A scientific detective story and a case study in the social construction of mass psychogenic illness.

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.

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 eleven chapters which offer insights by a prominent neurologist and an expert on psychogenic illness. A lively and enthralling listen, the authors explore the history of similar scares from the eighteenth century belief that sounds from certain musical instruments were harmful to human health, to nineteenth 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.

Despite the rapid advances in medical science, the majority of people who visit a doctor have medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), symptoms that remain a mystery despite extensive diagnostic studies. The most common MUS are back pain, abdominal pain, headache, fatigue, and dizziness. This audiobook addresses the obstacles of managing people with MUS in our modern day society from both a historical and contemporary perspective.

Most MUS are psychosomatic in origin, caused by a complex interaction between nature and nurture, between biological and psychosocial factors. Psychosomatic symptoms are as real and as severe as the symptoms associated with structural damage to the brain. Unique and concise, the audiobook explores the biological and psychosocial mechanisms, the clinical features, and current and future treatments of common MUS.

Exploring the unsolved in an accessible manner, Medically Unexplained Symptoms invokes the methodologies of medical science, history, and sociology to investigate how brain flaws can lead to debilitating symptoms.