People concerned about developing serious medical conditions may stir needless anxiety and confusion by running observed symptoms through Internet search engines and online self-diagnostics. A recent study suggests that the rise of Internet symptom checkers has brought with it a new brand of hypochondria – cyberchondria. Psy–chologists now warn that the condition not only triggers unneces–sary stress, but also stands to exacerbate existing symptoms by delaying proper care.

　　由于擔(dān)心自己患上了重病，人們會通過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索察覺到的癥狀并進(jìn)行線上自我診斷，而這可能激發(fā)不必要的焦慮和困惑。一項研究表明，使用網(wǎng)絡(luò)自診病情的人越來越多，而這意味著一種新的疑病癥——網(wǎng)絡(luò)疑病癥的出現(xiàn)。心理學(xué)家現(xiàn)在警告說：這種疑病癥不僅會引起不必要的壓力，還會耽誤恰當(dāng)?shù)闹委熯M(jìn)而使當(dāng)前的病情加劇。

　　Published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, the new study describes cyberchondria as a vicious circle that often serves to perpetuate anxiety as well as ailments. For some, the fear of developing a serious illness gives rise to an unbearable uncertainty that feeds on continuous online self-diagnosis. According to lead author Thomas Fergus of Baylor University, this fear-based uncertainty subsequently grows worse as people discover new conditions associated with their perceived symptoms.　　　　　　　　　　　

　　這項刊登在《網(wǎng)絡(luò)心理學(xué)、行為和社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)》期刊上的研究認(rèn)為，網(wǎng)絡(luò)疑病癥是一種常會導(dǎo)致長期焦慮和疾病的惡性循環(huán)。對一些人來說，擔(dān)憂自己患上重病會導(dǎo)致令人無法忍受的不確定性，從而引發(fā)持續(xù)的線上自我診斷。該研究的作者、貝勒大學(xué)的托馬斯?費格斯認(rèn)為，當(dāng)人們發(fā)現(xiàn)察覺到的癥狀有新情況出現(xiàn)時，這種因憂慮引發(fā)的不確定性會隨之愈發(fā)嚴(yán)重。

　　“If I’m someone who doesn’t like uncertainty, I may become more anxious, search further, monitor my body more, go to the doctor more frequently - and the more you search, the more you consider the possibilities,” he said in a press release. “If I see a site about traumatic brain injuries and have difficulties tolerating uncertainty, I might be more likely to worry that’s the cause of the bump on my head.”

　　“如果我是一個不喜歡不確定性的人，我可能變得更加焦慮，做進(jìn)一步的調(diào)查，更多地關(guān)注自己的身體，更頻繁地去看醫(yī)生——調(diào)查做得越多，你就會越多地考慮自己患上重病的可能性，”他在一場新聞發(fā)布會上指出。“如果我瀏覽過一個創(chuàng)傷性腦損傷方面的網(wǎng)站，并且不能容忍不確定性，那么我更有可能會擔(dān)心創(chuàng)傷性腦損傷就是自己腦部腫塊的原因?！?/span>

　　To investigate the prevalence of cyberchondria, the re-searchers conducted interviews with 512 healthy adults. The participants were asked whether sentiments like “I always want to know what the future has in store for me” and “I spend most of my time worrying about my health” aligned with their personal attitudes. Aside from health anxiety and online searches, the study also evaluated a participant’s intolerance of uncertainty (IU).

　　為了調(diào)查網(wǎng)絡(luò)疑病癥的患病率，研究者們對512位健康的成年人進(jìn)行了訪談。訪談對象被問到“我總是想知道自己的未來是什么樣的”和“我大部分時間都在擔(dān)心自己的健康狀況”這類論題是否與他們的個人態(tài)度相一致。除了對健康焦慮感和線上搜索病情進(jìn)行調(diào)查外，這項研究還評估了他們無法忍受不確定性的程度。

　　“The relationship between the frequency of Internet searches for medical information and health anxiety grew increasingly stronger as IU increased,” the researchers concluded. “These results suggest that IU is important for better understanding the exacerbation of health anxiety in response to Internet searches for medical information.”

　　“當(dāng)無法忍受不確定性的程度上升時，線上搜索醫(yī)療信息的頻率和健康焦慮感之間的關(guān)系就變得愈加牢固了，”研究者總結(jié)說。“這些結(jié)果表明，無法忍受不確定性有著重要作用，有助于我們更好地理解為何上網(wǎng)搜索醫(yī)療信息會加劇健康焦慮感。＂

原文連接：www.medicaldaily.com

安昊  選譯（轉(zhuǎn)自：英語沙龍）