People that advocate and complain-against "hypochondriacs" have probably caused just as much harm as good. I don't have a citation for that, but at least in my

People that advocate and complain-against "hypochondriacs" have probably caused just as much harm as good. I don't have a citation for that, but at least in my case it's made me weary to seek medical attention for small and/or embarrassing ailments/symptoms for fear of being seen/labelled as a hypochondriac. Same goes for psychiatric symptoms. So instead of being safe rather than sorry for going to the doctor, I feel like I have to justify each visit as being serious enough, even when I am paying for it.