Cyberchondria: conceptual relation with health anxiety, assessment, management and prevention

Menon, Vikas; Kar, Sujita Kumar; Nebhinani, Naresh; Varadharajan, Natarajan

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102225

Cited by 30 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…These results, together with other studies (49,50), suggest that cyberchondria is an overlapping, yet distinct, entity in relation to health anxiety.…”

Section: Cyberchondria Linked To Psychological Health Anxiety and Stresssupporting

confidence: 81%

Cyberchondria Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Management Strategies

2021

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The corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first found in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has posed an inexplicable threat to the global community. After its inception, the virus proliferated rapidly, which led to the cause of millions of deaths, and having a detrimental effect on physical health, social lives, economic uncertainty, and mental health of people. The World Health Organization has reported that there are 111 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2.45 million deaths due to COVID-19 worldwide. Indisputably, the present pandemic has contributed to the extensive psychological and environmental distress together with clinical depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), domestic violence, and unemployment. Due to the ambiguous nature of the pandemic, educational organizations, and outdoor activities are closed, thus burdening the mental health of younger populations. Children as well as youths are more glued to the Internet for their studies, online gaming, shopping, watching movies, and searching health-related information. Despite the advantages of using the Internet, it has some severe consequences too. Some people are repeatedly searching for physical and mental well-being related information without verifying credible sources, which, in turn, causes distress and anxiety. In such situations, individuals may end up contributing to an illness known as cyberchondria. In this paper, we have tried to highlight the problematic use of Internet for health-related searches and have outlined the management of such illness. We suggest two strategies: firstly, to reduce repeated online searches of health information and, secondly, to manage anxiety-augmenting thoughts that are triggered due to the maladaptive thoughts caused by the abstruse information.

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“…These results, together with other studies (49,50), suggest that cyberchondria is an overlapping, yet distinct, entity in relation to health anxiety.…”

Section: Cyberchondria Linked To Psychological Health Anxiety and Stresssupporting

confidence: 81%

Cyberchondria Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Management Strategies

2021

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“…Fear of self-infection or infecting family members is one of the most common reactions to pandemics [23,24] and can result in health anxiety, worries, specific phobias, and psychological distress [25][26][27]. There is also a strong relationship between cyberchondria and health anxiety [28]. Health anxiety can motivate excessive or repeated health-related information seeking on the internet, which can amplify anxiety or distress (eg, fear) [9,15,29].…”

Section: Fear In the Context Of The Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Fear and Anxiety Related to COVID-19 to Predict Cyberchondria: Cross-sectional Survey Study

Wu¹,

Nazari²,

Griffiths³

2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background Studies have highlighted that fear and anxiety generated by COVID-19 are important psychological factors that affect all populations. There currently remains a lack of research on specific amplification factors regarding fear and anxiety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite established associations between anxiety sensitivity, intolerance of uncertainty, and cyberchondria, empirical data investigating the associations between these three variables, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, are currently lacking. Urgent research is needed to better understand the role of repeated media consumption concerning COVID-19 in amplifying fear and anxiety related to COVID-19. Objective This study investigated the associations between fear of COVID-19, COVID-19 anxiety, and cyberchondria. Methods Convenience sampling was used to recruit respondents to participate in an online survey. The survey, which was distributed via social media and academic forums, comprised the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Multiple mediation analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling. Results A total of 694 respondents (males: n=343, females: n=351) completed the online survey. The results showed that fear and anxiety generated by COVID-19 predicted cyberchondria (fear: β=.39, SE 0.04, P<.001, t=11.16, 95% CI 0.31-0.45; anxiety: β=.25, SE 0.03, P<.001, t=7.67, 95% CI 0.19-0.32). In addition, intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity mediated the relationship between fear and anxiety generated by COVID-19 with cyberchondria. In a reciprocal model, the standardized total effects of cyberchondria on fear of COVID-19 (β=.45, SE 0.04, P<.001, t=15.31, 95% CI 0.39-0.51) and COVID-19 anxiety (β=.36, SE 0.03, P<.001, t=11.29, 95% CI 0.30-0.41) were statistically significant, with moderate effect sizes. Compared to males, females obtained significantly higher scores for cyberchondria (t1,692=–2.85, P=.004, Cohen d=0.22), COVID-19 anxiety (t1,692=–3.32, P<.001, Cohen d=0.26), and anxiety sensitivity (t1,692=–3.69, P<.001, Cohen d=0.29). Conclusions The findings provide a better understanding of the role of COVID-19 in amplifying cyberchondria. Based on these results, cyberchondria must be viewed as a significant public health issue. Importantly, increasing awareness about cyberchondria and online behavior at both the individual and collective levels must be prioritized to enhance preparedness and to reduce the adverse effects of current and future medical crises.

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“…In Analogie zu Hypochondrie, Angst- und Zwangsstörungen kann eine medikamentöse Behandlung mit Serotoninwiederaufnahmehemmern (SSRI, z. B. Fluoxetin, Paroxetin) unter Umständen erwogen werden, wobei der Effekt regelmäßig überprüft werden sollte 12 50 .…”

Section: Therapieansätzeunclassified