Cyberchondria Still Going Strong
from the not-dead-yet dept
We wrote about this back in February, but apparently the researchers behind the idea haven’t gotten enough publicity yet, so they’re out pushing the idea of cyberchondria again. If you don’t remember the original piece, it was about bored web surfers who research all sorts of illnesses online and then are convinced that they have what they’re reading about. Part of the problem is just that the symptoms and descriptions of certain diseases are so vague, that it could apply to many, many people. Of course, as we noted with the original piece, this isn’t that surprising, since a similar thing happens with many medical students — who start self-diagnosing themselves with each disease they study. Now, just imagine if people started combining that with Munchausen Syndrome.
