"Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness & the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria"

Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria

2020
by Robert W. Baloh and Robert E. Bartholomew
Springer International Publishing
190 pages plus endnotes
9 hrs 3 min audio
https://www.amazon.com/Havana-Syndrome-Psychogenic-Illness-Hysteria/dp/3030407454/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

book preview:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/GhkxzQEACAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjv5dzH55qUAxVXk4kEHY63KKMQre8FegQIEhAI

"It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a 'sonic weapon' that led to a major diplomatic row. Since August 2017, the world media has been absorbed in the 'attack' on diplomats from the American and Canadian Embassies in Cuba. While physicians treating victims have described it as a novel and perplexing condition that involves an array of complaints, including brain damage, the authors present compelling evidence that mass psychogenic illness was the cause of “Havana Syndrome.”

This mysterious condition that has baffled experts is explored across 11 chapters, which offer insights by a prominent neurologist and an expert on psychogenic illness. A lively and enthralling read, the authors explore the history of similar scares from the 18th-century belief that sounds from certain musical instruments were harmful to human health, to 19th-century cases of “telephone shock,” and more contemporary panics involving people living near wind turbines that have been tied to a variety of health complaints.

The authors provide dozens of examples of kindred episodes of mass hysteria throughout history, in addition to psychosomatic conditions and even the role of insects in triggering outbreaks.

Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria is a scientific detective story and a case study in the social construction of mass psychogenic illness."

-- from the Publisher

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About the Author

Robert W. Baloh, MD is a neurologist and a Professor of Neurology at Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. Author of 11 books and over 300 articles in peer-reviewed science journals, he is a pioneer in the study of the vestibular system: the part of the inner ear which helps people to maintain their sense of balance and spatial awareness.

Robert Bartholomew is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. He holds a Masters Degree in sociology from The State University of New York at Albany and a Ph.D. in sociology from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. He has published over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, The British Medical Journal, and The Medical Journal of Australia. He is the author of 15 books.

Book Review

"As a skeptic, I feel obligated to admit that Baloh and Bartholomew could well be wrong. It is not absolutely impossible that eventually a highly advanced weapon or weapons (breaking the laws of physics as we currently understand them) will come to light that can actually cause all of the unrelated symptoms termed Havana Syndrome.
. . .
But unless and until credible evidence is found that any of those unlikely possibilities are true, the more rational assumption is that Havana Syndrome represents just the latest case of mass psychogenic illness. The likely truth seems to be, as the authors describe it: “Havana Syndrome” is actually “the story of how much of the world came to believe in something that never happened.”

Rob Palmer
Havana Syndrome: A Book Review
May 2022
Skeptical Inquirer