Issue #002: The Big Shift in Health Advice: Who Can You Trust?
My 14 year old labrador, Lucky, has lived a good, long life with tons of love and outdoor adventure.
So to witness her decline in her older years is hard.
Seeing her having trouble walking was concerning, so I reached out to the vet.
They couldn’t see us for a week, but prescribed a steroid pain reliever through the receptionist.
It helped, but without access to the vet, I had to look elsewhere for answers, like friends, Google and AI.
Trust in Health Advice is Shifting
It turns out I’m not alone. According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report on Trust and Health, a shift is happening in who we trust for medical information.
The Edelman study shows that personal experience, and not only professional medical training, is an important part of the equation when people decide what health information to trust.
We’re still going to the doctor (or vet) first, checking in with friends and family, and tapping into trained health experts.
But there’s been a real shift in recent years to also trust other voices, many of whom have lived experience with the issue, found on podcasts, social media and in online community groups, without credentialed training.
Expertise vs Experience: Who Do We Trust?
We’re seeing a shift in trusting lived experience as much as health professionals with medical training.
Is this a valid approach?
Yes, with a few important caveats.
In our LifeLab community, we have guest experts with tons of medical training like Dr. Ross Greene.
We also have uniquely wired community members with tons of lived experience, who offer community feedback and What’s Working reports.
Both are valid, and they bring different things to the table.
I have to shout out to the incredible author of How to ADHD, Jessica McCabe, my friend and colleague, who has almost 2 million followers on YouTube, following her videos on her lived experience.
My family finds her videos extremely useful.
We need an ecosystem of voices who are professionally trained, AND those with lived experience.
And when we find a medical professional who has both the training and lived experience, we win the medical information lottery, like finding the incredible Dr. Stacy Greeter.
Vet Your Sources and Beware of Misinformation
We need to do our research on the validity of who to trust for health advice.
According to the Edelman study, many young people have regrets about making health decisions based on misinformation from online content creators.
It’s important to note that the study reflects the general public, and many neurodivergent folks understandably rely more heavily on lived experience because they’ve had mixed or harmful encounters with professionals.
Balance Science and Experience
It’s a real thing that some trained health professionals don’t provide the best care.
A case in point is neuropsych assessments for the twice exceptional (2e) population I often serve, who are very bright, and have lagging skills at the same time – two exceptions to the norm.
Unless a psychologist is familiar with the peaks and valleys profile of strengths and lagging skills, their assessment could be way off, like in the case of one of our community members, whose gifted child was mistakenly assessed to have intellectual disability due to dyslexia.
Big. Red. Flag.
Many dyslexics are brilliant!
So, I suggest asking both trained professionals and those with lived experience questions like:
- What is your experience with uniquely wired people?
- What does neuro-affirming care mean to you?
- What background do you have that makes you a trusted source of information?
Share Health Information Wisely
Peer health information sharing is increasingly important online.
I definitely see this ecosystem of health information sourcing and sharing in my own life.
I listened to a Dr. Peter Attia podcast on bone strength, in which he interviewed Belinda Beck, PhD.
I then looked up her website, found a provider of her program, Onero, in my area, and am now weightlifting there.
Proof positive of the modern health information ecosystem at work: a friend recommended the podcast, I listened to it, and sought out the evidence-based health solution it recommended.
Check for Multiple Sources
A good rule of thumb is to corroborate information.
If your doctor, a content creator, and AI all agree, chances are it’s true. (Never trust AI alone, without humans in the loop).
It’s good practice to get second opinions, even if it’s from online media sources.
Another great example of a health content creator with both lived experience and medical training is Dr. Alok Kanojia aka Dr. K of Healthy Gamer, a frequent guest in the LifeLab.
Dr. K is a wealth of information on ADHD and mental health, and I’ve shared a number of his videos, along with Jessica McCabe’s with my kids.
Create Your Own Health Information Web
This is a great conversation to have around the dinner table with family and friends.
A quick conversation starter you can use:
When you want to get information on your health, what sources do you trust? How do you know you can trust them? Here’s what I’m finding most helpful…
In our family, we have a family text thread and share interesting, health-related articles and videos with each other regularly.
I’ll leave you with that for now.
Be a self scientist and vet what health information is most useful to you!
What online health content do you find most helpful? Do you follow any health influencers?
SHOOT ME AN EMAIL and let me know of any you think are trustworthy.
All my best,
Debbie