Hypochondria symptoms can vary, depending on factors such as stress, age, and whether the person is already an extreme worrier. Health anxiety can actually have its own symptoms because it's possible for the person to have stomachaches, dizziness, or pain as a result of their overwhelming anxiety.
Pain: Hypochondriacs typically complain of mild or severe chest pain. It may be present constantly or recur throughout the day. Some people manage to live with it, while others may report intense pain and the feeling of tightness in the chest.
Hypochondriasis often arises when the person is under stress, seriously ill, or recovering from a serious illness, or has suffered the loss of a family member (5). Health-anxious people may have a coexisting general medical condition that fuels their anxiety.
Being preoccupied with having or getting a serious disease or health condition. Worrying that minor symptoms or body sensations mean you have a serious illness. Being easily alarmed about your health status. Finding little or no reassurance from doctor visits or negative test results.
Trauma or abuse
Experiencing physical or emotional trauma can lead to hypochondria. This can include previous health trauma caused by the person having a serious illness, or by observing someone else experience a serious illness. People who experience extreme stress which they cannot relieve are also vulnerable.
Constant fear and worry can cause stress that impacts your physical and mental well-being. Illness anxiety disorder can harm your relationships and life. You may miss out on time with loved ones because you're concerned about your health. Some people become severely depressed and even suicidal.
Hypochondria is itself a form of mild psychosis. The hypochondriac has a deep and ungrounded worry about having or developing a serious mental illness. Paranoia and suspiciousness are classical traits of psychosis but they can be subtle.
Doctors don't like hypochondriacs, Belling says, because their concerns mirror physicians' own anxieties about the uncertainty of medicine and the fact that we all eventually get sick and die. “These patients can undermine medicine's own self-confidence,” Belling says.
If your health anxiety doesn't let up, consider seeking out a therapist for help. Cognitive Behavorial Therapy (CBT) is the most popular treatment for hypochondria. It involves both education (learning about that noisy body of yours) and exposure therapy.
Keep busy with other things. For example, when you get the urge to check your body, distract yourself by going for a walk or calling a friend. You could also try these relaxation techniques: breathing exercises.
People who have hypochondria actually believe they are ill, but do not manipulate test results. People who malinger pretend to be ill to gain some sort of benefit, such as avoiding military duty or trying to obtain compensation.
Hypochondriasis Brain Science
Scientists believe that anxiety symptoms come from activity in the parts of the brain that control emotions and our reactions to them. These parts of the brain are called, collectively, the limbic system.
Curing hypochondria, or the obsessive search for cures, does not happen instantly. It takes time, effort, and commitment to changing one's life for the better. However, with therapy, medication if necessary, and positive lifestyle changes, you can train your mind to use its curative powers for good rather than ill.
So, is it your mind creating symptoms? In one sense yes, but that's not the full story…. If you have health anxiety your symptoms likely come from the mind, but they are still very much real. This is because anxiety affects both our mind and our body – with short and long-term effects.
A complicated part of being human: living with the knowledge of your own impending death.
When physical symptoms are caused or made worse by your mental state, it's called psychosomatic. Many people believe that psychosomatic symptoms aren't real — but they are, in fact, very real symptoms that have a psychological cause, Jones says. But why does mental stress cause physical illness?
Do hypochondriacs feel real symptoms? Yes. Hypochondria can trigger symptoms associated with anxiety including: stomachaches, dizziness, headache, dry mouth, muscle tension, fatigue, increased heart rate, sweating, shortness of breath, and a frequent urge to use the bathroom.
Antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), may help treat illness anxiety disorder. Medications to treat mood or anxiety disorders, if present, also may help. Talk with your doctor about medication options and the possible side effects and risks.
The syndrome of monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis (MHP) is a form of DSM-IV delusional disorder, somatic subtype, characterized by the delusional belief that one is afflicted with a medical disorder of defect. Such patients often present to dermatologists with delusions of parasitosis.
Share on Pinterest The most common symptom of hypochondria is excessive worrying about health. A study published in JAMA defines somatic symptom disorder as “a persistent fear or belief that one has a serious, undiagnosed medical illness.” The authors note that it affects up to 5 percent of medical outpatients.
In the general population, approximately 0.26–8.5% have hypochondriasis. 4–6% of medical outpatients meet criteria for hypochondriasis, suggesting that a large percentage of those affected present for medical evaluation.
Don't dwell on illness. Encourage them to verbalize fears about their health, but don't join in. Be supportive, but don't show too much concern and try to stay neutral in your answers. Express that you understand their struggle, without encouraging their obsessive thoughts.
Hypochondriasis (HYPO), an obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder, is frequent in patients with schizophrenia (SCH) (20%), especially among those treated with clozapine (36.7%).
In the updated edition, hypochondriasis and several related conditions have been replaced by two new, empirically derived concepts: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. They differ markedly from the somatoform disorders in DSM-IV.
Excessive fear of death appears to be an important characteristic of hypochondriasis (Starcevic, 2001). Patients with this disorder often report distressing thoughts and images of death and dying. In addition, fear of death has been linked to hypochondriasis both psychodynamically and philosophically.