The Human Algorithm by Robin K. Mathew

Author:Robin K. Mathew [Dr Robin K. Mathew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hay House
Published: 2024-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

THE RISE OF CYBERCHONDRIA

IMAGINATION IS A POWERFUL TOOL THAT HAS PLAYED a crucial role in human evolution. Evolutionary scientists believe it served a vital purpose for our ancestors by allowing them to foresee potential dangers, such as imagining a tiger lurking in the bushes. This ability to anticipate threats helped ensure their survival in the wild, where danger was a constant presence. As a result, those who used their imagination to predict and avoid threats were more likely to survive and pass on their genes.

However, the misuse of imagination can lead to the fabrication of unfounded fears, which in turn can heighten our anxiety and fear. For instance, in the past, we only visited a doctor when symptoms were severe enough to warrant the effort and cost. But nowadays, at the first sign of a symptom, people turn to Google, which introduces a different set of problems. Many people arrive at hospitals overwhelmed by fear from what they have read online about their symptoms. Doctors frequently encounter patients armed with self-diagnosed conditions based on internet searches. These self-diagnosed symptoms can interfere with accurate diagnosis. The same issue arises with online psychometric tests and self-diagnosis of serious mental health issues. Patients come in convinced of their condition, sometimes claiming to have rare diseases. Let’s look at the following example:

A doctor friend of mine recently had a patient insisting he had infectious river blindness, a disease only found among Amazonian tribes. The doctor had a hard time convincing the patient that he could not possibly have this disease. Instead of being relieved, the patient was disappointed that his grandiose diagnosis was incorrect. This example highlights the negative effects of self-diagnosis and the importance of professional medical evaluation.

Let’s look at another example. Imagine your nose is bleeding. You search on Google and find many possible reasons for the situation, such as dry air, a stuffy nose, acute sinusitis, allergies, aspirin use, bleeding disorders like haemophilia, blood thinners (anticoagulants) such as warfarin and heparin, use of chemicals like ammonia, cocaine use, leukaemia, and so on. If a patient with these symptoms rules out all other possibilities and decides they have leukaemia, it can be a cause for concern.

Self-diagnosis and treatment have become a global issue. An international survey was conducted to understand the percentage of people who search for their symptoms on the internet. The results revealed that in China, 94 per cent of people searched for their symptoms online, while in Thailand, it was 93 per cent, in Saudi Arabia, it was 91 per cent, and in India, it was 90 per cent.

The inclination to self-diagnose using online information often results in unnecessary anxiety and misdiagnosis. For instance, interpreting a common symptom like a nosebleed as a sign of a severe illness like leukaemia underscores the importance of seeking professional medical advice rather than relying solely on internet resources. In the next section, we will explore hypochondriasis, a condition characterised by excessive concern about having a serious illness, even in the absence of medical evidence and significant symptoms.

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