Relationship of cyberchondria to hypochondriac beliefs and internet use

S Kumchenko,A Tkhostov,N Rostovzeva,E Rasskazova

doi:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.493

S Kumchenko, A Tkhostov + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.493

Copy DOI

Abstract

IntroductionAlthough cyberchondria was suggested as a separate phenomenon (Starcevic, Berle, 2013, Starcevic, 2017), it is by definition related to both health anxiety, general hypochondriac beliefs and behavior and Internet use (Baumgartner and Hartmann, 2011, Eastin and Guinsler, 2006, Singh and Brown 2014).ObjectivesThe aim was to reveal relationship between cyberchondria in adult Internet users, Internet use and hypochondriac beliefs and behavior.Methods 126 adults (18-70 years old) filled The Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS, McElroy, Shevlin, 2014), checklist of activities about health online, Scale for Assessing Illness Behavior (Rief et al., 2001), Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (Rief et al., 1998).Results Compulsion, Distress, Excessiveness, Reassuarance Seeking scales are related to various health-related activities online including both specialized (medical web-sites) and non-specialized (Wikipedia) ones (r=.25-.48, p<.01). Compulsion is closely related to surfing in social networks (r=.41, p<.01), excessiveness – to viewing of illnesses-related pictures (r=.48, p<.01) and reassurance seeking – to reading of online reports (r=.47, p<.01). Cyberchondria is related both to health anxiety (r=.37), hypochondriac behavior (r=.19-.41), beliefs about autonomic sensations, bodily weakness, intolerance to sensations and somatosensory ampliphication (r=.25-.31).ConclusionsIn general population, different aspects of cyberchondria seem to reflect health anxiety and hypochondriac beliefs but are differently related to different forms of online behavior including use of more or less specialized web-sites. Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-013-00799.

Highlights

Personality traits like neuroticism and trait-anxiety, as well as the predisposition to a greater sensitivity to pain, are risk factors for dental anxiety
Perfectionism has been associated with both anxiety and pain, when mediated by repetitive negative thinking/RNT (Macedo et al 2015; Albuquerque et al 2013), its role in dental anxiety has not yet been studied
This study shows for the first time that negative perfectionism is a predictor of dental anxiety; its influence operates through the increase in levels of sensitivity to pain, DPA and RNT

Summary

Introduction

Depersonalization during panic attacks may be a feature of a subgroup of Panic disorder. Objectives: To present the case report of a patient with severe Agoraphobia, whose only symptom of Panic disorder was depersonalization. Results: We describe the case of a 20-year-old woman who developed Agoraphobia after a single panic attack, during a physical education class, at the age of 13, with depersonalization symptoms only. At the age of 20, the patient will only travel alone in the immediacies of her home, sometimes missing classes, because she cannot get a ride from trusted acquaintances.

Objectives

Findings