HYPOCHONDRIA IS A PAINFUL WORRY ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

How to get rid of hypochondria on your own?

Hypochondria is a disorder characterized by preoccupation and increased attention to one's physical health. Since ancient times, the human condition, which manifested itself in anxiety about the alleged possibility of getting sick, was called hypochondria by the ancient Greeks. In the usual sense, this word means despondency, as well as a melancholy attitude towards life. How to get rid of this disease still worries many people.

The medical term hypochondria refers to diagnoses. It is given to those patients who do not let go of obsessions regarding the presence of an incurable serious illness. This term refers to a personality trait or symptom of a mental disorder. Pure hypochondriasis is characterized by the perception of personal sensations as unpleasant and abnormal. At the same time, the hypochondriac mistakenly “knows” what kind of disease he has, but the degree of his conviction often constantly changes due to the suspiciousness inherent in this condition.

What it is?

Hypochondria is a human condition manifested in constant worry about the possibility of contracting one or more somatic diseases, complaints or concerns about one’s physical health, the perception of one’s usual sensations as abnormal and unpleasant, assumptions that, in addition to the main disease, there is some additional disease.

At the same time, a person may believe that he knows what kind of disease he “really” has, but the degree of his conviction usually changes from time to time, and he considers one disease more likely, then another.

Causes of hypochondriacal syndrome

Hypochondria in most cases accompanies existing mental changes against the background of the underlying disease. Most often, we are talking about neuroses. These are specific forms of mental illness, the so-called “minor” psychiatry. The main difference between “borderline” psychiatry and major psychiatry is that those suffering from neuroses are quite critical of themselves and the changes they have.

Important: understanding the essence of the disease is the main factor for proper treatment. The patient begins to actively participate in the therapy process, helping the doctor.

Hypochondriacal syndrome can accompany organic pathology - brain pathologies (inflammatory processes, injuries, neoplasms). Often, hypochondria is a faithful companion of senile diseases that occur with developing dementia (dementia).

Genetic predisposition plays a certain role. Hypochondriacal experiences also occur in children. Family troubles, problems at work, in educational institutions, fears in anxious individuals can serve as an impetus for the development of painful sensations and experiences.

Depending on the severity, hypochondria can be observed in different types

• Excessive concern about your health
  . Fears “am I sick?” They are forced to unnecessarily visit various doctors, take tests and undergo research at their own discretion (not as prescribed by the doctor!). A lot of time is spent searching and reading information about various diseases. Increased attention to your inner feelings, “listening to yourself.” But after the next tests showed the norm, and the next doctor says that “You are healthy!”, fears subside for a while and a period of rest begins.
• Constant doubts about my health
  , the belief that “something is wrong with me, but I don’t know what.” It has the nature of an obsession that constantly captures attention, makes you think about it, doubt it. Characterized by attacks of anxiety about one’s health, which fuel interest in one’s health. All free time is spent reading medical literature. Visits to doctors and examinations are not uncommon. After the new tests showed normal, the doctor stated that “nothing pathological was detected in you,” and there was no relief. Anxiety may intensify even more - “how is this possible? couldn’t reveal anything?!” and a new round of visits to doctors, numerous tests and studies begins. This is an obsessive version of hypochondria (obsessive hypochondria). Sooner or later, such a patient still gets to the specialist who will really help him - a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist. As a result of the conversation, he can be dissuaded from the need for further pointless examinations and visits to doctors, and the treatment necessary in this case can be started.
• Overvalued hypochondria
  . Physical health becomes the dominant goal in life, crowding out other interests and concerns. Characteristic is the desire to bring your health to an ideal state. To do this, special diets may be followed, “folk” methods of improving health (often ridiculous and meaningless), grueling exercises and procedures that seem useful can be used. The slightest deviations in health (for example, a cold) cause a violent reaction with inadequate self-medication. People jokingly call such people “HLS” (stands for healthy lifestyle, once a popular printed publication). Even when turning to doctors, such patients do not listen or hear them, they impose their point of view, and insist on their own types of examinations and therapy. Due to the fact that with this type of hypochondria, thinking is impaired, it is very difficult to bring them to a psychiatrist or psychotherapist and begin the treatment they need.
• Delusional hypochondria
  . The most severe type of this disease. Characterized by a strong conviction that one has a certain disease or group of diseases. As a rule, these are some kind of fatal diseases, poisoning, HIV infection, cancer, etc. The basis of this form of hypochondria is delusion. Delusional thinking disorders manifest themselves not only in the form of the certainty of having a fatal disease in oneself. The patient misinterprets the doctor’s words - “they are hiding the truth from me!”, “they gave up on me”, the behavior of others - “they poisoned me”, “infected me”, etc. One of the severe types of delusional hypochondria is Cotard's syndrome, which is characterized by the belief that all internal organs are dead, rotten and the body is decomposing. For such patients there is a risk of suicidal behavior and therefore they need urgent treatment.
• Hypochondriacal depression
  . Against the background of a depressed mood, unpleasant sensations appear in different parts of the body - senostopathy. Sleep is disturbed, most often in the form of early awakenings. Anxiety about one’s health initially seems plausible, but as the condition worsens, it becomes clear to even loved ones that there is nothing behind the complaints about unpleasant sensations in the body and the belief in the presence of a somatic disease. They, like all hypochondriacs, can go for tests and change doctors in search of confirmation of their disease, after doctors they turn to sorcerers and healers, and end up in sects and religious groups. The condition worsens in the morning and improves in the evening.

Classification

Hypochondria is divided into the following types, depending on the mental disorder:

1. Overvalued - in which a person’s complaints seem reasonable and understandable to strangers. After such patients visit doctors, who, naturally, do not detect any health problems in them, they decide to independently carry out treatment at home, using folk remedies;
2. Obsessive – as a consequence of impressionability. It often occurs among medical university students, who very often hear about new diseases and are sure that each of them is in their body;
3. Asthenohypochondriacal syndrome can last for several years. A distinctive feature is that there may be grounds for an actual disease of the body;
4. Delusional - patients are sure that doctors are hiding the disease from them because they do not want to treat it. All attempts to convince such a person are regarded as deception, and refusal to treat him is taken as a hopeless and fatal disease. Often such people see hallucinations. This type of hypochondria usually occurs with schizophrenia or prolonged depression. May end in suicide.

How to recognize?

The main symptom of hypochondria is hypertrophied concern about one’s health. It is characteristic of all forms, but can find different ways of expression - obsessive thoughts, ideas, and in severe cases it manifests itself in the form of delusions.

• Obsessions. Typically, fear is not associated with any specific disease. A person is worried about his health and therefore stops going out or visiting crowded places so as not to become infected from a random passerby. He is actively interested in medicine, visits specialized websites, watches programs, reads relevant literature, participates in online examinations, etc.
• Super valuable ideas. Health concerns are specified in the form of fear of a certain disease or concern for one of the organs. Most often, patients focus their attention on the heart, digestive tract, reproductive organs, and perceive headaches as symptoms of a brain tumor. Under the influence of their highly valuable idea, they actively visit doctors, undergo examinations, adhere to a strict diet, and engage in health practices.
• Crazy ideas. The most severe symptom of hypochondria, which manifests itself in delusional conclusions devoid of any logic. For example, a crack in the wall is perceived as a source of radioactive radiation, which should cause brain cancer in the patient. As a rule, he is confident that doctors cannot recognize his illness and are treating him incorrectly. Therefore, he prescribes strong medications to himself, attempts suicide, or decides to “punish” doctors who do not want to treat him.
• Senestopathies. Unpleasant sensations that are not related to certain diseases cause discomfort to the hypochondriac. In various parts of the body, the patient may experience burning, swelling, twisting, emptiness, vibration, squelching, etc. He cannot accurately describe these sensations, but he experiences suffering with each new attack.
• Visceral hallucinations. False sensations are clearly localized in a certain area of ​​the body, the patient describes them vividly and accurately. Often they relate to the presence of a foreign object in the body.

Pessimism, an exaggerated assessment of one’s condition, depression, and panicky fear of death are also characteristic symptoms, and treatment of hypochondria should be carried out in accordance with the severity.

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Symptoms of hypochondria

A hidden hypochondriac can appear in any person at different periods of life; everyone has periods when it seems that the body is malfunctioning. But for true hypochondriacs this turns into painful mania.

There are three conditional forms of the disease:

• obsessive,
• super valuable,
• delusional.

People with the obsessive type can be described something like this:

• They constantly analyze all the processes in the body (did I go to the toilet normally; why did it tingle here; oh, my head hurts - it’s probably cancer!).
• Prone to anxiety and suspiciousness.
• They often experience anxiety and fears for their health.
• If no symptoms can be detected, they begin to listen to themselves, feel themselves and panic (oh, the pain has even stopped, this is probably the end!).

An attack of hypochondria can occur from viewing medical advertisements or from an ambiguous phrase from a doctor.

In the overvalued form, the manifestations are similar, but there are also very characteristic behavioral and mental reactions:

• A person makes incredible efforts to achieve ideal health, applies various diets, hardens, takes a lot of medications, vitamins or dietary supplements. Such people often believe that they are being treated incorrectly or do not want to be treated for an “existing disease”; they often start litigation with clinics and doctors.
• Patients react acutely and emotionally to the slightest manifestations of physical discomfort or defect. Even such mild health problems as a runny nose are considered very severe.

This type of hypochondria may be a signal of impending psychopathy or schizophrenia.

The most severe type of hypochondria is delusional, which can include:

• Suicide attempts are frequent.
• Delirium and various kinds of hallucinations and depression are possible.
• Confidence in the presence of incurable diseases.
• Attempts to dissuade me are interpreted as “even the doctors gave up on me.”

This type of hypochondria usually requires immediate treatment.

general information

Hypochondria is naturally classified as a mental disorder, since in almost all cases the patient does not exhibit objective symptoms that he attributes to himself. Some medical studies claim that up to 14% of all patients attending general clinics suffer from this disorder to one degree or another. There are three forms of the disease:

• obsessive - the easiest to treat, arising under the influence of a strong experience or traumatic impression;
• extremely valuable - with a severe course of the disease, frequent medical examinations, attempts at self-medication, which lead to a general deterioration of the condition;
• delusional - the most severe form of the disorder, which is characterized by pathological, illogical conclusions, and the patient can be dangerous to himself or others.

Patients with delusional form are immediately admitted to the hospital after diagnosis. Other forms of the disease are treated on an outpatient basis.

Diagnostics

If a person has any complaints, the first thing to do is consult a doctor (most likely, a therapist). Only a specialist can say whether there are grounds for concern about physical health, or whether we are talking about hypochondria syndrome. To clarify the patient’s condition, the doctor will prescribe a blood test, urine test, and an electrocardiogram. These simple examinations will show the general condition of the body.

If necessary, to exclude certain diseases, ultrasound or x-ray examinations and consultations with various specialists can be prescribed. If no pathology has been identified from the internal organs, and the patient continues to be worried about his health, it is advisable to visit a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. This doctor will review the results of the clinic’s examination and may refer the patient to a consultation with a psychologist to determine personal characteristics.

You should not put off visiting a doctor if thoughts about a serious illness or concerns about your health for no apparent reason last for several days. First, you need to really make sure that the person is physically healthy. Secondly, hypochondria, left unattended, can lead to dire consequences. So, hypochondria in combination with depression is a rather dangerous condition. Such a patient, who decides that he is terminally ill, for example, with cancer, may take his own life so as not to be a burden to his loved ones or to avoid suffering. Serious diseases such as schizophrenia and depression can begin with hypochondriacal symptoms, and here it is very important not to waste time: the earlier treatment is started, the better the prognosis for the patient.

Why does the disease develop?

Psychiatrists identify several different causes of hypochondria.

1. Character traits and personality traits. This includes high impressionability, anxiety, and suspiciousness inherent in people with a certain type of character. Increased sensitivity to various physiological manifestations and a low pain threshold can give rise to a person’s misinterpretation of his own sensations. As a result, he begins to perceive normal bodily signals as signs of illness.
2. Diseases suffered in childhood. People who had to undergo treatment for a long time in early childhood are much more likely to show hypertrophied attention to their health and well-being. Similar results are caused by parents’ increased concern for the child’s health, which forms the child’s belief in the weakness of his health and forces him to look for signs of illness in himself.

3. Stress, depression, traumatic experiences. In some cases, the disease occurs against a background of emotional and mental exhaustion, leading to mental vulnerability. A person fixes his attention on various physiological signals, which leads to a violation of the autonomy of body functions, minor somatic or autonomic disorders, which are perceived as signs of illness.
4. Pathologically strong fear of death. The patient fixes his attention on neutral signals from the body, but when a real disease is identified, he perceives it as insignificant and insignificant compared to a fictitious disease.
5. Schizophrenia. As a rule, delusional hypochondriacal disorders develop against the background of this mental disease and are the most severe manifestations of the disease, requiring immediate hospitalization of the patient.

For obvious reasons, the diagnosis of hypochondria is quite complex and includes the study of the patient’s complaints, his medical history, as well as examination data and opinions of specialized specialists. So, if a patient complains of constant pain in the heart, then it is necessary to refer him for a consultation with a cardiologist, prescribe a series of relevant studies and make sure that there is no somatic disease.

Treatment of hypochondria

Effective treatment for hypochondria is impossible without the participation of the patient's relatives, since only they can help change his lifestyle. It is positive changes that are the basis of psychotherapy: the patient is recommended to temporarily change his place of residence (vacation, travel, family and friendly visits to other cities and countries), work, and social circle. New hobbies, especially those related to physical activity - swimming and other sports, cycling, hiking, yoga - give positive results. A new hobby should be determined based on the patient's age.

When treating hypochondria at home, you should categorically exclude reading medical literature, watching relevant programs, or communicating on forums that are in one way or another related to medicine. In general, all media products are relegated to the background - the basis of a hypochondriac’s life should be lively and positive communication with family, friends, and nature. Regular conversations are held with a psychotherapist.

As a rule, in the early stages of hypochondria these measures are sufficient. If a patient is diagnosed with the second or third degree of the disease, it is advisable to treat hypochondria with the use of medications.

Symptomatic treatment for hypochondria includes:

1. Taking sedatives - extract of valerian, motherwort, peony and their derivatives, Persen, Fitosed, Novo-passit, Dormiplant, Validol, Sedariston and others;
2. Taking sleeping pills - taken only as prescribed and under the supervision of a doctor: Donormil, Melaxen, Hyposed, Barbamil, Bromizoval and others;
3. Taking antidepressants - Amitriptyline, Sertraline, Fluoxetine. These drugs are not addictive, but the effect of their use occurs only after 2-3 weeks from the start of use;
4. Neuroleptics - used in cases of severe mental disorders and behavioral disorders: Rispolept, Chloprothixene, Sonapax, Grandaxin.

Treatment by a psychotherapist includes many methods; therapy is selected individually, depending on the condition and form of the disease. For hypochondria the following are used:

• individual psychotherapy;
• family psychotherapy;
• group psychotherapy;
• rational psychotherapy;
• cognitive behavioral psychotherapy

All these methods can be very effective, provided that the psychotherapist establishes contact with the patient.

How to get rid of it?

Treatment of hypochondria is carried out depending on the severity of the disease, in a hospital or on an outpatient basis. Most patients are prescribed psychotherapy sessions: rational arguments, Gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, family therapy, etc. Medications, as a rule, only strengthen the patient in the validity of his worries, so drug therapy is usually not used for such patients. However, if the disease develops against a background of depression, the patient may be prescribed antidepressants and tranquilizers, and in case of schizophrenia, antipsychotic drugs.

Working on yourself and your fears

Experts note that certain character traits are common factors that accompany hypochondria. Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of the treatment you are undergoing, you need to pay attention to working on yourself. Suspiciousness is one of the personality traits that contributes to the development and interferes with the treatment of hypochondriacal disorder.

Measures that will help you reduce the level of suspiciousness are:

• keep a diary in which you write down unpleasant situations that occurred due to suspiciousness, as well as the thoughts and feelings that accompanied you;
• exclude the desire to speak badly about yourself or your body;
• develop your positive qualities and skills;
• try to draw or describe in poetry all your fears, using funny words and images;
• write down on a piece of paper the fears that visit you and try to ridicule them;
• Make a movie in your imagination about your ideal life and watch it every day for 5 to 10 minutes.

Other character traits that provide a favorable environment for the manifestation of hypochondria are a tendency to negatively evaluate the world around us and self-doubt. There may be both successes and failures in the treatment of this disorder. It is necessary to emphasize even the smallest achievements and not focus on failures. It is useful to record and analyze all the positive experiences that, accumulating, will increase your self-esteem and confidence in defeating the disease.

The causes of hypochondria are varied

• Hereditary factors
• psychological relationships in the family and team.
• Biological factors in the form of weak exchange of brain neurotransmitters and disruption of the normal ratio of excitation and inhibition processes in the nervous system.
• Personal characteristics such as suspiciousness, increased responsibility and anxiety are “good soil” for the development of hypochondria.

Psychologists explain the development of hypochondria by neurotic mechanisms caused by internal conflicts between the desired and the actual.
Treatment of hypochondria The basis of treatment for mild forms of hypochondria is psychotherapy. Overvalued, delusional and depressive forms are treated with the help of pharmacotherapy, physiotherapy, biofeedback therapy, psychotherapy and restorative techniques.

As a rule, the techniques are combined. Most forms of this disease can be treated at home. Only in severe cases will hospitalization be required at the initial stage of therapy.

Fighting Fear

Anxiety is a feeling that accompanies and intensifies the symptoms of hypochondria. At the slightest physical discomfort, fear arises, which inhibits the ability to think rationally. Special techniques that help achieve both muscular and emotional relaxation will help you control this feeling.

Ways to relax are:

• breathing exercises;
• physical exercise;
• yoga, meditation;
• progressive relaxation according to Jacobson.

You can help yourself during an anxiety attack by remembering that fear is automatically blocked by anger and laughter. You can be sarcastic about the situation you find yourself in, remember an anecdote, or turn everything into a joke. If you can't laugh, try expressing your anger. It is not necessary to be angry at people or circumstances in real life. You can express aggression towards a fictional character or the disease itself.

Confronting social isolation

Symptoms of hypochondria often cause patients to limit their contact with the outside world. The fear of contracting some disease or being without medication at the right time gradually leads to complete or partial social isolation. To prevent this, it is necessary to find a strong incentive to contact the outside world as often as possible.

It should be an activity that brings pleasure and allows you to realize goals or desires. Pretexts that can force you to leave your comfort zone are dancing or sports, learning a new activity (for example, driving a car), advanced training courses. Involving friends or relatives will help you increase your motivation when attending your chosen classes.