When Dr. Roy Perlis and his peers and colleagues began to conduct a survey of Americans about COVID-19, they knew they had to ask about mental health. The subject has appeared alongside questions about other aspects of the lives of respondents, including social media use, news consumption preferences, political affiliation, and socialization habits. Perlis wondered if depression could make people vulnerable to misinformation.
Negative cognitive bias is a hallmark of depression and can make someone more likely to remember the worst thoughts, feelings, and events. Perlis thought that people with depression might experience more skepticism, disbelief, and distrust.
Some people with depression wear glasses that look like a dark place, if someone tells them the world is dangerous.
Perlis and his colleagues created a survey to explore this possibility, and their findings were published in a journal. The team presented four common but false statements about vaccine misinformation and asked participants if they believed them.
The study took into account a number of factors, including social media use, news source preferences, race, ethnicity, age, gender, and political party affiliation, to see if depression might have an effect on misinformation. The researchers found that people who experience clinical depression are more likely to endorse misinformation. The people who did so were less likely to bevaccinated and more likely to express vaccine resistance. The researchers surveyed a subgroup of participants about their beliefs a second time and found that depression preceded their misinformation beliefs.
Perlis thinks that depression makes people more susceptible to some of these ideas. If we could address the depression and anxiety, people would be less likely to believe in misinformation.
"If we could address the depression and anxiety, I think people's receptivity to misinformation would diminish."
Efforts to quash misinformation don't focus on mental health but instead emphasize the legitimate role of social media and political identity. Perlis was surprised at how little had been written about the connection. Depression and anxiety can make some people vulnerable to misinformation. Perlis and his fellow researchers can not yet prove that depression causes susceptibility to misinformation, but their findings make clear that it is a mistake to dismiss mental health as insignificant in favor of factors like party affiliation and social media use.
Mental health experts may be hesitant to draw a line between misinformation and mental health because they fear it will portray people with mental health conditions as mentally ill or contribute to negative stereotypes. Perlis is careful to note that endorsing falsehoods is not reflective of mental illness. Poor mental health and other factors make it easier to fall for misinformation.
There are a lot of things that affect how receptive you are to misinformation, and depression is one of them. Some of the risk factors can be changed. Perlis said that depression can be managed with treatment. In order to get a handle on misinformation and its effect on our society, he believes we need to do a better job of treating depression.
A first step for people who see themselves in Perlis findings is to talk to a primary care physician who can recommend various treatments. Depression symptoms have been improved by both. Perlis said he would be particularly worried about someone who has trouble functioning or experiences suicidal feelings. He recommends that people use basic health strategies, such as exercise, quality sleep, socializing with friends and loved ones, and minimizing time spent on news consumption and social media, as a bulwark against depression. Perlis said they can help manage the symptoms of depression.
The study was designed well and made sense according to Dr. Segal, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology in mood disorders at the University of Toronto. Segal said that people who are depressed are more likely to engage in negative thoughts about themselves, like "I'm no good", as well as being less trusting.
Segal said that the tendency feeds into a misinformation perspective on COVID.
Segal said that behavioral therapy for depression involves helping a patient develop metacognitive capacities, or the ability to stand back and observe their thoughts. People who experience chronic depression or frequent relapses can benefit from MBCT. The goal is to teach patients how to keep their thoughts out of their content. Segal said that training and regular practice make it easier to developMindfulness skills is easier with training and regular practice He likes meditation apps, books, web-based or CD recordings. Segal has published instructional books onMindfulness.
While MBCT hasn't tested people with depression who also believe misinformation, it is possible to see how basicMindfulness skills could create a buffer between a vulnerable person and the lies they encounter. Regardless of whether or not someone is depressed, the ability to pause and identify the domino effect between receiving emotionally-charged misinformation and changes in mood that occur as a result is critical.
Whether we could tailor treatment to help make people more resilient to misinformation is a great question, Perlis wrote in a follow-up email.
There is strong evidence that MBCT is an effective treatment for depression. A meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Simon Goldberg, an assistant professor in the department of counseling and faculty at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, shows that such programs are as effective as psycho- and behavioral therapies.
Goldberg said that the treatments may reduce depression symptoms because they make negative thoughts about the self, other people, and the world less magnetic. Goldberg reviewed the study and found it persuasive.
He said that training in the ability to see our thoughts as merely thoughts could be a powerful way to combat misinformation.
The Crisis Text Line provides free, confidential support if you want to talk to someone. To be connected to a crisis counselor, text CRISIS to 741741. You can call the help line from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. You can email info@nami.org. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. There is a list of international resources.
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