Introduction

Although cyberchondria was suggested as a separate phenomenon (Starcevic, Berle, 2013, Starcevic, 2017), it is by definition related to both health anxiety, general hypochondriac beliefs and behavior and Internet use (Baumgartner and Hartmann, 2011, Eastin and Guinsler, 2006, Singh and Brown 2014).

Objectives

The aim was to reveal relationship between cyberchondria in adult Internet users, Internet use and hypochondriac beliefs and behavior.

Methods

126 adults (18-70 years old) filled The Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS, McElroy, Shevlin, 2014), checklist of activities about health online, Scale for Assessing Illness Behavior (Rief et al., 2001), Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (Rief et al., 1998).

Results

Compulsion, Distress, Excessiveness, Reassuarance Seeking scales are related to various health-related activities online including both specialized (medical web-sites) and non-specialized (Wikipedia) ones (r=.25-.48, p<.01). Compulsion is closely related to surfing in social networks (r=.41, p<.01), excessiveness – to viewing of illnesses-related pictures (r=.48, p<.01) and reassurance seeking – to reading of online reports (r=.47, p<.01). Cyberchondria is related both to health anxiety (r=.37), hypochondriac behavior (r=.19-.41), beliefs about autonomic sensations, bodily weakness, intolerance to sensations and somatosensory ampliphication (r=.25-.31).

Conclusions

In general population, different aspects of cyberchondria seem to reflect health anxiety and hypochondriac beliefs but are differently related to different forms of online behavior including use of more or less specialized web-sites.

Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-013-00799.

Introduction

Pandemic is accompanied by “infodemic” that is related to higher anxiety (Moghanibashi-Mansourieh, 2020; Roy et al., 2020; Huang, Zhao, 2020). We suggest that indefinite and stressful situation of pandemic provoke magical thinking leading to lower adherence with recommendations for self-isolation.

Objectives

The aim was to reveal the structure of beliefs about reasons, manifestation and consequences of coronavirus and their relationship with magical thinking, anxiety and COVID-19-related behaviour.

Methods

In April 2020 (2-3 weeks of self-isolation regimen) 402 adults aged 18-64 years old filled checklist including beliefs about pandemic (based on the model of Leventhal et al., 2003), Magical Ideation Scale Eckblad, Chapman, 1983) as well as scales measuring anxiety and protective behaviour in pandemic and monitoring of information about coronavirus (Tkhostov, Rasskazova, 2020).

Results

Factor analysis revealed three groups of radical beliefs about coronavirus (48.6% of variance, Cronbach’s alphas .62-.75). Belief about the particular meaning of coronavirus was associated with the magical thinking (r=.21), less anxiety about infection (r=-.19) and poorer adherence to self-isolation (r=-.26). Belief in the negligence as a cause of coronavirus was more typical for those with better adherence (r=.18) while catastrophic beliefs about the consequences of pandemic were related to frequent monitoring of the information about the pandemic (r=.24), and anxiety regarding future negative consequences of the pandemic (r=.46).

Conclusions

Dysfunctional beliefs about coronavirus could be a factor of poorer adherence related to magical thinking and could be addressed in psychological interventions.

Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-04-60072.

Introduction

Anxiety are among the most common (Huang, Zhao, 2020, Rajkumar, 2020, Roy et al., 2020) and stable (Wang et al., 2020) mental complaints in a pandemic situation. Based on cognitive approach (Beck, Emery, Greenberg, 2005) one should differentiate unrealistic (dysfunctional) anxiety as well as different types of anxiety (Roy et al., 2020).

Objectives

The aim was to reveal relationship of different types of anxiety with the search for information about coronavirus and protective behavior.

Methods

In April 2020 (2-3 weeks of self-isolation regimen) 409 respondents not infected by coronavirus (186 men, 223 women) aged 18 to 64 years appraised their anxiety of infection and pandemic consequences (Cronbach’s alphas .77-.82), the degree to which anxiety disturbs their usual activities, the frequency of tracking information about the coronavirus (.75) and various protective actions against the coronavirus (.76).

Results

17.1% reported that anxiety disturbed their activities. Anxiety of pandemic negative consequences was more prominent than anxiety of infection and was unrelated to age and gender. Anxiety of infection was higher in females (t=-5.48, p<.01, η=.26) and elder people (r=.20, p<.01). Both anxiety of infection and of pandemic consequences was equally related to information tracking and protective behavior (r=.25-.36, p<.01). Dysfunctional anxiety was unrelated to adherence to self-isolation (r=.08) but was related to information tracking (r=.21, p<.01).

Conclusions

Dysfunctional anxiety is unrelated to self-isolation and should be differentiated from realistic anxiety in studies of pandemic.

Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-04-60072.

Introduction

The context of infodemic and necessity of preventive behavior (Roy et al., 2020) demands for studies of the role of news in compliance including health priming (Gibbons, 2003, Pechmann, 1999). Especially important is a topic the effect of news about traditional and alternative medicine (Furnham, Forey, 1994) their impact on subjective compliance.

Objectives

The aim was to study the relationship to medicine and subjective compliance in people with hypochondriac beliefs after priming by negative news about traditional and alternative medicine.

Methods

122 healthy adults (56 males, mean age 40.7±13.6) were randomized to conditions (control, negative news about traditional medicine, negative news about alternative medicine); then they read and appraised four news (in two experimental groups one of them was about medicine); filled changes in emotions after reading (PANAS, Carver et al., 1989), Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (Rief et al., 2018), checklist of relationship to medicine and compliance.

Results

Moderation analysis indicates that in people with higher hypochondriac beliefs negative news about alternative medicine lead to lower readiness to use these methods but also to comply with any medical recommendations (p<.01). In people with higher hypochondriac beliefs negative news about traditional medicine decrease readiness to use it but not alternative medicine (p<.01).

Conclusions

Negative news about formal medicine situationally decrease readiness to use it while negative news about alternative medicine situationally decrease any readiness for treatment.

Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-013-00799.

Introduction

Transsexuals are considered to be stable in their identity (White Hughto et al., 2016). Meanwhile, the stages of medical transition affect the mental state of transsexuals differently.

Objectives

The aim was to reveal relationships between salience of self-identification in transsexual people being on different stages of medical transition.

Methods

151 transsexual people: 55 pre-operated Female-to-Male (FtM I), 25 FtM on a hormonal therapy (FtM II), 25 FtM after some surgical operations (FtM III); 12 pre-operated Male-to-Female-Transsexual (MtF I), 16 MtF on a hormonal therapy (MtF II), 18 MtF after some surgical operations (MtF III). The participants filled the modificated Kuhn’s test “Who am I?” (Tkhostov et al., 2014). The modification includes a Likert scale for evaluating one's self-identifications in terms of salience: “How often do You think or remember this answer?” (Stryker, 2007).

Results

There were differences between identity salience and stages of medical transition (F = 7,177; P < 0,001; η2 = 0,108). Transsexuals before medical transition demonstrated higher levels of identity salience (average score is 7,62 in FtM I and 7,75 in MtF I). Transsexuals on a hormonal therapy demonstrated sharply decreased level of identity salience (6,97 in FtM II and 6,19 in MtF II). Transsexuals after surgical operations reported increased level of salience (7,81 in FtM III and 7,23 in MtF III). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups by gender assigned at birth.

Conclusions

Data suggest that medical transition could change the salience of self-identification. Hormone therapy is associated with a sharp revision of the salience of self-identifications for transsexuals.