FACT-CHECK: Is it true 95% of diseases are caused by anger or ‘bad mood’ as ‘Facebook doctor’ claims

Claim:  A facebook page, Doctor of the Future, published a post, claiming that more than 95% of diseases are caused by “bad mood” or anger. This implies that emotional states such as anger and being upset are the primary cause of almost all illnesses.

Verdict;

UNPROVED! No credible scientific evidence or publication from official public-health organizations supports such a claim. 

Full Text

On 17th May, 2024, a viral post published by Doctor of The Future, a facebook page with more than 460,000 followers, claimed that more than 95–percent of all diseases are caused by bad mood or anger. The claim linked the cause of majorly all disease to anger, and bad mood.

Anger is a powerful emotion that bridges mental and physical health. It influences how the body reacts to stress, together with how the mind processes experiences. Researchers often explore this connection to understand how emotional states, especially prolonged anger, can shape one’s overall wellbeing.

As of Wednesday, 17th September, 2025, the post had generated over 2,500 likes, over 200 comments, and over 320 shares. 

A visit to the comment section showed that the majority of people believed the claim to be true, with few doubting the post’s authenticity.

For example, Jessica Dalu Chimezie commented, “As a breastfeeding mother, I noticed that anytime I get so angry, I find it hard to lactate. My breastmilk will get dry, my head will be pounding. Omo this post no be lie o. God abeg oo.”

In another confirmatory comment, Ginika Mercy said, “True, I noticed that I do purge anytime I am seriously angry.”

Contrarily, Abdul’Basit Adedoja Kadejo said “Now This?! No Longer Bad Dietary Decisions?! There’s No Way I’ll Ever Believe Nor Make Sense Out Of This.”

Similar content was resurfaced by the same page on 5th of June, 2025. This recent post garnered at least 4,500 likes, more than 200 comments, with over 400 shares.

Due to the nature of the posts, we deemed it fit to fact-check the claim as a result of its implications on public health.

Verification

The World Health Organization states that mental health and wellbeing is an integral part of overall human health, noting that mental disorders can as well increase the risk of some physical diseases, making treatment cum recovery difficult. 

In another publication, WHO acknowledged the link between mental and physical health, treating the same as an important domain of health alongside infectious agents, genetics, environmental conditions, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors. 

Also, the organization recognized anger and bad mood as factors that affect mental health, with its own implication on the overall health of individuals. However, the “95–percent” claim is implausible.

What Peer-Reviewed Science Actually Finds

In 2024, the National Library of Medicine stated that high perceived stress and depression are truly associated with a moderately higher risk of coronary heart disease, and reduces blood flow to the heart muscles. This potentially causes heart attack, and other cardiovascular issues—health conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels.

Studies on multivariable Mendelian randomization published in the NLM showed links between mood stability or bad mood, and some specific cardiovascular diseases. 

However, these findings are only limited to some specific health conditions. They showed effect sizes that are modest, which do not translate into bad mood causing mostly all diseases.

Further studies indicated that stronger risk factors when prevented can not account for 95–percent decrease in disease cases. 

Why the “95–percent” Figure is Implausible

Two technical reasons make the “95–percent” claim very implausible. First, according to the Cleveland clinic,  “bad mood” is a vague term and could mean various things such as a single angry episode, chronic anger, stress or clinical depression, each of which has different health implications.

Also, various studies by the WHO  have shown major diseases do not have any link to emotional causes. Majority of diseases are caused by pathogens such as Mycobacterium Tuberculosis which causes Tuberculosis, Plasmodium Malaria (the cause of malaria), among a host of others.

Similar studies also emphasized that the roles of genetics in diseases such as sickle cell disorders, injuries, and congenital conditions have physical causes not related to mood in any way.

What Expert Says

During an interview, Dr Yakubu Anas Ibrahim, a Psychiatric expert from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, confirmed mood as a factor that has its own implications on individuals’ health and wellbeing. However, the medical practitioner refuted the Facebook posts, claiming that 95–percent is too far from being true. 

“This is a blanket statement as the term disease entails many things. While some diseases are influenced by emotion, a whole lot of others are not. Even in psychiatry, there are a lot of diseases that are not emotion-dependent.” he said.

“The claim is not supported by scientific evidence. It is a popular claim without a defensible epidemiological fact. 

“Tell me, how do you correlate diabetes caused by inability of B-cells in the pancreas to produce insulin, thereby causing increase in blood glucose level in the body and anger?”

Conclusion

The claim that more than 95–percent of diseases are caused by bad mood is unproved. Several studies, researches, and interviews with a medical expert concluded that diseases do not have a mood or emotional factor.

By Sebiotimo Abdullateef

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