If you’ve ever turned to Google or asked a family member to answer a medical question, you’re not alone.
While many people will make an appointment with their doctor to get reliable health information, others may turn to less traditional sources.
In some cases, this can lead to harmless misinformation — such as sticking onions in your socks to cure a common cold — but it can also lead to the spread of potentially harmful medical conspiracy theories.
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Medical conspiracy theories are nothing new, and they can range from the extreme to the surprisingly mainstream.
Some common example are the belief that the flu shot can give you the flu or that fluoride in drinking water is bad for your health. Other theories, such as childhood immunisations causing autism, are much more damaging.
However, all of these theories do share one important thing — they have all been conclusively debunked.
The reasons people believe medical conspiracy theories can be boiled down to three main drivers, according to QUT Digital Media Research Centre senior research analyst Kate FitzGerald.
The desire for certainty
“I think there is still a really similar underlying psychological reason that people are drawn to conspiracy theories in general,” FitzGerald said.
“The first one is a desire for certainty. I think this is probably why we saw so many medical conspiracy theories come up early in the COVID-19 pandemic, because it was one of those few times where you couldn’t really turn to a doctor or an institutional expert and get their opinion.
“The knowledge around what was happening and how to protect yourself from the virus was evolving so quickly. I think it really left people feeling quite uncertain and trying to seek their own explanations.”
COVID-19 conspiracy theories were varied — from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates developing vaccines containing injectable microchips, to mRNA vaccines altering human DNA, to claims of the virus being created for biological warfare. None has ever been proven.
The need to be in control
“If you don’t understand something or you don’t know why something is happening in the world, then these alternative explanations that conspiracy theories can pose can be really, really appealing because it satisfies that sort of need for safety that people have,” FitzGerald said.
“That sort of leads into the second appeal of conspiracy theories that most people have, which is, psychologically, humans hate to feel unsafe or out of control of a situation.”
Other medical conspiracy theories that emerged around the same time include the supposed health and environmental impacts of 5G mobile technology.
Pre-existing misinformation surrounding 5G and fears over health risks from COVID-19 also gave rise to theories the two were linked, causing protests in regional communities as well as in several capital cities around the country.
Wanting to feel part of a community
“Humans love being part of a group,” FitzGerald said.
“So, if you’re surrounded by a family who have maybe had issues with the medical system and they’re sort of questioning whether they should get this vaccine or what’s happening with certain medical interventions, then you might be more likely to also go down that path because you have this identity like, ‘Oh, my family believes this’.”
FitzGerald said other elements that impact medical conspiracy theories include institutional distrust and medical trauma experienced by a person or someone close to them.
“Doctors have been studying for an extremely long time. They know a lot of things about medicine that we don’t,” she said.
“So, some of the sort of reasoning and information that are given around vaccines can be really difficult to figure out.”
FitzGerald said one example was people reading the vaccine ingredients list, with things like chemical stabilisers that sound alarming out of context.
“There’s obviously a lot of chemicals involved because there’s preservatives, we need to keep vaccines safe when they’re in transport, all of that stuff,” she said.
“But people would really look at these ingredient lists and don’t have that context of like, you know, ‘We’re using a preservative because we need to keep it safe and we need to keep it effective until you’re able to administer it.’
“When people ‘do their own research’ it is really difficult …. researchers still struggle with it and it’s quite hefty scientific terminology, so I think people do really struggle with that and understandably so.”
Medical mistrust another factor
Past medical trauma or bad relationships with doctors can also make people more prone to believing medical conspiracy theories, FitzGerald said.
“Doctors do make mistakes and there is human error in hospitals,” she said.
“Sometimes it takes a while to figure out the right sort of treatment or people do have bad reactions to medications and that sort of traumatic experience in the hospital could really deter you from trusting these doctors.
“There’s a lot of really personal experiences that go into how people will interpret information that’s given to them by different types of experts.”
While some people can have an overall distrust of medical professionals, some people may simply prefer to trust the judgements of a friend or family member over a faceless doctor.
“Communities can also validate your experiences,” Fitzgerald said.
“Let’s say you were hesitant about the COVID vaccine or any sort of medical intervention, depending on the community that you (reach out) to you’re going to get a different response. So you can sort of choose.
“Let’s say you go to a Facebook group where it’s, like, vaccine skeptics or a wellness mums’ group, you’re going to get a very different response than if you go to a local Queensland doctors’ Facebook group.
“I think the community you’re in can really impact how you perceive the world and perceive information.”
