Occam’s bed bug

schrodingers bed bug aka beg bugs anxiety by Bed Bugs Limited of London

Most people feel anxious at the thought of insects and in particular bed bugs, put simply they are significant anxiety triggers to most people at a fundamental psychological level1.This can mean that people have difficulties in processing the emotional reaction they have to the subject and why there is a tendency to panic at even the thought of bed bugs.

While this is “normal” it is equally not helpful and as such being “mindful” of this fact and empowering yourself to “drive through” these feelings can be extremely helpful to resolving your issue.

One common way that they can effect people at a psychological level is the Occam’s r‍‍‍azor response..

Occam's Razor

Occam’s razor (or Ockham’s razor) is a principle from philosophy which simply states that when there exists two explanations for an occurrence, the simpler one is usually correct. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is to be fac‍‍‍t..

Occam's Bed Bug

Applying this principle to bed bugs is most applicable in cases where there are no visual confirming signs of bed bugs, namely:

  • Live Samples
  • Cast Skins
  • Faecal Traces

If all you are experiencing are skin reactions and based on the fact that many other things can cause skin reactions assuming it MUST be bed bugs is a fallacious logic at best.  It is actually far more likely that your issue arises from bat or bird bugs than bed bugs because of the lack of signs and even then it is far more likely to be one of the many other potential causes.

Being mindful of the powerful attraction that bed bugs can have on some people really helps in getting to the cause of an issue and saves a lot of wasted energy which occurs when you assume you have bed bugs.

Written and‍‍‍ edited by David Cain and Bill Kaufman