What you think about your illness can guide the outcome

When you are ill, what you think about your illness matters a lot in determining your health. A new report by researchers at The University of Auckland and King’s College London has reviewed many studies into the impact of perception on health. Their findings, reported in Current Directions in Psychological Science, show people’s perceptions bear a direct relationship to several important health outcomes, including how well you can function, use of healthcare, sticking with treatment plans, how long the illness lasts and even survival rates. Some research even suggests personal views of the illness may play a bigger role than the actual severity of the disease. The researchers also discovered that illness perceptions change rapidly in response to diagnostic results and can be associated with emotional distress, recovery and disability, as well as with treatment-related behaviour, such as adherence. Lead author Professor Keith Petrie from The University of Auckland’s Department of Psychological Medicine says, “We might have beliefs about how an illness is caused, how long it will last, how it will impact us or our family, and how we can control or cure it. The bottom line is that patients’ perceptions of their illness guide their decisions about health… if the therapy doesn’t fit with the patient’s view of their illness, they are unlikely to keep taking it.” The authors suggest a simple doctor-patient conversation to elicit what people really think about their illness could open up a new approach in modern medicine and lead to more effective treatment.

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