What Is Havana Syndrome? Symptoms and Whether You Should Worry
Portrait of a dreadlocks braid topknot bun woman lying and sleeping on the sofa. Concept of depression, loneliness, problems of adolescence
A lot of people panicked when a joint investigative report from 60 Minutes, The Insider (a Russian news outlet) and Germany's Der Spiegel declared Havana syndrome to be caused by Russian "directed energy weapons" from their GRU Unit 29155 agency.
A spokesperson for the Office of National Intelligence told CBS News in a statement, "We continue to closely examine anomalous health incidents (AHIs), particularly in areas we have identified as requiring additional research and analysis. Most IC agencies have concluded that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs."
Another reason to be skeptical of a potential foreign faction cause is that the majority of reports about Havana syndrome have come from those covering geopolitics and national security, not health or medicine. As one NPR report notes, it just so happens to be conducive to getting clicks for national security reporters to link the "anomalous health events" to countries like Cuba and Russia, which have long had hostile relationships with the United States.
What is Havana syndrome and should you be worried about it? Let's break it down.
What is Havana syndrome?
According to the Associated Press, Havana syndrome is a name given to a mysterious condition dating back to 2016, when several officials working at the United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba, claimed to have fallen ill with headaches, dizziness, ear pain, head pressure and tinnitus. There's some speculation that it may have first surfaced two years earlier with U.S. officials in Frankfurt, Germany, but this hasn't been proven one way or the other just yet.
The government is still looking into Havana syndrome as a whole. A rep the White House told CBS News in a statement, "At the start of the Biden-Harris administration and again following the 2023 Intelligence Community assessment, the White House has directed departments and agencies across the federal government to prioritize investigations into the cause of AHIs and to examine reports thoroughly; to ensure that U.S. government personnel and their families who report AHIs receive the support and timely access to medical care that they need; and to take reports of AHIs seriously and treat personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasize the importance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively examine the effects and potential causes of AHIs."
Related: 5 Practices Proven to Boost Your Mental Health
What are Havana syndrome symptoms?
Symptoms of Havana syndrome are varied and at times vague. The symptoms most commonly reported include:
Difficulty concentrating
Ear pressure
Head pressure
Loss of balance
Related: The Best Food for Anxiety, According to Experts
Is Havana syndrome like tinnitus?
Tinnitus and Havana syndrome indeed share a lot of symptoms, most prominently ringing in the ears, ear pain, balance issues and vertigo.
Related: The One Thing Audiologists Say to Never Do
How many people have been diagnosed with Havana syndrome?
About 1,500 cases of Havana syndrome have been reported among U.S. government personnel across 96 countries, according to CNN.
Related: 8 Phrases To Repeat to Yourself When You're Feeling Anxiety, According to a Therapist
Is Havana syndrome psychosomatic?
It's quite possible. A panel of experts from President Joe Biden's administration released a statement (via The New York Times) explaining that many of the reported cases of Havana syndrome could be the result of stress and psychosomatic reactions. The latter means that physical symptoms may be manifesting from mental, emotional or psychological causes. It's pretty accepted that many U.S. government officials—those who claimed to have experienced Havana syndrome—have pretty stressful jobs, so it's well within the realm of possibility that their symptoms (which are real!) were stress-induced.
Related: Why the Body Responds to Stress
How do you test for Havana syndrome?
Essentially, you can't. According to a 2022 New York Times report, government officials were working on an evaluation for Havana syndrome. At the time, it mostly consisted of a series of questions for medical professionals to ask patients—and it was being expanded to include questions related to anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions.
Even then, officials noted, the tests couldn't really diagnose Havana syndrome so much as determine what sort of treatment a patient needed at the time.
The exam reportedly takes about 2.5 hours and is designed to rule out other potential physical or mental causes for symptoms, including pre-existing medical conditions or external and environmental factors (for example, if your ears were ringing after you stood right next to a speaker at Lollapalooza, if you set off fireworks the night before or if you were around explosives in a war zone).
Some of the tests of Havana syndrome include hand-eye coordination and balance evaluations.
Related: The One Thing You Should Never, Ever Do if You Suffer From Depression, According to Therapists
What are the long-term effects of Havana syndrome?
So far, it may be too soon to tell. That said, a March 2024 study reported no long-term brain damage in Havana syndrome patients over the course of five years, so that's a good sign—and you can probably rest easy knowing you're more likely to come down with a case of mass hysteria than you are with Havana syndrome.
