Using Loss Aversion With Patients to Cut Hesitation
james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00How should I frame the cost and risk of treatment to reduce patient hesitation? Frame around the loss, because losses loom larger than gains in everyone's mind. The research shows potential losses feel far bigger to us than equivalent gains. So when I write up and discuss the options, I always minimize the loss and tie the choice to a promising, consistent pattern of a solution. I am not hiding anything. I am pointing the patient at what they keep losing by waiting, the further dental breakdown, the benefits expiring, the function slipping away. That fear of continued loss is real [...]