Hypochondria: causes, symptoms and treatment

Taking care of your health is normal. It is abnormal when this concern crosses reasonable boundaries and becomes an obsession with possible existing diseases. A person begins to think up illnesses for himself, and after a while he actually feels all the symptoms of serious illnesses. Such people are called hypochondriacs or imaginary patients.

Hypochondria (hypochondriac syndrome) is called the pathological state of the human psyche, in which he is irrational, is overly worried about his health. And all would be fine if this concern were limited to taking vitamins, adequate prevention and hand washing. This is not enough for hypochondriac - he is literally sure that he has one or several rare, fatal diseases that for some reason go unnoticed by doctors.

Hypochondriac complains of a variety of symptoms, while he does not cheat, because he really feels almost everything that he describes. The fact is that ordinary sensations, which we do not pay attention to, for hypochondriac gain strength, power and significance. In every grunt of the abdomen, he can see convincing signs of a serious illness.

The name hypochondria received from the Greek word ὑπο-χόνδριον, which translates as "hypochondrium". The ancient Greeks were absolutely sure that somewhere in the hypochondrium is the source of hypochondriac suffering.Most often, people with such a mental disorder complained specifically about pain in this area.

Over the long history of hypochondria, they called it the most different neurotic, mental states, until the wording has narrowed to a concrete and understandable meaning - an imaginary disease in which a person is convinced. The current International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) classifies hypochondria as a mental disorder of the somatoform type. An ailment is assigned code F45.

Hypochondria is widespread: experts say that up to 15% of all who turn to polyclinics and hospitals for medical care to one degree or another suffer from this disorder. It is difficult to determine gender characteristics, some experts are sure that the disorder is more characteristic of men, others claim that with the same frequency this mental illness occurs both among the stronger sex and among women. But it was noticed that in men the disease usually starts after 30 years, and in women after 40.

Is hypochondria dangerous? Most likely, yes, because it affects the physical state more than other mental disorders, the so-called psychosomatic mechanisms are turned on (thinking about the disease, the person ultimately creates the disease). The psychology of hypochondriacs does not change much: after learning about the real diagnosis, many say something like “I knew it!”. Since hypochondria to humanity has been known for more than 2 thousand years, then many names of great people who suffered from this disorder have survived in history.

• Writer Edgar Alan Poe repeatedly wrote letters to his relatives with messages that he did not have long to live, his death is inevitable, as he is mortally ill. He really was sure that he had only two weeks to live, but the doctors found Edgar Allan Poe quite healthy.
• Artist Edwin Henry Landsir - One of Queen Victoria’s most beloved painters, he was sure that he was sick, and mortally. He tried to “drown out” the disease with alcohol and opium, which actually killed him. As a result, he ended up in a madhouse, but failed to cure him.
• Writer Charlotte Bronte (author of the legendary "Jane Air") in childhood experienced a series of deaths of loved ones, as a result of which throughout her life she was afraid to die and suffered from hypochondria (this ailment in Victorian England was called the "dark enemy of mankind"). Charlotte was most afraid of dying from tuberculosis. Presumably, she died from him (the exact cause of the death of the writer has not been established).
• Renowned reformer, public figure and charity sister Florence Nightingale, for which the military hospitals of the Crimean War became the second home, fell ill with Crimean fever. This convinced her that she should die soon. As a result, Florence threw everything at 38 and went to bed, where she spent most of her life (she lived until she was 90) - she was afraid to get up so as not to provoke a second attack of fever.
• Evolution researcher Charles Darwin after the expedition to the Galapagos Islands, he returned with the conviction that he was suffering from a terrible incurable disease that causes abdominal pain, headaches, fatigue and vomiting. With the certainty that a strange tropical disease would certainly kill him, Darwin lived for 40 years. He kept a diary, describing in him observations of his symptoms, including flatulence. Doctors already suspected hypochondria of the author of the theory of evolution.

Psychotherapists have long observed hypochondriacs and concluded that this mental disorder can exist in three different forms.

Obsessive hypochondria is characteristic of overly vulnerable and impressionable people, usually occurs against a background of severe stress, emotions. Hypochondriac is a very imaginative person. The disorder easily arises, even the carelessly abandoned words of a doctor who didn’t mean anything at all, the stories of acquaintances or friends about the disease, as well as reading medical literature or watching relevant films and programs can provoke it. It is noteworthy that this form often develops in people who have this or that relation to medicine, among students of medical universities, and therefore hypochondria is often called "a third-rate ailment."

Passion for reading medical books can also lead to a mild form of hypochondria (a person, if desired, finds the symptoms of almost all diseases from the therapist’s reference book - this is a proven fact). It is not difficult to distinguish such hypochondriacal disorder: it is almost always manifested by sudden bouts of intense anxiety for one's precious health. Hypochondriac is afraid to catch a cold, poison, become infected. But at the same time, he understands and realizes that it is in his power to avoid the disease.

Hypertrophied health care. No, everything around is clear, everything looks very logical - a person wants to stay healthy, but the prevention itself is deliberately grandiose: the hypochondriac has to make a lot of efforts to achieve the state of health he wants. Prevention measures for a particular illness are in the nature of galactic surgery and cover all areas of life. For example, a person is extremely concerned about the prevention of oncology and in order not to get cancer, he constantly studies the developments of scientists, the advice of traditional medicine, at the same time drinks urine and aviation kerosene, eats fresh tomatoes with kilograms only because someone said that it helps cancer.

It’s also easy to distinguish such a hypochondriac - this person is the dream of any healer, healer, as well as manufacturers of homeopathic medicines and nanodevices, which “should help from everything.”

Overvalued hypochondriac always has a few pseudoscientific theories in store that explain the benefits of frog legs, kerosene and tomatoes. If there are no such theories, hypochondriacs will invent them. For such hypochondriacs, the most important thing is their health, and they are ready to be engaged in its conservation and strengthening constantly. Family, work, friendship, communication, hobbies - everything goes by the wayside.

All the money goes to frog legs and kerosene, to consult with healers. Often at this stage families collapse - with such super-valuable hypochondriacs it is very difficult to get along under one roof.

This form of disorder based on the pathological findings and beliefs of the patient. The conclusions of the hypochondriac are illogical, in a conversation he can combine what is impossible to combine (“God's gift and fried eggs”). Hypochondriacs also talk about their terrible illness in the same illogical way, suspecting doctors of hiding an accurate diagnosis. Such hypochondriacs seek indirect confirmation of their illness in everything and always (“my house is built of hazardous materials, I have cancer, the neighbors have cancer on the left, the neighbors on the right also have someone who is ill, which means that they intentionally infect us, I’m also sick ").

Attempts to dissuade such a hypochondriac are initially doomed to failure. - He will listen suspiciously and immediately accuse you of deceit, of conspiring with the government, the mafia of doctors. When a refusal of treatment or surgery is received, for a delusional hypochondriac this is proof of his doom ("they will not be put in a hospital because it is too late to treat").

In connection with the development of the Internet and its accessibility to the population, psychiatrists have introduced a concomitant disorder into the registry of diseases in which a person tries to make his own diagnoses and be treated using publications on the Internet. it cyberchondria (synonym - information hypochondria). Such a symptom can occur in any of the three main clinical types of the disorder.

Why such a mental disorder develops is difficult to answer unequivocally - there are several opinions and hypotheses about this. Primarily considered genetic theory - a person can inherit suspiciousness, sensitivity, rich imagination, a high level of anxiety, sensitivity from parents. These are not only character traits, but also features of the organization of the nervous system.

Obviously, people with hypochondria mistakenly perceive the signals of their body, do not interpret and interpret them that way. Even a slight tingling sensation in the limbs can be regarded by them as pain. Obviously, there is an error either in the work of the brain, which incorrectly recognizes the signal, or in the peripheral nerves that transmit this signal incorrectly. This question is still open. That is why even the most innocent sensations in the body are of such great importance for them and are perceived as some signs of pathologies.

The likelihood of hypochondria may be affected. childhood diseases - if a person at a tender age has experienced long and serious illnesses, installation on them can last a lifetime. Overly caring parents who are very worried about the health of the child can make a child a hypochondriac, and with every banal scratch they make such a noise with a doctor’s call and buying a lot of medications that the child’s health issues simply can’t be different - they are just super-significant as they taught.

Lingering soil for the development of hypochondria is considered a prolonged depressive state, experienced severe stress, a neurotic state. When a person is in such conditions, his psyche is exhausted, and he literally at the physical level begins to feel weak, vulnerable. A considerable proportion of psychiatrists consider hypochondriac syndrome an excessive, hypertrophied instinct of self-preservation, as well as an extreme degree of manifestation thanatophobia (pathological fear of death).

It is noteworthy that hypochondriacs are often deceived by their own brain: they do not know how to hurt, although they try to do it.

Hypochondriacs complain. Everything hurts, nothing helps - it's about them. Moreover, complaints can be about pain in different organs: today the heart hurts, tomorrow - the head, in a week - the kidneys. Some (savvy) come to see a therapist with a ready-made diagnosis and treatment regimen, and await approval and confirmation of suspicions from the doctor. If the doctor makes a different diagnosis or says that the patient is healthy, this causes displeasure, a feeling of dissatisfaction.

Often such a patient doubts the preparation of a doctor and goes to another specialist. And so on until the name of the patient becomes known to all doctors in the hospital or in the city.The main symptom that an experienced therapist should alert is inconsistency. At one appointment, the patient confidently says that he has “exactly bowel cancer,” and at the next he assures with the same conviction that he has intestinal obstruction.

Most often, hypochondriacs complain about the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, kidneys, bladder, stomach, intestines and brain. In second place in frequency are infectious diseases (hepatitis, HIV), as well as cancer.

The pains that hypochondriacs describe are very interesting: they usually do not fit into the clinical picture of a single disease. This is most often paresthesia - tingling, numbness. In second place in popularity - psychalgia (pain that is not related to the work of organs and their condition, often a person finds it difficult to show exactly where it hurts). Often there are also senestalgia (pains are very pretentious - it burns, twists, shoots, twists). Some patients generally find it difficult to describe how exactly it hurts, only indicating that they experience severe discomfort.

The presence of hypochondria is reflected in the behavior of a person, in his interaction with others. In men and women, suspiciousness rises, they become selfish. Own "sores" are becoming more important than the interests of the family, loved ones, children. They require the participation of relatives, plague them with demands for care, guardianship, sympathy. If relatives try their best to maintain the illusion of calm, this is certainly perceived by the hypochondriac as signs of dislike, indifference, which further immerses them in a state of depression and doom.

The classic behavior of hypochondriac is unreasonable accusations against relatives in the absence of attention. Hypochondriac pleases nothing, it is impossible to captivate him with something, to pull him out of thoughts and efforts for the benefit of his own health. Gradually, hypochondriacs come to the conclusion that the world is inhabited by callous, indifferent people (relatives, doctors) who do not want to take their problem seriously.

Because of this, the frequency of social contacts decreases, a person closes, refuses work, and marriage, because these aspects of life can take away “the remains of their precious health” from them. The excuse most often sounds like this: "I live, maybe two Mondays left."

Even if a general practitioner is absolutely sure that a hypochondriac is sitting in front of him, he is obliged to prescribe the necessary examinations and tests to exclude somatic (bodily) causes of pain. A fairly wide range of studies is being carried out - laboratory, instrumental.

If the disease is not detected, a person is recommended to visit psychiatrist. This specialist conducts tests to distinguish hypochondria from depression, schizophrenia and other diseases or to detect concomitant mental illnesses.

Where treatment will take place - at home or in a psychiatric hospital - the doctor decides. In severe hypochondria associated with suicidal thoughts, inpatient treatment is recommended. In other cases, this question is entirely at the discretion of the doctor. Medications for hypochondriacs are considered undesirable. The fact is that the very fact of prescribing tablets or injections gives patients an additional conviction of their serious illness.

Hypochondriacs should take medications under the supervision of medical personnel, otherwise excess dosage may be ruled out, refusal to take frog legs and other methods of self-treatment in favor of it. The main way to cure hypochondria is through psychotherapy. A rational technique is used that helps to convince the patient of the fallacy of his opinions.

Well established gestalt therapy, family therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. The doctor’s task is to create for the patient new, positive attitudes that will help him to be more critical of himself, his attitudes and beliefs.

Can a person be completely cured? It is possible, but on condition that he himself will be interested in this. Without the proper level of motivation, all the efforts of a psychotherapist will be useless and ineffective.

It is with motivation that the main difficulty usually arises - hypochondriac is not against being treated, but not from what they want to treat him from, but from imaginary cancer or AIDS. The prognosis of treatment is therefore ambiguous: according to statistics up to 25% of patients with hypochondria already relapse within a year - thoughts about the alleged illness returning again.

Few of the hypochondriacs are puzzled by this question. But the probability of curing a person at home is very worrying for his relatives and relatives. First of all, it should be clearly understood that hypochondria is a mental illness, and this group of human ailments is usually not amenable to home treatment. It is impossible to get rid of an obsession and delusions by folk remedies, to cope with an obsession with cancer prevention with the help of a shower and massage. Therefore, a psychiatrist should deal with treatment.

But the strength of relatives and the hypochondriac to help this specialist defeat the disease. And the first measure of self-help is the proper organization of your life. It is necessary to leave as little time as possible for reflection and as much as possible to take up chores (home, community, hobbies). Very often, psychotherapists say that the state of hypochondriac becomes better if relatives or friends give him a pet - a cat or a dog.

Experts also ask relatives or comrades of the patient to do him a big favor - to collect and hide away all books of a medical nature - reference books, encyclopedias, as well as all the numerous copies of the journal "Our Health" or similar publications for which a person suffering from hypochondria has long been subscribed.

Therapy will go much faster if the patient sees positive examples for example, to learn about the stories of people who have been healed of cancer, they live happily and fully with diagnoses such as HIV, AIDS, and autoimmune diseases. There are enough such examples, today there are television shows, books, films about them - make a selection. It’s important to devote enough time to night sleep, eat well, to exclude from the patient's life all his kerosene and frog legs, which he tried to take (this must be done after the therapist gives his permission for such an action).

A person must learn to relax - to practice meditation, yoga. The help of relatives is also needed in order to bring hypochondriac to the light more often - to cinemas, to exhibitions, to concerts. In the course of treatment, new impressions are very important for him, which have nothing to do with medicine and diseases.

You can’t put pressure on the hypochondriac, demand him to gather his courage and finally overcome his problem. He cannot do that. For him, this attitude means fighting with himself, and for this reason alone, self-help with hypochondriac syndrome should be reasonable and coordinated with the attending psychiatrist.

Mental diseases are quite difficult to prevent, because all the factors that may affect their occurrence have not been studied, much is not obvious to physicians and scientists. In the case of hypochondriac syndrome, preventive measures should be taken in childhood.

• Do not scare the child with terrible diseases (“Take off the scarf - you will catch a cold and die”, “prick your finger with a needle - bleed or become infected with a dangerous disease”).The child's attitude to illness should be adequate.
• Do not pretend to be very frightened if the child is abrasion or bruised. - they don’t die from this, but they easily become hypochondriacs against the background of constant parental neurotic anxiety for the child’s health.

Adults should not get involved in self-diagnosis on books, the Internet or medical films. Self-diagnosis has not brought anyone to good. If a person is very impressionable, then even pictures in the medical encyclopedia can cause him the initial stages of hypochondria.

If a person has previously been treated for hypochondria, it is important to visit a psychologist or psychotherapist as necessary - after each episode of the appearance of an obsessive thought about a possible disease. Very often there is a need for preventive treatment (prophylactic) and it, like the main treatment, is based not on medicines at all, but on psychological work.

The following video will talk about the symptoms and causes of hypochondria.