Judging news and screening tools
Why this matters: Online quizzes and health claims can reassure you or frighten you without good evidence.
Screening tools are not diagnoses. Tools such as the PHQ-9 (depression) and GAD-7 (anxiety) show whether symptoms might need attention. Only a clinician can diagnose.
Judging a source:
- Who wrote it? Look for named authors and their credentials.
- Who pays for it? Check for a product being sold, or a funder with an interest in the answer.
- What is the evidence? Does it link to studies, or only to other articles?
- Is it recent? Health guidance changes.
- Does it make big promises? "Cure," "guaranteed," and "secret" are warning signs.
Check it with another source: open a second, independent source, such as a national health service or a university page.
Counterpoint: Not everything online is wrong, and some useful information comes from people who are not experts. Skepticism should not turn into ignoring all treatment.
Sources: Check the evidence yourself using your country's national health services.
Next step: Take one claim you read this week and check it against two independent sources.