The Internet is great. Where else on the same day can you look at cute kitten videos, and then learn about the complete history of the Spanish-American War, and then pay your rent or mortgage in one, solid swoop? But if you’re a hypochondriac, the Internet can be a not-so-friendly place (hint: we mean hypochondriac websites).
It’s now easier than ever to research possible illnesses you’re having and possible symptoms you may be experiencing. For somebody without hypochondria, having the Internet at your disposal could be helpful. But for somebody with hypochondria, the Internet can frequently be a source of anxiety and worry.
Don’t worry, though; we’ve compiled a list of websites you should avoid as a Hypochondriac:
WebMD
One of the most dreaded hypochondriac websites is WebMD. To be fair, every time you search any sort of symptom or health question on Google, WebMD seems to be the first peach to pop up and diagnose you with cancer. They seem to have a particularly strong search presence, so we wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve come up in your Internet health anxiety search escapades at some point.
Have a cough? It has to be cancer.
A weird spot on your cheek? Cancer.
Loss of appetite? Definitely cancer.
Therefore, it’s not a great site to click on if you’re struggling with anxious health thoughts.
You can be assured that you’re receiving accurate information, however. All articles relating to health are medically reviewed by a doctor. When you click on the doctor’s name, you will be able to read that doctor’s biography so you can see what qualifications they have to be able to medically review certain articles.
The home page also has top stories, trending topics, and a symptom checker. You know, just in case you want to give yourself even more anxiety than you already have. Don’t want to do that? Didn’t think so.
Therefore, we recommend not checking out WebMD.
Healthline
Arguably, Healthline isn’t as scary of a website as WebMD. Healthline tends to focus on the overall picture of health, including nutrition, sleep, fitness, mental health, and physical health.
The home page focuses on current events as they relate to these five aforementioned components of health. However, the articles are a little more bright than other websites on this list.
All of Healthline’s articles are reviewed by a certified doctor or medical professional. On the upper right-hand side of each article, you will be able to see the doctor who reviewed that article. If you take one step further and click on the doctor’s profile, you’ll be able to see additional information. For example: their education, certifications, professional accomplishments, affiliations, and LinkedIn profile.
EveryDay Health
EveryDay Health is a website that focuses on the total picture of health: wellness, food and eating, physical health, and mental health.
You can go to EveryDay Health for updates about COVID-19
Similarly to the other websites, all articles are reviewed by medical experts and/or doctors so you can ensure accuracy. When you click on the name of doctor/medical expert, you can see additional information. For example: their bio, expertise, board certifications and training, hospital affiliation, and accreditations.
The bottom line: even though EveryDay Health is
EMedicineHealth
EMedicineHealth is one of our top hypochondriac websites to avoid. Right away, the articles seem to be alarmist and hoping to take advantage of health anxiety clickbait.
If you don’t know what health anxiety clickbait is, click here or read the brief description below:
Health anxiety clickbait is the practice of prioritizing or creating content that will receive more “clicks.” In the medical online community, content creators or advertisers take advantage of hypochondriacs and sufferers of health anxiety. How? Well, content creators know that you are more likely to click on an article titled “The 12 Secret Causes of Cancer” than “7 Reasons Why You Should Eat More Fruit and Vegetables.”
The more clicks that a content creator receives, they are paid more. Therefore, content creators have a vested interest in getting you to click on more pieces of content. Therefore, they’re going to prioritize writing and publishing content pieces that scare you as opposed to content pieces that are informational and helpful. It’s quite a manipulative practice, and not one that we encourage here at HypochondriacHub.
Similarly to the other websites, EMedicineHealth has a pretty extensive repertoire of diseases and other health ailments that you can search through if you’re looking for more ways to freak yourself out. Similarly to the other websites, EMedicineHealth’s articles are also reviewed by medical professionals or doctors. This doesn’t necessarily mean that their information isn’t correct, but take this information however you will.
Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins is a reputable private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Johns Hopkins Hospital is known as one of the world’s greatest hospitals and institutions. The main website for Johns Hopkins focuses mostly on prospective or current patients, but it also has a pretty robust rolodex of health articles.
This is one of the best hypochondriac websites to visit, because this website doesn’t have any advertisements or affiliates. Therefore, you can rest assured that you won’t be subject to health anxiety clickbait and will receive accurate medical information when perusing these articles.
That being said – this website still could be triggering to sufferers of health anxiety.
Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic is an extremely reputable medical center that’s headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota. Their homepage kind of caters to everyone, from current patients to people seeking health information to medical professionals to current students and faculty.
If you are seeking medical information, the Mayo Clinic is a good place to go because they don’t have any advertisements or third-party affiliates. They do prioritize their own internal care and doctors, which makes sense because that’s how they can make money.
Health
Health is a website that doesn’t just focus on medical conditions. This website also focuses on diet, nutrition, mental wellness, sexual health, and fitness – aka the total picture of health. This website tends to be less clinically focused and tends to focus more on the “entertainment” value of health.
Some of the new and featured articles may be challenging for hypochondriacs, as they tend to focus on “hidden” illnesses or “shocking” diagnoses. While this is inevitably due to medical clickbait as opposed to trying to be helpful, it can still be overwhelming for those struggling with health anxiety.
Health does have some good nutrition and fitness tips, so those could be worth checking out if you’re looking for ways to supplement your life through diet and exercise. These types of topics tend to be less triggering to hypochondriacs, but unfortunately, you have to scroll through some of the medical clickbait on the homepage to reach those topics.
MedicineNet
MedicineNet is pretty much as dry as you can get when it comes to medical content. This website focuses strictly on the medicinal aspect of health. The articles delving into individual health conditions are written by one doctor and edited by another doctor, so you can rest assured that the information they are sharing with you is accurate.
The home page strives to provide up-to-date health news about various topics pertaining to medical health. However, these articles are not written or reviewed by medical staff. That doesn’t mean they’re not accurate, but they could be more focused on medical clickbait as opposed to providing helpful information.
MedicineNet does serve ads to its website visitors, so they have an incentive to get you to view as many pages as possible. The more freaked out you are, the more pages you will click on.
Overall, it’s not the worst website on this list, but we would still recommend staying away from this website if you’re struggling with hypochondria.
Cleveland Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic is an esteemed non-profit academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. They provide both hospital and clinical care to their patients and prioritize education, health information, and research.
The home page focuses mostly on information for current and prospective patients. If you click on the health library, you have to manually search or browse for the conditions you are seeking information about. This is great because you won’t be surprised by any conditions or symptoms that could possibly be triggering to you.
Surprisingly, the Cleveland Clinic’s website runs ads throughout its articles, which is a little strange for a non-profit academic institution. We also didn’t find any mention of the articles being written or edited by medical staff, though we’re sure they were since this entire institution is dedicated to medical research and education.
Overall, we would still recommend avoiding this website, because the content you’ll find throughout the health library could potentially be triggering.
Need help avoiding some of these hypochondriac websites? We recommend snagging our HypoHippo plug-in. With our plug-in, you’ll be able to block whatever websites, words, and other search terms that are triggering for your hypochondria so you can browse the Internet in peace.
