網上求醫小心成上網自診狂

如今，人們都非常重視健康，有點小病馬上求助互聯網，頻頻靠網上搜集的醫學知識來斷癥，甚至質疑醫生的診斷，成為“上網自診狂”(cyberchondriac)。

The term "cyberchondria" is a portmanteau neologism derived from the terms cyber- and hypochondria. A cyberchondriac is one who imagines that he is ill, having just read about the symptoms on the Internet.
“Cyberchondria”是“網絡”和“臆想病”混合而成的新詞。上網自診狂是指看了網上的癥狀后想象自己病了的人。

A study by researchers at Microsoft analyzed masses of health-related Internet searches and found that nearly 40 percent of people experience greater anxiety after researching their symptoms than they did at the outset.
微軟研究人員近日進行一項人們對健康相關網絡搜索的調查，結果發現近40%的人在搜索癥狀后比未搜索前要更加憂慮。

"The Web has the potential to increase the anxieties of people who have little or no medical training, especially when Web search is employed as a diagnostic procedure," researchers said.
研究人員表示，對沒有或僅接受過很少的醫療訓練的人來說，網絡很可能加劇他們的憂慮，尤其當網絡搜索被用來判斷病情時。

（中國日報網英語點津 丁一）