In a new study from Harvard and elsewhere, researchers examined whether people who experience depressive symptoms may be more receptive than others to misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines.
A general bias toward negativity—or the tendency to focus on negative rather than positive information—may exacerbate the spread of misinformation, and because depression may contribute to such negativity bias, a team of Harvard Medical School investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital has
One of the notable things about depression is that it can cause people to see the world differently—sort of the opposite of rose-colored glasses.
The team wondered whether people seeing the world this way might also be more susceptible to believing misinformation about vaccines.
They examined responses from 15,464 adults from all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., who completed an internet survey between that included statements related to COVID-19 vaccines,.
The team found that levels of depression are at least three times higher than what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participants with moderate or greater major depressive symptoms on the initial questionnaire were more likely to endorse at least one of four false statements about COVID-19 vaccines on the subsequent survey, and those who endorsed these statements were less likely to be vaccinated.
Specifically, the presence of depression was associated with increased likelihood of endorsing misinformation, and respondents endorsing at least one statement of misinformation significantly less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to report vaccine resistance.
The team also analysed data from the subset of 2,809 respondents who answered a subsequent survey two months later.
Those with depression in the first survey were twice as likely as those without depression to endorse more misinformation than they did in the prior survey.
The team says it wasn’t that misinformation was making people more depressed.
They also found that the effect was not limited to people with particular political beliefs or members of particular demographic groups.
The researchers noted that the findings provide an additional motivation to ensure that people have access to treatment for depression and anxiety.
The result suggests that, by addressing the extremely high levels of depression in this country during COVID, researchers might decrease people’s susceptibility to misinformation.
Perlis stressed that the results in no way blame misinformation on people with depression but rather suggest that depression may cause people to be more vulnerable to believing misinformation.
If you care about depression, please read studies about trying this daily routine to fight off depression, and blood pressure drugs that could help reduce depression.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about depression drug that could help reduce death risk in COVID-19, and results showing that some at-home COVID-19 tests may fail to detect omicron early.
The study is published in JAMA Network Open and was conducted by Roy H. Perlis et al.
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