You’ve undoubtedly heard of this psychosomatic condition before. It’s debilitating, random, and often thought of as a made-up condition — hypochondria. If you have it, it makes you think that even a small thing such as an itch is skin cancer or a cough is laryngitis, for example. When you have hypochondria, even after visiting your doctor, you are still convinced you are sick, even though your health is in top form.
Often thought of a as a ‘fake’ disease, know that hypochondria is indeed real and it affects many individuals. It’s a mysterious condition — hypochondria’s triggers are unknown and some people are stuck with it for life. However, a new study has just discovered that you don’t have to cope with this condition. There is help available for hypochondriacs.
Before we get to the study, let’s take a look at hypochondria and its triggers, so as to help you better recognize this often misunderstood condition. In the simplest terms, hypochondria is a severe type of health anxiety that can range from being mild to severely debilitating.
There is no certain understanding for why it occurs in individuals, but it is a valid condition. If you have hypochondria, essentially your mind makes you think that you are sick when you are, in fact, healthy. The smallest thing, such as a slight rash, gets interpreted as lupus, for example. Even after a health professional checks you out, you may still think that you are deathly ill. Nothing and nobody can put you at ease.
There are signs you can watch for if you think that you are developing this disorder. For starters, you may experience physical symptoms, which albeit innocuous, your brain will interpret as being an indicator that something is wrong. If you experience any of the following symptoms, speak to your doctor — you may be suffering from hypochondria:
– Experiencing constant fear and anxiety that you may be ill with a certain condition.
– You interpret minor symptoms as being a sign that you have a major illness.
– Constantly getting checked by a doctor; switching doctors; asking for a second, even third opinion; feeling frustrated with your doctor and the care you receive.
– Feeling emotionally distressed over your health all the time; doing excessive, even obsessive health research.
– Checking your body for physical symptoms such as a lump, rash, or interpreting weight loss/gain as an indicator that something is wrong, for example.
– Thinking you’ve come down with a condition or illness after you’ve read about it or heard about it in the media.
These are all serious signs that you have to consider — you may have hypochondria. It can vary in intensity, and get worse over time if you do not recognize the symptoms, so if your health anxiety is spiraling out of control, be proactive about seeking help. So, speaking of getting help, let’s look at that study.
The study, recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, has found that people with hypochondria can greatly benefit from either cognitive behavior therapy or the antidepressant paroxetine (a.k.a. “Paxil” or “Seroxat”). These both may help people deal with hypochondria in the short term.
The researchers looked at 112 participants with hypochondria at the start of the study. Thirty of these individuals dropped out, leaving 83 sufferers who completed the trial. The participants were given a survey to assess the level of their hypochondria and then were broken into two groups.
The first group was given the drug, the second group received cognitive therapy, and the third group was given placebo. Of the individuals who received the cognitive therapy, 54% responded positively. As for the group receiving paroxetine, 38% responded positively, and the placebo group had a 12% positive response rate.
According to the researchers, “After these treatments, subjects appeared to be less frequently and intensively preoccupied with their fears of having a serious disease and also had less associated depressive, anxious, and psychoneurotic symptoms.”
Speak to your doctor if you think you have hypochondria. You may not have to resort to cognitive therapy or drugs — your doctor can help you identify your triggers and provide you with information on how to get a grasp of this condition on your own.
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Tags: quick weight loss, Skin Cancer
