The Psychologist's Insight... Why Do We Trust TikTok More Than Our Doctor?
Emotional testimonies, viral videos, promises of quick cures... Health content is proliferating on social media and capturing attention. Why is it sometimes more convincing than medical advice? Psychologist Lekhshailee Elliah unpacks the mechanisms that make us vulnerable.
A forty-second TikTok video. A Facebook testimony shared thousands of times. An Instagram thread promising to "know everything" about diabetes or hypertension. In a time when medical information flows continuously on our phones, a question arises: why do these contents—often lacking any scientific validation—manage to persuade where doctors sometimes fail?
According to psychologist Lekhshailee Elliah, the answer is not random. It stems from human psychology, its biases, fears, and cognitive shortcuts. "Social media often presents information in an engaging and personalized manner, whereas medical advice can seem more formal, distant, or complex." This seemingly benign contrast can sometimes tip the balance of trust.
The first mechanism at play is what psychologists refer to as "social proof." A simple principle with a devastating effect: the more popular, widely shared, or approved information appears, the more credible it seems. A post with 100,000 likes, a video viewed millions of times: the human brain instinctively perceives this as a form of collective validation, even when the content is unsupported by solid evidence.
To this first bias, a second, equally powerful bias is added: confirmation bias. We naturally tend to believe information more easily when it aligns with what we already think, hope, or want to hear. A patient convinced that medications "do more harm than good" will be infinitely more receptive to a video that confirms this than to a study that contradicts it.
When a Story is Worth a Thousand Statistics
There is something that numbers do not do: evoke emotions. An epidemiological curve, a confidence interval, a randomized clinical trial... all these concepts, no matter how rigorous, slide over most of us without leaving a trace. A person recounting how they "healed" their eczema with an essential oil, however, leaves a mark.
Lekhshailee Elliah explains this phenomenon through neurology: "Personal testimonies make medical information more concrete and easier to understand, while statistics can seem impersonal and harder to relate to one’s own life." Emotional stories activate the limbic system—the part of the brain associated with emotions—and make the information more memorable and easier to repeat.
A person who claims to have lost weight, improved their skin, or "defeated" a chronic illness thanks to a product or diet creates an immediate sense of closeness and identification. Even in the absence of solid scientific proof, this lived experience feels real. And the real provides reassurance.
Fear as the Engine of All Credulities
Behind many frantic medical searches online lies a fundamental emotion: fear. Fear of being sick. Fear of not being taken seriously. Fear of waiting too long. "Fear and anxiety create a sense of urgency," analyzes Lekhshailee Elliah. "When someone fears they are sick, they want reassurance as quickly as possible. Searching online is free and faster than waiting for a medical appointment."
In this state of vulnerability, the brain becomes particularly permeable to sensationalist, alarmist, or simplified content. Social media has understood this well, and algorithms are precisely calibrated to amplify what elicits a strong emotional reaction.
Additionally, there is what specialists call the "availability heuristic": our deeply human tendency to prefer simple explanations and quick solutions. An herbal tea. A three-day detox. A change in routine. In the face of a complex chronic illness, these promises provide immediate relief—even if it is illusory.
"Social media amplifies this by presenting solutions in a visually appealing, short, and easy-to-consume format," observes the psychologist. The illusion that complex problems can be solved instantly is thus reinforced.
There is even, she says, a dimension of psychological relief in such content: believing that an easy solution exists temporarily reduces the guilt associated with bad habits: an unbalanced diet, a lack of exercise. One feels better, at least for the duration of a video.
Trusting Those Who Are Like Us
Another powerful lever that Lekhshailee Elliah identifies is that we spontaneously grant more credibility to people who resemble us or share a similar experience. An influencer who suffered from the same ailments, a colleague who tried the same remedy, a stranger on Facebook whose daily life resonates with ours.
"Seeing someone like us successfully use a remedy creates an emotional sense of trust, even without scientific validation," she explains. In the face of this identification mechanism, the doctor starts at a structural disadvantage: they represent the institution, formal knowledge, and professional distance. The influencer, on the other hand, is the friend we have yet to meet: accessible, human, and speaking without jargon.
One of the most insidious effects of this overconsumption of health content now has a name: cyberchondria. It is a form of health-related anxiety, directly fueled by excessive online searching. Constant exposure to medical content—often contradictory, sometimes alarmist—ultimately increases stress, fear, and obsessive symptom-checking.
"Health-related anxiety is very common in the Mauritian population, and I see many such cases in therapy," confides Lekhshailee Elliah. The picture she paints is striking: some perfectly healthy individuals end up being too afraid to leave their homes, paralyzed by imaginary symptoms fueled by their online readings.
"I have patients who simply have a headache but end up thinking they have a brain tumor," she says. Others, convinced they are suffering from a serious illness, take medications... while in reality, they have no real health issues.
The Myth of "Natural"
Why do so many people trust natural remedies, detoxes, or alternative practices? According to the psychologist, many automatically associate the word "natural" with something safer, healthier, or more holistic. Some people also feel the need to regain control over their health or harbor distrust towards medical institutions, sometimes after a bad experience.
Cultural and social beliefs also play a significant role, especially when certain traditional practices are valued by family, friends, or the community.
Taking a Step Back Before Sharing
In the face of this avalanche of health content, Lekhshailee Elliah urges Mauritians to take a step back before believing or sharing information. She recommends always checking information with reliable sources, such as doctors, hospitals, the Ministry of Health, or the WHO. She also advises seeking scientific evidence rather than relying solely on personal testimonies.
Finally, she encourages everyone to be attentive to content that plays on fear. "Fear-based content is often designed to manipulate attention," she reminds us.