Research in neuroscience, psychology, business and economics tells us that a plethora of influences can alter the decisions we make. The author explored some of these factors in a Worldview Stanford course and wrote about them in a Stanford story package, Decisions, Decisions. This post is part of a series on what she learned.
Here's something truly unfair. People with mental-health issues have changes in their brains that make it harder for them to make decisions that will benefit their health.
Just when you need good decision-making the most, it fails you.
Child psychiatrist Kathleen Fitzpatrick, MD, works with kids who have anorexia. She said that in those people, their risk/reward pathways are aligned so that not eating is rewarding and eating is cause for anxiety. And, like anyone, they decide in favor of the rewarding experience.
Fitzpatrick put it like this, "I will work for the reward of a cupcake. They will work for the reward of removing all cupcakes."
In my story I also talk with psychiatrist Manpreet Singh, MD, who says people with depression face similar issues. That's in part why mental-health conditions are so hard to treat. They change a person's brain in ways that make it even harder to recover.
Previously: Decisions, Decisions: How emotions alter our decisions, Decisions, Decisions: The way we express a decision alters the outcome and Decisions, Decisions: How decisions change with age
Video courtesy of Worldview Stanford
