Are you constantly worried about being sick? Do you think that your headache might be a brain tumor? Does a slight discomfort in your chest area feel like a heart attack to you? Then there are high chances that you are a hypochondriac. Just like obsessive-compulsive disorder, this is also a compulsive disorder in which the person always fears being or getting sick. This is not typically a medical condition but more of a psychological nature disorder. In this type of health anxiety, the individual always has a belief that he or she is suffering from some illness that does not hold any medical support to it. The people who have this condition always worry about catching some disease or the other based on their own self-analysis.
The diagnosis of hypochondria has been divided into illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder. Scientists are still researching to fully understand what triggers the hypochondriac in people. As these people don’t have any signs of illness yet are obsessed with believing that they are ill. They are known as hypochondriacs in medical terms.
What are the characteristics of Hypochondria?
One of the first and foremost characteristics of being a hypochondriac is that the person who is suffering from this psychiatric disorder often thinks that they have some serious illness or medical condition, even when they are perfectly fine. Some of the points are an indicator of you being a hypochondriac. People with somatic symptom disorder – thought of as masochists – are stressed over having a physical illness.
The symptoms they depict can go from general objections, for example, agony or sluggishness, to worries about ordinary body ailments, for example, breathing or stomach aches. People with somatic symptom disorder are not faking or lying about their symptoms; they genuinely accept that they are wiped out. Or on the other hand, If they do have a genuine physical illness, their degree of stress and pain is messed up with regard to the condition.
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- Having always worried about getting seriously ill or worrying excessively about some symptoms that are not actually there. Even when all your medical test reports show that you are perfectly fine and healthy.
- When you overreact to even minor health issues that are in reality of not much significance.
- When you have the tendency to check for your vital signs such as sugar levels, blood pressure, and pulse several times a day.
- When you frequently visit your doctor or do health checkups frequently. Or even avoid these in fear of being diagnosed with some life-threatening illness.
- Whenever you hear some news about some illness on the TV, news, or social media, you immediately worry that you, too, might get that illness.
- You constantly test or examine your body whenever you feel the slightest pain or discomfort and start looking for some symptoms of serious diseases.
If you have any of these issues, then you might be suffering from hypochondria. You should seek immediate medical advice. Talk to your doctor, who would definitely recommend you to some mental health professional. It should not be kept back and even ignored, or it may eventually get worse.
What are the different types of Hypochondria?
Hypochondria is a disease that if often not accepted by the patient. Often they think that they actually have some illness, while the main cause is Hypochondria. This condition can further be bifurcated at the different matter levels. Here are the different types of the same:
Mild Hypochondria: In the mild form of this condition, the person suffering from this condition is in fear of suffering from some illness. Due to this, the individual feels the urge to visit the doctor. When the suffering person visits the doctor, and the doctor informs him or her that there is nothing wrong, the person is satisfied, and his or her fear subsides.
Passenger Hypochondria: The fear of death or being ill with a serious illness is in all of us. The person who is suffering from passenger Hypochondria thinks that he or she has some serious illness, worries about it, and soon forgets.
False or fake: Many a time, people often confuse Hypochondria with other serious or critical nature.
Severe Hypochondria: In this type of Hypochondria, treatment from a trained doctor who is an expert in psychiatric disorders. In severe cases, the patient often gets so much in fear that they have some serious illness that they cut themselves off from normal societal life and start to live in fear and isolation. They constantly feel that they are in danger.
How to deal with Hypochondria?
The best option to treat Hypochondria would be to visit a good doctor or therapist. But people who suffer from this somatic symptom disorder or have worries about this disorder can always get guidance from research done on this topic. Here are some important tips that you can try when dealing with Hypochondria.
Never research for symptoms:
If you are aware that you suffer from Hypochondria and fear getting sick or have health conditions, you should always stay away from the internet. Avoid researching the medical explanation for any symptoms and diseases. For example, if you are suffering from a mild headache, you go and research it online, and you may end up reading some article connecting headaches with a brain tumor and would get into unwanted fear.
Find support:
It is always helpful to connect with people who are suffering from similar ailments. Try and find some groups or people who have the same panic disorder of getting sick. Talking and sharing about each other’s fears may help you overcome your anxiety and fear.
Interact with your doctor:
It is always good to have proper communication with your doctor. Discuss your fear related to your medical condition and physical condition with your doctor. Having proper and thorough communication with your doctor would help you both be on the same page and would also help your therapist or doctor to understand your needs better.
What are the types of therapy available for Hypochondria?
There is much therapy available for Hypochondria, Psychotherapy medication can be a good choice in treating Hypochondria. With proper therapy, the patient can get real progress. Some of the common therapy to address the cause of health anxiety are:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Hypochondria is frequently portrayed by apparently irrational convictions or worries about a well-being side effect or condition. CBT assists individuals with distinguishing those convictions and supplants them with increasingly levelheaded and reasonable considerations.
Bibliotherapy: It helps to understand deeply one’s condition. Bibliotherapy is a great way to treat or approach Hypochondria. Literature about beating hypochondria or books that help depict and standardize the condition could be utilized in bibliotherapy for hypochondria.
Behavioral stress management: This sort of therapy may assist people with hypochondria to bring down their stress levels and sentiments of anxiety about a well-being condition or symptom. While it might be utilized to help individuals who are genuinely in danger of an ailment, it could likewise be promising for those with some health anxiety.
The group Therapy: One examination focuses on the adequacy of gathering CBT in lessening somatic symptoms that may go with hypochondria. Notwithstanding being economically feasible, group therapy treatment could make it simpler for certain individuals to distinguish irrational well-being-related musings since it permits them to work with other people who have comparative health conditions.
Conclusion: If you are encountering depression or a related diagnosis, it might help to initially visit your healthcare supplier or a therapist. You could definitely take help from the kinds of treatment recorded above; individual or talking treatment can be a useful initial step that permits people with neurosis or hypochondria to address their anxiety in a protected, approving space and be alluded to clinical treatment if physical health is the root concern.
There is a lot of medical advice and cures available online for hypochondria; some of this is correct, while some really fake. It is not advisable to read and act upon the malicious and fake site, or it would only increase your medical condition. Instead, always get consultancy and advice from a trained medical professional. If you are keen on finding an online solution for this problem, then always search data on trusted sites which have a trained and experienced team on this
