Hypochondriasis is a mental illness with clear and obvious alarm symptoms. Discover what they are and thus you will see for yourself if you are a hypochondriac person.
Some people tend to have a constant concern about illness and death, fear arising in the face of certain life situations that are usually related to it. At times, we have all felt worried about a disease but have not developed hypochondria for that the limit between having this pathology or not is blurred, and it is the doctor and the psychology professional who must determine if it should be treated. We tell you how to know if you are a hypochondriac and what its causes are.
What is hypochondria:
The General Council of Psychology of Spain establishes that some of the common characteristics of people suffering from hypochondria are the constant worry of suffering from a serious illness.
This is led to the conclusion by a hypothetical personal interpretation of signs or symptoms (such as a simple headache) that falsely indicate that there is a disease.
Hypochondriacally people go to the doctor because they think they are sick, and although the professional tells them that they have nothing, over time, they will return to having certain feelings of illness.
From here certain symptoms appear that hinder the social life of these people, leading to anxieties, depression and other more serious conditions that must be treated.
Why it appears: possible causes
The causes of hypochondria are variable and depend on the person, their fears, their past, their experience… many people affected by this problem usually have had a previous problem, such as a duel or a catastrophe that leads to a feeling of constant fear.
When these people have been throughout their lives, especially in childhood, enduring illnesses of someone in their family or in their home they have experienced certain repression regarding certain issues, it can also lead to a situation of hypochondria.
Patients often associate a disease with a traumatic experience by perceiving symptoms quite similar to those previously suffered.
Other people just don’t have unpleasant past experiences, but by nature they tend to be negative and generally worried. Stress, poor relationships at work or in social life can trigger hypochondriacally situations even though there is no apparent prior relationship to it.
Normally, although there are exceptions, hypochondria usually begins in adulthood, the result of unpleasant experiences lived previously. In addition to having experienced first-hand the serious illness or death of a loved one, or having periods of great stress, the hypochondriac also tends to establish symptoms when there is much talk about an illness in the media.
So they usually associate it with some condition that they may have had at some time (a mole, a severe headache, dizziness…) thinking that they have this disease.
Symptoms of hypochondriasis
Worry and fear are the main and first symptoms that manifest in people suffering from hypochondria. Subsequently, this translates into constant anxiety about minor and normal symptoms that the patient sees as something abnormal.
Such symptoms are associated with those of a serious illness, although this is not the case. The irrational fear of dying becomes a constant tonic in the hypochondriac. Obsession is also another important factor and symptom, while some people doubt doctors’ check-ups and diagnoses, believing that they are deceived and do not tell them that they are sick.
Other common symptoms are the search for information about their “supposed” disease, checking if they have some of the symptoms described related to it. With this, the patient constantly examines himself, checking if he has a fever, if he has spots on his body or if he has high or low blood pressure.
Although some may be, other symptoms are totally exaggerated. So hypochondriacs usually complain of various general symptoms, such as stomach, neck or back pain, having constant palpitations, sweaty hands, dry mouth, shortness of breath, continued nervousness, but at the same time being more tired than usual due to the stress of spending all day self-examining.
They also have dizziness and chest pains. Symptoms that usually appear in periods of stress and anxiety.
