Before revision:  Our modelenables a direct assessment of the epidemiological and socio-economic impact of different policy interventions implemented to combat epidemic outbreaks. Besides the common-sense finding that stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions are essential to taming the initial phases of the outbreak, the duration of such interventions and the way they are phased out are key for an eradication in the medium-to-long term. Surprisingly, our findings reveal that social influence is a double-edged sword in the control of epidemics, helping strengthen collective adoption of self-protective behaviours during the early stages of the epidemic, but then accelerating their rejection upon lifting of non-pharmaceutical containment interventions .
After revision:  The model's potentialities are demonstrated by three case studies based on real-world gonorrhoea, 1918--19 Spanish flu and COVID-19 .