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23899 | How I use Our World in Data in my work as a medical doctor | how-i-use-our-world-in-data-in-my-work-as-a-medical-doctor | post | publish | <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Christopher is 15 and last year he was feeling bad – hopeless and helpless. At home his parents are unhappy and seem to talk less and less. In the playground there’s been a lot of bullying and some experimentation with alcohol and marijuana. His best friend has switched allegiances, and makes fun of him in front of others. In the classroom, there have been discussions on climate change, and it seems to Chris that adults lack the political will to do enough to mitigate its effects.</span></i> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The future looks bleak.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Margaret used to have health anxiety – it started when she was in her late teens and both of her parents died of cancer within two years of each other. Not only was she overwhelmed by grief, but she actually had no-one with whom to share the grief. She took off overseas to work, to bury the sadness and ‘get on with life’. Now at 46, she can’t stop worrying about her son and daughter’s health, not to mention her husband and herself.</span></i></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ian has nothing but regrets. Having retired from a career in journalism 13 years ago, he is lonely and aimless. His marriage broke down when he was in his forties because of his infidelity, something that led him to lose a lot of friends and move away from his home city. All of his three children live overseas. Last week he realised that he hadn’t spoken to a single person all week. He says that he’s a certainty to develop dementia, from which his own father suffered for 15 long years. He experiences difficulty in concentrating, early morning waking and poor appetite.</span></i></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mental health issues are rarely single. Linda is managing her bipolar disorder relatively well these days, but hospital admissions have been associated with very significant weight gain due to treatment with atypical antipsychotic medication. She no longer takes that particular medication, but the damage has been done, as far as her weight is concerned. She has moved beyond the heroin addiction that she had 20 years ago, and now food is one of her few pleasures, while impulse control is one of her least developed skills. It’s difficult for Linda to move about, far less do serious exercise. Like Brian, she lives alone and questions the value of her life.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">{ref}The names and small details about these individuals have been changed for confidentiality.{/ref}</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There is more, much more, to each of the stories, but four threads bind them together. They are the same four threads that bind all of our individual stories. One of the threads is an awareness of our mortality; another is anxiety about the choices that we make. A third is the challenge to build a life with meaning. The last thread is the feeling of loneliness that savages us in moments of crisis, and dogs the path of some most of the time.</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If it sounds strange to say that </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our World in Data</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has something to contribute to helping Chris, Margaret, Brian and Ian; that’s because, I guess, I’m a bit strange to see it that way. But I do.</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For me, Chris is the most clear cut example. In the course of talking about his low mood, we chanced upon the fact that he had an assignment due at school; it was just another reason for feeling overwhelmed. The assigned topic was peace and conflict in the 20</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century, and I mentioned in passing that the world was way more peaceful today than it had been when I was his age. Chris didn’t believe it. Knowing that I was on the winning side of that particular argument, I pointed him in the direction of the </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace"><span style="font-weight: 400;">War and Peace</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> entry on </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our World in Data</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em> (OWID)</em>. I forgot about it, but Chris didn’t. He used it for his assignment, and it seemed to lift a weight from his mind – the weight of belief that our 21</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century world is becoming less and less safe. </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Climate change</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was bad enough, but climate plus conflict felt altogether too much. Plus, he received a good mark for the assignment for the first time in the year. Chris wasn’t cured by OWID, but he’s found a useful resource, and he’s realised that there are people who do interesting work on all sorts of subjects that matter to him.</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Margaret laughs at herself, but somehow she just can’t shake the </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#anxiety-disorders"><span style="font-weight: 400;">anxiety</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. There are no health statistics that will help her to still the persistent voice in her head that says that, no matter how unlikely, her headache </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">could</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> be a brain tumour, and the pins and needles in her fingers </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">could </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">be multiple sclerosis. Her daughter’s pallor </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">could</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> be the start of leukaemia and her son’s tendency to sleep late </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">could</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> be the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome. No amount of data can guarantee that she won’t be that one in a million who can’t find a place to sit on one of the 999,999 healthy chairs when the music of chance stops. I can’t guarantee it either. But there is one thing that I can tell her: almost 5% of women </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#anxiety-disorders"><span style="font-weight: 400;">experience an anxiety disorder</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> at any given time – many more experience one at some point in their lives. For me, that statistic underscores an important truth. Anxiety is not rare, it’s common. And like most common things, it’s there for a reason. The graphs on <em>OWID</em> only go back to </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/homicides"><span style="font-weight: 400;">the 14th century</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but they confirm that the world used to be very, very unsafe. If we could go further back into pre-history, it would thoroughly vindicate Thomas Hobbes’s observation of early life as “nasty, brutish and short”. It used to be a damned good idea to be anxious in a world of conflict and lawlessness – and an even better idea if you happen to be female. What we need in the 21</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century are strategies to reassure ourselves that it is, indeed, the 21</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century – with its rule of law, its scientific progress and its health care systems. </span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a crazy twist, Margaret developed breast cancer last year. She’s come through surgery and chemotherapy very well. And now she’s angry – angry at herself for wasting so much time on health anxiety. When it came to a real health challenge, Margaret was completely admirable – calm, organised and realistic. She found the statistics on <em>OWID</em> reassuring, not frightening, even though </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/cancer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">breast cancer is right up at the top</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of the graphs. She knows the </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-in-the-world-die-from-cancer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">number of deaths from breast cancer</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, worldwide, and she’s grateful for the clear explanations what’s been happening in relation to </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/five-year-survival-rates-from-breast-cancer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">breast cancer survival</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and how Australia compares with other countries. Most of all, she is impressed by her own ability to understand and accept the facts, rather than jumping at shadows.</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Ian came along with his own firm diagnosis of incipient dementia, he wasn’t inclined to agree that he might simply be depressed. A perfect score on a mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and some further assessments helped him to come around to the idea. He found it difficult to engage with behaviour change strategies that could help to relieve the </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#depression"><span style="font-weight: 400;">depression</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and he wasn’t convinced that medication would be helpful either. That’s where <em>OWID</em> came in handy – a graph that clearly showed that </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#do-antidepressants-work"><span style="font-weight: 400;">antidepressant medication works</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and has a role in alleviating the symptoms of some types of depression. So, in a spirit of shared scientific inquiry we agreed to trial medication that might also help him to sleep a little better at night, and sure enough, it did. With the burden of insomnia lifted, it became easier for Ian to focus on making some changes in his thinking and his way of relating to others. He’s also making plans against that day when he might actually have to deal with a significant decline in his cognitive capacity, while he is still capable of doing so.</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It may or may not have been a wise move to introduce Linda to <em>OWID</em>, because she has a tendency to do everything and anything with twice the normal speed and enthusiasm. Be that as it may, <em>OWID</em> came up in conversation one day, when Linda challenged some of my observations about the </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#bipolar-disorder"><span style="font-weight: 400;">prevalence of bipolar disorder</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> worldwide. We looked at some of the data, and ever since then she’s been treating me to tidbits of information from the site (mostly gleaned at 2am, but the sleep inversion is something we’re working on). She’s also started to make a serious attempt to lose weight and to get moving, with the result that she’s lost 12 kg so far, and if feeling pleased with herself – she’s no longer dreading her niece’s upcoming wedding quite so much, now that she may be able to find something to wear.</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is always intriguing to see how fear can be brought down to size, simply by being met head on. It is a fact that we will all die, that we will all make regrettable decisions and that life sometimes seems to lack meaning and purpose. We know, deep down, that we can never be completely understood by others, no matter how much we may love each other. Nevertheless, ‘scientia potentia est’ - knowledge is power. Even when the statistics are frightening, patients tend to appreciate a fact-based perspective. And there’s another good reason for introducing certain patients to <em>OWID</em>. I like to point them toward the <em>OWID</em> blog because it in turn directs our attention to some amazingly positive statistics. I can’t in good conscience say to a struggling patient </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Let’s just be grateful to be living in Australia, to have </span></i><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-sanitation#access-to-improved-water-sources"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">clean water</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span></i><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">good food</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, shelter and security.”</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> But I can let <em>OWID</em> do that, surreptitiously, on my behalf. After all, it works for me! </span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> | { "id": "wp-23899", "slug": "how-i-use-our-world-in-data-in-my-work-as-a-medical-doctor", "content": { "toc": [], "body": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Christopher is 15 and last year he was feeling bad \u2013 hopeless and helpless. At home his parents are unhappy and seem to talk less and less. In the playground there\u2019s been a lot of bullying and some experimentation with alcohol and marijuana. His best friend has switched allegiances, and makes fun of him in front of others. 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Now at 46, she can\u2019t stop worrying about her son and daughter\u2019s health, not to mention her husband and herself.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Ian has nothing but regrets. Having retired from a career in journalism 13 years ago, he is lonely and aimless. His marriage broke down when he was in his forties because of his infidelity, something that led him to lose a lot of friends and move away from his home city. All of his three children live overseas. Last week he realised that he hadn\u2019t spoken to a single person all week. He says that he\u2019s a certainty to develop dementia, from which his own father suffered for 15 long years. He experiences difficulty in concentrating, early morning waking and poor appetite.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Mental health issues are rarely single. Linda is managing her bipolar disorder relatively well these days, but hospital admissions have been associated with very significant weight gain due to treatment with atypical antipsychotic medication. She no longer takes that particular medication, but the damage has been done, as far as her weight is concerned. She has moved beyond the heroin addiction that she had 20 years ago, and now food is one of her few pleasures, while impulse control is one of her least developed skills. It\u2019s difficult for Linda to move about, far less do serious exercise. 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He\u2019s also making plans against that day when he might actually have to deal with a significant decline in his cognitive capacity, while he is still capable of doing so.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "It may or may not have been a wise move to introduce Linda to ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "OWID", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ", because she has a tendency to do everything and anything with twice the normal speed and enthusiasm. Be that as it may, ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "OWID", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " came up in conversation one day, when Linda challenged some of my observations about the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#bipolar-disorder", "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "prevalence of bipolar disorder", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "children": [ { "text": " worldwide. We looked at some of the data, and ever since then she\u2019s been treating me to tidbits of information from the site (mostly gleaned at 2am, but the sleep inversion is something we\u2019re working on). She\u2019s also started to make a serious attempt to lose weight and to get moving, with the result that she\u2019s lost 12 kg so far, and if feeling pleased with herself \u2013 she\u2019s no longer dreading her niece\u2019s upcoming wedding quite so much, now that she may be able to find something to wear.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "It is always intriguing to see how fear can be brought down to size, simply by being met head on. It is a fact that we will all die, that we will all make regrettable decisions and that life sometimes seems to lack meaning and purpose. We know, deep down, that we can never be completely understood by others, no matter how much we may love each other. Nevertheless, \u2018scientia potentia est\u2019 - knowledge is power.\u00a0 Even when the statistics are frightening, patients tend to appreciate a fact-based perspective. And there\u2019s another good reason for introducing certain patients to ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "OWID", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ". I like to point them toward the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "OWID", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " blog because it in turn directs our attention to some amazingly positive statistics. I can\u2019t in good conscience say to a struggling patient ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" }, { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "\u201cLet\u2019s just be grateful to be living in Australia, to have ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-sanitation#access-to-improved-water-sources", "children": [ { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "clean water", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": ", ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person", "children": [ { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "good food", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": ", shelter and security.\u201d", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "children": [ { "text": " But I can let ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "OWID", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " do that, surreptitiously, on my behalf. After all, it works for me!\u00a0\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-fallback" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "type": "article", "title": "How I use Our World in Data in my work as a medical doctor", "authors": [ "Guest Authors" ], "excerpt": "Our World in Data gets lots of feedback on how our work is used by policymakers, journalists, researchers and the public. But sometimes we get feedback from people who use us in ways we could never have imagined. Dr Jill Gordon shares her experiences on how she uses OWID in her work as a medical doctor. ", "dateline": "July 3, 2019", "subtitle": "Our World in Data gets lots of feedback on how our work is used by policymakers, journalists, researchers and the public. But sometimes we get feedback from people who use us in ways we could never have imagined. Dr Jill Gordon shares her experiences on how she uses OWID in her work as a medical doctor. 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2019-07-03 13:32:39 | 2024-02-22 04:07:58 | 1LZ_V8EwAF0CozS7m15Wy7CsRMGQslk49koDq5nQ-tew | [ "Guest Authors" ] |
Our World in Data gets lots of feedback on how our work is used by policymakers, journalists, researchers and the public. But sometimes we get feedback from people who use us in ways we could never have imagined. Dr Jill Gordon shares her experiences on how she uses OWID in her work as a medical doctor. | 2019-07-03 14:32:39 | 2022-02-04 13:51:19 | https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/doctor.jpg | {} |
_Christopher is 15 and last year he was feeling bad – hopeless and helpless. At home his parents are unhappy and seem to talk less and less. In the playground there’s been a lot of bullying and some experimentation with alcohol and marijuana. His best friend has switched allegiances, and makes fun of him in front of others. In the classroom, there have been discussions on climate change, and it seems to Chris that adults lack the political will to do enough to mitigate its effects.__The future looks bleak._ _Margaret used to have health anxiety – it started when she was in her late teens and both of her parents died of cancer within two years of each other. Not only was she overwhelmed by grief, but she actually had no-one with whom to share the grief. She took off overseas to work, to bury the sadness and ‘get on with life’. Now at 46, she can’t stop worrying about her son and daughter’s health, not to mention her husband and herself._ _Ian has nothing but regrets. Having retired from a career in journalism 13 years ago, he is lonely and aimless. His marriage broke down when he was in his forties because of his infidelity, something that led him to lose a lot of friends and move away from his home city. All of his three children live overseas. Last week he realised that he hadn’t spoken to a single person all week. He says that he’s a certainty to develop dementia, from which his own father suffered for 15 long years. He experiences difficulty in concentrating, early morning waking and poor appetite._ _Mental health issues are rarely single. Linda is managing her bipolar disorder relatively well these days, but hospital admissions have been associated with very significant weight gain due to treatment with atypical antipsychotic medication. She no longer takes that particular medication, but the damage has been done, as far as her weight is concerned. She has moved beyond the heroin addiction that she had 20 years ago, and now food is one of her few pleasures, while impulse control is one of her least developed skills. It’s difficult for Linda to move about, far less do serious exercise. Like Brian, she lives alone and questions the value of her life._{ref}The names and small details about these individuals have been changed for confidentiality.{/ref} There is more, much more, to each of the stories, but four threads bind them together. They are the same four threads that bind all of our individual stories. One of the threads is an awareness of our mortality; another is anxiety about the choices that we make. A third is the challenge to build a life with meaning. The last thread is the feeling of loneliness that savages us in moments of crisis, and dogs the path of some most of the time. If it sounds strange to say that [_Our World in Data_](https://ourworldindata.org/) has something to contribute to helping Chris, Margaret, Brian and Ian; that’s because, I guess, I’m a bit strange to see it that way. But I do. For me, Chris is the most clear cut example. In the course of talking about his low mood, we chanced upon the fact that he had an assignment due at school; it was just another reason for feeling overwhelmed. The assigned topic was peace and conflict in the 20th century, and I mentioned in passing that the world was way more peaceful today than it had been when I was his age. Chris didn’t believe it. Knowing that I was on the winning side of that particular argument, I pointed him in the direction of the [War and Peace](https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace) entry on _Our World in Data__ (OWID)_. I forgot about it, but Chris didn’t. He used it for his assignment, and it seemed to lift a weight from his mind – the weight of belief that our 21st century world is becoming less and less safe. [Climate change](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions) was bad enough, but climate plus conflict felt altogether too much. Plus, he received a good mark for the assignment for the first time in the year. Chris wasn’t cured by OWID, but he’s found a useful resource, and he’s realised that there are people who do interesting work on all sorts of subjects that matter to him. Margaret laughs at herself, but somehow she just can’t shake the [anxiety](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#anxiety-disorders). There are no health statistics that will help her to still the persistent voice in her head that says that, no matter how unlikely, her headache _could_ be a brain tumour, and the pins and needles in her fingers _could _be multiple sclerosis. Her daughter’s pallor _could_ be the start of leukaemia and her son’s tendency to sleep late _could_ be the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome. No amount of data can guarantee that she won’t be that one in a million who can’t find a place to sit on one of the 999,999 healthy chairs when the music of chance stops. I can’t guarantee it either. But there is one thing that I can tell her: almost 5% of women [experience an anxiety disorder](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#anxiety-disorders) at any given time – many more experience one at some point in their lives. For me, that statistic underscores an important truth. Anxiety is not rare, it’s common. And like most common things, it’s there for a reason. The graphs on _OWID_ only go back to [the 14th century](https://ourworldindata.org/homicides), but they confirm that the world used to be very, very unsafe. If we could go further back into pre-history, it would thoroughly vindicate Thomas Hobbes’s observation of early life as “nasty, brutish and short”. It used to be a damned good idea to be anxious in a world of conflict and lawlessness – and an even better idea if you happen to be female. What we need in the 21st century are strategies to reassure ourselves that it is, indeed, the 21st century – with its rule of law, its scientific progress and its health care systems. In a crazy twist, Margaret developed breast cancer last year. She’s come through surgery and chemotherapy very well. And now she’s angry – angry at herself for wasting so much time on health anxiety. When it came to a real health challenge, Margaret was completely admirable – calm, organised and realistic. She found the statistics on _OWID_ reassuring, not frightening, even though [breast cancer is right up at the top](https://ourworldindata.org/cancer) of the graphs. She knows the [number of deaths from breast cancer](https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-in-the-world-die-from-cancer), worldwide, and she’s grateful for the clear explanations what’s been happening in relation to [breast cancer survival](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/five-year-survival-rates-from-breast-cancer) and how Australia compares with other countries. Most of all, she is impressed by her own ability to understand and accept the facts, rather than jumping at shadows. When Ian came along with his own firm diagnosis of incipient dementia, he wasn’t inclined to agree that he might simply be depressed. A perfect score on a mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and some further assessments helped him to come around to the idea. He found it difficult to engage with behaviour change strategies that could help to relieve the [depression](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#depression), and he wasn’t convinced that medication would be helpful either. That’s where _OWID_ came in handy – a graph that clearly showed that [antidepressant medication works](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#do-antidepressants-work), and has a role in alleviating the symptoms of some types of depression. So, in a spirit of shared scientific inquiry we agreed to trial medication that might also help him to sleep a little better at night, and sure enough, it did. With the burden of insomnia lifted, it became easier for Ian to focus on making some changes in his thinking and his way of relating to others. He’s also making plans against that day when he might actually have to deal with a significant decline in his cognitive capacity, while he is still capable of doing so. It may or may not have been a wise move to introduce Linda to _OWID_, because she has a tendency to do everything and anything with twice the normal speed and enthusiasm. Be that as it may, _OWID_ came up in conversation one day, when Linda challenged some of my observations about the [prevalence of bipolar disorder](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#bipolar-disorder) worldwide. We looked at some of the data, and ever since then she’s been treating me to tidbits of information from the site (mostly gleaned at 2am, but the sleep inversion is something we’re working on). She’s also started to make a serious attempt to lose weight and to get moving, with the result that she’s lost 12 kg so far, and if feeling pleased with herself – she’s no longer dreading her niece’s upcoming wedding quite so much, now that she may be able to find something to wear. It is always intriguing to see how fear can be brought down to size, simply by being met head on. It is a fact that we will all die, that we will all make regrettable decisions and that life sometimes seems to lack meaning and purpose. We know, deep down, that we can never be completely understood by others, no matter how much we may love each other. Nevertheless, ‘scientia potentia est’ - knowledge is power. Even when the statistics are frightening, patients tend to appreciate a fact-based perspective. And there’s another good reason for introducing certain patients to _OWID_. I like to point them toward the _OWID_ blog because it in turn directs our attention to some amazingly positive statistics. I can’t in good conscience say to a struggling patient _“Let’s just be grateful to be living in Australia, to have _[_clean water_](https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-sanitation#access-to-improved-water-sources)_, _[_good food_](https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person)_, shelter and security.”_ But I can let _OWID_ do that, surreptitiously, on my behalf. After all, it works for me! | { "id": 23899, "date": "2019-07-03T14:32:39", "guid": { "rendered": "https://owid.cloud/?p=23899" }, "link": "https://owid.cloud/how-i-use-our-world-in-data-in-my-work-as-a-medical-doctor", "meta": { "owid_publication_context_meta_field": { "latest": true, "homepage": true, "immediate_newsletter": true } }, "slug": "how-i-use-our-world-in-data-in-my-work-as-a-medical-doctor", "tags": [], "type": "post", "title": { "rendered": "How I use Our World in Data in my work as a medical doctor" }, "_links": { "self": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/23899" } ], "about": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post" } ], "author": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/users/28", "embeddable": true } ], "curies": [ { "href": "https://api.w.org/{rel}", "name": "wp", "templated": true } ], "replies": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=23899", "embeddable": true } ], "wp:term": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=23899", "taxonomy": "category", "embeddable": true }, { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=23899", "taxonomy": "post_tag", "embeddable": true } ], "collection": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts" } ], "wp:attachment": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=23899" } ], "version-history": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/23899/revisions", "count": 11 } ], "wp:featuredmedia": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media/23909", "embeddable": true } ], "predecessor-version": [ { "id": 48325, "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/23899/revisions/48325" } ] }, "author": 28, "format": "standard", "status": "publish", "sticky": false, "content": { "rendered": "\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christopher is 15 and last year he was feeling bad \u2013 hopeless and helpless. At home his parents are unhappy and seem to talk less and less. In the playground there\u2019s been a lot of bullying and some experimentation with alcohol and marijuana. His best friend has switched allegiances, and makes fun of him in front of others. In the classroom, there have been discussions on climate change, and it seems to Chris that adults lack the political will to do enough to mitigate its effects.</span></i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The future looks bleak.</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> </span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Margaret used to have health anxiety \u2013 it started when she was in her late teens and both of her parents died of cancer within two years of each other. Not only was she overwhelmed by grief, but she actually had no-one with whom to share the grief. She took off overseas to work, to bury the sadness and \u2018get on with life\u2019. Now at 46, she can\u2019t stop worrying about her son and daughter\u2019s health, not to mention her husband and herself.</span></i></p>\n\n\n\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ian has nothing but regrets. Having retired from a career in journalism 13 years ago, he is lonely and aimless. His marriage broke down when he was in his forties because of his infidelity, something that led him to lose a lot of friends and move away from his home city. All of his three children live overseas. Last week he realised that he hadn\u2019t spoken to a single person all week. He says that he\u2019s a certainty to develop dementia, from which his own father suffered for 15 long years. He experiences difficulty in concentrating, early morning waking and poor appetite.</span></i></p>\n\n\n\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mental health issues are rarely single. Linda is managing her bipolar disorder relatively well these days, but hospital admissions have been associated with very significant weight gain due to treatment with atypical antipsychotic medication. She no longer takes that particular medication, but the damage has been done, as far as her weight is concerned. She has moved beyond the heroin addiction that she had 20 years ago, and now food is one of her few pleasures, while impulse control is one of her least developed skills. It\u2019s difficult for Linda to move about, far less do serious exercise. Like Brian, she lives alone and questions the value of her life.</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">{ref}The names and small details about these individuals have been changed for confidentiality.{/ref}</span></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"/>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is more, much more, to each of the stories, but four threads bind them together. They are the same four threads that bind all of our individual stories. One of the threads is an awareness of our mortality; another is anxiety about the choices that we make. A third is the challenge to build a life with meaning. The last thread is the feeling of loneliness that savages us in moments of crisis, and dogs the path of some most of the time.</span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it sounds strange to say that </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our World in Data</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has something to contribute to helping Chris, Margaret, Brian and Ian; that\u2019s because, I guess, I\u2019m a bit strange to see it that way. But I do.</span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For me, Chris is the most clear cut example. In the course of talking about his low mood, we chanced upon the fact that he had an assignment due at school; it was just another reason for feeling overwhelmed. The assigned topic was peace and conflict in the 20</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century, and I mentioned in passing that the world was way more peaceful today than it had been when I was his age. Chris didn\u2019t believe it. Knowing that I was on the winning side of that particular argument, I pointed him in the direction of the </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">War and Peace</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> entry on </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our World in Data</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em> (OWID)</em>. I forgot about it, but Chris didn\u2019t. He used it for his assignment, and it seemed to lift a weight from his mind \u2013 the weight of belief that our 21</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century world is becoming less and less safe. </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Climate change</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was bad enough, but climate plus conflict felt altogether too much. Plus, he received a good mark for the assignment for the first time in the year. Chris wasn\u2019t cured by OWID, but he\u2019s found a useful resource, and he\u2019s realised that there are people who do interesting work on all sorts of subjects that matter to him.</span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Margaret laughs at herself, but somehow she just can\u2019t shake the </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#anxiety-disorders\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anxiety</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. There are no health statistics that will help her to still the persistent voice in her head that says that, no matter how unlikely, her headache </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be a brain tumour, and the pins and needles in her fingers </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">be multiple sclerosis. Her daughter\u2019s pallor </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be the start of leukaemia and her son\u2019s tendency to sleep late </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome. No amount of data can guarantee that she won\u2019t be that one in a million who can\u2019t find a place to sit on one of the 999,999 healthy chairs when the music of chance stops. I can\u2019t guarantee it either. But there is one thing that I can tell her: almost 5% of women </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#anxiety-disorders\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">experience an anxiety disorder</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at any given time \u2013 many more experience one at some point in their lives. For me, that statistic underscores an important truth. Anxiety is not rare, it\u2019s common. And like most common things, it\u2019s there for a reason. The graphs on <em>OWID</em> only go back to </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/homicides\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the 14th century</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but they confirm that the world used to be very, very unsafe. If we could go further back into pre-history, it would thoroughly vindicate Thomas Hobbes\u2019s observation of early life as \u201cnasty, brutish and short\u201d. It used to be a damned good idea to be anxious in a world of conflict and lawlessness \u2013 and an even better idea if you happen to be female. What we need in the 21</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century are strategies to reassure ourselves that it is, indeed, the 21</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century \u2013 with its rule of law, its scientific progress and its health care systems. </span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a crazy twist, Margaret developed breast cancer last year. She\u2019s come through surgery and chemotherapy very well. And now she\u2019s angry \u2013 angry at herself for wasting so much time on health anxiety. When it came to a real health challenge, Margaret was completely admirable \u2013 calm, organised and realistic. She found the statistics on <em>OWID</em> reassuring, not frightening, even though </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/cancer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">breast cancer is right up at the top</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the graphs. She knows the </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-in-the-world-die-from-cancer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">number of deaths from breast cancer</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, worldwide, and she\u2019s grateful for the clear explanations what\u2019s been happening in relation to </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/five-year-survival-rates-from-breast-cancer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">breast cancer survival</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and how Australia compares with other countries. Most of all, she is impressed by her own ability to understand and accept the facts, rather than jumping at shadows.</span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Ian came along with his own firm diagnosis of incipient dementia, he wasn\u2019t inclined to agree that he might simply be depressed. A perfect score on a mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and some further assessments helped him to come around to the idea. He found it difficult to engage with behaviour change strategies that could help to relieve the </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#depression\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">depression</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and he wasn\u2019t convinced that medication would be helpful either. That\u2019s where <em>OWID</em> came in handy \u2013 a graph that clearly showed that </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#do-antidepressants-work\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">antidepressant medication works</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and has a role in alleviating the symptoms of some types of depression. So, in a spirit of shared scientific inquiry we agreed to trial medication that might also help him to sleep a little better at night, and sure enough, it did. With the burden of insomnia lifted, it became easier for Ian to focus on making some changes in his thinking and his way of relating to others. He\u2019s also making plans against that day when he might actually have to deal with a significant decline in his cognitive capacity, while he is still capable of doing so.</span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It may or may not have been a wise move to introduce Linda to <em>OWID</em>, because she has a tendency to do everything and anything with twice the normal speed and enthusiasm. Be that as it may, <em>OWID</em> came up in conversation one day, when Linda challenged some of my observations about the </span><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#bipolar-disorder\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prevalence of bipolar disorder</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> worldwide. We looked at some of the data, and ever since then she\u2019s been treating me to tidbits of information from the site (mostly gleaned at 2am, but the sleep inversion is something we\u2019re working on). She\u2019s also started to make a serious attempt to lose weight and to get moving, with the result that she\u2019s lost 12 kg so far, and if feeling pleased with herself \u2013 she\u2019s no longer dreading her niece\u2019s upcoming wedding quite so much, now that she may be able to find something to wear.</span></p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is always intriguing to see how fear can be brought down to size, simply by being met head on. It is a fact that we will all die, that we will all make regrettable decisions and that life sometimes seems to lack meaning and purpose. We know, deep down, that we can never be completely understood by others, no matter how much we may love each other. Nevertheless, \u2018scientia potentia est\u2019 – knowledge is power. Even when the statistics are frightening, patients tend to appreciate a fact-based perspective. And there\u2019s another good reason for introducing certain patients to <em>OWID</em>. I like to point them toward the <em>OWID</em> blog because it in turn directs our attention to some amazingly positive statistics. I can\u2019t in good conscience say to a struggling patient </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLet\u2019s just be grateful to be living in Australia, to have </span></i><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-sanitation#access-to-improved-water-sources\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">clean water</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, </span></i><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">good food</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, shelter and security.\u201d</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> But I can let <em>OWID</em> do that, surreptitiously, on my behalf. After all, it works for me! </span></p>\n", "protected": false }, "excerpt": { "rendered": "Our World in Data gets lots of feedback on how our work is used by policymakers, journalists, researchers and the public. But sometimes we get feedback from people who use us in ways we could never have imagined. Dr Jill Gordon shares her experiences on how she uses OWID in her work as a medical doctor. ", "protected": false }, "date_gmt": "2019-07-03T13:32:39", "modified": "2022-02-04T13:51:19", "template": "", "categories": [ 1 ], "ping_status": "closed", "authors_name": [ "Guest Authors" ], "modified_gmt": "2022-02-04T13:51:19", "comment_status": "closed", "featured_media": 23909, "featured_media_paths": { "thumbnail": "/app/uploads/2019/07/doctor-150x84.jpg", "medium_large": "/app/uploads/2019/07/doctor-768x432.jpg" } } |