Do drug companies and the media make us sick?
When I studied clinical psychology I recall one of my professors warning our class of the dangers of ''medical-student syndrome'. The condition is suffered by students who experience unsubstantiated fears and symptoms of illnesses they are learning about. They become what the average person might consider a hypochondriac. So, seemingly, if you study illness you start to think you may have that illness. This seems to be infectious in more ways than one. Recently, British doctors warned of what they call 'telly belly'. Immediately after watching health items on television or a soap opera with a character experiencing a particular illness, 'patients' with allegedly similar symptoms tend to appear at doctors' offices. This can be a good thing. Television helps shape how people feel and can raise awareness about health problems. MorgueFile : see [1] / CC BY-SA But, at the same time, it tells us how susceptible we are to media manipulation. There is a...