Treatment Of Hypochondria: Is There A Solution For This Disorder?
Do you feel constantly worried about your health? If you spend your time searching for possible symptoms on the internet, come in and find out if you could have hypochondria and what its treatment is.
This disorder is included as a type of somatic symptom disorder in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), where the main characteristic they all have is that constant worry about bodily symptoms causes discomfort that ends up affecting the daily life of the person who suffers from it. Concern and anxiety about health usually increases as people get older, so it is more common for hypochondria to begin in adulthood.
You may be here wondering if you are hypochondriac either hypochondriac and if this disorder has a solution. In this article you will discover the answer to your question! Continue reading to find out the answer and discover the most effective treatments.
Previously, in diagnostic manuals the hypochondria was known as hypochondriac disorder either hypochondriasis However, in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) this term no longer exists and has been divided into two different disorders, illness anxiety disorder and the somatic symptom disorder Specifically, they differ in that:
Illness anxiety disorder: The main difference between the two is that on the one hand, in illness anxiety disorder there is a constant worry about suffering or contract a disease severe, but the person does not feel any somatic symptoms or if they do, it is very mild. The latter means that the person, despite feeling distressed by the idea of ​​suffering from an illness, does not present any physical discomfort.
Somatic symptom disorder: In somatic symptom disorder, the person does present symptoms that cause discomfort and interfere with their daily life. These symptoms are not due to an organic cause, that is, on a physical level the cause and maintenance of this discomfort could not be explained. The fact that it does not have an organic cause does not mean that the person does not suffer pain since the suffering exists whether or not there is a medical cause and it does not mean the person invents a disease
There are different risk factors for suffering hypochondria such as, for example, suffering an event that generates a lot of stress, having suffered a serious illness in childhood, having suffered abuse, etc.
What does it mean to be a hypochondriac? Symptoms of hypochondria
In order to determine if you have hypochondria or not, it is essential that you seek help from a professional. In any case, here we detail a series of signs that could indicate that you have hypochondria and that evaluation and support from a professional would be necessary:
You are too worried about the idea of ​​catching or suffering from a disease.
You repeatedly and excessively check your body for signs of illness or not.
You are very aware of your body and if you experience any discomfort, you interpret it as a possible symptom of something that could be serious.
You are afraid of dying from an illness and this fear affects your daily life.
You feel anxious when talking or thinking about your health and you get easily upset about any aspect that is related to it (going to the doctor, having tests, etc.).
You you are afraid of a disease concrete. The disease that is feared can vary, that is, it does not have to be the same. For example, you could spend 4 months fearing having a respiratory illness and after those months, fear having been infected with HIV.
You feel sick or get sick even though you have already had multiple tests done and it has been ruled out that you have an illness.
You constantly go to the doctor and ask for tests, procedures, etc. Even though they have already ruled out organic causes or, on the contrary, you actively avoid going because you have an intense fear that they will discover that you suffer from the disease you fear.
When you feel discomfort, you consult it obsessively on the Internet to confirm that this discomfort is indeed a possible symptom of the disease you think you suffer from.
If you feel pain or symptoms that have been ruled out as having an organic cause, you believe that they have made a mistake, that what you are suffering from is very serious and that you could die in a matter of a short time.
Hypochondria is not an isolated concern about having an illness nor is it simply about being apprehensive, But some of these signs must be present for at least 6 months and the disorder is characterized by generating significant discomfort.
Treatment of hypochondria:
In some cases, the hypochondria in adults it is difficult to detect since, sometimes, the presence of physical discomfort and the worry for health is associated with part of normal aging. The course of this disorder is not entirely clear, and in some cases a chronic and recurrent course has been identified. In this sense, treatment is crucial to improve the quality of life of people who suffer from it and improve interpersonal, occupational, etc. functioning. Furthermore, sometimes the hypochondria It is accompanied by other disorders, the most frequent being anxiety disorders and depressive disorders, which is why psychological treatment is crucial.
Currently, the following psychological therapies have been highlighted as effective for the treatment of hypochondria:
Behavior therapy: From behavioral psychology, hypochondria is explained as a phobia of illness. Therefore, techniques that are commonly used to treat phobias are carried out, such as exposure. In this case, the person is exposed to both external and internal stimuli that are related and, on the other hand, we work on the avoidance behaviors that the person has when worried about suffering from an illness.
Cognitive therapy: According to cognitive psychology, hypochondria would be maintained by alarming interpretations that the person makes about body sensations and physiological functions that are really meaningless. By interpreting these sensations as synonymous with a serious illness, they would give rise to anxiety responses that would lead the person to avoid going to the doctor , go constantly, etc. Therefore, the main objective of this type of therapy is to modify the thoughts that the person has about bodily sensations.
If you have been worried about your health for a long time, you have gone to the doctor and you have not been diagnosed with any illness, or if going there generates intense discomfort, it is important that you seek psychological help so that a professional can help you feel better.
