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This pain cannot simply be a bout of side stitches. And what does the strange tingling in your fingers mean?
Just a few clicks away on the internet await possible explanations for your symptoms, some of which can be very alarming. So now you are really worried.
This is a case of what has become known as cyberchondria. It is not a formal diagnosis, but an unfounded fear of, or heightened attention to, serious physical illnesses based on perusal of internet content, explains Dr Heiko Graf, director of the department of psychiatry and psychotherapeutic medicine at Germany’s Karlsruhe Municipal Hospital.
He says it can lead to depression or, at worst, illness anxiety disorder (IAD) – the now formal term for hypochondria – which is indeed a formal, recognised mental health diagnosis.
“Health anxiety has increased over the last 30 years, mainly among people under 35,” Graf says, explaining that this group uses the internet more often than older people do.
It is also developing at an earlier age, “when you’re more impressionable”, he adds.

Studies have shown that IAD increases in 30 to 50 per cent of those who do illness searches online, he says. People with elevated general anxiety or who have trouble dealing with uncertainties are also more susceptible to health anxiety.
In a survey by the German market and opinion research institute Forsa commissioned by health insurer KKH, 91 per cent of the respondents said they had researched illnesses or symptoms – either their own or someone else’s – on the internet at least once.
About a third said they had spared themselves doctor visits this way, and 13 per cent said they had made a self-diagnosis at least once. Among 16- to 34-year-olds it was 20 per cent.
“There’s nothing wrong with googling illnesses and symptoms,” says KKH psychologist Isabelle Wenck. “In most cases, you even improve your health literacy, provided the information is reputable and up to date.”
But people with a mental illness, in particular, risk getting caught in a vicious cycle, she warns. “Especially those who already have a concrete fear of serious or incurable diseases.”
The danger is cyberchondria, “a compulsive addiction to internet diagnoses that’s also known as ‘Dr Google syndrome’,” she says.
The online searches often act as an accelerant of sorts for already existing fears, Wenck says. Affected people scour the internet for many hours a day in search of explanations for what ails them, overdramatise their symptoms, draw false conclusions and, at worst, make drastic self-diagnoses.
It is how a headache can turn into panic over a possible brain tumour in just a few clicks.
“The problem isn’t looking up individual illnesses on the internet, but that doing so can result in illness anxiety disorder,” Graf says.
The boundary is fluid, he adds: “At some point, illness searches become compulsive. Affected people generally come under psychological stress, then are often asked by others about their unfounded fears.”
Doctors can notice, for example, that a patient has already consulted many other doctors and continually doubts normal findings. Friends and family members may also notice the person’s unusual behaviour.
Why you should talk to a professional
There is basically no reason not to consult the internet on health matters, Graf says. But when making diagnoses, doctors also take probabilities into account, he explains, such as how common a certain illness is at a certain age.
“You frequently don’t have this context when you research symptoms on the internet. So when researching headaches, you arrive at brain tumours in three clicks, although a tension headache or migraine is much more likely.”
What is more, he says, at least 40 per cent of health content on the web is unverified or even false. This is particularly true with regard to cancer, according to a systematic evaluation of dozens of studies.
Artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT are problematic too, in Graf’s view, because they can draw on unfiltered web content with unfounded information.
“The quality of information on the web varies widely,” seconds Wenck, who says only specialists can expertly interpret the large number of search results and properly contextualise them.
So what can cyberchondriacs do to ease their mind?
Graf says psychotherapy can help, and that 25 sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy can bring significant improvement. This form of talking therapy, developed in the 1960s but still widely used today, can help people manage mental health problems by changing the way they think and behave.
Medications are seldom prescribed as treatment, Graf says.
“What’s important first of all is not to enter into a discussion with the patient [to suggest] that they don’t have a physical illness, but rather to recommend strategies on how they can respond to their fears.”


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Health & Wellness

Health

Also known as ‘Dr Google syndrome’, cyberchondria can lead to depression or, at worst, illness anxiety disorder


Also known as ‘Dr Google syndrome’, cyberchondria can lead to depression or, at worst, illness anxiety disorder.


If googling your symptoms puts you in an anxiety spiral, you could have cyberchondria

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Also known as ‘Dr Google syndrome’, cyberchondria can lead to depression or, at worst, illness anxiety disorder

Also known as ‘Dr Google syndrome’, cyberchondria can lead to depression or, at worst, illness anxiety disorder