Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias
I’ve spent most of my adult life convincing myself that what I do works and that my own particular brand of therapeutic intervention has some kind of mechanism that makes people ‘better’, whatever that means.
It stands to reason that I need to have some level of conviction that what I practice, teach, write about and study has some level of efficacy. This conviction however comes with little real evidence to back it up, save for the thousands of other people who have the same conviction. This conviction sometime extends way beyond what we might often think of as a reasonable confidence and is mirrored in the behaviour that we indulge ourselves in all through life.
We tend to surround ourselves with this who agree with us and who confirm our view of the world. Whether it be through religion, culture, politics, therapy or science, we associate and fraternise with those who’s world view closely resembles our own. In science this is called confirmation bias; we tend to confirm as fact what we want to be true.
As I’ve got older and more cynical, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to therapeutic intervention, but I still regularly face fierce conviction from those who are utterly convinced that what they do has a clearly defined mechanism of action, even when it is is patently obvious that any such mechanism or at least an understanding of it, is entirely absent.
These people will send me emails that contain pages of research documents that back up their stance and confirm their strongly held belief that what they do is scientifically proven beyond doubt, an excellent demonstration of confirmation bias. Much as the evangelist will use the bible to demonstrate proof of the word of god, anything that might directly contradict or question this view has not been sought out or researched and someone like this is unlikely to have a balanced view.
Whilst understandable, it often makes for uncomfortable conversation. Whilst I totally believe, having had the same experiences, that the most incredible things happen with unerring regularity in treatment rooms all over the world, I have yet to be presented with anything that remotely resembles evidence to support an understanding of how these events actually occur.
Accepting something as part of a faith or a deep belief is one thing, but trying to justify that faith against a world of counter intuitive evidence is going to end badly. Placebo, meaning ‘to please’, is a word often used to bash the therapist by those with a sceptical axe to grind, conveniently ignoring the simple truth that ALL medicine is to some degree placebo by its very nature. You can’t take the doctor out of medicine.
Derren Brown’s ‘Miracle’ available on Netflix, makes for uncomfortable watching for those who might feel that what they do is something more than contextual, yet should be required viewing for anyone who aspires to be a therapist. Does it prove that all healing, or anything without a paper is hocus? No. Brown is a consummate showman and demonstrates the power of hypnotism and mass hysteria in a great show. It would be naive to suggest that what takes place in a treatment room is the same.
Manual therapy has many benefits and the power of touch can and should never be underestimated. But the actual mechanisms by which we change things and how this takes place is very poorly understood, however hotly debated.
Subjects like fascia have become popular and widely bandied around, but are often used by those who have little grasp of the subject to support or justify approaches which have little evidence to validate them. Science and scientists aren’t immune from this self justification as human nature takes over easily, even where deeply held principles of scientific objectivity might be expected to take precedent. It’s hard for anyone to have their work or understanding contradicted.
We are all prejudiced to some degree. We all have deeply held personal beliefs and convictions that will always have the potential to influence even the most guarded of principles. Owning this truth as a starting point for trying to understand our approaches would be a great start.