Reassurance can backfire when symptoms are called “normal”

Clinical takeaway: When using reassuring language, consider pairing it with a clear next step so patients know whether treatment, monitoring, or follow-up is still worth pursuing rather than assuming they should simply live with their symptoms.

Reassuring a patient can be as simple as saying that what they are experiencing is “normal.” The intent is usually that the symptom is common or well understood and that there is less reason to worry. But patients may hear another message in the same word: if it is normal, maybe nothing needs to be done.

That disconnect emerged across across 14 studies involving 9,371 participants. In scenarios ranging from menopause and migraines to dental pain, seasonal allergies, and elevated blood glucose, people were less inclined to pursue treatment when a health care provider described their symptoms as “normal.”

The researchers found that the problem was not simply that patients thought common symptoms were less serious. They also treated the word “normal” as a clue about what the provider wanted them to do.

That was very different from what providers intended. They generally thought normalization would increase patients’ likelihood of pursuing treatment or, at worst, make no difference. Participants reacted in the opposite direction, interpreting “normal” as a signal that the provider did not think treatment was warranted.

That distinction can easily blur in a clinical conversation. Menopausal symptoms can be common and still disruptive. Pain after a procedure can be expected and still be something a patient wants help managing. Calling either experience “normal” may address one part of the scenario without clearly addressing the second.

The researchers then tested two ways to make that message clearer. When providers paired normalization with an explicit treatment recommendation, the communication gap narrowed. The same was true when they explained that “normal” referred to how common a symptom was, not whether treatment was warranted.

“Doctors shouldn’t stop reassuring patients. But they should make their meaning unmistakable,” said senior author On Amir, professor of marketing at the University of California San Diego Rady School of Management. The experiments were conducted online and measured treatment intentions rather than what patients ultimately did, so whether the same response plays out in clinical visits remains uncertain.

Even with that uncertainty, the findings sharpen a familiar communication challenge. Telling patients that a symptom is common can provide reassurance, but it may leave them guessing about what comes next. Making that second message clear may help reassurance land as intended.

Source: Lawal S, et al. (2026 Aug 10) Nat Hum Behav. Reassurance through normalization inadvertently suppresses treatment