Google isn’t an online doctor, why do we treat it like one?
The internet is spreading more than just digital bugs says Mark Lovell, deputy chair of the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, which is why we need to introduce more legitimate tools for care experts and patients.
We’ve all been there – whether it was a headache lasting longer than a day, a sore throat that wouldn’t budge or a constant nauseous feeling, the only logical thing to do is Google our symptoms and take what the search engine produces as a formal diagnosis. However, this shouldn’t be the case. Don’t get me wrong, the internet – more specifically the access it gives us to an incredibly broad range of knowledge and resources is brilliant, but it shouldn’t be treated as though it has a medical degree.
To an extent, using Google (or any other search engine you prefer) as a jumping off point is a good thing. Especially for health and care experts, now that we’re living in an age where budgets are tight, and services are stretched. What’s more, recent Health Foundation data shows that, if they could, care experts would dedicate more time to training, but unfortunately, continuing professional development (CPD) is something that they don’t have the time, or money, to do.
In a bid to address this, the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), have just launched a new tool to help medical and care staff develop their skillset. ACAMH Learn is a free online platform that offers video and podcast content from leading experts. The platform was created in partnerships with more than 200 world-leading mental health experts, with more content being added each week. The topics covered range from autism, ADHD, eating disorders, anxiety, suicide and self-harm.
Alongside being available for care experts, the tool can also be accessed by patients, students, teachers and parents.
As well as advancing careers, the platform was also created to debunk misinformation. Not only does the world wide web spread digital bugs and virus’, but a lot of the content distributed is false, deeming it only right that it comes with a health warning.
A recent personal experience made me reflect on the risks of tenacious mistruths. As well as being a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS, I’m a history buff. I can usually be found traipsing around historic sites – dolmens in the Gorafe Megalithic Park in Southern Spain this summer, for example – while others were doing more sensible things like sitting by the pool.
Megalithic dolmen, Spain.
One of the things I find incredible when you start reading online about history, is how quickly you can get dragged into reading about utterly bizarre theories – how ancient civilisations had alien contact, about mud floods having destroyed much of humanity just a couple of centuries ago, the lists are endless.
When I say that this content is tenacious, I mean that once you’ve clicked on one of these stories, then all of a sudden your feed and social media algorithm gets overwhelmed and the bad information becomes omnipresent.
Of course, we all like to think that we’re good at spotting misinformation and telling reliable sources from unreliable ones, but we all know a friend, a bored uncle, or someone else who all too easily gets sucked in. You only have to look at vaccine misinformation or the pace with which conspiracy theory movements have gathered online, plus of course the way recent UK riots were fuelled by malevolent actors online, to realise how powerful this can be.
The spread of misinformation is particularly alarming in the field of child and adolescent mental health, where unchecked myths could lead to stigma, dangerous misunderstandings and ineffective treatment. Remember too that lots of mental health practitioners receive training that focuses on adult patients, with children being a minor part of that education – while others who have specific training to work with children might have had limited exposure to mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions as opposed to physical health topics during that.
And when everyone is trying to do more things in less time, and many lack access to CPD, the chances are that Google will increasingly be activated, for better or for worse.
We know that there are many myths out there about how you can ‘cure’ autism, to give just one example. It’s really important that those aren’t given the time of day. It’s also vital to recognise that while social media has helped to make mental health discussions more mainstream, experts agree that it can also lead to oversimplification and sharing of potentially unhelpful guidance.
We don’t claim to have all the answers to all your questions, by the way. Other trusted organisations including the British Psychological Society, Royal College of Psychiatrists and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and others all have a range of guidelines, resources and webinars available – although we pride ourselves on providing ACAMH Learn free of charge, and that we specialise solely in children, adolescent and young person’s mental health.
This feature was written by Mark Lovell, a dual trained consultant child and adolescent learning disability psychiatrist working for one of the UK’s largest Learning Disability Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) teams at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) and covers the South Tees area along with a multidisciplinary team.
More features:
The irony of age stigma: How delayed telecare threatens independence