The Art of Manliness Overdiagnosed — How Our Obsession with Medical Testing and Labels Is Making Us Sicker
127 snips
Sep 8, 2025 Susanna Sullivan, a neurologist and author of The Age of Diagnosis, dives into the downsides of overdiagnosis in modern medicine. She discusses how our obsession with medical testing can lead to increased anxiety and unnecessary treatments. The conversation covers the complexities of conditions like cancer, diabetes, and Lyme disease, stressing that not every medical label is helpful. Sullivan advocates for informed decision-making and a more personalized approach to healthcare, emphasizing the psychological toll of being unnecessarily diagnosed.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Two Faces Of Overdiagnosis
- Overdiagnosis doesn't mean imagined illness; it can mean real suffering made worse by medicalization.
- Distinguish over-detection (finding harmless abnormalities) from over-medicalization (labeling ordinary suffering).
Tests Support, Not Replace, Clinical Judgment
- Diagnosis is a clinical process driven first by the patient's story and exam, with tests used to support that clinical judgment.
- Tests alone are meaningless without the clinical context and often produce incidental red herrings.
Personal Experience With Test-Driven Care
- Brett describes switching from an older GP who reassured him about mild lab abnormalities to a younger GP who ordered more follow-ups and alarmed him.
- The change illustrated how test-happy practice can produce anxiety and medical cascades.
