What is Cyberchondria?
Cyberchondria is a relatively new term that refers to people who tend to look up medical information on the Internet, and who may already be suffering from hypochondria. A hypochondriac is a person who believes that he or she is ill but who does not upon medical examination appear to have any medically obvious reasons for such feelings. Hypochondriacs are often truly suffering, but their illnesses are of a psychological origin and not related to the diseases they think they may have. The term cyberchondria has evolved to express how a hypochondriac may not be served by the ease of gathering medical information online. With hosts of descriptions of medical illnesses, it can be quite easy for people who believe they are ill to think they have a variety of diseases. In fact, some physicians are concerned that the availability of medical information online may turn the person who sometimes thinks he or she is ill into a person who is constantly concerned about sickness. In other words, suc
