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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

13 April 2024

9:00 AM

13 April 2024

9:00 AM

A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria Caroline Crampton

Granta, pp.304, 16.99

The hypochondriac is the butt of jokes. Even his butt is the butt of jokes. A story doing the  rounds in the 16th and 17th centuries concerned a Parisian glassmaker who, believing himself to be also made of glass, fastened a cushion to his buttocks in case they broke when he sat down.

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