Googling imaginary symptoms? There’s a medical term for that

Cyberchondria is getting worse in the pandemic.

At a time when every bout of the sniffles feels frightening, every cough, a sure sign you’ve caught the virus, some are experiencing a more extreme version of pandemic-era hypochondria, and it’s being made worse — as is so much else — by the misuse of the internet.

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The compulsion to seek out health-related information online, sometimes over several hours a day, with this research often ending in rounds of medical tests, is called cyberchondria.

It would be the height of irony if, reading this, you became convinced you were a cyberchondriac when you’re not, so here’s how the Journal of Mental Health and Human Behaviour, a publication of the Indian Psychiatric Society, describes the condition. Cyberchondria, it says, encompasses a range of behaviours, “beginning with a solitary activity performed with the purpose of arriving at a diagnosis and may gradually involve other internet users via forums and chat rooms to confirm (or disconfirm a) diagnosis or seek support and advice for them.”

A defining characteristic is access to information becoming a cause of distress rather than reassurance, with the possibility of the distress, anxiety and the repeat medical testing also impairing day-to-day life, says Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, professor of clinical psychology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and coordinator of their internet de-addiction clinic SHUT (Service for the Healthy Use of Technology).

That impairing of day-to-day life is, of course, the key difference between a passing preoccupation and a condition one might need help for.

“I had a case where a woman was convinced she had Covid-19 despite her tests coming back negative thrice. She had anxieties about her health prior to the pandemic, and her condition was only aggravated during it,” says psychiatrist Parul Tank. The woman is now seeking treatment through a combination of therapy, medication and counselling.

If you’re worried that you might be overdoing it, even if it isn’t cyberchondria by definition, here are some steps you can take to scale it back.

Keep a log: Take notes on how often and for how long you conduct personal health-related research online. Keep track of what you are searching for. If you google “Covid symptoms” multiple times a week, for instance, you might want to start trying to cut back. Observe your patterns, define what you would like to change, and see if you can meet those targets easily.

Give it time: How long can you wait before you absolutely must look up what your red itchy nose could mean? If you can put it off without anxiety, you could end up breaking the habit. If you can’t put it off for a bit, you know you might have a problem on your hands.

Give yourself something else to do: Meditation can help. Set aside time for activities that you enjoy, whether this is a musical instrument or dance, a craft or a sport, gardening or reading or just chatting with a loved one.