Funny thing is, this is the reverse of "I can't see it personally so it's not real". Majority of scientific studies show chronic Lyme disease to not be "real". The symptoms are real but the virus isn't detectable. But you see it with your own eyes and go "how can anyone say this isn't real?"

This is exactly like people who don't see Long COVID but hear scientific majority say it's real, and go "well I haven't seen it so I don't believe it's real".

We are biased towards the anecdotal, specifically the anecdotes of people we personally know and trust. We are biased against the anonymous, and the statistical.