Who doesn't know it: a little niggle here, a little pain there. Who will run to the doctor when you can do a self-diagnosis with Dr. Google can provide?

The content of Dr. Google briefly summarizes:

Researching illness symptoms online is negative for psychological well-being. However, many people still use the search engine when it comes to illnesses.

Just five minutes of searching on Google about individual symptoms of illness has a negative impact on the psyche and general well-being. University of Cologne come to this conclusion in their current study. Details can be found in the 02/2020 issue of the “Magazine for Psychology”.

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Dr. Google: Young people in particular are at risk

The scientists asked primarily young adults, on average 23 years old, to share personal symptoms online for five minutes about Dr. Search Google. Although the risk of illness anxiety disorder is usually low in this age group, immediately after the search, the test subjects reported that they were now more worried about their health and the symptoms of the illness.

The targeted Googling led to greater concern if the participants had previously reported a negative mood. The detrimental consequences of internet research were not only apparent when study participants landed on websites that provided information about particularly serious illnesses. The subjects' discomfort also increased on websites with reserved, moderate information about symptoms.

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Final stop “hypochondria”

Searching for symptoms and medical conditions on the Internet has become normal. 46 percent of Germans regularly research health topics on the web. But be careful, you shouldn't rely too much on Dr. Leave Google!

Although long-term studies on the development of illness anxiety disorder (formerly “hypochondria”) are lacking, “Dr. Google” at least improves psychological well-being, according to the researchers.

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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )