Most people worry about their health sometimes, but when it impairs functioning it may be a disorder like hypochondriasis. Hypochondriasis is defined as a persistent preoccupation that minor bodily changes indicate a serious illness despite medical reassurance. The internet makes becoming a hypochondriac easier by providing easy access to medical information that fuels worries, but group therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy can effectively treat this disorder over time.

2. Most people have had a friend like that chicken.
Everyone gets worried about their health
occasionally, but when it causes impairment of
functioning it becomes a disorder.

4. It's easy to get frustrated with someone who is
always sick or constantly thinks they are going to
die, but ignoring them or telling them they're crazy
isn't the solution.

5. Hypochondriasis
Defined as “a DSM Checklist
somatoform disorder 1. Preoccupation with fears or
in which people beliefs that one has a serious
disease, based on
mistakenly fear that misinterpretation of bodily
2. Persistence of at least six
minor changes in their symptoms, lasting
preoccupation despite
physical functioning months.
appropriate medical evaluation
3. Absence of delusions.
and reassurance.
indicate a serious
disease” 4. Significant distress or
impairment.

6. Internet and anxiety
According to WebMD
becoming a
hypochondriac has
become much easier
than it used to be
The internet can provide
easy access to
medical information,
but this works against
hypochondriacs

7. Cyberchondria
Has been loosely defined as...
“the deluded belief you suffer from all the
diseases featured on the internet”
“Internet print out syndrome”
“hypochondriacs who have a strong, obsessive
compulsive focus to their symptoms”

8. According to a leading researcher on
hypochondria, 90% of hypochondriacs with
internet access become cyberchondriacs
Microsoft researches did a study in 2008 and
concluded that “when a Web search is used to
diagnose a symptom, it has the potential to
increase the anxieties of users who don't have
proper medical training or education”

9. Though it may take a long time, group therapy
and cognitive behavioral therapies have proven
effective in treating this disorder.