Digital hypochondria: using the Internet to self-diagnose

The digital world and the existence of the Internet means that our way of thinking has changed a lot in just a few decades. It is easy to find positive aspects to this fact: now we have it easier to access large amounts of information, and even offers us the possibility of being (or appearing) potentially wise with the simple ability to search data on Google.

However, there are certain cases in which this kind of expanded collective mind that is the Internet plays against us, and one of the clearest examples is found in the digital hypochondria.

Auto diagnosis? More like cyberchondria

Have you ever been tempted to search the Internet for information about possible illnesses that may be behind the symptoms you are experiencing? Not surprisingly, your answer to the question is a resounding "yes."

This is not a bad thing in itself, since if you have good sources of information and you take what you read critically, the fact of looking certain data through the network of networks is still one more activity of searching for interesting information that, if necessary, can lead to a query medical.

However, when the appearance of a slight uncertainty about some symptoms inevitably leads to self-diagnosis by reading texts on the Internet, we are most likely not talking about a certain search for information, but of digital hypochondria, also called cyberchondria.

What is digital hypochondria?

Digital hypochondria or cyberchondria, is a word of recent appearance that, despite not appearing in diagnostic manuals, serves to designate a style of behavior that is very harmful to both the people who experience it and the health community. It alludes to the concepts of cybernetics and hypochondria, which is a mental disorder in which the person believes unfounded way that you have one or more diseases based on very weak, ambiguous or totally imaginary.

Many people find it crazy that someone is able to think that they have Parkinson's disease because of spilling the water of a glass that he holds in his hand three times, but it may seem less bizarre if we introduce the factor Internet.

The network has a practically infinite amount of information that is not always easy to interpret and that in many cases is wrong, and also puts all this within reach of a few clicks. If to this we add the fact that in situations of uncertainty the options with the most alarming consequences have all the numbers to attract more attention than the rest of the possible interpretations and that human beings have an unusual capacity to identify ourselves with ambiguous descriptions (something called forer effect), the chances of panic increase.

The negative effects of digital hypochondria

The fact of resorting to internet search engines at the slightest suspicious symptom of masking a disease has a series of negative consequences that are self-explanatory:

• Anxiety crisis can occur very severe due to the belief that you have a serious illness.

• It can be a very dangerous habit if we learn that the uncertainty about possible health problems can be dispelled with a few clicks of the mouse.

• In some cases, the person may hesitate between the personalized diagnosis given by the doctors and the conclusions drawn from the "self-diagnosis" process. It may be the case that credibility is not given to the diagnosis given by accredited professionals of the health system and that healing initiatives on their own or through so-called alternative therapies, which have very serious consequences for their own integrity physical.

To do?

In order not to fall into a behavioral dynamic that drags us towards something similar to digital hypochondria, it is good to consider two things:

• Look for indicators that certify the quality of the internet pages of medical websites, such as the seal HONcode.

• In any case, be clear that without adequate training in medicine we cannot rush conclusions about diseases that we may have. It is worth analyzing, as far as possible, whether our motives for worrying about a series of symptoms are rationally founded.

Serenity and critical spirit

There is a fine line that separates the possibility of going to the Internet in search of health information and that of using search engines to self-diagnose illnesses.

That is why it is worth bearing in mind that, oddly enough, something that in light of certain data have all the numbers of being a disorder or a serious health problem not only does not have to be, but what many times it is not (And even less likely that self-diagnosis matches an expert's diagnosis, too).