Cyberchondria: parsing health anxiety from online behavior
Open accessAbstract
Background Individuals with questions about their health often turn to the Internet for information about their symptoms, but the degree to which health anxiety is related to online checking, and clinical variables, remains unclear. The clinical profiles of highly anxious Internet checkers, and the relationship to checking behavior itself, have not previously been reported.Objective In this article, we test the hypothesis, derived from cognitive-behavioral models, that individuals with higher levels of illness anxiety would recall having experienced worsening anxiety after reassurance-seeking on the Internet.Method Data from 731 volunteers who endorsed engaging in online symptom-searching were collected using an online questionnaire. Severity of health anxiety was assessed with the Whiteley Index, functional impairment with the Sheehan Disability Scale, and distress recall during and after searching with a modified version of the Clinician׳s Global Impairment scale. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine variables contributing to distress during and after Internet checking.Results Severity of illness anxiety on the Whiteley Index was the strongest predictor of increase in anxiety associated with, and consequent to, online symptom-searching. Individuals with high illness anxiety recalled feeling worse after online symptom-checking, whereas those with low illness anxiety recalled relief. Longer-duration online health-related use was associated with increased functional impairment, less education, and increased anxiety during and after checking.Conclusion Because individuals with moderate-high levels of illness anxiety recall experiencing more anxiety during and after searching, such searching may be detrimental to their health. If replicated in controlled experimental settings, this would suggest that individuals with illness anxiety should be advised to avoid using the Internet for illness-related information.
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Doherty-Torstrick et al found that 32.8% of the high HA group and 71.2% of the low HA group experienced no impact or decreased anxiety during and after health-related internet use.
“Doherty-Torstrick et al [82] found that a considerable proportion of their sample (32.8% in the high HA group and 71.2% in the low HA group) experienced no impact or decreased anxiety during and after health-related internet use.”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [82]
The Results (Sample Characteristics) support 32.8% for the high-health-anxiety group and 71.2% for the low-health-anxiety group as the proportions without worsening anxiety *after* checking: the reported worsening rates were 67.2% and 28.8%. During checking, the reported worsening rates were 68.3% and 40.0%, so the quoted percentages do not apply to that period. (LLM, conf=0.94)
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- Authors
- Doherty-Torstrick, E. R., Walton, K. E., & Fallon, B. A.
- Affiliations
- St. John's University (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- Venue
- Psychosomatics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-07
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 390-400
- ISSN
- 0033-3182 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5952212
- OpenAlex
- W2256898650
- Cited by
- 237
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 20.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychosomatics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH071456)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- cyberchondria, health anxiety, fear of illness, reassurance seeking, online health information seeking, Whiteley Index, functional disability, distress, cognitive-behavioral model
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Female, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Severity of Illness Index, Internet, Young Adult
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