Don ’t be so rigid in your thinking

“She doesn’t look like a person with an addiction problem to me,” replied the physician to the psychiatrist, referring to a patient who was admitted to the hospital for confusion. She was found at home amidst an array of bottles containing various controlled substances, and a toxicology screen positive for cannabis. She was in a higher socioeconomic bracket having retired from a professional job. The psychiatrist explained that addiction crosses all social lines, and there was no typical “look,” but there was an ongoing reluctance by the physician to concede that addiction was an issue. Cognitive rigidity, an affliction we are all vulnerable to, is the inability to appreciate another perspective. Gary Klein, in Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making, described cognitive rigidity as “holding onto initial explanations despite the subsequent accumulation of contrary evidence.” It’s a tendency to adhere to a set of beliefs, or an unwillingness to consider a viewpoint that does not fit a person’s own narrative. Take this puzzle as an example. To solve it, connect all nine dots by using no more than four continuous lines, and the pen cannot be lifted from the paper once drawing begins. The solution will be discussed later. Cognitive rigidity in medicine can interfere with our ability to work effectively. It causes us to put present and future encounters in boxes from past experiences. While bui...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Psychiatry Source Type: blogs