How to Tell if You're a Cyberchondriac

Ah, the Web! It provides scads of information at the click of a mouse and has prompted us to create a new prefix--"cyber." We can cyberdate, cyberchat and even have cyber ... well, you know. But there's a new one to add to the "cyber" list--cyberchondriac. We all look up symptoms from time to time, but if after you surf the "med web" you think you're seriously ill, you may not even be able to tell that you're a cyberchondriac.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Ask yourself if, before you went virtual, you could have been considered a hypochondriac. Though hypochondriasis is a real, anxiety-based disease in which patients are afraid that small symptoms indicate serious illnesses, the term has become part of the vernacular. It's loosely used as a label for people who always think they're sick, getting sick or have the latest disease to hit the news.

2. Connect hypochondria with cyberchondria. They're really not all that different. Hypochondriacs go to doctor after doctor to find an explanation for relatively innocuous symptoms, while a cyberchondriac goes from website to website. That's why it uses the "cyber" prefix.

3. Keep track of the amount of time you spend surfing the Web to find explanations for your symptoms. If, for example, instead of accepting the possibility--as suggested by the first two medical sites--that your sore throat is probably viral in nature, you spend the next 2 hours searching for a more dire explanation, you may be a cyberchondriac.

4. Question whether you feel better after visiting the doctor. Not trusting the doctor's diagnosis and sticking stubbornly to the idea that you have the terrible disease mentioned on a website because it sort of matches your symptoms is a sign of cyberchondria.

5. Listen to what you say to your doctor. Cyberchondriacs often come to a doctor's office telling the doctor that they have a certain ailment and want a particular treatment. A non-cyberchondriac is more likely to raise the possibility and ask for the doctor's thoughts about it.

6. Examine your motive. Ask yourself what you are trying to gain by finding an explanation for your symptoms, be they real or imaginary. Cyberchondriacs, much like hypochondriacs, are really convinced they are seriously ill and feel as though nobody else believes it. If your intent in perusing every medical site available is to prove you have a serious condition instead of finding a home remedy for the sniffles, you may be crossing the line into cyberchondria.

Tips & Warnings

• If you must scour the Internet for medical explanations for your symptoms, be very careful to visit reputable medical sites (like WebMD), and check to see that the information is current.
• Don't self-medicate based on what you find out on the Web. Not only is it illegal to purchase prescription medication without a prescription, it can also be very dangerous to take medicines you don't need.