View Full Version : Has the internet caused our health anxiety?
This is a discussion I would like peoples opinion on. More and more lately, i'm waking up to the fact that the internet has completely screwed me up in terms of all the anxieties and worries I feel.
Maybe I was pre-disposed to be a person who worries about their health but there is no doubt in my mind that the internet has made it 1000x as bad. For example, recently I've contracted a chest infection after a cold. I done a bit of googling and seen something called myocarditis which can cause sudden death. I read about it for a few hours and have completely freaked myself out for the last 5 days and been in a constant state of panic. Thinking I'll die at any second. I'm not sure any of you have had the fear of sudden death before but it's very scary.
Without the internet I wouldn't even know such a condition exists. Without the internet maybe I'd go to the doctor more frequently than I should. But my knowledge about the existence of certain conditions would be nowhere near what it is now and thus I'd worry so much less. I recognize the importance of the internet in society, but sometimes I wish it never came into existence. Life would be so much simpler. I couldn't google my every symptom. I couldn't read up on sudden death and convince myself it will happen to me.
Some of you might say get rid of the internet but it's not that simple. The internet is ubiquitous in society. Just wondering what are peoples thoughts on this? Stopping googling is something which could obviously help but any HA sufferer knows it's not that simple to stop googling stuff. Even when not looking for something about a symptom sometimes I'll read a story about a young person dying suddenly and then freak myself out. It's such a vicious circle. I appreciate any replies.
almamatters
15-12-14, 18:30
I have always suffered with HA but the internet and google has made mine much much worse. I used to look conditions up in medical books but as I didn't always have time to go to the library etc things used to get better and I would move on. The internet is a nightmare for people with HA, like you say it is not easy to stop googling.
IrishLondon
15-12-14, 18:31
I completely think the internet has a huge role to play in the number of people suffering from health anxiety. Not just the internet, but also the fact a lot of us now have smart phones - so that wherever we are, at anytime, when we get a symptom we can jump on our phones and diagnose ourselves with numerous illnesses.
I developed anxiety 5 years ago and although the internet didn't cause it, it made it much much worse. Since then, every anxiety symptom I have had has intensified or got worse because of things I have read on the internet.
Nowadays, I try to just visit helpful anxiety websites like this one - so in a funny way the internet both played a role in worsening my anxiety, but is also making it better.
I agree....there is a fine line between Anxiety and Paranoia, how do we distinguish between the two????
courierdude
15-12-14, 18:46
i suffered panic attacks before i was using the internet but i think even the ritual of living through a computer is detrimental to our mental health. i dont just mean googling away to see how sick we are but even the physical aspect of staring at a light(the screen) seating hunched over a keyboard, the mental damage caused by waiting for things to upload, refresh etc.. its all just not natural and probably not something our brains have evolved to happily live with.
its that technology over taking our human nature and our brains forever playing catch up.. wait until the robots take over and just drug us all to do some laborious task for them once our brains are complete jelly : )
I'm glad to see people agree with me and it's not just me who thinks this. The issue is that it is a catch 22 situation. For example, the internet can provide great entertainment, I can read soccer articles, fitness articles, play games online and watch movies or stream sports. But on the other hand it significantly worsens my health anxiety to the point of utter panic. It gives me knowledge about things that I would be much better off being ignorant about.
courierdude
15-12-14, 21:01
i think even without the ability to learn which condition you are next to adopt, that the internet, phones, tv etc are still the major contributing aspect to panic attacks that are there.
its just not right being plugged into electronic devices all day and i think that is what causes the real damage.
almamatters
15-12-14, 21:07
I have learnt about illnesses that I would never have heard of through the internet, I have diagnosed myself with everything from brain stem tumours to rare illnesses that you have little chance of ever getting.
As far as electronic devices go yes courierdude I think they play a part in anxiety. I find the constant charging up, checking, devices breaking down very stressful. I still use them though but really wish I could do without them.
Has it caused HA? No. Has it facilitated it? Yes. Before the internet, HA sufferers would buy medical books and other literature to feed the dragon. Now, it's a click of a mouse or the touch of a screen. Due to the amount of information available and the many unreliable sources, I do believe it's made it worse for many people.
The internet has opened the door and made worrying easier than ever. That being said, it still comes down to a personal choice to treat your illness or feed it regardless of the source.
Positive thoughts
Yes it has a huge impact on increasing and feeding anxiety. I just panicked because I googled my symptoms and started thinking that I have a brain tumor. Google is like alcohol to alcoholics it's so weird but when I don't google I feel like there's something wrong, it became my way of controlling things, I almost feel guilty when I don't google. It's horrible.
Its called
Cyberchondriahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberchondria
...look it up.. Cyberchondria
there are a million articles on it.. some are really interesting as what is happening..
spellplague
16-12-14, 01:08
I would say definitely, yes. My Doctor actually has expressly told me NEVER to look up any symptoms online because a) online articles are not always right, you are better off going to a medical professional with any concerns and b) it'll make my worries worse.
I think what makes it worse for me is how I believe everything the internet tells me. For example, wikipedia articles on certain conditions are obviously updated regularly by medical professionals so the symptoms must be real.
Oh, I like these type of debates...
Now, I thoroughly agree with Fishmanpa and indeed it is historic fact that hypochondria existed WITHOUT the internet, however I would argue that is becomes much more difficult for individuals to gain a handle on it in the information age. With the wealth of data online, it's easy for us to get worked up about a new disease each day, and that just piles on the anxiety more and more. That is, it probably accelerates the process of being slightly anxious to nervous breakdown a lot quicker. And in that situation, your physical self doesn't really have the time to make symptoms go away.
If say, you had to check a medical book in the library because you were worried about dizziness, then first off the medical book would probably only give a select list of the most likely causes. That lack of information probably serves two purposes - it calms you down because according this source there may only be 3 possible causes, you can't read the whole book cover to cover and there are no "related features" or "recommended further reading" sections, so you probably have to leave the medical book in the reference section of the library and go home, and all of that "slowness" if you like forces you to calm down a bit I think - which means at some point your anxious body considers the danger to have passed and the dizziness stops.
This is unfortunately the information age, and we are used to getting answers quickly - and I think with anxious people, too many answers are the worst thing - you just end up bouncing from one concern to another. The difference is, I believe, in that environment it's possible that all that information can "infect" larger numbers of people. I for one, am 99% positive I did not start off being anxious about MY health - that only evolved when my anxious-for-other-reasons-mind was too worked up to rationally analyse all the other information that was coming in (not necessarily even forced/desired), some of which included health concerns i.e. you should be checking your breasts every month, check your skin, check your bowel movements etc - at which point anxious head started going, "what?!? why?! what am I looking for...?" Cue over-googling, and increasing cycle of anxiety leading to sheer panic.
That's how I see it anyway. I don't blame the internet, I think our information-rich culture is more to blame. In some cases I do see how it's beneficial for certain types of people to see health information - raise awareness and whatnot - but for slightly anxious people or even just people with busy minds, it can... take it to the next level if you like. I feel like my head just sort of popped with all the "you should/shouldn't bes" that are prevalent on the internet and in the news media these days...
On the point about smartphones & tech generally - no I don't believe it's too good for us, it's all a bit weird, and I struggle with that a lot as technology use is a core-element of my job. It's a physical stress - on your eyes, posture, brain - and that's a player too, certainly for me, but I've sort of got on with that for some time. The mental acceleration of my anxiety did however coincide with my acquisition of a new smartphone... :unsure:
I might have gone a bit rambly there, hope it makes sense :)
Damn search engines, I try and not Google my symptoms but it's so hard, it's almost a compulsion.
Yes,intrenet couse it for me.before googling my symptoms internet was a way to fun for me(youtube,facebook etc).but now i am feeling that google is my enemy that will must kill me early than any disese.now i hate webmd who made me anaxious than ever.now i am thinking that i have many diseses that i had never heard before in my life .even didnot know that we have so many differant parts of our tounges and throats before but now i know the names of all parts as any doctor knows.now there is only thing i like on internet that is "nmp".
I wish I could only have access to the parts of the internet that benefit me. I think this thread definitely shows so far that the majority of people agree the internet has made their HA way worse.
BlackCoffeeCup
16-12-14, 22:10
In my case, yes, totally.
From a couple articles about heart attack to a total disaster.
MyNameIsTerry
18-12-14, 08:01
I would say definitely, yes. My Doctor actually has expressly told me NEVER to look up any symptoms online because a) online articles are not always right, you are better off going to a medical professional with any concerns and b) it'll make my worries worse.
I think its always a legitimate concern for a GP, but the internet is also full of articles written by far more qualified & experienced senior medical professionals than our GP's who are not licenced to treat complex cases, so it depends on the source really. For instance, NHS Direct showed me that the advice my GP was giving me regarding antidepressants was completely incorrect and reading NICE guidelines helps to challenge poor care by GP's.
Its certainly going to make someone with HA feel worse because you can't filter out the highly unlikely from the reality, which is a form of Cognitive Distortion, but as a GAD & OCD sufferer, I can.
One of the problems we tend to face is the quality of the GP. Something that seems to be said on here many times is that its important to find a GP who you have faith in and can trust. The trouble is, there are many that don't fit that so without easy access to information how do we know our GP's are incorrect? There are many cases of anxiety sufferers who have cured themselves through eliminating certain things which their GP never considered and without these people, we all lose the chance of a cure that is not reliant on medication and basic psychotherapy in the form of CBT.
I recall NMP Nic saying she would add 'NHS' at the start of her search so it only brought up reputable sources. The only issue then can be the user comments that you may need to ignore.
And I agree with FMP...before Google, you would just be buying all the health books going. Its just made it easier and because we can all blog what we want, it opens up the poor quality sources (which also exist in books as well to a lesser extent).
---------- Post added at 08:01 ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 ----------
Its called
Cyberchondriahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberchondria
...look it up.. Cyberchondria
there are a million articles on it.. some are really interesting as what is happening..
I question I have is, does everyone with HA use the internet to attempt to self diagnose? If so, then is this disorder really a standalone in its current form since people who use the internet to self diagnose won't have the same reactions as those with HA.
So, I wonder if this is a misleading one by the medical world because whilst they raise concerns, they are very happy to have things like NHS Direct in existence and what about all the health books we could buy before? People did this before from books and talking to others yet it didn't seem to merit a name of its own. It would also raise some questions about the existence of forums such as this which could cause the same biased outcomes.
The internet – or rather, my use of it – has definitely aggravated my own health anxiety. I had severe hypochondria from childhood to early adulthood, then got it under control – pre-internet days.
In my own case I’ve had the nightmare scenario that many of us on here fear; undiagnosed symptoms which turned out to be both almost deadly and extremely rare, so rare that my case is now in medical journals (have never posted about it on here or anywhere else so as not to concern others). I’ve survived thanks to modern medicine, but now have PTSD, aggravated by constant self-monitoring in case the illness comes back again, or in case I’ve suffered some permanent damage which will creep up on me. I Google only as a last resort to try and find reassurance but find only fear. The rarity of my former illness means there’s almost nothing out there for comparison, so I hope instead to find benign explanations.
I find also that the health warnings adverts on TV make things worse. Trying to relax by watching something cheery or interesting is made impossible by reminders in between that we could be next for something incurable. Like we need to be told this ...
I have always been a worrier but back in the day it used to just happen when I saw a tv show about illness and thought Oh god maybe I have it too. We never had a medical book in the house growing up so I couldn't look things up. So the worry didn't progress.
Now it is sooo easy to type symptoms into your phone and bring up endless sites full if worst car scenarios.
At least one good thing about the internet is we have this forum :-D
Serenity1990
18-12-14, 19:52
The thing is it does alter our thought processes. If you're a student and you want to understand something you were taught in a lecture you search the internet. If you want to know roughly where you stand legally on something you search the internet. If you want to know more about a product you're thinking of buying you search the internet. So if you want to know what's causing a symptom you naturally search the internet.
Now, what I find interesting is something a doctor pointed out to me. I'm an academic, and my discipline is mathematical. If I search the internet about some complex technical issue related to my discipline all sorts of rubbish comes up, which I know to be false because I've had the postgraduate training, done the research myself and even teach it to degree students. Even on well reputed websites, especially Wikipedia, much of what I read is vaguely along the right lines but is a simplistic misinterpretation of the truth. It's really frustrating to read, but people who are reading for general interest (or sadly, my undergraduate students) will simply take it as gospel because it's written on a proper website with enough self-assurance.
Medical literature is no different.
But to highlight it, look at my other examples from above. If you want to know where you stand legally on something, whilst google might give you a rough idea (or more likely five or six completely contradictory ideas), some the info might be from another country, some might be out of date legislation (for anyone reading in the US we have an uncodified constitution here in the UK so this is highly probable), and some might be plain old bullshit. So google or a solicitor?
Ever been considering a big purchase and consulted google? Again this will be good on the most part, however I bet a fair few of you will have been stung. Last week I asked google if a particular smart TV was compatible with my apple device; he said it was, it turns out it wasn't. I mean come on, if you can't even get that right what hope have you got with medical biology?
My personal experience is I googled symptoms for years quite successfully. In fact I think I used to have the opposite of health anxiety: I was worried about a troubling symptom, I googled it, I found a minor and common thing that causes it, and I dismissed that symptom from my mind. The problem came one day when one of those "symptom checker" sites that allows you to select a load of symptoms you have and narrows it down to the conditions that can cause all of them narrowed my symptoms down to only one disease: heart failure. I had a read, found it to be an uncanny match, and decided I only had five years to live. Well, that should be four years now but funnily enough those symptoms are entirely better.
The point is googling health stuff is just like googling everything else: most of what you get out is rubbish. Take the test yourself: think of work, study, a hobby, anything you know loads and loads about and google the really complex stuff. How much of what you found bore any track with reality?
Pamplemousse
18-12-14, 22:35
Forgive my ramblings, this is my first post here...
I think some posters have hit the nail quite squarely on the head: it hasn't caused it, but it has facilitated it. If you're pre-disposed to HA issues, it is very hard to resist the temptation to look something up and see what you find. Whilst you may want reassurance, you may well end up finding stuff that makes you fearful and upset instead.
I've been a hypochondriac or whatever its called now for years: it started in childhood, but disappeared in my late teens. It didn't really reappear until I started suffering from depression in my thirties, and when I was suddenly widowed it snowballed. I ended up having various talking therapies, and I am on antidepressants. Most of the time I'm fine, but it only takes a small trigger and then it's out with the phone, out with the laptop, whatever - trying to find some facts and some reassurance, but generally failing. Tonight's trigger was particularly upsetting as until it occurred, I was having a very good day...
MyNameIsTerry
19-12-14, 08:02
The internet – or rather, my use of it – has definitely aggravated my own health anxiety. I had severe hypochondria from childhood to early adulthood, then got it under control – pre-internet days.
In my own case I’ve had the nightmare scenario that many of us on here fear; undiagnosed symptoms which turned out to be both almost deadly and extremely rare, so rare that my case is now in medical journals (have never posted about it on here or anywhere else so as not to concern others). I’ve survived thanks to modern medicine, but now have PTSD, aggravated by constant self-monitoring in case the illness comes back again, or in case I’ve suffered some permanent damage which will creep up on me. I Google only as a last resort to try and find reassurance but find only fear. The rarity of my former illness means there’s almost nothing out there for comparison, so I hope instead to find benign explanations.
I find also that the health warnings adverts on TV make things worse. Trying to relax by watching something cheery or interesting is made impossible by reminders in between that we could be next for something incurable. Like we need to be told this ...
Glad to here you have recovered from that, it must have been even harder with the HA.
I agree on the government advert campaigns. They remind me of the hysteria causing AIDS & HIV ones when I was young and all the ones from the police with bats & hyena's that look like something out of a bad horror B movie. I get why they do it, but I often wonder how successful they are given gloood in the poo can also be absolutely nothing, coughing for weeks can be simply fluid issues, etc.
---------- Post added at 08:02 ---------- Previous post was at 07:52 ----------
The thing is it does alter our thought processes. If you're a student and you want to understand something you were taught in a lecture you search the internet. If you want to know roughly where you stand legally on something you search the internet. If you want to know more about a product you're thinking of buying you search the internet. So if you want to know what's causing a symptom you naturally search the internet.
Now, what I find interesting is something a doctor pointed out to me. I'm an academic, and my discipline is mathematical. If I search the internet about some complex technical issue related to my discipline all sorts of rubbish comes up, which I know to be false because I've had the postgraduate training, done the research myself and even teach it to degree students. Even on well reputed websites, especially Wikipedia, much of what I read is vaguely along the right lines but is a simplistic misinterpretation of the truth. It's really frustrating to read, but people who are reading for general interest (or sadly, my undergraduate students) will simply take it as gospel because it's written on a proper website with enough self-assurance.
Medical literature is no different.
But to highlight it, look at my other examples from above. If you want to know where you stand legally on something, whilst google might give you a rough idea (or more likely five or six completely contradictory ideas), some the info might be from another country, some might be out of date legislation (for anyone reading in the US we have an uncodified constitution here in the UK so this is highly probable), and some might be plain old bullshit. So google or a solicitor?
Ever been considering a big purchase and consulted google? Again this will be good on the most part, however I bet a fair few of you will have been stung. Last week I asked google if a particular smart TV was compatible with my apple device; he said it was, it turns out it wasn't. I mean come on, if you can't even get that right what hope have you got with medical biology?
My personal experience is I googled symptoms for years quite successfully. In fact I think I used to have the opposite of health anxiety: I was worried about a troubling symptom, I googled it, I found a minor and common thing that causes it, and I dismissed that symptom from my mind. The problem came one day when one of those "symptom checker" sites that allows you to select a load of symptoms you have and narrows it down to the conditions that can cause all of them narrowed my symptoms down to only one disease: heart failure. I had a read, found it to be an uncanny match, and decided I only had five years to live. Well, that should be four years now but funnily enough those symptoms are entirely better.
The point is googling health stuff is just like googling everything else: most of what you get out is rubbish. Take the test yourself: think of work, study, a hobby, anything you know loads and loads about and google the really complex stuff. How much of what you found bore any track with reality?
Yes, I think a lot of what you are saying is true. My only issue is that GP's are also often out of date in their knowledge. So, I think if the NHS brings the standard of GP's forward there would be less of a need for research. The sad truth is also that GP's don't recognise a lot of issues that there is respectable research into and there is plenty of proof from people who have lived those situations that they cured themselves by research and ignoring their GP's poor advice. This is the crux for me. My GP is in the poor category so through careful research, I have learned far more and I am much better for it. Having said that, I don't have HA and so I don't have the distortions geared towards my health. Others have very good GP's who seem to go far further to help them. For instance, my GP just wants to dish out medication & referrals for CBT but I am finding more progress through addressing deficenies which my GP has never considered and I see this as very basic stuff they should be ruling out.
Also, there is the issue that literature (and GP's knowledge if not kept up to date) can be out of date within 12 months. So, you have to be very careful when researching anything. As I'm sure you know as well, you have to carefully check the source because there are a lot of unqualified bloggers out there posing as reputable sources as well as affiliates.
I guess it depends on the subject too. If I was concerned about cancer, I would always be going to my GP and accessing the consultants. If it were about general health, weight loss, healthy eating, exercise, supplementation, etc...I wouldn't go anywhere near a GP as they are really poor in these areas.
Also, there is the issue that literature (and GP's knowledge if not kept up to date) can be out of date within 12 months. So, you have to be very careful when researching anything. As I'm sure you know as well, you have to carefully check the source because there are a lot of unqualified bloggers out there posing as reputable sources as well as affiliates.
I guess it depends on the subject too. If I was concerned about cancer, I would always be going to my GP and accessing the consultants. If it were about general health, weight loss, healthy eating, exercise, supplementation, etc...I wouldn't go anywhere near a GP as they are really poor in these areas.
I think all GPs in active practice are expected to attend constant training to keep their knowledge up-to-date, that's the basic level that they all need to treat you. Of course some will probably go above and beyond that, doing their own research and developing their own ideas about how to treat certain things, but you have to remember that in the NHS system, these poor guys are really put upon to act as the gate holders and stop us all overrunning the specialists with initial enquiries... That's why the NHS website exists, and why they have published a lot of information recently about exercise, healthy eating and all of that... thing is, being "an authority" holds with it certain responsibilities, they can only make recommendations when these things have been thoroughly researched and proven, otherwise they could land themselves in all sorts of trouble if it was incorrect or didn't work in some cases.
The internet and the media however are FULL of real research studies that might only be half done, or drug studies that have not been going long enough to prove no long-term effects... it is an individual's choice whether to take advice from those sort of studies. They may work, they may not, but that's probably going to come down to each individual's circumstances, and all the other factors at play i.e. how much exercise they get, of what kind, what they eat.... I do sort of think more info about all those things you mention e.g. healthy eating, exercise should be available from NHS specialists at the primary care level, but that is asking a lot from an over-stretched system which is why private nutritionists, personal trainers etc have stepped in to fill those holes - unfortunately some of the people who most need that help are unable to afford it because of that.... and then you come back round of course to the internet and media as a means of mass communication regarding that information.... it's easy to see why this situation has come about... As a case in point, I can link my HA to an article in the Daily Mail about why my office chair is killing me, I didn't even have any symptoms then, but it freaked me out enough to start over-doing it at the gym.
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