Medical Conspiracy Research Articles

Lifetime prevalence of questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: A preregistered nationally representative survey.

A growing body of evidence suggests that questionable health behaviors- not following medical recommendations and resorting to non-evidence based treatments-are more frequent than previously thought, and that they seem to have strong psychological roots. We thus aimed to: 1) document the lifetime prevalence of intentional non-adherence to medical recommendations (iNAR) and use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) in Serbia and 2) understand how they relate to 'distal' psychological factors-personality traits and thinking dispositions, and 'proximal' factors-a set of beliefs and cognitive biases under the term 'irrational mindset'. In this preregistered cross-sectional study on a nationally representative sample (N = 1003), we observed high lifetime prevalence of iNAR (91.3%) and TCAM (99.2%). Irrational beliefs, especially magical health beliefs and medical conspiracy theories, were the strongest predictors of TCAM. They also mediated the relation between Disintegration/lower cognitive reflectiveness and TCAM. High Disintegration, and low Conscientiousness predicted iNAR directly, whilst negative experiences with the healthcare system facilitated both types of questionable health practices. The established psychological profile of people prone to questionable health behaviors and the fact they can be tracked to negative experiences with the system can be used to tailor public health communications.

Contesting Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome: How Narratives of Cannabis Shape Diagnosis Contestation and Treatment Resistance.

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is characterized by the onset of cyclic bouts of severe nausea and vomiting in chronic cannabis users. As the number of CHS diagnoses rises, it is important to understand how people experience the disease. Using a narrative framework, we explore how the symbolic meaning participants associated with cannabis shaped the way they experienced diagnosis and treatment of CHS. To do this, we relied on semi-structured interviews with 24 people who self-reported having CHS. Participants had very positive perceptions of cannabis, which contributed to them contesting the diagnosis and resisting the treatment. They initially contested the diagnosis because they believed that cannabis was beneficial and helped with nausea, that claims about the harms of cannabis were part of a larger medical conspiracy to stigmatize it, and that they had different symptoms than those with CHS. They resisted treatment recommendations of abstinence and sought to continue using cannabis by trying new routes of administration, using only certain types of cannabis, reducing the amount or frequency of use, or substituting other substances. Findings point to the importance of understanding how narratives can shape the way people respond to diagnosis and treatment.

Association between beliefs in medical conspiracy theories and health behaviors among medical and healthcare students. Implications for professional practice.

While conspiracy theories cover many different themes, medical conspiracy theories (MCTs) have become particularly prevalent in modern societies. As beliefs in MCTs can become a source of "infodemics", influence individual health behaviors and cause distrust in medical institutions and personnel, healthcare workers must find ways to overturn patients' conspiracy thinking. However, as the medical world is not free of these beliefs, in this study, we investigated beliefs in MCTs among medical and health science students and their association with reported health behaviors. Our sample was derived from a self-administered, anonymized, computer-assisted web survey conducted among 1,175 medical and health science students enrolled at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland. From a set of twenty different MCTs, one-third of students rejected all of them, 18% believed in one, 15% in two, 10% in three, and 24% supported four or more conspiracy theories. In addition, many students were hesitant or unsure about MCTs. We also found that nursing and midwifery students were the most likely to believe in MCTs, while medical and dental students were the least supportive. Support for MCTs was higher among students in the early years of their studies and who declared themselves religious and conservative. This study also highlights the association between students' support for MCTs and their reported health behaviors, including avoiding vaccinations, using alternative medicine, taking vitamin C, or using social media as an essential source of health information. As medical and health science students are prone to conspiratorial thinking, they should be trained to act as a trusted and reliable source of medical information, to mitigate conspiratorial beliefs, and to act as role models for their patients and society, effectively shaping health behaviors in the population.

Responding to Medical Conspiracy Theories in Palliative Care

Responding to Medical Conspiracy Theories in Palliative Care

Key sociological concepts for medicine: medical conspiracy theories.

Key sociological concepts for medicine: medical conspiracy theories.

Responding to Medical Conspiracy Theories #473.

Responding to Medical Conspiracy Theories #473.

How Should We Address Medical Conspiracy Theories? An Assessment of Strategies

Although medical conspiracy theories have existed for at least two centuries, they have become more popular and persistent in recent times. This has become a pressing problem for medical practice, as such irrational beliefs may be an obstacle to important medical procedures, such as vaccination. While there is scholarly agreement that the problem of medical conspiracy theories needs to be addressed, there is no consensus on what is the best approach. In this article, we assess some strategies. Although there are risks involved, it is important to engage with medical conspiracy theories and rebut them. However, the proposal to do so as part of “cognitive infiltration” is too risky. Media outlets have a major role to play in the rebuttal of medical conspiracy theories, but it is important for journalists not to politicize this task. Two additional long-term strategies are also necessary: stimulation of critical thinking in education, and empowerment of traditionally marginalized groups.

«Вакцинирование» vs «чипирование»: триггеры эсхатологической мифологии в условиях противоэпидемических мероприятий

The coronavirus epidemic and anti-epidemic measures, such as quarantine restrictions on social activity, wide use of disinfectants, requirements for the use of personal protective equipment, as well as changes in church liturgy, rituals and sacraments lead to the creation of medical conspiracy myths. This article analyses two most important conspiracy mythologemes that are formed as a result of a conspiracy interpretation of the epidemic: the vaccination mythologeme and the microchipping mythologeme. The author proceeds from the assumption that modern eschatological conspiracy myths are based on the original non-eschatological myth, which provided a rational non-religious hermeneutics of epidemics. The eschatological version of the vaccinophobic conspiracy myth is formed on the basis of a non-eschatological conspiracy as a result of medical conspiracy theories merging with the modern version of the technophobic myth. The invariant core of the latter consists of mythologemes and mythotheologemes that interpret modern technologies within the framework of eschatological semiotics. As a result of convergence, these mythologemes form a single mythotheological complex, which, in turn, becomes a trigger for a new eschatological mythology. The paper analyses the semantic structure of this mytho-theological complex, its semiotic features, pragmatic potential and reasons for its popularity. The research was carried out within the framework of a semiotic and hermeneutic study of mythological discourse applying the method of categorical semiotics. As illustrations the author used fragments of original texts posted on conspiracy websites devoted to eschatological issues.

Explaining Conspiracy Beliefs and Scepticism around the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Public opinion on COVID‐19 provides new empirical evidence for the debate on the ideological contours of conspiracy theories. I report findings from a web survey in Greece where participants were recruited via paid advertising on Facebook and the study sample was adjusted for age, gender, education, domicile, and region of residence using a nationally representative reference sample. I find that beliefs about conspiracy theories are more correlated than the values associated with established political ideologies, and that conspiracy beliefs and scepticism about the pandemic are best explained by belief in unrelated political and medical conspiracy theories. No other demographic or attitudinal variable has such a strong influence, and the results are robust to different statistical specifications. In comparison, the effect of ideology measured by left‐right self‐placement is rather negligible and further moderated by trust in government. The results have implications for the strategies aimed at fighting disinformation during public health emergencies.

Links between conspiracy beliefs, vaccine knowledge, and trust: Anti-vaccine behavior of Serbian adults

RationaleImmunization is a critical tool in the fight against infectious disease epidemics. Understanding hesitancy towards immunization is even more important nowadays, with the continuous threat of COVID-19 pandemic. Medical conspiracy beliefs, scientific skepticism, as well as low trust in governmental institutions, and evidence-based knowledge all have troubling effects on immunization. ObjectiveTo examine how these factors cross-react to influence vaccine behavior against any vaccine preventable disease (VPD), we hypothesized a model consisting of the belief in conspiracy theories as the predictor, and as the mediators subjective and objective vaccine knowledge, and trust in the health care system and science. The model was tested by examining the vaccine intentions for the children and self for any VPD. MethodsTwo separate studies were conducted on the representative samples of Serbian population; the first study investigated the intentions for child vaccination and the second study examined the vaccine intentions against any VPD, including adult vaccination. We used path analysis followed by logistic regression to analyze the data. ResultsThe results revealed high vaccine hesitancy motivated by the belief in the vaccine conspiracy theories, through its effect on reduced trust in medical science and institutions, and low objective vaccine knowledge. ConclusionsThe results of this study may be used to implement appropriate policy changes and implementation of the public health campaigns to promote immunization with a wide range of vaccines against common diseases, such as measles, human papillomaviruses, or pertussis, and novel diseases, such as COVID.

Belief in Conspiracy Theories About covid-19 Amongst Venezuelan Students: A Pilot Study

Although researchers have not satisfactorily tracked the origins of COVID-19, there are no indications that this virus has been engineered by human beings. Yet, conspiracy theories blaming either the United States or China, are increasingly popular. For a greater research project to be developed in the future, a pilot study was done, where 165 Venezuelan students were asked in a survey to rate their agreement with conspiracy theories about COVID-19. Although the majority of subjects were skeptical of these claims, the percentage of acceptance of COVID-19 conspiracy theories was still fairly high, if compared to other medical conspiracy theories. Educational level was not a significant predictive factor in acceptance of these conspiracy theories. Acceptance of other conspiracy theories has a significant relation, but only if they cohere with ideological positioning in the Venezuelan context. Likewise, ethnicity also correlated with belief in covid-19 conspiracy theories, but again, mediated by political alignments in the Venezuelan context. How to cite this article: Andrade, G. (2021). Belief in conspiracy theories about covid-19 amongst Venezuelan students: A pilot study. Revista Colombiana de Psicología, 30(1), 79-88. https://doi.org/10.15446/rcp.v30n1.87357

Taking vaccine regret and hesitancy seriously. The role of truth, conspiracy theories, gender relations and trust in the HPV immunisation programmes in Ireland

ABSTRACT This paper considers the dual approach to conspiracy theories in anthropological studies. While some anthropologists suggest treating them seriously because they might reveal some truths, others argue that conspiracy theories require serious attention, because they are alarming and present a threat to social cohesion and democracy. Analysing conflicts over HPV immunisation programmes in Ireland, this paper investigates if there is a way of bridging this divide. In contrast to most studies on vaccine hesitancy, this paper avoids reducing the issue to the problem of knowledge deficiency. Instead, it takes a holistic approach: rather than seeing medical conspiracy theorising as a problem of singular groups, it examines it as a relational issue that connects and disconnects different stakeholders, including medical professionals, families, and health administrators.

Conspiracy Theories, Mistrust Take Root During Pandemic

Conspiracy Theories, Mistrust Take Root During Pandemic

Health disinformation & social media: The crucial role of information hygiene in mitigating conspiracy theory and infodemics.

Social media has been an effective vector for spreading disinformation about medicine and science. Informational hygiene can reduce the severity of falsehoods about health.

Why Humans Are Vulnerable to Conspiracy Theories.

Humans seem drawn to dark conspiracy theories, often in favor of the simple truth In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation and conspiracy theorizing have surged President Trump, for example, praised the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a "game changer" despite scant empirical evidence of its efficacy and safety for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 Others in the administration have promoted the unsubstantiated theory that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a Chinese lab, despite scientific consensus that the virus likely originated in an animal source before zoonotic transfer and that no evidence indicates that the virus emerged through deliberate lab manipulation of a related virus Here, Friedman discusses why humans are vulnerable to conspiracy theories

Medical conspiracy theories: cognitive science and implications for ethics.

Although recent trends in politics and media make it appear that conspiracy theories are on the rise, in fact they have always been present, probably because they are sustained by natural dispositions of the human brain. This is also the case with medical conspiracy theories. This article reviews some of the most notorious health-related conspiracy theories. It then approaches the reasons why people believe these theories, using concepts from cognitive science. On the basis of that knowledge, the article makes normative proposals for public health officials and health workers as a whole, to deal with conspiracy theories, in order to preserve some of the fundamental principles of medical ethics.

Right-wing populism in Poland and anti-vaccine myths on YouTube: Political and cultural threats to public health

ABSTRACTThe article describes the growing anti-vaccine movements in the context of right-wing populism, which is also gaining popularity around the world. According to the authors, these two phenomena have a lot in common, and the activists of the anti-vaccine movements often intermingle with populist right-wing movements. The connection between anti-vaccine activists and populists is illustrated in the analysis of discourse and anti-vaccine arguments presented in materials on the Polish-language YouTube channel, as well as in comments on YouTube forums. The slogans of the defence of ‘ordinary people’ against ‘corrupt elites’ in the medical dimension indicate a dislike for ‘medical conspiracy’ and doctors corrupted by pharmaceutical concerns. Just like right-wing populists, opponents of vaccines in Poland refer to nationalist slogans and have an aversion to the European Union. In addition to the rejection of the WHO standards on sex education and the sceptic attitude to environmental changes, the rejection of vaccines is another manifestation of the conspiracy ideologies of right-wing populists in Poland that may affect health and health policy. In the area of public health, this means rejecting medical knowledge and replacing it with myths and prejudices proclaimed by anti-vaccine movements, among others.

My Medical Conspiracy

My Medical Conspiracy

Third Generation Perspective to My Medical Conspiracy

Third Generation Perspective to My Medical Conspiracy

The Second Generation Perspective to My Medical Conspiracy

The Second Generation Perspective to My Medical Conspiracy