Hypochondria is a human psychopathological condition that manifests itself in constant and continuous concern and worry about one’s health. A person is afraid of getting sick with some disease, perceives his sensations as unpleasant or threatening his normal functioning.
Often hypochondriacs diagnose themselves and believe that they suffer from some incurable pathology. In other words, a person with hypochondria turns into a kind of machine that records all his sensations and interprets them into diseases and symptoms.
Causes of hypochondria
There are many hypotheses and assumptions about the causes of hypochondria. But researchers are unanimous on one thing: hypochondria occurs against the background of a depressive disorder. Scientists have shown that patients suffering from depression experience a significant increase in any complaints for which there is no physical reason.
Hypochondria also contributes to:
- disturbances in the functioning of the cerebral cortex; - distorted perception by the cortex of impulses from internal organs; — initial manifestations of delusional disorders; - a disturbance between the work of the autonomic nervous system (responsible for the autonomous functioning of organs) and the cortex.
Ministry of Health warns: fear is harmful to your health
It turns out that by worrying about our health, we only worsen our already poor health.
However, this is not a reason to relax and give up on your condition. On the contrary, short-term fear is even useful: fear keeps us from taking unnecessary risks and facing danger. In a state of stress, human memory works better, the sense of smell, vision and hearing become more acute, and all the forces of the body are mobilized. Only a long stay in a depressed state is harmful to our body.
The reaction to danger occurs instantly. Neural detectors sense danger and transmit a signal to the brain. The hypothalamus processes information, and the brain quickly gives the command: fight, run, pull your hand away from the fire, etc. In a state of stress, our body releases adrenaline, which is converted by muscles into energy. If it is not used up, tremor of the limbs and lips begins, and then it spreads to the whole body. Fear has a bad effect on all organs of our body and even contributes to the appearance of cholesterol plaques in blood vessels.
Fear is a disease that relaxes the soul, just as a physical illness relaxes the body. (c) Daniel Defoe
Fear, stress and depression contribute to the development of various diseases: ulcers, cancer, and the formation of metastases. Fear suppresses the immune system; a person who is constantly afraid often gets sick: either a cold, or flu, or ARVI.
Symptoms, complaints and course of the disease
Every practicing doctor has encountered hypochondriacs in his practice. People with this pathology often present all sorts of complaints, look for many diseases, and do many additional examinations. However, their results are usually absolutely normal.
Hypochondria is divided into 3 types:
1. Obsessive. 2. Super valuable. 3. Delusional.
Patients with the obsessive form are anxious and suspicious, overly concerned about the state of their health, and constantly analyze all the processes occurring in the body. An attack of hypochondria can be triggered by viewing medical advertisements or an ambiguous phrase from a doctor. Patients with the overvalued form have similar symptoms, but they are characterized by an acute psycho-emotional reaction to the slightest physical discomfort (for example, a runny nose). The most complex and severe form of hypochondria is delusional.
It is characterized by: confidence in the presence of an incurable disease, attempts to dissuade are interpreted as “even the doctors have given up on me,” there are attempts to commit suicide, as well as depression, delusions and hallucinations.
Fear has big eyes
A person, like any living creature, is afraid of pain, but this is not the only aspect of the biological fear of illness. When we think about getting seriously ill, the negative consequences of serious illnesses immediately come to mind: disability, new diseases, etc. The social aspect of the fear of getting sick is also understandable to everyone. One has only to imagine oneself bedridden, and anyone is immediately overcome by the reluctance to be a burden to others, to force loved ones to waste energy and precious time on themselves.
As biosocial creatures, people fear alienation, and serious illnesses can lead to long-term or even lifelong isolation from society. Someone is groundlessly afraid of a variety of different and unpredictable things: germs, bacteria, viruses, cancer, HIV, infection. It also comes to paradoxical situations: the fear of a heart attack provokes a rapid heartbeat and thereby increases the risk of this very attack.
The most harmful book in the house is the medical encyclopedia. Whatever disease you read about, you immediately find its symptoms in yourself (c) Jerome K. Jerome
Sometimes even a specialist cannot convince people who are confident in their illness. He conscientiously examines patients and does not find any diseases in them, while the symptoms of patients who come to him are purely somatic in nature: they are caused by imagination and self-hypnosis. Of course, such symptoms do not go away when the doctor tells the patient about his actual health, and he is left alone with thoughts about his unique and incurable disease.
Plunging into the abyss of fear does not give us any relief and only burdens our psyche with negative emotions.
Treatment of hypochondria
The tactics for correcting disorders are determined by the type of hypochondria. As a rule, treatment begins with various types of psychotherapy (Gestalt therapy, art therapy, psychoanalysis).
Medications are also used - antidepressants, tranquilizers, antipsychotics. If the patient’s symptoms are manifestations of schizophrenia, powerful antipsychotics should be used. In severe cases, hospitalization is required. Sometimes the use of alternative medicine is justified. Most often it acts as a “placebo” effect. However, if decoctions and infusions of herbs help the patient, they can and even should be included in the treatment regimen for hypochondria.
We also recommend reading the article about Haloperidol.
Don't be afraid, just do it
If, having discovered alarming symptoms, a person refuses to seek medical help, we are dealing with a mechanism of psychological defense against the troubles that the disease causes. However, refusing treatment does not solve the problem.
Another obstacle to treatment is mistrust of doctors, which provokes all sorts of wrong decisions. Which? Someone refuses a consultation, but does not refuse to purchase drugs for various purposes without having a doctor’s opinion in hand. Some people opt for healers and psychics, who allegedly find diseases in people and even treat them without medications or special equipment.
No one will give you such a detailed opinion about the state of your health except a doctor. Make an appointment. Go to several specialists in different clinics to be sure of the diagnosis and no longer doubt. If all the doctors agree, you will finally have certainty.
When you fear for your health or the health of your loved ones, go to the hospital. Let them check you there, examine you, take tests. Even cancer is curable if detected at an early stage. If you continue to be afraid and inactive, fear will accelerate the flywheel further and further. The longer we are afraid, the more difficult it is for us to overcome our fear and begin to solve the problem.
Cancer and cancerophobia
Cancer
- one of the severe forms of cancer. It has a malignant course and a poor prognosis if the disease is detected late. One of the leading causes of death in old age. According to statistics, the incidence of oncological diseases and cancer in particular in people suffering from cancerophobia is several times lower than in the general population.
This can be explained by several reasons
Firstly, people prone to phobias are usually physically healthy people and therefore diseases of internal organs are observed less frequently in them.
Secondly, due to fear for their health, they are distinguished by frequent (more than necessary) visits to doctors, examinations and tests, and therefore all their existing diseases are detected at an early stage, which allows for timely application of medical measures.
Thirdly, carcinophobes, due to their tendency to causeless anxiety, have well-developed vegetative centers that promote good capillary blood flow and, accordingly, high endurance of the body, which also determines good physical health.
How to protect yourself from cancer?
The most universal and proven method is medical examination. Regular and preventive observation by a doctor allows you to identify any disease in the early stages, cancer - at the stage of a precancerous condition. When the disease is just beginning, it is easier to cope with it.
For cancer patients, this rule becomes an obsession. They are ready, on their own initiative, to take tests for tumor markers (blood indicators indicating cancer) an infinite number of times, undergo examinations and consultations with oncologists.
How to get rid of the fear of getting cancer?
In mild cases, a consultation with a doctor is sufficient, at which it is enough to convince the patient that he does not have cancer or even a predisposition to it. It is very important if the doctor points out high anxiety and teaches how to cope with this anxiety.
Fear of diagnosis: why patients are afraid to see a doctor
Fears for one's health can be classified as both biological and social fears. This phenomenon has two extremes, which are harmful in different ways for a person who is afraid of getting sick. Worried about his health, a person either turns into a hypochondriac and constantly goes to doctors, suspecting that he has non-existent ailments, or he is afraid that as a result of the examination he will be diagnosed with a serious illness, and prefers to avoid visiting a doctor. Any fear can and must be overcome, and the first step on this path is to find its origins.
Fear has big eyes
A person, like any living creature, is afraid of pain, but this is not the only aspect of the biological fear of illness. When we think about getting seriously ill, the negative consequences of serious illnesses immediately come to mind: disability, new diseases, etc. The social aspect of the fear of getting sick is also understandable to everyone. One has only to imagine oneself bedridden, and anyone is immediately overcome by the reluctance to be a burden to others, to force loved ones to waste energy and precious time on themselves.
As biosocial creatures, people fear alienation, and serious illnesses can lead to long-term or even lifelong isolation from society. Someone is groundlessly afraid of a variety of different and unpredictable things: germs, bacteria, viruses, cancer, HIV, infection. It also comes to paradoxical situations: the fear of a heart attack provokes a rapid heartbeat and thereby increases the risk of this very attack.
“The most harmful book in the house is the medical encyclopedia. Whatever disease you read about, you immediately find its symptoms in yourself” - Jerome K. Jerome.
Sometimes even a specialist cannot convince people who are confident in their illness. He conscientiously examines patients and does not find any diseases in them, while the symptoms of patients who come to him are purely somatic in nature: they are caused by imagination and self-hypnosis. Of course, such symptoms do not go away when the doctor tells the patient about his actual health, and he is left alone with thoughts about his unique and incurable disease.
Plunging into the abyss of fear does not give us any relief and only burdens our psyche with negative emotions.
Ministry of Health warns: fear is harmful to your health
It turns out that by worrying about our health, we only worsen our already poor health.
However, this is not a reason to relax and give up on your condition. On the contrary, short-term fear is even useful: fear keeps us from taking unnecessary risks and facing danger. In a state of stress, human memory works better, the sense of smell, vision and hearing become more acute, and all the forces of the body are mobilized. Only a long stay in a depressed state is harmful to our body.
The reaction to danger occurs instantly. Neural detectors sense danger and transmit a signal to the brain. The hypothalamus processes information, and the brain quickly gives the command: fight, run, pull your hand away from the fire, etc. In a state of stress, our body releases adrenaline, which is converted by muscles into energy. If it is not used up, tremor of the limbs and lips begins, and then it spreads to the whole body. Fear has a bad effect on all organs of our body and even contributes to the appearance of cholesterol plaques in blood vessels.
“Fear is a disease that relaxes the soul, just as a physical illness relaxes the body” - Daniel Defoe.
Fear, stress and depression contribute to the development of various diseases: ulcers, cancer, and the formation of metastases. Fear suppresses the immune system; a person who is constantly afraid often gets sick: either a cold, or flu, or ARVI.
Don't be afraid, just do it
If, having discovered alarming symptoms, a person refuses to seek medical help, we are dealing with a mechanism of psychological defense against the troubles that the disease causes. However, refusing treatment does not solve the problem.
Another obstacle to treatment is mistrust of doctors, which provokes all sorts of wrong decisions. Which? Someone refuses a consultation, but does not refuse to purchase drugs for various purposes without having a doctor’s opinion in hand. Some people opt for healers and psychics, who allegedly find diseases in people and even treat them without medications or special equipment.
No one will give you such a detailed opinion about the state of your health except a doctor. Make an appointment. Go to several specialists in different clinics to be sure of the diagnosis and no longer doubt. If all the doctors agree, you will finally have certainty.
When you fear for your health or the health of your loved ones, go to the hospital. Let them check you there, examine you, take tests. Even cancer is curable if detected at an early stage. If you continue to be afraid and inactive, fear will accelerate the flywheel further and further. The longer we are afraid, the more difficult it is for us to overcome our fear and begin to solve the problem.
Head of the therapeutic department of the polyclinic of the Tomsk State Budgetary Institution "Sosnovskaya Central District Hospital" Irina Bulgakova
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