Word of the Year

Definition

In Context

Definition

cyberchondriac (noun): a hypochondriac who imagines that he or she has a particular disease based on medical information gleaned from the Internet.

In Context

Below are instances where “cyberchondriac” has been used in context.

“So how do you know when you’ve become a ‘cyberchondriac‘?”
—CNN, Are you a ‘cyberchondriac’?

“As a physician, I’m not troubled by the autonomy of the informed patient. What troubles me is the proliferation of the partially informed patient and, frankly, the misinformed patient—the patient who crosses the line from Internet-educated patient to cyberchondriac.”
—Wall Street Journal, From Web-Savvy Patient To a ‘Cyberchondriac’

“As one of a growing number of people who experts believe are diagnosing illnesses at the click of a mouse, she became part of an emerging breed of hi–tech hypochondriacs—the cyberchondriacs.”
—The Independent, How the internet ruined my health – confessions of a cyberchondriac

“… more than $20 billion a year is spent keeping hypochondriacs happy with unnecessary treatments. The internet has made matters worse (or better, depending on your point of view). Information that only a decade ago was the preserve of doctors can now be dug up by anyone. / This is great for the ‘worried well’, or ‘cyberchondriacs‘, who love to feel that they have every available fact at their disposal, but deeply tedious for doctors.”
—Telegraph.co.uk, My quest for the Last Flu Jab in Britain

“It was the internet that convinced my wife and I that our daughter had nothing to fear from the MMR vaccine, and that my recurring headaches were being caused not by a brain tumour but by overuse of codeine-based painkillers. If this makes me a cyberchondriac, I’m happy to stand up and be counted.
—Telegraph.co.uk, Leave us cyberchondriacs alone!

“Doctors used to call it by a common name—hypochondria … The name described a real illness, but carried such a negative connotation that few wanted to hear it. Today it is often referred to as health anxiety or a ’somatoform disorder,’ where symptoms suggest a disease not explained by a medical diagnosis, or even, in the age of the Internet, ‘cyberchondria.’”
—San Francisco Chronicle, Imaginary maladies online: Internet spreads ‘cyberchondria’

“The Harris [Interactive] poll, which surveyed 1,010 U.S. adults by telephone between July 10 and 17, also found that on average, cyberchondriacs search the Internet about 5.7 times a month to get health information.”
—PC World, Poll Shows Growing Number of ‘Cyberchondriacs’

“Connect hypochondria with cyberchondria. They’re really not all that different. Hypochondriacs go to doctor after doctor to find an explanation for relatively innocuous symptoms, while a cyberchondriac goes from website to website.”
—eHow.com, How to Tell if You’re a Cyberchondriac

“Let the doctor do his work, and after he has reached the conclusion that nothing is wrong but your body feels otherwise, then you should tactfully share your thoughts or information. If the physician is not open to discuss other possibilities or he or she has labeled you as a hypochondriac, cyberchondriac, drug-seeker, depressed, hormonal, or difficult patient, find another doctor!”
—Veronica E. Thomas, BellaOnline, Are You A Cyberchondriac?

“The amount of … so-called “cyberchondriacs” has increased by 37 percent over the last two years [2005 through 2007].”
—geeksugar, Are You A ‘Cyberchondriac’?

“A cyberchondriac wonders why doctors are resentful of internet health … It’s really up to the physicians to accept that internet health is here to stay …”
—Kevin, M.D., Medical Weblog

“… I am a cyberchondriac. I spent two hours today reading the most appalling personal testimonies of people who’ve had the medical procedure I’m having tomorrow and suffered the most horrific pain EVER. Sure, there were lots of stories of people who had no pain or side effects, but those were not the stories I dwelled on.”
—moxievanilla.blogspot.com, Cyberchondriac

” … although physicians are secretly Googling difficult medical situations, many aren’t thrilled that [patients are] doing the same thing. They have even coined a new term: Cyberchondriacs.”
—survive the journey, Speaking of “googling”…..

“HarrisInteractive’s latest poll on Americans searching for health information online begs the question: ‘Has the number of cyberchondriacs declined?’”
—Health Populi, The Maturing of the Cyberchondriac Market

“You have joined in the growing ranks of the pathologically wired. You are a cyberchondriac. Surveys around the globe say more and more of us are obsessively perusing the Internet in search of what it is—real or imagined—that ails us.”
—OfSpirit.com, Check Your Symptoms -You Might Be A Cyberchondriac!

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