Confirmation bias -- a common problem with HA

[gcalex]

Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions.  As Paul Simon put it, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."  I see this here time and again, in several forms.  (1) People intertpret a symptom as reflecting a catastrophic illness, even though the benign interpretation is many many times more likely.  (2) People who do Google searches constantly MUST know from experience that with persistence they will find SOMETHING to validate their fear.  I therefore conclude that at least some people are looking, consciously or not, not to rule OUT serious disease, but to confirm the legitimacy of their fear.  (3)  People then fixate on that nugget they find on the internet, and disregard the information indicating they are fine. 

If we don't recognize this erroneous thinking, we can't take steps to avoid it.

[sixpack]

absolutely

[MOchp]

This makes a lot of sense. Even if it doesn't feel like that is what we are doing by googling, and it we may go into with the mindset of trying to find reassurance but I think it ends up how you describe.

[gcalex]

How is anyone looking for reassurance if they type in "tingling cancer" for example?  Do they REALLY think they are going to get no hits?

[MOchp]

I know others have said they type things like "blah blah blah is rare in young adults" or something like that looking for things saying what they are worried about is rare. I know it's faulty thinking, just giving an example.

[floridaguy65]

  I therefore conclude that at least some people are looking, consciously or not, not to rule OUT serious disease, but to confirm the legitimacy of their fear. 

Great post, G:)

Confirmation bias is rampant in HA.

The segment I pulled from your post is incredily dead on. In an effort to make ourselves not feel 'crazy', so to speak, or so we don't feel like we should, most definitely, be controlling our actions and habits, we 'legitimize' these actions and habits by 'confirming' our fears. It is much harder to 'confirm' our fears without proving to ourselves that our actions and habits are protecting us and the well-being of our families.. This 'proof' is found on the internet...."SEE, loose stools ARE a sign of colon cancer!". "I better start (or keep) looking closely at all my bowel movements every single time - I better start (or keep) checking my toilet paper every single time. I probably should have a colonoscopy...maybe my Doc will order one for me if I tell him about my loose stools and cramping. I just need to know that I'm not dying before my time...I would miss out on SOOO much if I die too young. My kids would be a mess, too! I had a colonoscopy a few yers ago, but maybe something has grown inside me since then. I'm beginning to freak out here! I think I'll look and see how many people die of colon cancer between the ages of 27-35. OMG! - 94 people died in their 20's! Let me check about my left side pain, too...maybe that is a sign a colon cancer? I can't seem to shake off that pain and it is making me worried. If it doesn't go away, I'll have to go to the Doc, again...he said I was overall pretty darn healthy when I went two months ago, but maybe it really IS cancer and it is starting to spread a bit. My WBC was a little high last blood work, I think....the Doc said it was probably because I had a cold around then. But, Docs and testing miss stuff all the time....maybe they missed something in me and it IS cancer and I'll be one those 'rare cases' that I read about on the computer. Gosh, why is this happening TO ME - I do not wanna die...I'm NOT READY....I'm scared! Let me google, 'survival rates of colon cancer if it is caught early enough'....maybe I will catch mine early enough so I don't leave behind my loving family. OMG, I just can't die!!! My side is hurting more now...this isn't right - something IS wrong! Something is wrong!", etc.

This type thinking takes maybe 30 seconds and it is powerful and pervasive. And, it can drive us into our bad actions and habits. The actions and habits that are counterproductive to us seeking out much LASTING peace. By embracing these habits, we are cementing ('legitimizing') our fears. And, we are getting locked in tighter to our fear cycles. We have to break fear cycles - somehow / someway. Eventually, we have to fully accept that it is anxiety driving our actions and take appropriate measures to help ourselves (and there IS appropriate help and self-help). Medical intervention is NOT appropriate help for a mental health challenge. Googling our own health concerns is NOT appropriate for health anxiety / anxiety disorder(s). AND....AND...AND...AND...this is such a BIG AND....AND, these things will NEVER (never, never, never) be a part of a longterm healing path for anxiety. At some point this, hopefully, begins to hit home....that you (me, each of us) were NOT the ONE person who could continue to embrace counterproductive habits and actions and keep moving well down a healing path. Though I thought I was gonna be THAT one, way back when, it wasn't me either. And, it won't be you - I promise. HA stuff repeats itself over and over and over....we can really learn from other peeps experiences (our own, too) and from the overall history of HA, if we just could begin to push through feeling our case was all that different. Overwhelmingly, it is not, at its core. "It feels sooooo damn real, though!"

I know.

Peace and Feel Well:)

[gcalex]

FG, all very true.  Another way to look at this is that life, by its nature, is uncertain.  We cannot KNOW, with 100 percent certainty, that we don't have, or that we will never get, X Y and Z.  While scanning technology is great and many blood tests are pretty good, they are not necessarily definitive, and in any event they can only capture the present, not the future. It is not practical to get tested every day, or every month, or every time we have a symptom. 

For that matter, we can't KNOW either that when we go out to drive to the store we won't be in a fatal accident, or that the plane we get on won't crash.  Interestingly, though, people with HA who think every little tingle is a sign of MS don't seem worried about driving to the store -- although maybe I am wrong about that.

In any event, one way to look at anxiety is that people with it don't have the same tolerance for uncertainty that others do.  Just a not yet fully developed thought in reaction to your post.  Although I am sure the answer lies in the cognitive realm, and involves learning to accept gracefully what is beyond our control. 

[floridaguy65]

In any event, one way to look at anxiety is that people with it don't have the same tolerance for uncertainty that others do.  Just a not yet fully developed thought in reaction to your post.  Although I am sure the answer lies in the cognitive realm, and involves learning to accept gracefully what is beyond our control.

Yes, indeed....the bane of the anxious mind - THE UNKNOWN. Learning to live better with some uncertainty is vital for a longterm healing path. Us peeps with anxiety issues (to the levels often expressed here on The AZ) don't see ourselves, most often, with much 'gracefulness' in handling what might come our way in our future. When struggling, this future is seen through the prism of our current struggles and we can see ourselves fumbling along trying to get by each and every day with just enough salve to make it into the next day. And, then repeat. Acceptance, to me, is an undeniable part of learning to live well with mental health challenges. Acceptance can be thought of an an etheral abstract quality, by many of us anxiety peeps, and that it is simply beyond our likely grasp. I do not believe this, overwhelmingly....that is is beyond most of our ability to embrace acceptance. Like many things, we have to learn about it, study it, find practical applications and expand upon them, attempt to embrace it, try to practice it and then allow it to become a part of our being, so to speak. To me, with regard to anxiety, it is certainly not saying, "OK, I accept - anxiety be gone". Acceptance is never resignation. Acceptance is not a static position. Acceptance is not all ethereal, by any means. It is based in our actions and habits, as well, most certainly. And, THEN, through the measure of our habits and actions (through the consistent measure of not embracing counterproductive actions) our mindsets have the foundation upon which they can change towards positivity and desire and calm and purpose and believing that each of us can, indeed, be the major definer of our overall well-being....and, ultimately, NOT anxiety:)

For those anxiety peeps really struggling, do not let anxiety make you feel that you are beyond help - "too far gone", maybe. I was at the edge of the cliff, myself. I know what a mental mindfu*% it can be! We CAN learn how to help ourselves....this I believe (and live) without doubt:)

Peace:)

[Cattia]

This is a really helpful post, thank you. This is absolutely what I do. My current worries revolve around my son. I constantly Google for reassurance but I get the opposite. Reading this I realise that all the information I read is filtered through the belief that my son has the condition I am afraid of, which sounds obvious but I had never really thought about it like that before. Even 'reassuring' information doesn't help much because I fit everything into my framework of belief that there is something wrong with my son. It's really hard for me to actually accept any information that doesn't fit this belief, even though I so much want to disprove it to myself. i have decided for the new year to give up Google. I know I'm never going to get better if I don't, but it's only been one day and i am so, so anxious. it's not going too be easy.

[gcalex]

As with any compulsion, a treatment for compulsive Googling is to decide on a counterbehavior -- it can be anything really, but consider something pleasant to you -- and when the compulsion strikes to Google, do the counterbehavior instead.