COVID misinformation is destroying the mental health of those who believe it: Harvard study

Misinformation about the coronavirus harming those who believe it was the subject of a Saturday segment on MSNBC's "American Voices" with Alicia Menendez.

The host interviewed Prof. Roy Perlis, who teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

"Harvard out with a new study shining a light on how misinformation affects public health. What have you learned?" Menendez asked.

"It's pretty striking," Dr. Perlis replied. "In our most recent survey, we ask our 20,000 U.S. respondents about four items of misinformation related to vaccination. One in five believe at least one of them and about half of the people we asked weren't sure about at least one of them. So that gives you some sense of just how much misinformation is out there."

"One of the things that was really interesting is, it can have a big impact on our mental health, right? That, just being exposed to that misinformation," Menendez said.

"So, before we even talk about mental health, there's the fact that if you believe one of those items of misinformation, you're about half as likely to be vaccinated," he replied. "So we shouldn't forget just the impact of misinformation on people's willingness to be vaccinated."

"But you're absolutely right," he continued. "We see high rates of depression among people who believe misinformation. You also have to remember rates of depression are already substantially higher than typically before COVID."

"There's the depression piece of this and perhaps this is a piece of what I'm going to ask you, but we've seen rage," Menendez said. "You saw one of the people at that meeting just screaming about -- about masks in a way that is clearly linked to the misinformation that they've been exposed to. We've seen scenes of people, just today, freaking out at airports, getting violent. I mean, how much of that is about the things that they are reading and believing?"

"Well, I think you have to keep in mind that depression and anxiety and anger can be manifestations of the same sort of underlying discomfort, right? So everyone experiences it differently," Dr. Perlis replied. "And I also noticed in some of the video clips how many people were in tears or near tears. So these things are all related, but I think during COVID, given how much underlying depression and anxiety we see, people have much shorter fuses and so misinformation, perhaps, is more able to push people over when they see something on the web or see something on a cable news channel, it's easier perhaps to push them to become angry and to act out."

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