Family. You may be more likely to have health anxiety if you had parents who worried too much about their own health or your health. Past experience. You may have had experience with serious illness in childhood, so physical sensations may be frightening to you.
Anyone can become a hypochondriac, no matter what their gender, age, or appearance. It is also quite common for medical students to become hypochondriacs after studying different kinds of rare and serious diseases. It may also be inherited genetically.
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.
When does hypochondria start? Somatic symptom disorder usually starts in early adulthood. It may appear during recovery from a serious illness, or after a loved one or close friend becomes ill or dies. An underlying medical condition can trigger somatic symptom disorder.
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.
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.
While some people's obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) focuses on their health, health anxiety (sometimes called hypochondriasis) is not a form of OCD, and OCD can involve thoughts and anxieties that aren't related to illness. If you're experiencing OCD, health anxiety, or both, effective treatments are available.
Hypochondriac Symptoms
About two-thirds of hypochondriacs have a co-existing psychiatric disorder, such as panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or major depression. Hypochondria symptoms can vary, depending on factors such as stress, age, and whether the person is already an extreme worrier.
But here's the irony: People who are overly worried about their health are also more likely to actually develop some serious health problems, according to a large new study out of Norway, published this month in the journal BMJ Open. Sometimes being right does indeed suck.
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.
Antidepressants are most commonly prescribed medications for illness anxiety disorder. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are typically the first-choice antidepressants. SSRIs include medications like: Fluoxetine (Prozac)
If left untreated, this condition can lead to an obsessive preoccupation with the idea of being unwell and it can interfere with person's daily life. Hypochondriasis is not about the presence or absence of illness, but the psychological reaction towards it.
The term is one of the oldest medical terms and used to describe disorders believed to be situated in the hypochondrium, which is the area under the “khondros,” the cartilage, ribs, especially stomach, spleen, and liver.
Left untreated, hypochondriasis can lead to serious social, financial, and mental health-related consequences. The condition is often first diagnosed when health-related fears impair the sufferer's ability to function, and people around the sufferer begin to notice the impairment.
The pooled prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students was 28.0% (95% CI = 19.0%–38.0%). The symptoms were a little more common in females (30.0%, 95% CI = 19.0%–42.0%) than in males (29.0%, 95% CI = 16.0%–42.0%), but the difference was not significant.
Contrary to the idea that "hypochondriacs" are simply looking for attention, the origins of someone's illness anxiety are often highly specific. "There's often a trigger," says Helen Tyrer, a senior clinical research fellow at Imperial College London and author of the book Tackling Health Anxiety.
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.
It is also known as health anxiety, or illness anxiety disorder, or hypochondriasis. It is normal for people to worry about their health now and again. But people who experience hypochondria get very worried that they are seriously ill, or are about to become seriously ill.
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.
Hypochondria can trigger symptoms associated with anxiety including: stomachaches, dizziness, headache, dry mouth, muscle tension, fatigue, increased heart rate, sweating, shortness of breath, and a frequent urge to use the bathroom.
1. I worry more than most people I know about having a serious illness, disease, or medical condition. 2. I am very aware of sensations occurring in my body, and notice many aches, pains, and/or other symptoms of what I think may be illnesses, diseases, or medical conditions.
People with health anxiety often misinterpret normal or benign physical symptoms and attribute them to something more serious. For example, if they were to compress an arm while asleep, instead of rolling over and shaking off the numb feeling, they might worry they were having a stroke.
Googling is a common compulsion in many forms of OCD and is usually one of the first compulsions I work with my clients to reduce.