Fashionable diseases, past and present

Today, we are gluten sensitive. In the past, we might have had the vapors, or melancholy, or consumption. Throughout history, some diseases, even ones that are very real, have taken on social meaning and social cachet — becoming part of lifestyle identities as much as they are a part of biology. (And diseases might have a meaning in one social context that they don't have in others. Think about the difference between depression and depression when you are a teenager with a big poetry obsession.) The Fashionable Diseases research project is trying to bring these social meanings to the forefront. They've got a series of podcasts now, and a conference coming up in July.