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A lot of people might not understand exactly what makes an hypochondriac tick, they always seem like they have a chronic disease and might just die tomorrow. They walk around geared up like they are preparing for a mega pandemic or a disease to come sweep them off their feet. They always worry they are suffering from a strange illness but they just can't pinpoint exactly what it is. Seems intense but some people become hypochondriacs without even noticing and for some they have been like that for as long as they can remember. A lot of reasons could make a person become an hypochondriac, childhood trauma, rape or mental issues like depression. To an hypochondriac a sneeze could never be just a sneeze, it could be a respiratory issue or a heart issue, a mole could signify skin cancer as well as many other signs or symptoms.
While some term them crazy, being an hypochondriac is really a mental illness. It is now known as illness anxiety disorder, people with this illness live in constant fear that they have a serious or life threatening disease even when there are no symptoms at all. There also exist somatic symptom disorder, they worry as well but do have true physical symptoms, the only issue is medical test can't ascertain what exactly the problem is. Hypochondriacs on the other hand think themselves to stupor, their brain gets stressed out and of course headache and other stress related illnesses come in which further confirms an hypochondriacs fear. A million and one visit to the doctor coupled with several test to prove they are actually fine would never make an hypochondriac relax.
They then resort to the only doctor they know would confirm they are really dying i.e Doctor google. We know how meticulous google can be by providing all related results to a particular search word, for example "why do I have an headache" and google would reply with results like migraines, brain tumor or an aneurysm. An hypochondriac would certainly not go for the least worrisome results but the more life threatening one and further deepen their fears. They then grow from being hypochondriacs to being a cyberchondriac. Although most hypochondriacs are cyberchondriacs, few cyberchondriacs are hypochondriacs. A lot of people are cyberchondriacs as a result of fake stories they have heard, misinformation and other myths, instead of going to the doctor to rule out their fears they search their symptoms on google, and trust google to let your imaginations run even wilder.
Most people have been cyberchondriacs at one point in their life, especially when someone close to you has been chronically sick and you notice symptoms they once complained of on you. It is advisable that you see a doctor first because google is not a doctor and will only make you worries over nothing. While a cyberchondriac could see a doctor and get his or her fear resolved an hypochondriac would need not only to stop searching online but to also get therapy and treatment as well as counseling.