors are capable of objectivity, nor that the presence of biomedical ethics invokes ethical practices in hospitals and clinics.

A foreword by Bonnie Blair O'Connor, who teaches medical students how to listen to patients, and a clinical commentary by Dr. Brian David Hodges, a professor of psychiatry, enrich the book's narrative with practical guidance for medical practitioners and patients alike.

My Imaginary Illness is the compelling story of Atkins's decades-long battle with a disease deemed imaginary, her frustration with a succession of doctors and diagnoses and her excruciating physical and emotional journey back to wellness.

Foreword by Bonnie Blair O'Connor
Introduction1 Beginnings
2 The Original Crisis
3 Facing Uncertainty
4 Ontological Apprehensions
5 Diagnosis: Conversion Reaction
6 Credo
7 More Paralysis and More Psychological Remedies
8 A Pyrrhic Victory
9 Becoming a Pariah
10 Fire! Fire!
11 Love in the Midst of Ruin
12 Grasping at a Diagnosis, Hoping for a Cure
13 The Crisis Deepens
14 Contemplating Hemlock
15 Icarus
16 A Crisis, American Style
17 GravyClinical Commentary by Brian David Hodges, MD
Bibliography
About the Authors
Index