The position of hypochondria is suspended in darkness,’ Freud proclaimed in 1909. In this lecture I aim to cast light on the history of this obscure condition. At various points fearful illness and fashionable ailment, lifestyle choice and moral weakness, the term hypochondria has over the centuries been used to name radically diverging experiences.

Drawing on material from my forthcoming book, Hypochondria (Coach House 2025), I will trace some of these conceptual and ideological transformations, and their attempts to assign a definitive meaning to a diagnosis that seems to put in question the very act of diagnosis.

Will Rees is a writer, editor, and PhD student living in London. He is also a director of Peninsula Press, which he co-founded in 2018. His first book, Hypochondria, will be published by Coach House Books in 2025.