Combating Cyberchondria
Abstract
The dangers of medical websites and the addiction surrounding them is explored in this paper. Medical websites online are starting to take over the roles of doctors by providing ample information to the reader regarding their health that the patient does not feel the need to visit their professional doctor. This issue brings about a waste of time energy and resources due to the false self diagnosis most people receive from these sites. Dr.Google may be a very convenient and seemingly reliable source until the patient is diagnosing themselves with cancer when in fact they have a seasonal cold. By evaluating and considering the outcomes of Cyberchondria,this paper discusses that the most direct way to combat this disease is by reassuring to the patient that these sites are not a diagnosis by any means and that visiting their doctor is the most reliable method of gaining health information.
Ten years ago, when a person would get a sore throat or have a slight fever, their first thought was to visit their doctor and be diagnosed with the average cold or a seasonal flu. In this day and age, with the advance of technology and the dependency on search engines in society, more people have been turning to Dr. Google for advice when feeling under the weather. These websites give rise to a disease called “Cyberchondria” which is the false belief that one is suffering from a disease that was learned about on the Internet or on a specific website (Sennebogen, 2007). This phobia can be harmful to the user and can cause them to become addicted to these types of websites. This creates problems in society because it causes the patient-doctor relationship to deteriorate. Medical websites such as Web MD and Your Diagnostic are great for explaining various symptoms and help give users an idea of their possible diagnosis. However if mishandled, they can be destructive to both the individual using it and society at large. By 2015,
The dangers of medical websites and the addiction surrounding them is explored in this paper. Medical websites online are starting to take over the roles of doctors by providing ample information to the reader regarding their health that the patient does not feel the need to visit their professional doctor. This issue brings about a waste of time energy and resources due to the false self diagnosis most people receive from these sites. Dr.Google may be a very convenient and seemingly reliable source until the patient is diagnosing themselves with cancer when in fact they have a seasonal cold. By evaluating and considering the outcomes of Cyberchondria,this paper discusses that the most direct way to combat this disease is by reassuring to the patient that these sites are not a diagnosis by any means and that visiting their doctor is the most reliable method of gaining health information.
Ten years ago, when a person would get a sore throat or have a slight fever, their first thought was to visit their doctor and be diagnosed with the average cold or a seasonal flu. In this day and age, with the advance of technology and the dependency on search engines in society, more people have been turning to Dr. Google for advice when feeling under the weather. These websites give rise to a disease called “Cyberchondria” which is the false belief that one is suffering from a disease that was learned about on the Internet or on a specific website (Sennebogen, 2007). This phobia can be harmful to the user and can cause them to become addicted to these types of websites. This creates problems in society because it causes the patient-doctor relationship to deteriorate. Medical websites such as Web MD and Your Diagnostic are great for explaining various symptoms and help give users an idea of their possible diagnosis. However if mishandled, they can be destructive to both the individual using it and society at large. By 2015,
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