The obsessive search for information online about symptoms and possible diseases that only amplifies the anxious experience about one’s health. Cybercondria can have counterproductive effects even with respect to the therapies of “real” doctors.
More and more Italians are turning to the so-called “Doctor Google” to obtain information, remedies and reassurance regarding their health .
Not only as an alternative to medical consultation, but above all before and after talking to a specialist. A trend which, on the one hand, denotes the will of the so-called “patients” to feel an active part in the management of their own health; on the other hand it risks giving rise to dysfunctional anxiety phenomena both in terms of physical and psychological health.
For this reason, the term cybercondria has been coined (Zuccon et. Al, 2015; Starcevic 2017): that obsessive search on the internet for information on health and disease signals that has the paradoxical outcome of amplifying the anxious experience of the “cyber- patient “and with it the perception of bodily signals interpreted as problematic and harmful.
Cybercondria and SARS CoV-2 pandemic
The phenomenon of cybercondria has long been at the center of the scientific debate, but in this moment of health emergency due to the SARS CoV-2 pandemic it risks becoming, too, a pandemic phenomenon with evident risks for the physical and psychological health of people. .
The SARS-CoV 2 is a new virus, never seen before in the human being and, as such, is still under investigation, there is no cure certain as there is no information entirely conclusive in this regard. We cannot underestimate another aspect: the virus very often begins in an asymptomatic form or, when it produces more or less severe symptoms, it does so (at least initially) by “mimicking” those of a common flu syndrome thus making it less obvious to identify and distinguish from common and known seasonal ailments.
This particularly insidious nature of the virus has undoubtedly contributed to fueling concern and uncertainty . People have flocked to the web in search of answers and guidelines, clashing very often, both with the contradictory and changing information disseminated on behalf of some exponents of the scientific community (this is inevitable if you study an unknown virus); and with the ” fake news “ of which the web already ordinarily abounds.
And online, and in particular on social networks, we know: it is difficult to get information correctly, more than anything else you risk just selecting and using the information that confirms your fears and beliefs about a particular phenomenon.
Those who are most anxious about the possible consequences of this virus or who are most afraid of developing signs and symptoms of the infection will automatically select (also thanks to the facebook algorithm ) the most alarmist news , the most pessimistic forecasts and the most interpretations. possible adverse effects of any physical symptoms. Let’s see better why.
Cybercondria and physical symptoms
Cybercondria is nothing more than a neologism coined to allude to those manifestations of “hypochondria” – disease anxiety as it would be more correct to define it – which are also implemented through the information found on the web.
This means that the person has disproportionate and persistent worries about the possibility of having or being able to contract a serious illness although they have no obvious symptoms or only minor ailments which however are interpreted as high levels of anxiety and alarm.
This leads to excessive and repeated checks on one’s health or, as in the case of cybercondria , to obsessively seeking information and reassurance about it (often not satisfied with the opinion received by the doctor). This condition risks worsening the physical signs , not of a disease, but of anxiety, fueling a vicious circle that is likely to find on the web – where we said the selection of information is far from impartial – confirmation of one’s worst fears. .
Cybercondria and anxiety management
Anxiety is a state of psychophysiological activation of the organism, an alert signal in itself adaptive because it is able to push us to pay the utmost attention to sources of potential danger.
However, when this signal is disproportionate , in quantity and duration, it turns out to be dysfunctional and risks taking over and becoming problematic itself. In fact, among the signs of an anxious state there can be a whole series of bodily responses , variable and in themselves non-specific, such as tachycardia, nausea and stomach pain, headache, dizziness , difficulty breathing, pain due to muscle spasms etc. .
As can be seen, these somatic manifestations of anxiety are so varied and non-specific that they can easily be interpreted in cybercondria as signals of disease. The risk is that a vicious circle is created : slight physical discomfort arouse anxiety, this in turn also manifests itself with signals at the body level that will be interpreted by the person as further confirmations of their own state of illness thus aggravating anxiety and the belief that their health is compromised.
It is essential not to abuse the information found on the net (sometimes it is advisable not to look for it at all), rely on the advice of your doctor and learn some good relaxation techniques such as Autogenic Training or some breathing exercises: it will help to recover a connection with your own body and to observe that the physical signs of anxiety – which frightened so much – regress in a short time especially if the person manages to recover a state of physical and mental relaxation that will certainly have its benefits also on the immune system !
