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Posts tagged "confirmation bias"

How Information Processing Biases can Increase Health Anxiety

Sep 23, 2023 Posted by: Brittney Chesworth anxiety, biased information processing, cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive restructuring, confirmation bias, core beliefs, hypochondria, memory bias, thinking errors

With health anxiety, we have unhelpful or inaccurate core beliefs about health and illness. These beliefs lead us to process information in a biased way. We tend to seek out "evidence" of our belief (e.g. that serious disease is everywhere) and we ignore or dismiss evidence to the contrary. It can be helpful to use a CBT technique and track your thoughts and assumptions in a thought record so that you can identify these patterns.

Why Watching Videos about Tragic Health Stories on Social Media Worsens Health Anxiety

Sep 11, 2023 Posted by: Brittney Chesworth biased information processing, confirmation bias, core beliefs, fear of disease, health anxiety, hypochondria, overestimating threat, thinking errors, threat bias

People with health anxiety hold dysfunctional core beliefs about health and illness.
One dysfunctional belief held by those with health anxiety is the overestimation of the probability and severity of disease. Core beliefs are reinforced by information processing, in which we pay more attention to data that confirms our belief.