Doctors’ psychological triggers to make you vaccinate your children

By  JEFFRY J. AUFDERHEIDE | VACTRUTH | DECEMBER 19, 2012

If you’ve ever been in a doctor’s office with a child, you know what I mean.

Doctors are well known for applying psychological pressure to parents questioning vaccines. Maybe you’ve experienced this pressure?

Here are five psychological triggers doctors use against you, the parent, and some of the suggestions you can use to overcome them.

 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIGGER #1: POWER OF AUTHORITY

This is one of the most powerful psychological triggers, as you will see.

Doctors are in a position of authority – they went to medical school. (You didn’t.) This fact alone puts them in a unique position and you are paying for their advice.

Society in general makes assumptions that doctors know the absolute best information for your health relating to all topics – especially vaccines. Often, doctors repeat the information given to them by the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration.

The doctor’s assumption is this: if the FDA approves a drug and the CDC recommends it, it must be safe. Maybe they haven’t heard of 100,000 DEATHS yearly from adverse (FDA-approved) drug reactions? [1]

Taken to the extreme, some doctors abuse their power in a predatory fashion. The nature of their authority takes on a bully-like quality.

Should you listen to them about vaccines? After all, they are wearing a white coat.

Examples of the Power of Authority:

• Stanley Milgram devised experiments suggesting people are merely following orders, despite violating their deepest moral beliefs. [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk

• “According to Professor [Michael] Cohen, “in case after case, patients, nurses, pharmacists, and other physicians do not question the prescription.” “A physician ordered ear drops to be administered to the right ear of a patient suffering pain and infection there. But instead of writing out completely the location “right ear” on the prescription, the doctor abbreviated it so that the instructions read “place in R ear.” Upon receiving the prescription, the duty nurse promptly put the required number of ear drops into the patient’s anus…Yet neither the patient nor the nurse questioned it.” [3]

What You Can Do…

Realize the doctor may not have as much knowledge or training on vaccines as you think. The Latin word for doctor is “docere,” meaning to teach. Is your doctor teaching you how to build better health, or are they using their position to convince you to get your child injected?

Doctors only have as much power as you give them – he or she cannot make a guarantee that a vaccine will work, nor can they guarantee that it will be safe.

Recognize the power rests in YOU! The choice is yours to say “YES” or “NO!”

 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIGGER #2: GUILT TRIPPING OR SHAMING THE PARENT

Another common tactic is to make a parent feel bad for even questioning vaccines.

It takes the form of bluntly insulting the parent. It could also be underhanded remarks or comments (passive-aggressive behavior). The predictable result? It fills the parent with guilt or shame for questioning the doctor.

In turn, the parent may have unanswered questions but reluctantly goes along with the doctor’s orders and vaccinates their child.

This is a very powerful psychological trigger when combined with the power of authority in a one-on-one setting.

Examples of Guilt Tripping and Shaming:

Doctors (and nurses) have been reported as saying very cruel things to parents who question vaccines or do not vaccinate, such as:

• You are a parasite to society.
• You are being irresponsible.
• You are a bad parent.
• You are not a doctor.
• Your child cannot go to school without vaccines.
• Your child will die without “life-saving” vaccines.
• You are free-loading off of society’s herd immunity.
• You are getting the benefits of vaccination without paying the price.
• You are an “Internet Mom.”
• You don’t understand science.
• You do not care about your child’s health or future.
• Your ignorance is causing diseases to come back.

What You Can Do…

Recognize this behavior for what it is: a form of passive-aggressive behavior coming from the insecurities of the doctor. It’s pure emotion.

Most mothers attend the well-baby checkups by themselves. Have your husband or a good friend who supports your decision come with you to the doctor’s office.

Here are some suggested questions you can ask your pediatrician. Naturally, use your own discernment:

• Will you read out loud and review with me the ingredients of the vaccine you intend to inject into my child?
• How will the combined ingredients in vaccines make my child healthier?
• If vaccines work, how is my child a threat to vaccinated children?
• If vaccines work, what is the point of booster shots?
• Since every child is different biologically, how do you know when a vaccine works and when it does not? How do you test that?
• What scientific tests do you perform before and after vaccination to rule out my child is having an adverse reaction?
• If you inject my child with multiple vaccines at once, if there is an adverse reaction, how do you know which vaccine is the culprit?
• Can you show me the safety studies showing me the effects of injecting multiple vaccines at once?

Note: Your doctor will not likely know the answers to these questions and get angry with you. If they get angry, you may experience psychological trigger #4 immediately!!!

 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIGGER #3: SENSE OF URGENCY

If you are not prepared, this particular psychological trigger will catch you by surprise. Here’s how…

When you are in a medical setting – doctor’s office, birth room at the hospital, emergency room, etc. — doctors will use this setting with emotionally charged language to get your child vaccinated.

One caveat: Nurses can be very aggressive in this manner as well.

Nurses may inject a baby at any opportunity after birth – in the mother arms without asking (happened to me), while the baby is being “washed up,” or while the baby is being circumcised.

Example of Sense of Urgency:

One of the most outrageous examples I have been told is from an acquaintance of mine. Let’s call her Angie.

Angie’s child almost had his finger cut off in a freak accident at home. With the child’s finger dangling and needing to be addressed, the emergency room doctor started to pressure the mother into getting her child vaccinated on the spot!

If he didn’t get vaccinated right then and there, he was in imminent danger of getting a “life-threatening disease!” Can you believe it?

She stood her ground and told the doctor her son has already been through enough.

What You Can Do…

Why do you have to get a vaccine right on the spot? If you ask questions and want to find out more information about the toxic chemicals and dangerous biological agents a doctor injects into your child, you should have that right.

Recognize your doctor may use emotionally charged language. Here are some of the psychological keyword triggers to be aware of when your doctor refers to vaccines:

• Referring to vaccines as being “life-saving.”
• Referring to vaccines as being “safe and effective.”
• Referring to vaccines as being “no-risk” or “very little risk.”
• Using “death,” “debilitating,” and “deadly diseases” while referring to “vaccine-preventable diseases.”
• Using the terms “vaccines” and “immunization” interchangeably as if they had the same meaning.

 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIGGER #4: FEAR OF LOSS

Fear of loss has recently become a hot favorite for pediatricians.

This relatively new tactic is called “Firing Your Patient,” originating from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Here’s how this psychological trigger works.

If a parent questions vaccines or what the doctor says regarding vaccination, the doctor simply tells the parent he/she will no longer be the family’s doctor.

This method works extremely well because it puts the mother into a stressful fear-based state. She is being told to vaccinate her child on the spot or lose her doctor. Fortunately, there are answers and this is just another manipulation tactic.

Example of Fear of Loss:

This mock conversation between a doctor and patient is inspired by a comment left by Shawn Siegel on a recent article and illustrates the point beautifully.

Pediatrician: We’re done measuring and weighing your son. The nurse will be in shortly with the vaccines.

Jenny: Before she comes in, can I ask you a few questions about the vaccines? I’m a little nervous.

Pediatrician: Of course. What are you worried about?

Jenny: I’ve been doing research on the ingredients in vaccines and…

Pediatrician: Where did you look for this information?

Jenny: On the Internet …

Pediatrician: You can’t trust everything you read on the Internet. There’s a lot of bad information out there. The ingredients in vaccines are in such small amounts, you have nothing to worry about. Do you think the FDA or Centers for Disease Control would allow anything dangerous to be put into the vaccines?

Jenny: I don’t know – my neighbor’s son became autistic right after being vaccinated. She swears it was the vaccine and…

Pediatrician: Vaccines do not cause autism! It has been scientifically refuted. Life-saving vaccines are protective. Not vaccinating your child is irresponsible. Now if you have no further questions, I’ll send in the nurse.

Jenny: But all of these vaccines at once? Can’t my son just have one today? I’d like to investigate these other vaccines a little more before he has all of them at once. I’ve heard we can do an alternative schedule.

Pediatrician: There is nothing else to talk about. If you do not protect your son according to the recommended guidelines, I am going to ask you to leave my office right now. If your son dies from a deadly, vaccine-preventable disease, I will not have that on my conscience.

What You Can Do…

First, be aware of your options!

What do pediatricians do? They measure and weigh your baby – and vaccinate them! Do they teach you about nutrition or good health practices? Have you ever tried to ask a pediatrician to give you sound advice on nutrition? If not or you don’t think so … read on.

We “fired” our pediatrician when we realized what they actually did. Now we see a “friendly” family doctor, a chiropractor, nutritionist, naturopath, and even a doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.).

Dr. Robert Medelsohn has written a fantastic book to help you overcome many of your fears and worries, entitled How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. [4]

 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIGGER #5: THE PROMISE OF HOPE

Doctors frame vaccines as a ‘preventative measure’ for disease while completely ignoring the major roles better nutrition, food storage and handling, sanitation, and hygiene have played in decreasing disease in society.

They want you to believe injecting vaccines laced with formaldehyde, aluminum, MSG, and viruses cultured off of animal tissue will protect your child from disease.

It really is a promise of false hope. Here’s why …

Doctors apply the same “answer” (vaccines) to every child expecting the same result. Parents know not every child is biologically the same – do doctors?

Example of The Promise of Hope:

You may hear analogies to how vaccines work. One of the recent favorites is comparing vaccines to seat belts. Doctors will tell you that if you get vaccinated it will be like protecting yourself as if you were wearing a seat belt and got into a car crash.

They say vaccines work in the same way – they protect you from any future “crash.” After your child is vaccinated, they are protected.

Here’s the rest of the story …

What You Can Do…

It seems like common sense and deserves repeating: good health does not come through the end of needle!

Let’s go with the seat belt analogy from above. Seat belts are not worn just once or twice. To be effective, you must wear them every time you get into the car. Similarly, good health requires your regular attention.

Here are some common sense suggestions you can take right now and “wear your seat belt” every day:

• Wash your hands 5-6 times a day – especially after going to the bathroom or before preparing food.
• Drink clean water
• Eat or juice organic raw foods
• Properly store and prepare your food

Here are some of my favorite resources regarding the topic:

• Research the effect diet has on disease. Two names to look up are Francis Pottenger and Weston Price.
• Look into how important hand washing is in reducing disease. The importance of this fact was discovered in 1847 by Ignaz Semmelweis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
• Recognize food ill-prepared or stored can be a large source of disease.
• Read articles on NaturalNews.com and Mercola.com. Listen to the Robert Scott Bell Show.
• I recommend books about vaccines by Dr. Tenpenny, Dr. Tim O’Shea, and Neil Z. Miller. There is a comprehensive link to over 97 book titles about vaccines here: http://vactruth.com/vaccine-books
• Lastly, know your rights and your state’s vaccine exemption laws. You can find more information at http://nvic.org.

 CONCLUSION

Doctors push vaccines – and many do use a combination or all of the five psychological triggers mentioned above. Some are unaware of their manipulation – and unsuspecting parents are even more vulnerable to this pressure.

Lastly, the only way not to be affected by these psychological triggers is to be an informed parent – read books and vaccine package inserts. This information will give you the confidence and courage you need to stand up to an emotional doctor.

I haven’t covered every single psychological trigger used – so if you know of more or have a story to tell, share it in the comments section below.

References