Two studies published Monday found that there’s basically no difference between healthy people and those who claim to have “Havana syndrome,” suggesting that working for the U.S. government is so stressful it’ll make you physically sick.
Research teams at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), using a mixture of advanced imaging techniques and in-depth clinical data, found no significant evidence of MRI-detectable brain injuries among a group of federal employees who claim to have experienced anomalous health incidence (AHIs). AHIs are colloquially known as “Havana syndrome,” with symptoms including hearing noises, head pressure, headaches, dizziness, cognitive dysfunction and other bizarre issues reported by U.S. government personnel.
The disorder was first brought to public attention in 2016 after a CIA officer went to the medical unit at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, with a series of strange neurological issues. As recently as 2021, Biden signed a bill to provide “victims” of the disorder more support, despite the lack of scientific evidence of what it is, what causes it and how it is cured.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in 2022 that he had “no doubt” that the syndrome was real and that U.S. diplomats have become “directly and powerfully affected” by it … which makes this entire situation yet another major embarrassment for President Joe Biden’s current administration.
Mysterious Sound Illness That Hit Diplomats In Cuba And China Is Back https://t.co/uHFUHK5dbE pic.twitter.com/50b5inqaAi
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 4, 2018
“Our goal was to conduct thorough, objective and reproducible evaluations to see if we could identify structural brain or biological differences in people who reported AHIs,” the study’s lead author Leighton Chan said in a statement accompanying the data. “While we did not identify significant differences in participants with AHIs, it’s important to acknowledge that these symptoms are very real, cause significant disruption in the lives of those affected and can be quite prolonged, disabling and difficult to treat.” (RELATED: REPORT: Mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’ Has US Diplomats Avoiding Jobs Abroad)
Not only did the 80 participants show no difference to a healthy control group, but nearly every individual had some type of functional neurological disorder (FND) commonly correlated with high levels of stress.
CIA Director’s Team Showed Signs Of Mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’ During Trip Abroad https://t.co/jPmttyHEuI
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 22, 2021
It is true that psychological disorders are significantly harder to treat. Part of the problem is that everyone has a unique psychological perspective, meaning treatments and therapies usually have to be tuned to the individual and not applied in a macro way.
The other major issue is that most of the participants were no longer in the same situational context as when their “disorder” started, making it almost impossible to figure out what stressors caused such a physiological response. (RELATED: US Intelligence Concludes Mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’ Not Caused By Foreign Adversary)
Then again, as someone who writes about the government and world politics, I can tell you that it gets pretty stressful to see such stupid people consistently ruining society. I can only imagine that working for the U.S. government — or any international government — would be just as stressful and depressing.