This Book May Cause Side Effects: The Curious and Dangerous Power of the Nocebo Effect, Placebo's Evil Twin

by Helen Pilcher

In This Book May Cause Side Effects , Dr. Helen Pilcher explores the "nocebo" effect—the shadow side of the placebo—and shows how our convictions can sometimes quite literally harm us.Take the COVID vaccine. If you experienced side effects from your COVID vaccine, there is a 76 percent chance that these were caused by your belief that you would experience them—not by the mRNA circulating in your system.Or, even more extreme, take the case of Sam Although his diagnosis of late-stage esophageal cancer turned out to be erroneous, he was nonetheless dead in months. The power of words, especially from health-care providers, is so formidable that even a wrong diagnosis can actually kill.Our health, or lack of it, is as much about our expectations of illness and its causes as it is about damaged cells or wayward hormones. And because we can never fully step outside our cultural context, it’s only by understanding these effects that we can hope to prevent them.From "hex deaths" to TikTok "illfluencers" to mysterious disorders with very real symptoms but no obvious physical cause, This Book May Cause Side Effects explores the many ways expectations can shape our health. Although the nocebo effect has always existed, the internet age has helped it spread faster than ever.Thankfully, Dr. Pilcher also explains what we can do about it. She walks us through steps we can take individually and collectively to avoid invoking the nocebo, like reevaluating our relationship with technology, setting up risk-minimizing guidelines in health-care settings, and even crowbarring open-label placebo therapies and nocebo-blocking medicines into the pharmacological toolkit.Smart, surprising, and full of unforgettable true stories, This Book May Cause Side Effects reveals the hidden ways our expectations influence our bodies—and what we can do to take back control.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Psychology, Audiobook, Health, Medicine

378 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2026

Reviews

[Andrea Keeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Placebo and nocebo are such fascinating effects. I was very excited to read this book, hoping for an analysis and clear synthesis of the scientific literature and theories surrounding these topics. Unfortunately, this is not what I found while reading this book.

First, many of the examples provided were anecdotal (e.g., covid vaccines, anxiety) and nearly all discussion of scientific studies was so broad and generalized (e.g., no notes on sample size, no analysis of conflicting studies/findings), so all examples fell flat.

Second, the book was very disorganized. The author would jump between topics, examples, placebo vs nocebo vs other random observations. I think breaking this up into sections (e.g., I. Placebo, II. Nocebo, III. Other Behavioral Patterns) then focused chapters would help a ton. With no organization, ideas were repeated frequently.

Third, why differentiate placebo and nocebo when results can be so subjective? The arguments were very black and white even though the nuance is so interesting. In this same vein, there was far more discussion of placebo than nocebo, which is odd given the title.

Lastly, the narration of the audiobook was poor. I listen to many audiobooks and this was one of the harder ones to listen to. The narrator would make a "tah" stop consonant mouth sound after many of the sentences.

Overall, this book would benefit a ton from more organization and more data. Thank you to NetGalley for this early release audiobook!

[Read_with_Beans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Media for an ALC of This Book May Cause Side Effects
The Curious and Dangerous Power of the Nocebo Effect, Placebo's Evil Twin, written and read by Dr. Helen Pilcher.

I found the topics covered in this book very interesting but lacking depth and scientific and statistical data. I am sure this was done with a conscious effort, possibly to make it easier for a large audience to consume, but it left me wanting more. I have read some books that were too scientific and above my academic level, where this felt too far the other direction, but I can appreciate what the author did write.

As for the audiobook, while it was produced extremely well, I simply didn’t jive with the author/narrator. Being an audiobook narrator takes a unique skill set, and not everyone can be a widely appreciated narrator. I do often enjoy when an author narrates their own work, as they have an inside perspective, but I am not convinced this wouldn’t have benefited from a professional narrator.

I would recommend this physical book, as it is a unique topic and easily digestible content.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you RBmedia and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review. 4.25⭐️ Instead of the Charlie Brown teacher ‘whomp whomp whomp’ that some books packed with this much information can tend take on, Dr Helen Pilcher narrated her book in a way that was incredibly easy to comprehend and digest!

I never thought to consider that there could be a negative side to the placebo effect. For example: instead of your body healing when administered a placebo, you get more sick and experience the possible negative side effects of the drug/medicine that you think you’re receiving – this book explores that aspect.

Filled with a plethora of interesting studies as well as some fun (and not so fun) tidbits of information, this book flowed seamlessly into each topic. I was easily able to listen to this audiobook in one sitting while getting all my chores done that I’d been putting off.

If I could read more books like this, nonfiction would definitely be more of a prominent genre for me!

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Side Effects by Woody Allen

This book convinced me to go out and get a "You're Only as Old as You Think!" carving to place next to my precious "Live, Laugh, Love" vinyl wall sticker. Yes, there were definite insights here on the 'power of the mind' and most of us have had some personal placebo / nocebo effects, and not to be one that tries to exclude themselves from these pitfalls, but I would like to read many other interpretations on some of the findings here before being able to fully buy into all that was on offer here. The author seemed to duck out on calling out certain MPI events (like vaccine resistance, or certain Tumblr-derived hysterias) so as not to offend 'too' many readers. One thing was for sure, the more books I read on neuroscience related matters, the more it's apparent that though we can remove tumors and do some complex surgeries and medical treatments, we don't seem to know much about how this organ actually operates.

[vika katashev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for the ARC!

A great and super informative read that’s sure to affect the choices in terms of mindset that I make to come. I knew going into this that I would enjoy it, but this book went above and beyond my expectations. Of course, as with most books of this nature, if you’re looking to critique something within the content you’ll find something to critique. But I went in with an open mind and boy was my mind blown. Rather than inducing health anxiety it calmed my nerves and helped me shift my mindset going forward with how I approach health and brain issues and how I frame them in my mind. I highly recommend this book, especially to those that suffer with some health anxiety and those who just like knowing some more about how our bodies and brains function and are interconnected.

[Julie Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book & found it fascinating and surprisingly practical. This is a topic that doesn't get nearly enough attention: the nocebo effect, or how negative expectations can directly translate into physical symptoms.

Grounded in solid scientific evidence, the book does a good job showing just how pervasive this phenomenon is. It influences almost every area of our lives, especially when it comes to medical treatment, diagnosis, and everyday health. It changed how I think about the information I consume around health and wellness.

It definitely leaves you questioning the old adage that "knowledge is power." In the case of the nocebo effect, hyper-awareness and foreknowledge can literally make you sick!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who doesn’t read much non-fiction, this was a nice change of pace to learn about the nocebo effect vs the placebo effect. I appreciated the author, Dr. Pilcher, narrate her own words which I feel added to the experience. For those who enjoy learning about human behavior and the science of modern drugs and how it affects us all, this would be a great read.

Thank you to Tantor Media & NetGalley for this advanced listener copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and my review is left voluntarily.

[Caitlyn Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eArc in exchange for my honest review.

I try to challenge myself to at least read one nonfiction book quarterly- I’m such a genre reader til the end.

This was such a shockingly easy read- the information is concise and entertaining and thought provoking.

Coming from a family of hypochondriacs I can’t wait to share some of the stories and cases I read about in this book with them

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fascinating stuff here. I was hoping she would dig a bit deeper into things like chronic pain and Long Covid but I think she hints at it enough. Faith healers and even Derren Brown bank on the nocebo effect in their stage shows. Worth a read if you care about your health.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating!! As someone with health OCD I didn’t know whether to be scared or comforted by this information. By the end it was mostly the latter, this may be what I needed to break my online symptom checking addiction.

[Kristen Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stellar read! Highly recommend because of its profound implications on our thinking, health, and lives.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Handles a really sensitive topic with delicate grace and so many useful things to think about

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and full of interesting information

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a tad disappointing. Placebo/nocebo are fascinating topics and I was hoping for a bit of a robust, data-driven education on the phenomena. Instead this was more anecdotal and superficial.

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read. This was fascinating.