Hypochondria and somatic symptom disorder can exist independent of being a defense mechanism but may be used to displace anxiety away from something even more anxiety-provoking. For example, intensely focusing on physical symptoms and their potential manifestation may be a relief from feeling dissatisfied in your life.
Hypochondriasis may occur in an individual who had a childhood illness or had a sibling with a childhood illness. May be related to another psychiatric disorder, such as anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder. Hypochondriasis may develop from, or be a sign of, one of these other disorders.
Illness anxiety disorder is a chronic mental illness previously known as hypochondria. People with this disorder have a persistent fear that they have a serious or life-threatening illness despite few or no symptoms. Medications and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) can help.
Worrying is a fascinating psychological defense mechanism.
The most common individual ego defense mechanisms employed by medical students were Rationalization (6.43 ± 2.34), Anticipation (6.34 ± 2.44), and Undoing (5.93 ± 2.67). The least commonly employed mechanisms were Devaluation (3.62 ± 2.52), Displacement (3.94 ± 2.87), and Denial (4.14 ± 2.79) (table 1).
Here are a few common defense mechanisms:
Denial. Repression. Projection.
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.
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.
Patients with hypochondriasis often are not aware that depression and anxiety produce their own physical symptoms, and mistake these symptoms for manifestations of another mental or physical disorder or disease.
Hypochondriac comes ultimately from the Greek word hypokhondria, which literally means “under the cartilage (of the breastbone).” In the late 16th century, when hypochondriac first entered the English language, it referred to the upper abdomen.
Illness anxiety disorder, sometimes called hypochondriasis or health anxiety, is worrying excessively that you are or may become seriously ill. You may have no physical symptoms.
Some defense mechanisms (e.g., projection, splitting, acting out) are almost invariably maladaptive.
Hence, it could be concluded that 'Ingratiation' is not a defence mechanism.
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.
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.
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.
Contrary to the idea that "hypochondriacs" are simply looking for attention, the origins of someone's illness anxiety are often highly specific.
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.
The innate immune system is the body's first line of defense against germs entering the body. It responds in the same way to all germs and foreign substances, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the "nonspecific" immune system.
Immature psychological defense mechanisms are psychological processes that play an important role in suppressing emotional awareness and contribute to psychopathology. In addition, unhealthy food, television viewing, and alcohol consumption can be among the means to escape self-awareness.