IF YOU’RE taking medication, do you always read the label to learn about the possible side effects? It might seem like a good idea, but beware: there is growing evidence that simply believing something will be bad for you can make it genuinely bad for you (see “The science of voodoo: When mind attacks body”). This might sound like voodoo – and indeed it is how voodoo works. But that is no reason to dismiss it as mumbo jumbo.
On the contrary, it needs to be taken seriously. While it is a tricky problem to study, what we do know…
