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Do you decide logically or emotionally?” was the headline of a message, from a medical business academy, that caught my eye. We might think we’re logical beings, but we, and our patients, make many decisions based on our emotions. One poignant anecdote has a bigger impact on human thinking than all the dry data on efficacy and safety that people can muster.
I think frequently about how I am buffeted by emotion more than logic. For example, this issue of The Dermatologist has us looking at COVID-19 again, with a cover story on hidradenitis suppurativa featuring Dr Haley Naik, the principal investigator of the Global Hidradenitis Suppurativa COVID-19 Registry (page 30). Registry data can give us a lot of useful information on COVID-19 outcomes, but single moving anecdotes (about a patient who had some horrible death or, for that matter, of a patient who had a rapid recovery) may impact our thinking more than all the data.
This issue also has an interview with Dr Jenna Lester on the lack of skin of color images in dermatologic case reports of COVID-19 (page 19). Our views on skin of color issues may also be impacted by anecdotes, as would be our thoughts on reopening practices during the pandemic or on integrating technology into our practices.
When it comes to decision making, humans are far from logical computing devices. We (and our patients) largely make decisions based on emotion. Even if we cannot avoid doing otherwise, it can be at least entertaining, if not perhaps even helpful, to understand how profoundly emotions affect our decisions. n
Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Editor
