What is hypochondria?
Hypochondriasis is a type of obsessive disorder with the medical name "hypochondriasis". In this disease, the patient's obsession is with "their own health".
People diagnosed with hypochondria do not believe doctors and claim to have a serious physical illness, even though they do not have a medical illness. Accordingly, they frequently consult a physician. In this disorder, which is well summarized by the term "hypochondriac", the patient is worried that his/her health is deteriorating or will deteriorate. As with other obsessive disorders in the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) spectrum, such as obsession with contamination, obsession with religious and sexual obsessions, this disorder is characterized by "obsession with getting sick".
Symptoms of Illness
Patients suffering from a disease will follow a physical complaint and consult the physician of the relevant specialty. For example, a person who feels short of breath and has an increased heart rate when climbing stairs is worried that he or she has heart or lung disease, and so visits a cardiologist. After all the tests and examinations, even though the physician says "you do not have a problem, your heart and lungs are healthy", the patient's doubts are not resolved. People with the disease think that the physician is not paying enough attention to them and that something is missing, so they consult another physician to be more certain. Even if the second physician shows a similar approach, the patient suspects some differences in approach between the two physicians, loses trust in both of them and goes to a third physician. During all these investigations, the patient interprets some abnormal results on the examination papers as "there is a problem but he/she was not told about it" even though there is no medical meaning and his/her worries increase even more. These patients change physicians frequently. Even if they are told that the problem is not physical and that they should see a psychiatrist, the patient does not believe this and avoids going to a psychiatrist. Even when they visit a psychiatrist months or even years after the onset of their complaints, their aim is not to be treated but to have the psychiatrist confirm that the problem is not psychiatric. Accordingly, the hypochondriac puts a thick folder of tests in front of the psychiatrist and hopes that he/she will examine them all and diagnose a "mysterious illness" that no physician has been able to detect in him/her.
Causes of Hypochondria
As with other obsessive disorders, multiple causes have been identified for this disorder. In general, patients have experienced a significant traumatic life event shortly before the onset of symptoms. In addition, a generalized distress and a restless lifestyle are usually present in the background. In other words, it may be possible to roughly describe the mechanism of the disease as "the physicalization of stress". The personality traits of these patients include meticulous, careful and skeptical characteristics.
Is it Genetically Transmitted?
There is a genetic aspect to hypochondria and OCD, but the form of this genetic transmission is not yet clearly known. Hypochondriacs often have family members with other types of obsessive disorders. They may even have relatives who are being treated for paranoia.
How is it treated?
The treatment of hypochondria is primarily medication, as in other obsessive disorders. Symptoms can be controlled with a medication that the patient-physician relationship is established on the basis of trust and that the patient can tolerate. In addition, in some treatment-resistant cases, magnetic stimulation therapy (MST) and even electroshock therapy (ECT) may be necessary. Psychotherapy should not be neglected under any circumstances. However, the success of treatment may decrease due to patients having trust problems with physicians, changing physicians frequently, and having a tendency to stop taking medication by interpreting innocent and temporary side effects of medication differently.