Hey friends, welcome. Oh my gosh, today's topic is so interesting. I didn't even know

I was interested in this until I started chatting with author Kate Summerscale. And

now I can't stop thinking about it. She has written a book called The Book of Phobias

and Manias, a history of obsession. And so this is not a book of psychology that's going

to tell us how to diagnose things like agoraphobia. It is about the historical context of how

many of these phobias and manias began. It's so interesting. Oh my goodness. Let's dive

in. I'm sharing it again. And here's where it gets interesting.

Well, I am really excited to be chatting about this fascinating topic. And I'm so excited

to be welcoming author Kate Summerscale to the show today. Thanks for being here.

Thank you for inviting me. I'm thrilled to be here. Tell everybody first of all where

you're from. I'm sure they will hear that we have different accents. I'm British. I live

in London. I wanted to chat with you today about your new book, which is unlike any book

I have ever read. And I have read a few, probably a few thousand books. And I just think

so many people will find this fascinating. And your new book is called The Book of Phobias

and Manias. And heads up to everybody listening to this. It is not at all related to clinical

diagnostics. It is not a book about how to overcome phobias and manias. It is really about

the history of phobias and manias. And I found that so interesting. Let's start first

while by telling everybody, can you define the terms phobias and manias?

Well, phobias is put very simply a compulsion to avoid something, and a version of very strong

fear. And a mania is a compulsion to do something. As a diagnosis, manias fallen very much

out of fashion. We instead often talk about things like obsessive compulsive disorders

or collective panics or mass hysteria. But phobias is still very much used as a diagnosis.

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