‘Prebunking’: How doctors can fortify patients against medical misinformation

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By Emma Wilkinson

Medical misinformation is rampant and can feel unstoppable. But Cambridge psychologist Sander van der Linden offers doctors practical advice for constructive discussion.

From senior US politicians deriding vaccines, to people following potentially harmful chatbot health advice, medical misinformation is everywhere.

Doctors are already seeing the impact of this misleading advice in their clinics every day, warned Sander van der Linden, University of Cambridge professor of social psychology in society.

At the UK Health Security Agency conference in September, delegates heard that medical misinformation on social media is being produced on an industrial scale.

What makes medical misinformation unique is that the consequences are real.

The recent case of a US woman found dead after ChatGPT allegedly told her how to taper off her epilepsy medication has highlighted the potentially devastating risks when people use AI as a doctor.

But van der Linden says there is a lot that doctors can do to help patients navigate the information quagmire. His research has shown that for most people, "prebunking", which involves providing people with tools and knowledge to spot and understand the motives of those trying to manipulate them, can be more effective than debunking.