Reassurance Seeking and Anxiety Reinforcement in Online Symptom Checking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53104/curr.res.psychol.sci.2025.07002Keywords:
online symptom checking; health anxiety; reassurance seeking; anxiety reinforcement; cognitive biasAbstract
Online symptom checking is often used as a way to reduce worry about bodily discomfort, but it may also strengthen health anxiety in some users. People who are sensitive to health threats may search for reassurance after noticing headache, chest tightness, stomach pain, or other uncertain symptoms. The search may bring brief relief, yet serious disease information, personal illness stories, and repeated risk warnings can quickly renew fear. This paper discusses how reassurance seeking in online symptom checking becomes linked with anxiety reinforcement. It focuses on catastrophic interpretation, confirmation bias, intolerance of uncertainty, and repeated checking behavior. The paper argues that online health searching is not harmful in itself, but when it becomes a main way to manage fear, it may keep users trapped in a cycle of temporary reassurance and renewed anxiety.
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