Illness is not simply a matter of biology. Our thoughts, conscious or otherwise, can make us feel pain or become unwell. If you experienced side effects from your Covid vaccine, the chances are that these were caused by your belief that you would experience them. When a nurse tells you ‘this is going to hurt’, it generally does – but perhaps it shouldn’t.

In this revelatory study, neuroscientist Helen Pilcher explores the hidden impact of the ‘nocebo effect’ – the placebo’s evil twin. Medical studies have proven the nocebo effect to cause pain, nausea, paralysis, seizures, and even blindness. The nocebo effect impacts how we grow sick and grow old, explains why people who don’t have food allergies have dietary intolerances, and why adults and teenagers are equally susceptible to catching tics through social media.

From Havana Syndrome to hex deaths, chronic pain and mystery illnesses, this book explains what happens when illness, psychology and society meet – and shows us what we can do to become less ill and more well.