Hypochondria refers to people living with intense and constant fear associated with a disease.
Also known as disease anxiety disorder (according to DSM-5), this is one of the most common reasons for consultation for us psychologists and psychologists, who perform psychotherapy services.
- The diseases most feared by people with hypochondria are usually those that cause progressive deterioration over time (p.
- E.
- G.
- Cancer.
- HIV.
- Fibromyalgia).
- Although there are also cases of people who fear heart or respiratory diseases (progressing faster and more extremely).
That is, while in hypochondria the most striking thing is the fear of diseases that gradually deteriorate our body, the fear of faster diseases, such as a heart attack or drowning, is more characteristic of panic syndrome. the type of disease that the person fears with hypochondria, are it the actions that seek to control his body, his sensations and how to manage fear that end up generating it?(psychologically speaking).
“While in hypochondria the most striking feature is the fear of diseases that gradually impair our body, is the fear of faster diseases, such as a heart attack or drowning, more characteristic of panic syndrome?
In other words, although the central components of hypochondria are fear of the disease and behaviors to make a diagnosis (medical examinations, search for information, etc. ), there are more psychological factors that influence the development of the disease, intensity and duration. .
Therefore, in this article we will explain how the intense fear of people suffering from hypochondria ends up becoming a reality, through the search for control over one’s body, intolerance of uncertainty and inadequate management of fear.
For a person afraid of getting sick to develop hypochondria, several factors must be present, among the most characteristic psychological factors that end up making this fear of getting sick come true, we find unrealistic expectations and preconceived ideas about how our human body works.
When a person has unrealistic expectations and not based on how their body should feel every day, any normal physical sensation, such as an unpuned contracture, sting or pain, becomes a call for attention that indicates something, which is not good. This, in part, is real; If my head hurts every day and I also have hooks on my neck, of course something is wrong with my body, pain and discomfort are signs. However, people with intense fear of the disease interpret these signs as unequivocal indicators that they are sick.
The fear of illness increases if I have a state of mind that says, “When I feel something in my body, it indicates that something bad is happening and I’m sick. “Therefore, having a preconceived idea of how my body should work contributes to the development of hypochondria, this type of reasoning is quite common in people who have little tolerance to uncomfortable physical sensations, are people who think that their body should always be in the same way (no new stains, no imperfections), always without pain (without cramps or hooks) and always without discomfort (without noticing anything “strange” or “new”).
In addition, although physical discomfort is normal and part of life (our body is an ever-changing organism), if we pay special attention to it, we will eventually increase it, this is explained by the ‘double-door pain theory’, which has scientifically shown that all we can do paying attention to a sensation in our body is to increase that feeling , making it more intense and durable, so distraction techniques are one of the keys to the success of psychological treatment of hypochondria.
On the other hand, personal demand is a key factor for the development of hypochondria, because there must also be a high expectation regarding the functioning of the body itself, as well as the disappearance of discomfort, that is, it is not enough to be afraid of the disease and not to be able to withstand normal physical discomfort, but there must also be a high level of demand and control research for hypochondria to exist. The person should think that discomfort or unpleasant feeling should pass and set a random date for this. that happens.
Does intolerance to uncomfortable but normal physical sensations, as well as the demand in relation to the body of the disappearance of the sensation, in the search for control of what happens to the body, make people?Since you can’t pay attention to two things at once, if someone looks at what hurts you more or less, how much it hurts and where it bothers you, that person wastes much of their time trying to control the uncontrollable: the normal functioning of the body.
Once the physical sensations are aggravated by the attention given to them, the person is more afraid and begins to research on the internet or consult doctors to know why they feel what they are feeling. In addition, the process of searching for information on the Internet is very dangerous, as it ends up giving the person a lot of information that he can use as a resource to continue paying attention to the discomfort of his body, which is called self-fulfilling prophecy.
On the other hand, the only thing that causes the doctor to go to the doctor and be diagnosed with not having a disease (because if it is hypochondria, the disease does not exist) is to temporarily calm the person, but in reality he is a slave. in the opinion of the professional. . And besides, it puts you in the sick situation; during exams and scans, the hypochondriac sees itself as a patient, when in fact it is not.
Looking for security so as not to get sick from different sources, without believing in what the professionals say and insist, I know that I have something, even if they tell me otherwise, this is not the most appropriate way. Our mind is very capricious and many times “decides” to go the wrong way and give us confidence in it. In the case of hypochondria, you have to understand that the only thing you do when looking for information seeking strategies and medical tests is living in fear. wrong and that even if you think something is happening, in fact that is not the case.
The fear of getting sick is normal and adaptable; you have to be certainly afraid to get sick to have healthy, protective behaviors. However, seeking information that indicates that I am not sick is an incorrect way to deal with this fear. First, we must step out of the research strategy for the control of physical sensations and stop doing medical examinations so as not to put ourselves in the position of being sick anymore.
Secondly, we must understand that the problem is not fear in itself, but intolerance of that fear, which increases every time we do something so as not to feel or calm it, it is very important to draw attention to the fact that the problem is not fear. , but how to handle that fear, which is what develops hypochondria.
Faced with all this, a correct way to deal with the fear of getting sick is to work on it, asking why it happens, what we have gained from it, what we can do and, above all, accept it. psychologist to learn how to deal with one of your fears, including the fear of getting sick, because if you don’t handle it properly, the fear of physical illness ends up becoming a psychological disease.