01.16.09
Verbiterrhorage
In one of those “Why didn’t you just ask me and pay me the research grant?” studies, McMaster University has discovered that suffering from seborrheic dermatitis is more severe than suffering from dandruff. Or so the patient perceives—same condition, different names. Give a condition a name worthy of a TV commercial “doctor,” and people get scared. Got it—people don’t understand jargon. Give me the grant money, please. And the newer the concocted medicalese, the greater the likelihood that people will perceive the jargon as more serious. Got it—people fear medical conditions they haven’t heard of more than they fear ones they’ve heard about for years. Give me the grant money, please.
Says the abstract of “The Role of Medical Language in Changing Public Perceptions of Illness”:
This study demonstrates that the use of medical language in communication can induce bias in perception; a simple switch in terminology results in a disease being perceived as more serious, more likely to be a disease, and more likely to be a rare condition. These findings regarding the conceptualization of disease have implications for many areas, including medical communication with the public, advertising, and public policy.
Among the technical/lay pairs studied:
- hypertension/high blood pressure
- erectile dysfunction disorder/impotence
- seborrheic dermatitis/dandruff
- myocardial infarction/heart attack
- hypertrichosis/excessive hair growth
- pharyngitis/sore throat
- myalgic
encepalomyelitisencephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome - psoriasis/the heartbreak of (just kidding)
One technical phrase used in the study seems to operate in the opposite direction: “cerebrovascular accident.” On the surface, that doesn’t sound all that bad. It was an accident. Stubbed my cerebellum. Give me a Band-Aid. Just a little boo-boo. The phrase seems to inappropriately disguise the severity of the event: a stroke.
But a figurative cerebrovascular accident is just what you might experience if your doctor were to announce that you have been diagnosed with androgenic alopecia. Don’t panic. Just throw away the comb. It’s male pattern baldness. Don’t allow the doctor to infect you with verbomedicyclical terrhor—the fear of big medical words.
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SoupAddict Karen said,
January 16, 2009 at 10:02 am
Oh my gosh … don’t get me started on this topic. Well, too late. I found an interesting opposite effect in the use of medical terminology. When I was immersed into the world of chronic diseases, doctors threw out those terms left and right and littered my medical records with long latin terms I couldn’t even pronounce (er, pronounciate), much less decipher. So, I studied like crazy. I learned what the word parts meant (e.g., “-algia” vs. “-itis”). I learned all the terms for the body’s systems (it’s “encephalomyelitis, btw; “enceph” refering to brain and spinal cord. Sad that I can remember that from 8 years ago, but I can’t remember where I left my gloves (the ones I wore just last night)).
Anyway, at my first drs appt after my intensive course in medical terminology, when the dr asked how I was doing, I let fly my new vocabulary. To my surprise, he was offended. Not taken aback or annoyed. Offended. My appt ended quickly after that, without the usual pointless, small-talk banter he clearly rehearses each morning before seeing patients. I guess he was upset that he lost the intimidation factor of verbomedicyclical terrhor (lovely use of the “h” there).
Thereafter, I went back to, “my legs hurt; my fingers tingle.” He seems to have gotten over it.
The Ridger said,
January 16, 2009 at 10:10 am
Really? People are more worried by myocardial infarction than by heart attack? I wouldn’t have thought that.
Fritinancy said,
January 16, 2009 at 11:44 am
One of the most notorious “scientific” terms was coined not by doctors but by advertisers. “Halitosis” was the invention, in 1921, of Listerine’s internal ad group. Before Listerine rebranded bad breath, the product had been used mostly as a surgical antiseptic and occasional floor cleaner. The authors of Freakonomics quote advertising scholar James B. Twitchell: “Listerine did not make mouthwash as much as it made halitosis.” The company’s annual revenues rose from $115,000 to more than $8 million in just seven years.
Bill Brohaugh said,
January 17, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Karen: You caught me. To use the lovely h in terrhor, I had to steal it from encephalomyelitis. So I bought a new letter from Vanna and corrected the spelling.
Fritinancy: Delightful bit of history that crystallizes the point of the study. Indeed, they could have asked you and paid you the grant money.
Charles said,
January 18, 2009 at 1:58 am
I know. When they told me I had “degenerative disk disease,” I felt like I was going to have a myocardial infarction and myalgic encephalomyelitis. I already had erectile dysfunction, seborrheic dermatitis/dandruff worsened by hypertrichosis. Psoriasis is next week. I’m hypertense about it.