Have you felt it? The anticipation? The rustling of spare undies and travel toothbrushes being jammed into packing cells, muttered imprecations of “where’s that laptop charger?” and the tang of anxiety in the air associated with knowing you’ve got a talk to give in a few days, but you haven’t started prepping the slides?
Yes, it’s time for the 2025 Innovations in Health Psychology Conference. If you live in Clyde and you’re wondering why it feels as if the population has doubled, it’s because there’s a bunch of psychology folk in town. Actually, that’s not really fair, because Google tells me Clyde has a population of just over 1260, and there can’t be more than 60-80 of us, max.
The conference happens every couple of years, and folk from all over are attending.
You can expect me to fill you in on some of the “innovations” this august group will be talking about. “Sex please: Even for the British”, presented by Rona Moss-Morris, looks obligatory column material, and I’m interested to hear what Gerry Molloy means with the question “Is will, skills, or rills for pills enough?” Yes, Keith Petrie, we get the Dire Straits connection with “Symptoms for nothing and a fix for free”. The conference is also Keith’s baby, so he’ll be working hard to make sure everyone gets as much out of it as they can.
I am selfishly looking forward to hearing the always entertaining Ronan O’Carroll speaking to the title, “Why won’t you vaccinate your fish?” which has slightly more promise of a laugh than Clare Gerada’s “Doctors who kill”.
On the subject of doctors – and it’s relevant to the psychology of health – I admit being an infrequent attendee. Between my 2020 “cardiac event” and an early-2021 follow-up, my GP retired, and I hadn’t been to see my new GP until a few weeks ago. After I took a seat, he looked intently at me and said, “According to the computer you’ve not come for a while, so what brings you today?”
“Checking out some moles, and a general warrant of fitness,” I replied. He breathed a sigh of relief and went on to say that (a) my moles are all fine, and (b) such a pattern of visiting can mean the patient has left it too late and come only because something is badly wrong. As one of my best friends observed, “You know you’ve crossed a threshold when your doctor starts with ‘At your age …’”
Why do people avoid going to the doctor? I’m lucky because I have a good salary, but I’m still cheap, and going to the local GP feels pretty expensive; cost and ease of access are significant factors for many New Zealanders.
A 2017 US study reported that 22.5% of a large sample of adults aged over 65 engaged in “medical avoidance”. The most common reason was concern the doctor might tell them they had a serious illness (35.9%), while about one in seven said they avoided medical care because it made them think about dying.
I’m sure if I sat down with these people and drilled down, they’d say that rationally, they know this is avoidance. Just because your doctor hasn’t had the chance to tell you you’re dying, doesn’t mean you’re not dying!
In fact, people who engage in medical avoidance are more likely to be in poorer health as well, and feel like they’re less able to manage their health.
Just as concerningly, the second-most-common reason (34.5% of participants) was to avoid feelings of discomfort at having someone examine your body.
Sure, I can say people shouldn’t worry, but this is a real concern.
The solution? An even greater emphasis on empathic communication for practitioners, and public education for patients. Sounds so easy, doesn’t it?
