Hypochondriasis: How to control the fear of being sick

The people that are repeatedly afraid of being sick often receive little empathy of their close ones, They brand them as simulators, obsessives, storytellers or hypochondriacs. However, it turns out that although that person does not have the disease that he fears so much, he is not healthy either.

The hipocondriasis, which is how it is called that permanent fear of being sick, is a psychic disorder It greatly affects daily life.

Calling a person a hypochondriac seems today to be almost an insult.says psychologist Timo Slotta, who works as a psychotherapist at a specialist clinic in Germany. And it seems to be enough for someone to fear or worry to suffer a disease that is not found when doing a medical test for everyone to tell him he’s a hypochondriac.

The body, under permanent observation

To be able to make the real diagnosis, it is necessary to go one step further. “Those affected are excessively concerned with the terrible diseases that they could sufferSlotta says. “In general, these are diseases that the person can suffer from for months or years and that they will slowly kill her”, he details.

People who have this disorder They go to the doctor frequently, they turn the matter over in their heads, they read a lot about it and do a kind of bodychecking, that is, they scan, for example, the skin to see if they detect any type of suspicious spot, they feel until it perhaps hurts, they do balance tests, they regularly measure their pressure or they are aware of their blood oxygen level .

Freaking out over certain symptoms from time to time isn’t the problem, Slotta says. The sick thing is when the person feels that they must be seen yes or yes and their daily life is altered.

“Those affected develop a preventive behavior: they stop going to work or playing sports,” explains Sabine Köhler, psychiatrist and director of the German Association of Neurologists. Added to that is the temporal aspect. In order to make the diagnosis, those affected must be convinced that they have a serious illness for at least half a year. “The patients they refuse to accept that they have nothing and they constantly ask for other tests to be carried out.”

Possible causes of hypochondrism

The causes have not yet been determined. that lead a person to develop this type of disorder, but there are several hypotheses. On the one hand, there may be certain genetic predisposition, which has something to do with the style of education received or that it was a impact of previous illnesses suffered. Having a weak bond with parents in the first year of life could also generate this type of alteration.

People who live in an environment where a lot of serious illnesses occur are often affected, Slotta observes. The way of thinking is also a factor to take into account, since hypochondriacal people often fear causing or promoting the onset of a disease through their behavior Or your own thoughts.

A difficult diagnosis

Although there are well-defined criteria for diagnosis, it is not so easy to do it. “It’s a hidden disease”, says Köhler, “because although those affected insist on receiving a diagnosis, what they are looking for is a diagnosis of a physical illness. They usually do not even want to hear about a psychic disorder”.

The role of the GP is important here, according to Köhler. From your perspective, when a person has used professionals from five different specialties in a quarter without having any clear health problem, you would do well to undergo some kind of psychiatric or psychosomatic analysis or psychological treatment.

“Hypochondrism can be treated”, says Slotta, who assures that between two-thirds and four-fifths of those affected benefit from psychotherapy. Doing a drug treatment, this percentage is approximately half.

“Psychotherapy involves hard work, there is no doubt”, admits Slotta. But medication treatments are only effective as long as one takes that medication. “In psychotherapy that is different.”.