Antidepressants are most commonly prescribed medications for illness anxiety disorder. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are typically the first-choice antidepressants. SSRIs include medications like: Fluoxetine (Prozac)
There are no medications approved specifically for the treatment of hypochondriasis, somatic symptom disorder, or illness anxiety disorder. Medications are usually started to treat the comorbid depression or anxiety disorder.
Several studies show that using antidepressants, such as Prozac and Luvox, can help. Antianxiety medications are also used to treat the disorder.
Studies show group therapy, behavior modification, and cognitive therapy work particularly well. People with hypochondriasis often have other mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression. Treatment of these conditions is important in treating symptoms of hypochondriasis.
It is not clear why people have hypochondria, but it is more common in people who: have had major stress, illness or a death in the family. were neglected or abused as a child. have a serious physical illness.
Hypochondriac Treatment
Self-help for hypochondria can include: Learning stress management and relaxation techniques. Avoiding online searches for the possible meanings behind your symptoms. Focusing on outside activities such as a hobby you enjoy or volunteer work you feel passionate about.
Illness anxiety disorder usually begins in early or middle adulthood and may get worse with age. Often for older individuals, health-related anxiety may focus on the fear of losing their memory.
Psychotherapy is the first-line treatment for IAD. [1] Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on treating the patient's dysfunctional maladaptive cognitive beliefs by behavioral modification strategies.
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.
Hypochondriasis is a mental disorder in which a person experiences extreme anxiety related to a perceived illness or medical condition, even when no physical disease is present.
How bad can hypochondria get? For some people, hypochondria can affect aspects of everyday life including making plans, traveling and work and bring on physical symptoms of anxiety. It can also cause people to avoid visiting their doctor for regular exams and check ups.
Patients may have periods of hypochondriasis for months and years, and then go months and years without hypochondriasis. Some patients recover from the disorder. For others, it may be a lifelong problem.
“Many of the symptoms that hypochondriacs feel are often physical sensations caused by anxiety or depression that can go along with hypochondria. The constant worrying can release harmful stress hormones and do real physical damage.”
While some people's obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) focuses on their health, health anxiety (sometimes called hypochondriasis) is not a form of OCD, and OCD can involve thoughts and anxieties that aren't related to illness. If you're experiencing OCD, health anxiety, or both, effective treatments are available.
According to Milosevic, these are examples of avoidance-reducing behaviors you could try: “reading or talking about a feared illness, reading obituaries, spending time in a hospital (even just the lobby or waiting area), scheduling avoided medical follow-ups, or inducing avoided physical sensations (e.g., running up ...
There is no 'cure' for either condition, but both are considered treatable, mainly through psychotherapeutic techniques such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), which aim to help the patient to relax and not to catastrophise when interpreting bodily sensations.
Illness anxiety can be overcome with the help of a skilled anxiety specialist and CBT. You can find a therapist in your state on the ADAA website.
Be caring but firm. Carla Cantor, author of Phantom Illness: Shattering the Myth of Hypochondria, recommends helping your spouse tie symptoms to stress, or emotional upheavals. Don't dwell on illness. Encourage your spouse to verbalize fears about health, but don't join in, Cantor advises.
People with somatic symptom disorder -- thought of as being hypochondriacs -- are worried about having a physical illness.
Our findings suggest that the entity of health anxiety, investigated in this study as the DSM-IV diagnosis of Hypochondriasis, is a clinical syndrome distinct from other psychiatric disorders and is more closely related to anxiety disorders than to depressive or somatization disorders.
Some of these events or circumstances include: Childhood trauma, including neglectful parents, sibling rivalries, or even custody battles. Extreme stress. A history of anxiety disorders in your family, or severe/chronic illness.