Fearing the worst can lead to physical changes, according to this fascinating study of a strange medical phenomenon
In Roald Dahl’s 1980 masterpiece The Twits, Quentin Blake’s illustrations demonstrate how Mrs Twit’s horrible attitudes eventually ended up deforming her looks. “If a person has ugly thoughts,” wrote Dahl, “it begins to show on the face.”
In her latest book, science writer Helen Pilcher explores this very idea: that negative beliefs “can be physically transformative”. The nocebo effect, as this is known, comes from the Latin for “I will harm”, and strikes when a person’s negative expectations, whether subconscious or conscious, lead to illness.
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Fearing the worst can lead to physical changes, according to this fascinating study of a strange medical phenomenonIn Roald Dahl’s 1980 masterpiece The Twits, Quentin Blake’s illustrations demonstrate how Mrs Twit’s h...
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