Mind Games

The mysterious ailment afflicting U.S. diplomats around the world—the “Havana syndrome”—is, according to a report released by the Central Intelligence Agency this month, probably not the work of a foreign government. At least in most cases. The CIA is continuing to look into the matter, investigating cases they still can’t explain, but its interim findings reframe a years-long public conversation in the United States about strange and intense symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness, and nausea. Diplomats and other American foreign-service personnel started reporting these symptoms back in 2016 at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. A lot of the discussion about them since has focused on whether they’ve been caused by a secret weapon, possibly involving microwaves. What’s been going on here?

Robert Baloh is a professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, and the co-author of Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria. Baloh is one of the leading proponents of the idea that these spreading symptoms are largely psychogenic—the result of people believing they’ve been exposed to a health threat even though they haven’t. He’s quick to emphasize that psychogenic symptoms are real—caused by an alteration in brain connections and chemistry—but he believes “Havana Syndrome” is most likely the consequence of stress, which diplomats regularly endure, or other illnesses. In Baloh’s view, there’s never been any good evidence for the more dramatic explanations, but that hasn’t stopped unsupported government pronouncements, uncritical news coverage, and flawed medical research from driving more sensational narratives for years, which, he says, doesn’t help those who are suffering.

Graham Vyse: Where does the idea of Havana Syndrome come from?

Robert Baloh: In late 2016, a CIA agent at the U.S. Embassy in Havana reported to the medical clinic complaining of some headaches and ear pain. There was an unusual story that he’d heard some kind of loud, high-pitched sound prior to the onset of these symptoms. These symptoms spread first to another CIA agent at the embassy and then, over the next several months, to several embassy employees and their families. None of these episodes occurred at the embassy. They occurred in these people’s homes and in two major Cuban hotels.