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.
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.
Hypochondria is a real and entirely treatable disorder. If you recognize any of the symptoms listed above, help is available to you. Consider speaking with a therapist to help work through these medically-based anxieties.
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.
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.
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.
Considered a somatoform disorder, or a psychological disorder with physical symptoms, hypochondria occurs equally in men and women and can develop at any age, but most often begins in early adulthood. Although it doesn't seem to have a genetic link, the mental disorder may be triggered by life events.
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.
Other potential causes for hypochondria are listed below. A History of Physical and/or Sexual Abuse Observing or experiencing physical and sexual abuse, particularly as a child, can result in a heightened sense of physical vulnerability. This may lead a person to suspect serious health issues when they are not present.
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.
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.
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.
Because hypochondria can activate the “fight or flight” system of the body, having excessive worries about your health can cause some physical symptoms. Some common symptoms of anxiety that hypochondria can trigger include: Stomachaches and conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
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.
A complicated part of being human: living with the knowledge of your own impending death.
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.
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.
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.
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.
True hypochondria is a mental health disorder. Hypochondria may show up in a child after they or someone they know has gone through an illness or a serious medical condition. Its symptoms can vary, depending on factors such as stress, age, and whether the person is already an extreme worrier.
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.
It may also be inherited genetically. Hypochondriacs many times have been cautious, anxious, or fearful of diseases all of their lives. It is just a condition that they are born with. Other times it can be brought on by a traumatic event in a person's life that leads them to feeling unsafe.