In a pandemic of medical misinformation, how do you deal with conspiracy believers?

Restoring a sense of personal control, holding judgment, and appealing to critical thinking are some of the techniques that may be helpful in speaking to people who believe in health-related conspiracy theories.

Medical misinformation has spread widely during the coronaviruses pandemic, which has contributed to higher Covid death rates among the unvaccinated and caused strained relationships between friends and family members with opposing views.

The psychology researchers wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia about how to talk to someone who firmly believes in health-related conspiracies.

During times of social unrest or uncertainty, people may turn to conspiracies to explain large-scale events, according to a co-author of the paper.

How to deal with a conspiracy theorist is a fake-believe.

The paper's authors said that conspiracy theories fail to satisfy three universal psychological needs.

The need to make sense of the environment around us and the need to reduce the threat are included.

I think most of us can appreciate the need to feel isolated or not connected to other people during a lock down.

The underlying needs tend to better explain belief in conspiracy theory than the faulty mechanism that has been suggested in the past.

The researchers suggest listening to people who believe in health-related conspiracy theories. That isn't going to change anyone's mind.

It's really trying to understand the motives for when someone is speaking to you, whether it's a patient or a close family member.

They may have had a poor experience with medical authorities or practitioners, and so will be suspicious of those.

Other suggestions include making social contact and offering support to people that may help them regain control of their lives. For someone who has lost a job, helping them financially could be helpful.

The researchers suggest that it may be helpful to appeal to this characteristic for conspiracy believers who think they are critical thinker.

Evidence shows that pre-bunking can help prevent misinformation. Countering myths and lies is part of the technique.

This can be challenging because specific conspiracies change over time, but they often portray a powerful group involved in a cover-up against an innocent public.