I went to my primary care physician recently. Even though I don't have any health problems, I left the meeting suddenly feeling extreme fear about my health.

After about an hour or two, I realized that the doctor had played a mind trick on me. That made me annoyed.

Doctors told my father he has early-stage prostate cancer. He's old enough that he might die of other causes before the cancer kills him. However, now my father is upset and scared about the cancer. It's ruined any quality of life he would have had, because now he's obsessed about it. If it's going to be that way, it would have been better for him to just not know and live happily for a few years, rather than being permastressed for the rest of his life.

I wonder if that's a skill doctors are intentionally taught, how to make their patients afraid?