Chapters Six through Nine Summary and Analysis

Sacks notes that there are "predispositions" toward many diseases and the migraines are no exception. There is, as is the case with many illnesses, a tendency toward family connections. For example, a person who has migraines might have a child who is also prone to migraines. Sacks says there are some problems with this theory, mainly in the subjects used for the study on which the figures are based. One of these is that environment may play a key role in instances of migraines. He says the only way to thoroughly test these theories is to use children of parents who suffer migraines but who are raised by foster parents who do not have migraines.

An important point made by Sacks indicates that there is a tendency to "romanticize" migraine suffers. Some researchers, according to...