{"id":48941,"date":"2026-05-01T17:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=48941"},"modified":"2026-05-01T17:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:08:08","slug":"if-googling-your-symptoms-puts-you-in-an-anxiety-spiral-you-could-have-cyberchondria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=48941","title":{"rendered":"If googling your symptoms puts you in an anxiety spiral, you could have cyberchondria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/29\/300f25d9-29f1-4d7d-8064-e8ef275e2e96_6368a159.jpg?itok=cquBnAWy&amp;v=1777438925\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This pain cannot simply be a bout of side stitches. And what does the strange tingling in your fingers mean?<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">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.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">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\u2019s Karlsruhe Municipal Hospital.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">He says it can lead to <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">depression<\/span> or, at worst, illness anxiety disorder (IAD) \u2013 the now formal term for hypochondria \u2013 which is indeed a formal, recognised mental health diagnosis.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cHealth anxiety has increased over the last 30 years, mainly among people under 35,\u201d Graf says, explaining that this group uses the internet more often than older people do.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It is also developing at an earlier age, \u201cwhen you\u2019re more impressionable\u201d, he adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/health-wellness\/article\/3351795\/if-googling-your-symptoms-puts-you-anxiety-spiral-you-could-have-cyberchondria?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8912,21786,21784,732,21785,686],"class_list":["post-48941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-anxiety","tag-cyberchondria","tag-googling","tag-puts","tag-spiral","tag-symptoms","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}