How to prescribe information

health education without health anxiety and nocebo effects

Farzad Goli

pp. 151-193

in: Farzad Goli (ed), Biosemiotic medicine, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

Imagine you live in a super intelligent city, in which detectors alert you via audible alarms when you approach potentially harmful stimuli, air or electromagnetic pollutants, allergens, mutagen foods, etc. You can perhaps imagine that every day would be filled with warnings and an undoubtedly large amount of beeps and rings. I think you agree with me that after a while, the alarms could be seriously harmful by themselves, not only because of the constant bombardment of information and sound pollution, but also by making you worried, preoccupied, or irritable. In addition, you may begin to adapt to the situation by adopting avoidant, pessimistic, or suspicious attitudes; or you might find yourself overwhelmed, depressed, and anxious. The overflow of warning signs turns to dangerous stimuli and overwhelming noises. We have a rather limited capacity for information processing, not to mention the possibility that signs may become distorted, misinterpreted, ignored, and/or simply perceived as ordinary noises. This is a transcendental dialectic in which the quality (amount, speed) of signs can induce qualitative changes in our mood, affect, attitudes, and form of life.