Hypochondria (hypochondriacal disorders) is classified as a neurotic disorder. A hypochondriac is convinced (without justification by the test results) of the existence of a somatic disease in his body. When subsequent tests exclude the presence of the disease, a person with hypochondriasis usually focuses on another organ or another disease.
Hypochondria is a disease classified as a severe neurosis and can cause great suffering for people affected by it. Hypochondria results from fear about one's own health and involves excessive concentration on one's own health, a high level of anxiety about one's physical condition and incorrect, anxious interpretation of symptoms occurring in everyone, e.g. hoarseness or itching. A hypochondriac seeks contact with doctors because he suspects a serious cause of his ailment. When the doctor announces, "You are healthy," the patient feels disappointed by the lack of a serious diagnosis.
Hypochondriacal neurosis (also known as hypochondria) manifests itself, for example, in the belief that pain is felt in various parts of the body and is not caused by any somatic disease.
What are the symptoms of hypochondria?
These include:
- dwelling on and worrying about normal bodily functions, such as sweating
- frequent contacts with doctors and tendency to change doctors
- loud complaints about one's own health and difficulties in precisely describing ailments
- tendency to exaggerate suffering
- causing irritation, boredom and anger in the environment
A hypochondriac's symptoms may worsen both when doctors are too scrupulous in looking for the causes of the symptoms and when they ignore the patient's problems. Neurotic symptoms usually become more troublesome when the patient is accused of faking the disease.
A hypochondriac focuses excessively on his or her health. Characterized by strong anxiety about one's physical condition. Additionally, it incorrectly interprets pain and other symptoms inherent in the functioning of the body. Of course, if abdominal pain occurs spontaneously and is not related to any external causes, it is a cause for concern. However, if we simply struggle with stomach problems after a too large or stale meal, the causes are objective.
A hypochondriac constantly seeks contact with a doctor because he constantly suspects that he has new somatic diseases. When he hears that he is healthy, he feels disappointed.
Hypochondriacs are a common butt of jokes. Wrong. This disorder can significantly impede functioning and cause actual health loss.
Is a delusional patient a hypochondriac?
Imaginary illnesses are usually bizarre, absurd claims about one's health. An observer from the side immediately realizes that the patient cannot be suffering from such a condition: "My stomach has not been functioning for years", "Everyone turns away in disgust as they smell my breath", "My heart has stopped beating for a long time". These bizarre beliefs often explain the specific experiences the patient experiences. For example, he feels a strange taste in his mouth (which may be a kind of hallucination), so he explains it by saying that this unpleasant taste is a symptom of his "gastrointestinal blockage". Delusional illnesses are symptoms of thinking disorders. The patient's beliefs, despite their nonsense and strangeness, persist, even if they are in stark contrast to the facts.
People suffering from phantom illnesses usually have specific personality traits - they are excessively suspicious, distrustful and have a high level of hostility. They are often loners, avoid people and are unable to establish contacts. It is impossible to help such a person without the help of a specialist and treatment - the patient needs contact with a psychiatrist because his strange thinking is accompanied by other mental disorders, e.g. typical of paranoid schizophrenia. Unfortunately, diseases caused by delusional thinking are difficult to treat. The system of beliefs developed by the patient has usually developed over years and is sometimes very logically coherent.
What is Munchausen syndrome?
Münchausen syndrome is classified as a group of feigned disorders, which involve inducing somatic symptoms in order to convince medical staff of the need for hospitalization or even to perform a procedure or surgery. The goal of patients with Münchhausen syndrome is to play the role of a sick person - they most often have obsessive and masochistic tendencies. A dangerous type of disease is Münchhausen's syndrome, a situation in which a person suffering from this type of ailment wants to cause symptoms in loved ones at all costs in order to subject them to treatments.
What are the causes of hypochondria?
Each patient with hypochondria is different - he or she requires consultation with a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. There is no specific cause of the condition, but a common factor determining the development of this disorder are psychological trauma in childhood, including disturbances in closest relationships.
Hypochondria usually develops in people who are introverted and tend to suffer from depression. The trigger for ailments is often the death or illness of a loved one. In such situations, poor mental well-being may even cause a number of real somatic symptoms. We are not then dealing with a misinterpretation of healthy, physiological reactions of the body, but with the actual occurrence of symptoms that cannot be explained by any somatic disease.
Other reasons may be deriving benefits and satisfaction from the interest of those around you (doctors, medical staff) in yourself and your health. The patient then feels important and cared for, so she looks for situations in which her need for security and care from the environment will be met. Usually, the mechanism of this behavior is unconscious.
Other causes of the development of hypochondriasis are disturbances in the perception of one's own body, mental instability - for example in transitional periods (puberty, menopause, aging of the body), lack of satisfaction in life (bitterness, depression).
It often happens that a hypochondriac "escapes into illness", which is a consequence of failure or lack of life satisfaction. Depressive disorders often co-occur.
What is the diagnosis of hypochondriasis?
The essence of diagnosing hypochondria is that the patient believes in the presence of at least one serious somatic disease, i.e. one affecting the body. To be diagnosed with hypochondria, this belief must persist for at least six months.
A hypochondriac is not always a patient who constantly stays in hospitals or private offices. Some patients believe that they have a very serious disease and deliberately avoid visits to the doctor. This group is also particularly susceptible to the so-called white coat syndrome. Its essence is best illustrated by testing blood pressure in the presence of a doctor. The patient is so nervous about the test itself and the possibility of an incorrect result that his blood pressure actually increases.
Diagnosing a hypochondriac is very difficult. They are preceded by a lot of research, which leads to a kind of vicious circle. In order to locate the source of the hypochondriac's pain, the doctor recommends conducting detailed tests. As a result, the patient, noticing the doctor's concern, becomes sure that he is really seriously ill. Such behavior leads to the perpetuation of hypochondria as an iatrogenic disorder, i.e. one caused by treatment.
Patients often look for the causes of ailments on the Internet. It turns out that there are so many people who search the Internet in search of diseases they may potentially suffer from that the phenomenon has already gained a separate name. This is cyberchondria classified as a specific type of hypochondria. The patient carefully reviews the description of the disease and the characteristics of its symptoms and comes to the doctor with a ready-made medical diagnosis. This means that hypochondriacs are often subjected to tests they do not require, such as colonoscopy. When a doctor encounters a new patient, he has no reason to suspect hypochondria and must eliminate other possibilities before discovering that he is dealing with a person who actually suffers from a mental disorder.
Hypochondria can take many forms, e.g. fear of getting cancer. It's cancerophobia. The patient appears in the office with a ready list of symptoms: those indicating liver, intestinal or other cancer. After testing, it comes back with other symptoms.
The lack of specific information about what is wrong with the patient makes him want to undergo tests at all costs and explain the cause of his ailments. Diagnosing the disease becomes the goal of all actions. The longer a hypochondriac does not know the cause of his ailments, the more anxiety he feels. Then the hypochondriac's concentration on his body becomes greater and greater, he begins to observe his intestinal movements, listen to his heartbeat, and wonder whether a given dish will harm him.
Does hypochondria need to be treated?
Of course, you can live with hypochondria, but it is worth treating. A number of studies show that psychotherapy brings very good results.
A hypochondriac is worried about his health, constantly monitors it and often complains about various ailments that he may actually feel, but which from a medical point of view have a neurotic (psychosomatic) basis. Often, a patient with an undiagnosed neurosis cannot find an answer anywhere to determine the cause of the ailment. Therefore, a hypochondriac is usually an unhappy person and tends to project his failures in various spheres of life and depressive states onto somatic ailments concentrated in various parts of the body. Most often, a hypochondriac is unaware of this process and actually feels painful symptoms located in a specific area of the body or in some organ. He visits the doctor frequently and performs many tests to determine the cause of a given ailment, while feeling fear and anxiety. Even if tests show that everything is fine with a given organ or body function, the patient is convinced that there may always be another, hidden, even more serious cause of the ailment. Doctors usually, in response to the patient's constant complaints of pain and discomfort, order extended diagnostics - the hypochondriac takes this as confirmation of his belief that he is seriously ill, but the diagnosis has not yet been made.
What mechanisms occur in hypochondria?
In this vicious circle, the doctor begins to feel that the patient has come not to feel better, but to happily make sure he is sick. A hypochondriac usually talks vividly and in detail about his symptoms, and he is medically educated. It exaggerates and excessively highlights the symptoms that confirm the diagnosis of the disease. Hides those that do not match the condition. He encourages the doctor to perform as many tests as possible and often invests in expensive diagnostics.
When, after carrying out the necessary analyses, measurements, tests, etc., it turns out that there is nothing wrong with the hypochondriac, he feels disappointed. A hypochondriac often believes that the tests were performed poorly and that the doctor was incompetent. And it usually ends with the search for a new specialist. A hypochondriac does not accept the diagnosis because it deprives him of what allows him to function emotionally (albeit pathologically, but efficiently) - masking the real source of problems with hypochondria.
What does hypochondriasis therapy look like?
In the treatment of a hypochondriac, the most important thing is to distract the patient from his ailments. By talking about non-health topics, the psychotherapist can better understand the patient and the potential causes of his ailments.
Hypochondriacs often encounter misunderstandings from their surroundings and doctors. On the other hand, the disease allows them to escape from the problems of everyday life and effectively arouse the sympathy of others. Becoming aware of the mechanisms governing hypochondriacal neurosis is necessary to overcome this disease. Then the symptoms of neurosis may disappear.
However, the treatment of hypochondria is complicated by the belief that the symptoms result from a disease of the body, and therefore suggestions about the need for individual psychotherapy or a conversation with a psychiatrist are often unacceptable. Moreover, the behavior of a hypochondriac, although socially unacceptable, helps the patient maintain a certain type of mental balance. Attempts to remove the causes of his ailments are perceived as an attempt to disturb this balance. A hypochondriac often feels better in an environment of sick people who are keenly interested in his ailments. Any attempt to draw attention to a hypochondriac's egocentrism or his tendency to exaggerate health problems may result in emotional blackmail. The situation leads to a vicious circle - a hypochondriac may, over time, cut off contact with anyone who suggests visiting a psychologist, or even perceive such a suggestion as an attack - and at the same time strengthen relationships with people who experience his subsequent "illnesses" together with him.
Psychotherapeutic activities for hypochondria are aimed at developing in the hypochondriac a new approach to the disease and reacting to it.
How to deal with a hypochondriac?
Relatives should show attention and interest to the patient, but only if it does not concern his alleged illnesses. The idea is to ensure that the patient does not benefit emotionally from the interest in his or her hypochondria. The condition of some patients may worsen as a result of such behavior - it will be an attempt to manipulate the environment. It is important to avoid talking about your ailments.
The only effective way to free yourself from hypochondria is to resolve the underlying psychological conflict. It is necessary to reach the sources of fears and specify the mechanisms in which diseases are only a substitute for emotional difficulties.
Hypochondriacs themselves rarely seek the support of a psychotherapist. However, it is worth persuading the sick person to try such therapy. Then there is a chance that he will start functioning without ailments and derive satisfaction from life and his closest relationships.
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