How to recognize cases of hypochondria, and what to do?

The need to ensure our well-being and to take care of one's physical integrity is one of the factors that have most influenced the evolution of our brain and our patterns of behaviour.

For example, this is why we suffer fear or anxiety, unpleasant and even painful emotions that, however, we experience relatively frequently because they are useful for our survival.

However, sometimes that predisposition to detect danger signs where there is no reason to exist can cause us problems, and hypochondria is an example of this. Here we will see how to recognize hypochondria, as well as some tips to overcome it.

• Related article: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

How to recognize a case of hypochondria problems?

Especially in recent times, in which the high population and the dynamics of the globalized world have given rise to several pandemics and epidemics, the line that separates a reasonable level of concern for one's own health, on the one hand, and an unwarranted obsession with the possibility of having illnesses, on the other, is somewhat blurred.

However, it is always possible to recognize extreme cases in which the perception of the state of the body becomes so biased towards pessimism that it is totally incompatible with reality. This is what happens with hypochondria, which not only does not help prevent serious health problems, but also becomes a problem for those who develop it.

Hypochondria, or hypochondriasis, is a psychological disorder characterized by the propensity to Believe that you have a disease, even though there are no reasonable reasons to get there conclusion.

This makes them see evidence of having a pathology in a wide variety of small events of little importance., or that do not say much about the state of health that one has.

Here we will see some of its most distinctive features.

1. What indicates that hypochondrial distress is not justified?

As we have seen, people with hypochondria have a great facility to believe that they suffer from diseases, until the point that this propensity to be anxious with supposed signs and symptoms of pathologies comes to wear down their quality of lifetime.

Here it is important to stop and think about the difference between what we can consider reasonable reasons to suspect that you have a pathology, on the one hand, and the objective reasons for thinking that. They may seem equivalent, but they are not.

For example, some disorders related to chronic pain can be very difficult to treat. objectify, since ultimately what signals its presence is the existence of a sensation of pain. In cases of this type, there is no objective reality on which the idea of ​​"I have a disease" is based, but it is reasonable to think that something is wrong in our body.

Thus, hypochondria has to do with giving too much importance to events or phenomena that should not be attributed to a disease.

2. It's not just an obsession with health

To say that someone hypochondriac is an individual who shows excessive concern for their own health would be inaccurate. In reality, hypochondria is based on a more specific type of concern: it is not the need to gain health by achieving a perfect body, but the fear of losing health.

3. Gain strength through rumination

Psychological rumination is what happens when a disturbing mental idea or image comes to mind over and over again, causing us to wish it would disappear from our consciousness. In the case of hypochondria, this happens a lot, because as we assume that there is a problem in our body almost any stimulus or sensation that we judge as abnormal can lead us to think about the possibility of having a pathology.

In turn, the fact of exposing ourselves several times to these unpleasant situations causes anxiety to grow anticipation, given the possibility that with a new day new signs arrive that we have a disease.

4. It lasts in time

Hypochondria it is a persistent alteration that lasts for months. It is not a question of having seen a documentary on the effects of processed food and spending an afternoon thinking about it.

• You may be interested in: "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): what is it and how does it manifest itself?"

To do?

These are several tips that can help people who have developed hypochondria.

1. Go to psychological therapy

The first and most important advice is to have help from psychologists, since only through this procedure will you have personalized attention and intervention measures adapted to the particularities of your case, and also by professionals specifically trained for interventions of this kind. Of course, keep in mind that therapy is a process that requires commitment, and leaving it early can mean returning to the starting box.

2. Keep a journal in which you write down what you feel

It is important that you get used to seeing beyond the thoughts and feelings associated with hypochondria; The ideal is that you do not limit yourself to living them in your own flesh, but also learn about how and when they arise.

Through this process of psychological "reverse engineering", in which you begin to detect the thought patterns that is behind hypochondria (when it is expressed), it will be easier for you to understand to what extent these ideas are irrational.

To achieve this, something very useful is to keep a self-registration: a place that you should always have at hand and where you can write down basic information about what you think, feel and do at times when those that the hypochondria manifests, noting the place, date and time, and what happened just before, during and just after each of these experiences.

3. Create routines that keep you away from rumination

Although you may not notice it, hypochondria does not arise spontaneously from your brain, but rather "feeds" on certain habits and contexts to which you frequently expose yourself. Therefore, a good measure to adopt is detect situations or contexts in general that tend to drag you to hypochondria, and opt for other options.

For example, if you notice that every time you visit YouTube you end up watching videos about diseases, it may be good to choose another way to fill in part of your free time on the Internet, or visit many videos on other topics so that the algorithm stops recommending those contents. Or, if for whatever reason in your group of friends many people are doctors, you can ask them directly that when you are with them they do not talk about their work. The idea is to expose yourself to different situations, either by modifying your context or exposing yourself to new ones.

4. Don't try to block the discomfort

Hypochondria gains strength when we try to completely shut out all the anxious thoughts that it generates in us. It is much better to gain ground by accepting that for a time it will cause us restlessness and discomfort.

Are you looking for psychological support against hypochondria?

If you think that you have developed hypochondria and are seeking psychological help to treat this problem with the support of professionals, we suggest that you contact us. On Cribecca Psychology We have several experts in psychotherapy with a lot of experience offering treatment for these kinds of problems, as well as in other psychological complications: generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, phobias, relationship problems, OCD, etc.

We currently attend in-person psychotherapy sessions in Seville, and also in online therapy sessions by video call. If you want to know how we work, you can read more about us at this page.

Bibliographic references:

• Avia, M.D.; Ruiz, M.A. (2005). Recommendations for the Treatment of Hypochondriac Patients. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. 35 (3): pp. 301 - 313.
• Fallon, B.A.; Qureshi, A.I.; Laje, G.; Klein, B. (2000). Hypochondriasis and its relationship to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 23 (3): pp. 605 - 616.