Frances Wilson

There’s nothing shameful about hypochondria

Caroline Crampton describes the real agonies of people obsessed with their fragility, revealing that her own hypochondria stems from a childhood cancer diagnosis

Charles VI of France receives the English envoys during a truce in the Hundred Years’ War (from Jean Froissart’s Chronicles). The king, known as both ‘the beloved’ and ‘the mad’, believed his flesh would shatter on contact and had his clothing reinforced with iron rods. [Alamy]
  • Comments

  • A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria

    Caroline Crampton

    Granta, pp. 304, £16

Already a subscriber? Log in

This article is for subscribers only

Subscribe today to get 3 months' delivery of the magazine, as well as online and app access, for only £3.

  • Weekly delivery of the magazine
  • Unlimited access to our website and app
  • Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
  • Explore our online archive, going back to 1828

Read next

Trending

Nick Cohen

Keir Starmer’s fortunes are about to change

Nick Cohen
Those of us who voted Labour with pleasure on 4 July could never have imagined the new government’s first 100 days. We thought that the grown-ups would take charge after the chaos of the Tory years. Labour would be the adults in the room, as the cliché goes: sensible, professional people like Sir Keir Starmer,

Because you read about charles darwin

Also by Frances Wilson

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in