Cyberchondria: A New Media Syndrome
Cyberchondria: The New Media Syndrome
By Dana June Ballais Alcazar Have you ever tried to find a treatment for a really bad flu on Google? How about a persistent pimple that won’t go away? Has your throat hurt really badly that you decided to search for instant relief through the internet? Then you’re one of the millions who self-diagnose.
Trying to name what kind of medical problem one has by using books, medical dictionaries, past personal or non personal experiences, the internet, or even software applications, is called self-diagnosis. With the wealth of information from the information superhighway, anyone of any age can readily access health related information through the new media. Innovative handy digital devices make information access as convenient as breathing. Data is a finger tap away. Although there are no current statistics as to the number of Filipino internet users who self-diagnose, this issue is certainly a reality. In fact, as a result of the said issue, a new condition has emerged — Cyberchondria.
What is Cyberchondria?
According to Wikipedia, Cyberchondria is the result of internet research on health related issues. It refers to the baseless increase of a person’s anxiety because of the online medical information he or she has gathered.
The term is coined from the prefix “cyber” which pertains to anything of computers, information systems, virtual reality and the Internet (Encarta, 2009), and the psychological condition called hypochondria. People with hypochondria are preoccupied with their health and claim to feel real symptoms. They believe that they have a serious illness but upon the doctor’s examination, there is no objective evidence of the illness they claim to have.
The British Medical Journal publication "Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry" in 2003 said that the word cyberchondria was first used in a British newspaper to refer to the use of the internet health websites to add to anxiety about
By Dana June Ballais Alcazar Have you ever tried to find a treatment for a really bad flu on Google? How about a persistent pimple that won’t go away? Has your throat hurt really badly that you decided to search for instant relief through the internet? Then you’re one of the millions who self-diagnose.
Trying to name what kind of medical problem one has by using books, medical dictionaries, past personal or non personal experiences, the internet, or even software applications, is called self-diagnosis. With the wealth of information from the information superhighway, anyone of any age can readily access health related information through the new media. Innovative handy digital devices make information access as convenient as breathing. Data is a finger tap away. Although there are no current statistics as to the number of Filipino internet users who self-diagnose, this issue is certainly a reality. In fact, as a result of the said issue, a new condition has emerged — Cyberchondria.
What is Cyberchondria?
According to Wikipedia, Cyberchondria is the result of internet research on health related issues. It refers to the baseless increase of a person’s anxiety because of the online medical information he or she has gathered.
The term is coined from the prefix “cyber” which pertains to anything of computers, information systems, virtual reality and the Internet (Encarta, 2009), and the psychological condition called hypochondria. People with hypochondria are preoccupied with their health and claim to feel real symptoms. They believe that they have a serious illness but upon the doctor’s examination, there is no objective evidence of the illness they claim to have.
The British Medical Journal publication "Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry" in 2003 said that the word cyberchondria was first used in a British newspaper to refer to the use of the internet health websites to add to anxiety about